It was a very Good Friday at Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action as people came together to continue our work for a peaceful world free of the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Tracy Powell, one of the founders of No More Bombs, installed a Peace Dove sculpture at Ground Zero Center. Tracy hand carved the dove out of Indiana Limestone; it is 15″ x 20″ x 17″, and weighs at least 150 lbs. The Peace Dove is a gift from Tracy to Ground Zero Center and the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda.
Indiana limestone, like all limestone, is a rock primarily formed of calcium carbonate. It was deposited over millions of years as marine fossils decomposed at the bottom of a shallow inland sea which covered most of the present-day Midwestern United States during the Mississippian Period. Tracy noted that this is the same stone that Lieutenant General Lesley Groves (who directed the Manhattan Project) used to build the pentagon.
Tracy created the Dove Project, in which he carves stone doves and sells them to raise contributions for peace and disarmament organizations, like ours.
Ground Zero’s Glen Milner said of the installation that, “Today was a most magical day at Ground Zero… No words can describe the joy of the moment on this day and the lasting gift of the Peace Dove.”
Not long after completing the installation of the Peace Dove on a prominent boulder, Tracy and Bud Anderson (also of No More Bombs) had to leave because they were bannering at 3 pm in Mount Vernon over Interstate 5. A peace activist’s work is never done!
You can learn more about Tracy’s beautiful work at Powell Studios and Stonebard.
Click here to see photos of the day (and two short video clips).
Craig Jacobrown who is working on the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda at Ground Zero Center, was also present on Friday. Craig is a well-known artist and activist in the Puget Sound region who will be giving his time and resources to sculpt four exterior panels for the Peace Pagoda.
Craig has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover costs, and for expensive and high-quality materials required for the project. He hopes to build the panels from cement polymers or from bronze if possible. Craig said his goal [in setting up the GoFundMe page] “…is to reach as many people as possible with the invitation to participate in the crowdfunding and understand that their contributions can have a great impact on the power of our design as well as the ultimate significance of the destination [Peace Pagoda].”
You can see examples of Craig’s work at his website as well as his blog.
Peter Metz with Massachusetts Peace Action and co-chair of the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons Within the Decade subcommittee of the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group arrived to speak with us near the end of the day. You can read Peter’s article, How to get rid of Nuclear Weapons in the Boston Globe.
Along with these Good Friday events, Ground Zero members had a productive Stewardship Council meeting, and at least six Ground Zero members went to the Main Gate at Bangor for a Good Friday/Lenten prayer vigil. Members of Pax Christi Northwest have been holding weekly prayer vigils at the Bangor Trident base throughout the Lenten season.
Editor’s Note: Photos by Glen Milner
