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A Good Thing to Do

Posters in Manhattan.

Some people I know have 953 unique 11"x14" posters of dead U.S. soldiers, one soldier per poster. At the bottom of the photo is a name, and a fact about the soldier. They're going to put the posters up in stores, or where the movie posters usually go, so that Republicans and protesters alike can see them. This is the Not Just a Statistic project.

I shuffled through a stack of 300 posters today, going through the faces. Most of the soldiers were younger than I am. Not the Abu Ghraib reservists pointing at the naked piles of Iraqis, but guys next door—Paul Ray had a star named after him. Chad Eric was the life of the party. Jose Antonio Gutierrez came to America on foot. Eric Bruce had milk-chugging contests with his brother Jared. They were just people. A lot of them loved to fish.

The basic idea is that this war should be over now, and the soldiers should continue to live on both sides. What the organizers need are people to help put up posters in the city, between now and until the convention ends. If you want to help, drop me a line, ford@ftrain.com. I'll tell you where to go to get some posters. You need to be able to handle a roll of tape and possibly some wheatpaste. You should be at least 11 inches tall.

Please do not write me to debate the merits of this war.


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Ftrain.com is the website of Paul Ford and his pseudonyms. It is showing its age. I'm rewriting the code but it's taking some time.

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About the author: I've been running this website from 1997. For a living I write stories and essays, program computers, edit things, and help people launch online publications. (LinkedIn). I wrote a novel. I was an editor at Harper's Magazine for five years; then I was a Contributing Editor; now I am a free agent. I was also on NPR's All Things Considered for a while. I still write for The Morning News, and some other places.

If you have any questions for me, I am very accessible by email. You can email me at ford@ftrain.com and ask me things and I will try to answer. Especially if you want to clarify something or write something critical. I am glad to clarify things so that you can disagree more effectively.

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