Continuing the theme of applying strategic imagery to promote community activism, I recount my own experience conjuring a picture to concentrate focus on a deserving cause. Public forums often impose strict time limits on speakers. Such constraints demand that speakers resourcefully manage time, as in the case of a public hearing with an open microphone format that limits speakers to two-minute statements. For More Information on The Magic Museum Book, visit – http://www.isaacsonseries.com/

1. Crafting a Snapshot Image to Promote Community Activism
Continuing the theme of applying strategic imagery to promote
community activism, I recount my own experience conjuring a
picture to concentrate focus on a deserving cause.
Public forums often impose strict time limits on speakers. Such
constraints demand that speakers resourcefully manage time, as in
the case of a public hearing with an open microphone format that
limits speakers to two-minute statements.
In such a circumstance, I planned a two-minute speech before a park
commission considering levying a $7.00 admission fee to a botanical
garden, a 40-acre urban oasis of exotic gardens and tranquil woods,
all free of car traffic. This bucolic retreat is a haven for local
residents. I feared that the imposition of an admission fee would
deny many city residents access to their treasured refuge.
But this public forum posed a communication challenge. How can
one significantly affect public policy when allotted only a two-minute
statement?

2. Speaking against the proposed admission fee, I focused my speech
on the daily activity surrounding a simple park bench that
commanded a magnificent view of the gardens. This anchoring
image was viewed through the chronology of a typical day, an
account of the visitors who regularly used this bench to relax, read,
talk, and enjoy the serenity.
I opened my presentation by asking, “What would a still camera
focused on a single bench for an entire day reveal about visitors to
the botanical gardens?” I then guided the board members through a
daily chronology. Here follow a few excerpts:

3. Hearing the garden gates scrap open at 8:00 AM, a gaggle of geese
scurry across the lawn to greet their fair lady who sits regally upon
the bench. To the outside world this monarch of the gardens is a bag
lady. But within her plastic garbage bag of worldly possessions she
carries a loaf of bread, her daily offering for her feathered subjects…
At 9:00, Mrs. Jenkins, a retired elementary school teacher, who still
tutors 5th
and 6th
graders every week, sits on the bench and opens
her novel. She will read for an hour, every few minutes stopping to
admire the grove of plum trees in spring blossom…
At noon, a harried young mother claims the bench. Here she can
allow her 9-month old twins to crawl about with no worry of car
traffic. How she treasures this daily hour of calm…
The day’s chronology of the park bench continues with a procession
of eclectic occupants, like the four elderly men holding stemming
cups of tea, speaking animatedly in Russian, debating politics and
recalling boyhood memories.
Completing my chronology of this simple scene, I concluded with
the following:
Let’s fast forward by six months our view of the bench, after the
admission fee you are considering today has been imposed. The
Russian quartet, the young mother, Mrs. Jenkins, and the patroness
of geese, are all absent. These once faithful garden regular do not
know each other and will not gather to collectively march with
placards protesting the admission charge. Today I just wish, through
a simple image, to tell a story of how a precious retreat would be
taken from them.
The proposal for the admission fee was defeated.

4. About the Author
The Magic Museum, The Isaacson Series in Youth Literature -
An enchanting children's book that tells the story of a 12-year
old skateboarder (Jack) and a ballerina (Jacqueline) who
whispers to him from an Edgar Degas painting in a fine arts
museum. A wonderful way for parents to introduce fine art
and engage children (ages 8 to 12 years old) in the art of
visual storytelling and imagination. For More Information on
The Magic Museum Book, visit –
http://www.isaacsonseries.com/
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