Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Another brick in the wall

They are building a wall to keep out the undesirables. No, I’m not talking about the inane project of the US government (don’t get me started on that, okay?) but DAN! supporters who seem to think a brick wall will help stop the “tsunami” of autism threatening to destroy us all. For fifty dollars, you can have your own brick in the “Bernie’s Wall,” memorial and help pay for new Rimland Center in Lynchburg, Va.

Note that the brick in the upper right corner reads “0 in 150” and below it, an arrow points from “our goal.” Gee, thanks. Oh yeah, the center in Lynchburg is even on Confederate Blvd! I swear I could not make this stuff up.

Bricks R Us is the company selling the opportunity (50 dollars for a brick with your name on it). Seriously, someone thought I could write a parody on this? Could it get any sillier?


No, I don't think so. So I've decided not to even try. Instead, I'd like to start a counter campaign. As some of you know, brick walls are a special interest of mine. I like to draw them and take pictures of them. I don't like seeing them fall in with disreputable company. I am asking anyone who finds the reference to "zero in 150" offensive to join me in a public art project. It works like this.

Purchase a brick in this wall for zero dollars:


Click Here for larger view

Instead of money, your contribution will consist of your name or the message of your choice on your brick. You may choose the color and location (contingent on availability) of your brick, even the type of font you'd like or a simple symbol in lieu of words. When the wall is full, I will format it in a poster suitable for printing out and posting on walls or otherwise distributing. These could be left in libraries, bus stations and waiting rooms, wherever we go. The poster will include a brief explanation of why "zero in 150" autistics is a bigoted, offensive, reprehensible sentiment.

This is intended as a grass roots public art/advocacy project which will require 36 participants to launch. Everyone is welcome to participate and more bricks will be added if there are takers. This is undertaken with no expectation that anyone will listen. It may well be a waste of your time. If you are willing to participate anyway, leave me a comment or send an email with what you would like your brick to say. No threats of violence, stated or implied, toward anyone, please. These will not be accepted.

Thank you, Autism Diva, for bringing Bernie's Wall to my attention.

52 comments:

  1. What an awesome idea! Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please make my brick light blue, with the words "May Innocence and Joy Prevail" written on it. Use whatever font you like, except comic sans.
    I hope you get a ton of others to share in this wonderful project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great protest-art, Bev.

    I'd like a brick...lavendar, please. Gosh, I don't know what to write on it...something about cure ignorance?

    ReplyDelete
  3. How about

    Advocacy--Witness--Hope

    in Palatino font, on a blue the color of the ocean? And whatever color for the letters that you think best.

    Thanks for doing this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd like a brick please. In a tropical-ish color if you would. Let it say "Cure Neuro-Bigotry NOW!" or something like that. Thanks for doing this, Bev!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Bev, great idea. I'd like to buy a brick. Orange please. Can you engrave it with the Gettysburg address? No? Okay. How about, "Autistic is OK".

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, How about bright red background, black letters, maybe a typewriter look font... I'll let you pick the one that is the most readable and you can make it bold if it makes it more readable.

    Please engrave my brick with:

    Autism: It's not like you think.


    This is a great idea. Thank you for thinking of it.

    The Rimland Center is just a clinic buliding with some exposed brick inside and a high ceiling with exposed beams, sort of looks like a coffee house in the waiting room. It used to have a group of like 4 or 5 doctors specializing in women's health in it, plus a tacky looking kitchen, a parking lot and some landscaped area. (the real estate agent who was selling it had a bunch of photos on a website.)

    You'd think it was some kind of huge complex if you read their description of it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Bev, could I have a brick that says "Defeat Arrogance Now!" ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. please may I have a black brick with pale green lettering - VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!

    thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a wonderful idea :). Please may I have a dark green brick with Arial font and to say:
    "Needed: Zero level of ignorance and intolerance."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great idea!
    Can i have a brick please?

    Autism Rocks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would like a brick please. Can it say "Celebrate Differences!". You pick the color and font and all that, you are the artist.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fabulous! Alex would like a yellow "Runman" and I'd like a purple "jypsy". Looking forward to the finished wall...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great idea

    I'd like a brick please; if possible delicate green and "Ethics First, Treatment Second" in whatever colour or style font you think good - I'm creatively challenged in things like that.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great idea! I'd like a brick that says "Whose Planet Is It Anyway?" in blue with Verdana font, since that's what I use on my blog.

    I sometimes played with the bricks on my house when I was a child. It wasn't a real brick wall, just a decorative facade, and the brick pieces weren't placed very closely together; there were tiny ledges on them, and I would pick violets or other small flowers and arrange them on the ledges, pretending that it was a brick apartment building where the flowers lived happily together.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great idea!
    I would like an orange brick also (favorite color) imprinted with" Not Suffering
    Thanks,
    k

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great idea. How about a red one for my guy, any font you like, with "I love my autistic child--AS HE IS!"

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ooh, I'm jealous of all the slogans. Now I want something about 150 . . . gimme a sec . . .

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'd like a brick in that wall.
    Any colour and font you like.

    Can it say:
    "Happy to be autistic!"

    ?

    ReplyDelete
  19. ASAP - acceptance soon as possible - Purple background for her, Orange writing for him and Britannic bold for the little guy.
    Ooo that looks so yucky in my mind's eye.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  20. Love the idea, I'll pass it round if it's okay with you. I'd like a black brick with the words 'Autistics Speak' on it please.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Could I get a green "Different is Normal," please

    ReplyDelete
  22. Once we've got the wall filled in, next stop -- Cafepress?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I would like a bright blue brick (to match my sons eyes) and I would like it to say
    "0 in 150 leaves me without Matthew"
    I am founder to a brand new non-profit organization {A.D.L. Center, inc.} in it's start up phase, located in the montgomery county of Pa, and would proudly display your work in our lobby.
    PROUDLY, I tell you. Feel free to contact me about this as I am dead serious.
    d.soucy@spectrumscenter.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. Autism Rocks!

    Shouldn't that be "Autistics Rock" ?

    I'd like one that says "Autistic and proud." If it can be longer, how about "Autistic and proud. Any problem with that?" White background. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I think this is a great idea.
    Of course you couldn't make this up.
    I was born in Lynchburg Va. At the Baptist hospital in Lynchburg actually.
    On mine you can write just "Cure Ignorance" but please sign it, One of Jerry's Kids. :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Now I wish we could have more than one brick; I have more things I want to put on them!

    ReplyDelete
  27. No request here, they all sound good so far.

    I'm merely dropping by to mention:

    Don't they see how abnormal (dare I mention it) their behavior is being by putting their symbolic 'road' perpendicular to the ground?

    Should I suggest Yellow to go along with the Fantasy of cure?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Cool! I'm very pleased with all the responses. I think I have finished all the requests I had as of 9:00 AM today, and will probably have some more done by this evening.

    I'll also be working on cleaning up some of the noise around letters before getting the final poster ready. As you can see by some of the other art on this site, I don't usually go for a super polished look, but I do want to make sure everything is legible for the final product.

    Thanks for all your orders, and please continue to spread the word. I will be happy to add more sections to the wall. In the meantime, if anyone has more concise slogans or logos that would fit well on the half-sized bricks, I would appreciate having some of those.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "Autistics deserve better" in white on navy blue please.

    Thanks! I always wanted a brick...

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think I'm caught up on these now. There are 8 bricks still available, 4 large and 4 small. Large will cost you twice as much, you know.

    ReplyDelete
  31. lol @ twice as much when it's free

    DISABLED AND PROUD for me please!

    cant wait til i have time to link this baby tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  32. May I have a brick like this?
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/The_MoUsY_spell_checker/brick.png

    ReplyDelete
  33. Will this fit on a brick? If there's still time and room.

    3 6 9
    12 15 18
    21 24 27
    30 Scott

    The numbers can be broken differently, if necessary. Or else leave out the name, and just put the numbers.

    It's for my brother and my son, who share more than just a name, and I know it's not a catchy slogan, but they'd understand. The world would be so much darker without them. Thank you. What a beautiful idea.

    M. Stamer

    ReplyDelete
  34. I just left the 3 6 9 request (if there's room and time), and I have another:


    Respect


    Thank you again. :)

    Marie Stamer

    ReplyDelete
  35. How about "Educate Me, Don't Eradicate Me!" your choice of colors, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  36. It's probably too late, but how about

    8 is my special interest. What's yours?

    (gotta be purple of course)

    - Missy

    ReplyDelete
  37. Don't put this on a brick. Besides it probably wouldn't fit.

    But my impulse is to say:

    If a society doesn't accept my son, then it is society that has the disorder.

    Matt

    ReplyDelete
  38. This is great Bev!

    If there's still room, I'd like one that says, 'Bust My Buffers, autism is fine!'

    ReplyDelete
  39. You seem//Weird to//Me too ...

    (// = line break) -- seems to fit in a square (small brick). I'm looking at it in Lucida Blackletter, with You/Weird/Me in 14pt and the rest in 12pt, but leave final choice of color/typeface etc to you. Best wishes for this wonderful project.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Here's a 1/2 brick:

    Not Wrong!

    can the background be a nicer shade of brown? Some earth tone or something?

    TERRIFIC idea!!!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I LOVE THIS IDEA. And you can count me in on distributing it everywhere I can think of.

    I want a red brick and for it to read:

    4 Pete 4
    my perfect-for-me son

    karen in ca (k_dito@yahoo.com)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Cool project, Bev!

    If there are any bricks left over, I'd like one that says:

    Defeat ableism now!

    Any color, any font.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I'll be adding at least a couple of rows to this today. Everything I receive by 5:00 will be done sometime tonight. I will continue to add rows as long as there are requests for bricks coming in.

    Thanks, everyone, for participating. I'm very happy with the response and enjoying the opportunity to work with bricks.

    ReplyDelete
  44. If there's space, a yellow brick with black lettering in Arial:

    Don't get stung by quackery!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Any bricks left? If so, and if there's room, mine should say:

    In an autistic world,
    YOU would be disadvantaged!

    Lucida Calligraphy or Tempus Sans ITC
    cadet blue background, white text

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  46. you completely rock, and great idea. i think you should make a high-resolution/print version of your wall available, and if you need help with hosting or whatnot, the geekier among us can certainly band together.

    if i could have a brick, i'd like it to be colored with #faaa11, and the font black, century gothic, saying:

    "i am the way i'm supposed to be, and i'm not going to change just to make you feel comfortable"

    ReplyDelete
  47. This is a cool idea. If there are any spaces left would “ASD is A-OK” work? Whatever font and colors you pick are fine with me.

    ReplyDelete
  48. thats a great idea!
    maybe i should get my own brick..
    ~Jay's World

    ReplyDelete
  49. I would like one saying "OUR EXISTENCE IS RESISTANCE", please...

    Colour... right now i'm thinking light green on black. Not really bothered about font, as long as it's a readable one. Whatever the default font of this blog is would do...

    I'll link to this one as well...

    ReplyDelete
  50. Bev,
    Thanks for doing this! I don't have a font or color preference. Depending on how much room you have I'd like my brick to say, "Sympathy does not equal Empathy" or "Autistics encounter enough walls, why add another?"

    ReplyDelete
  51. How about:
    Autism speaks...for itself. It's time we listened.

    ReplyDelete