MarksvilleandMe reviews
Painting For Peace in Ferguson
by
Carol Swartout Klein
To be quite honest when I first received this book I had no idea what it was about other then it was for children and very colorful. We have been TV free going on 11 years now so if it doesn't hit social media or someone tells us about it we generally don't know what is going on. Why? 9/11 did that for us. Children saw too many news broad casts about something that was even hard for adults to take in. I still disagree with the way they show it each year in the schools.
At a time when our nation was saddened by 9/11 I was caught up in the death of my Hero my father who died during his sleep of a massive heart attack. He was my rock, my world, things changed after he died and 9/11 didn't faze me at all which is probably one of the reasons I don't like to hear about it.
As for Ferguson in 2014 and again in 2015 I did catch up. A sad thing happened. I had done my video review before putting the 2014 and 2015 happenings together. My apologies for that. I was a little off on the timeline as well, but this book is still awesome. It shows how a community can get together and heal over tragedy.
I do hope that they have again started painting for healing after the 2015 Riots. It had to be scary for everyone all over again. Peace and love can overcome anything. All we need is to band together to make it happen.
This book is super colorful, inspiring, as well as being a lesson to all that young, old, poor, and rich alike can make a difference together.
You can find Painting for Peace in Ferguson here. 100% of proceeds go back to the area affected.
Painting for Peace in Ferguson tells the story of the hundreds of artists and volunteers who worked to transform boarded up windows into works of art with messages of hope, healing and unity in the days after the Aug. 9, 2014, shooting of Michael Brown. The book had its first printing in February 2015. It's second printing is Aug. 1. The book was recognized in May 2015 as one of nine "Outstanding Books of the Year" in the "Peacemaker" category by the Independent Publisher.
All proceeds after printing costs will go to benefit North County youth and art programs as well as the businesses and employees affected by damage or loss of business.
Author Carol Swartout Klein, who sponsored the project and who grew up in the Ferguson area, was inspired by the Mister Rogers quote that reminds children to always look for helpers when scary things happen.
“It occurred to me that if adults are having a hard time processing and talking about the events — how are children coping? We designed this book to be a tool for parents and teachers to begin the conversation. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, it was so inspiring to see people young and old, black and white come together to transform boarded up windows from something intimidating to children into something so positive.”
Centered on a child-friendly poem penned by Klein, the book does not go into the specifics of what caused the unrest, but rather focuses on the way the community came together to begin the healing process through the art of the Paint for Peace effort. “We did not go into detail because we felt it was important for parents to be able to talk about what happened in Ferguson in a way that was age appropriate for their child and that reflects each family’s perspective,” said Klein.
You can find out more about Paint For Peace on:
#PaintforPeace
Disclosure: MarksvilleandMe received one or more of the products mentioned above as part of a promotion with Tomoson and Paint For Peace. Regardless, MarksvilleandMe only recommends products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Some of the links in the article may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive compensation. If you would like MarksvilleandMe to review a product or service please contact us at marksvilleandme@gmail.com.
