Hello Sarah -

So I got an idea, and I want your feedback.

I made this September 11th flipbook of a plane flying into World Trade Center and exploding. I found the original video footage on the web, downloaded it, and made it into a nice little hand held piece. This artwork is seriously loaded with so much baggage; I've been a bit hesitant to release it on a major scale. (Aside note, I made a Sept 11th video game in college and almost got beat up during the critique.) I hope to make super-charged work that gets people pumped up, but I don't want be a shock artist with nothing to back it up. Sooooo.... my big idea is..... Instead of selling the flipbooks on my website like the rest of merchandise, I would offer the Sept 11th flipbooks for trade only. There is a big catch here. I want people to write a short paragraph explaining why they want the Sept 11th flipbook. I would set a minimum word count and of course I could reject any I don't like, ask them to do it over or explain themselves better.

I have got so many different reasons for doing this piece. First and foremost I feel the need to comment on the biggest and most fucked up event that has happened in my life. But it doesn't end there. I ask myself "How can I make good art about a bad thing" Sepetember 11th is sooo big and soooo BAD, anything that comes in contact with it gets infected with terrorist's cooties.

This is not just any email.... It is a September 11th email.

We can't run from our memories, not matter how bad the memory is. I believe there is good in everything, and I know from experience that the "good" can be hard to find in certain situations. Everyone has different limits and boundaries. It is impossible to see how everything is connected, but I have real faith that we are all one.

Another reason I have for making the Sept 11th flipbook is to take the terrorist attack and make it something fun. Like a kids toy, easy to operate, no instructions, colorful and small size. My mother owns a day care with about 200 children. All those kids have been a big influence in my life. So what do children have to do with September 11th. That is my question exactly. Kids and Sept 11 don't mix. But you can't keep all children in a vacuum until they are 18. I still imagine all those children watching TV on Sept 11th, the slow motion video replay of the terror of and over again. Why, why, why, why? Why not a flipbook?

I also think a lot about all those TV stations that made money during Sept 11th by squeezing in commercial advertisements between all the IMPORTANT NEWS UPDATES. They where just doing their job that day like every other day. I really hate that excuse "just doing their job". I can't help think that the hijackers where also just doing their job on that day.

Finally GREED and MONEY. I had a genuine eureka moment when I came up with trading the flipbooks for writing. But I still question the purity of my motives to mass produce an item connected with so much death and destruction. Even though I'm NOT going to sell my flipbooks for money, I can't help feeling a little cheap, but not as cheap as all the "Never Forget 9/11" t-shirts and keychains I've seen. I can't help myself and I am OK with that.

It all makes me feel a little bit whacky, and at the same time comforting to be dealing with this openly. I think about how in the terrorists mind and heart, they must have felt pure and passionate about what they where doing. I will admit that what they did inspired me. Is it wrong to feel that way?

I already had a short day dream of Osama flipping though my art and laughing in a cave.

wow. ok that's enough, thanks for reading this ramble. I enjoyed writing to you.

Later.
Scott