PEACE BY PIECE

As students in the heart of downtown Manhattan, the events on September 2001 devastated and shocked us firsthand.    We can commiserate with those affected by historical precedents for civilian casualties, and through Professor Sunari's class, we became fully aware of Hiroshima and the atomic bomb of 1945.   Professor Sunari originally wanted to guide his students in the understanding of war,   but more than that, he wanted students to become empowered to use art as a way to engage politically in the quest for peace in relation to the world outside of the university.  

The class may be over, but us students, with the continued guidance of Professor Sunari, have been on a mission to carry the young, American voice to Hiroshima.   We plan to travel to Japan and learn what could not be learned here in the states: the stories of the survivors and the impact on the city community.   But even before that, we hope to expand our consciousness and raise awareness, here at home, of nuclear weapons, the callousness of war, and peace as it presently and futurely exists.    We want to exchange ideas with other Americans on these topics--all of them so relative to today's politics--to bring them, in addition to our folded crane offering.   We hope through the meditative process of origami crane folding, that you can learn from us a whisper of patience and understanding for you to bring to the world.