Malachy Window Art: The Great Peace Pumpkin

Happy Halloween 2007/2008! update:

Looks from the blog stats like some people are coming here by looking up pumpkins and window art. So, for what it is worth, I think I will tell you what you may have been looking for. I went to the paint store and learned that the best way to do this is with tempera paint. It takes soap and water and some elbow grease to get off, but it worked well. My first idea of bathtub crayons was not a great idea. Wipeable markers were slightly adequate, but, messy, and less vibrant, and took a long time to cover the surface. – Kimberly Wilder

Back to the post from the campaign:

Here is my latest “Cultural Workers for Malachy” project. I created a huge, window art display to celebrate Malachy, the Green Party and Halloween.

I also had an idea. Let’s have a contest–well more of a motivational game and a creative challenge. Long Island for Malachy/Cultural Workers for Malachy will accept submissions until Election Day of art, music, poetry, or whatever, from any cultural worker who supports Malachy. We will post the best ideas here and at the Cultural Workers for Malachy site. And, we will give one winner a free t-shirt from the LI for Malachy shop! (You can pick, but isn’t the neon Cultural Workers design cool?)

About Charles Schulz, my window art, and Linus: It was so fun to create this window display. I have been discouraged that since I live in a co-op apartment, we are not allowed to plant a lawn sign. At least I had my window to decorate.

The most fun I had was mixing the orange paint, and realizing that an orange peace sign would look something like a pumpkin. Hence, The Great Peace Pumpkin. (I had wanted a little whimsy on my window.)

I will admit, I was the kind of kid who stayed up for Santa until I was 12 years old. And, while I never actually believed in The Great Pumpkin, the story did really resonate for me. I found it to be so beautiful and magical. I could be Linus. I believe in miracles.

Hey, I’m not a kid anymore, but I can still believe that people all around New York, will paint Great Peace Pumpkins on their windows and walls.

Hope you have a Happy Halloween, and create some awesome art to spread the word about Malachy and the Green Party. And, maybe, just maybe you will find time to stop and meditate at The Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch.

 

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Why Vote Green Party?

The only way for the Green Party to be  able to run  hundreds of peace candidates in New York next year, is to get 50,000 votes for our governor candidate, Malachy McCourt, this year. 50,000 votes for Malachy will give the Green Party an automatic ballot line, which levels the playing field for Greens, so they can get on the ballot as easily as Democrats and Republicans. This will allow the Green Party to run candidates in your town, in your State Assembly District, in your Congressional District.

In New York state, this opportunity only comes around once every four years…And it is only the governor’s race that matters for regaining the ballot line.

Please, vote for Malachy McCourt for Governor.

Help build the Green Party.

Why We Need You

The Democrats and Republicans both take money from corporations. Corporations are who is beating the drumbeat for war. Corporate donations and corporate lobbyists make your voice count less and less to your elected officials. 

Green Party candidates do not accept corporate contributions.

(Since the Green Party does not take corporate contributions, we cannot depend on buying our way to ballot success. That’s why we need your help to get out the vote. See 5 Things You Can Do below.)

Why is the Green Party 

called America’s Peace Party?

The Green Party is America’s Peace Party. It’s time for the rank and file of America’s Peace Movement to come home to America’s Peace Party. That’s why local peace activists like Bill McNulty are supporting Malachy McCourt for Governor. (In fact, Bill has just become a Green Party of NY State Committeeman.) That’s why Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan has called for NYers who support peace to support Green Party Governor candidate Malachy McCourt. Cindy Sheehan says:

“I am supporting Malachy McCourt…He is a man of courage, integrity, he’s a dear friend of mine. I believe the people of NY want peace. I do a lot of work here, everywhere I go, people are energized for peace. And, people really are tired of the same party politics as usual.”

Author/actor Malachy McCourt is the Green Party candidate for Governor. Both Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer and Republican candidate John Faso support the Iraq War. Both Spitzer and Faso support the death penalty. The Green Party is proud to offer New Yorkers a progressive choice on the ballot. McCourt has spoken out loudly against the death penalty. And McCourt’s campaign calls for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq:

Every dollar we send to Washington supports this war, so we must find ways to not send money to Washington. Our State Legislature must condemn this war. And we must condemn war as a way of solving problems.

In 2004 , the Green Party ran War Resisters League Co-Secretary David McReynolds for US Senate. McReynolds has called for New Yorkers to vote for Governor candidate Malachy McCourt and Green Party US Senate candidate Howie Hawkins.

5 things you can do

1. Vote for our Green Party Governor candidate, Malachy McCourt. Election day is Tuesday, November 7, 2006. Make sure you make time to vote. Without your vote we will never reach 50,000 votes in the governor’s race. Malachy McCourt will be on Row F. (In Long Island and upstate, that means Column 1, Row F. The New York City ballot is formatted somewhat differently. Though, you still look for the Sunflower ballot symbol and “F”)

2. Each One — Reach One. Get one person who was not planning on voting for Malachy McCourt for Governor to do so. Explain to her how her vote has singular significance in the governor’s race by granting the Green Party ballot status. Explain that with 37,000 enrolled Greens in NYS, if each one just gets 1 additional person to vote Green we will safely have 50,000. Offer your friend a ride to the polls if necessary.

3. Call, send a letter, or write to at least four other friends or family members explaining to them the importance of voting for Malachy McCourt for Governor.

A talking point and words of wisdom from a green activist and yoga teacher who ran for NY State Senate: “Realize your importance, vote Green Party.”

4. Share Malachy for Governor literature. Please come by our home any time to take literature off the door. Or, call to make arrangements. You can also make your own literature or download some to copy here. Walk around and flier at rallies, meetings, and marches and/or drop a handful at your local coffeehouse, laundromat or library. Be creative!

5. Donate to Long Island for Malachy! You can donate by mail to:

Long Island for Malachy
c/o Ian Wilder, Treasurer
11 Edmunton Drive, #E6
North Babylon, NY 11703

Or, donate online here.

We have paid for and distributed Malachy signs placed on lawns across Suffolk and Nassau. We have made and distributed 1000’s of pieces of palmcards, and, with recent donations, we have just ordered some Why Vote Green/Malachy trifolds. We have designed and distributed bumper stickers, buttons, and magnets. We need your support to finish this work. Some green volunteers have volunteered to leaflet at train stations. And, the more funds we raise, the more literature we can all share.

Vote Green Party

for Proportional Representation

In the best of all possible worlds, there would not even be a reason to think that you had to choose the “lesser of two evils.” In other countries, they have parliamentary systems and other formulas that allow minor parties and diverse voices to be heard.

If we had some form of IRV – Instant Runoff Voting – or if we had Proportional Representation, then in every election, people’s votes would matter more, even if they did not pick the winner as their first choice.  John Cleese explains Proportional Representation.

Creating a more proportional voting system is in the Green platform.

Until then, VOTE GREEN PARTY to support Proportional Representation, Grassroots Democracy, and other Electoral Reforms.

One last thought from Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan:

We will never have a viable third party, though, as long as we vote out of fear and not out of integrity. Instead of voting for the “lesser of two evils” we should be voting for a candidate that reflects our “beatitudes” and not the war machine’s.

Other Writings on going Green:

• Greenwave by Patricia Goldsmith
• My Green Manifesto by Matt Gonzalez
• The Biggest Media Sin by Sam Smith

   

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