Thursday, April 19, 2007

They are not just paperclips -

In 1998, a small town in the hills of Tennessee started on a journey to learn about the Holocaust. What they ended up with inspired the world.

On Sunday, April 8th, I was invited to hear a talk at my synagogue with David Smith, the Assistant Principal of the Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee. His talk was about the journey of collecting over 26 millon paperclips to remember the Holocaust. The story was made into an award winning documentary called Paper Clips.

This was an amazing story of a small rural town where a small school project grew into a worldwide campaign to create awareness remember the holocaust.

How did a town where there were no Jewish people, 100 miles from where the Ku Klux Klan was founded, no knowledge of the holocaust, become a worldwide inspiration and experts on the subject. David Smith told our group he attended an education conference in Colorado. One of the things he learned was how to bring a program to educate students on the holocaust back to his town. He understood that being in a poor rural town which is less than 100 miles from where the Ku Klux Clan was founded he would need to include the parents too.

An after school class was given on the holocaust and the parent's of the students needed to attend also. Over time they met and discussed the topic. At one point in the discussion, a student said he could not imagine what six million looked like.
They studied how Norwegian's would put a paperclip on their lapel during WWII to remember the Jewish people they knew who were taken away by the Nazis.

So, the students decided they would collect six million paperclips. Most people including teachers might have discouraged this as "chasing a dream". So they decided to start collecting..Initially they spent time collecting and received around 300,000 paperclips in the first year. They realized it might take them a lifetime to collect 6 million. All of a sudden, a reporter from a major newspaper came to do a story on the school and the story was picked up in Newspaper and press around the country. One day during spring break, the assistant principal, got a call from the post office and told him he better bring a truck to get the mail. There were over 16 cartons of mail from around the world. This continued every day for months. Eventually, the school collect over 26 millon paperclips.

They needed a place to show ro store the paperclips and they sought out an actual "rail car" from Germany. This again was an adventure to optain the rail car and it finally made its way to Whitwell, TN, where today it has become a holocaust museum.
It is now about eight years since the start of the project. The students, who never had a chance to travel or go to college are not asked to fly to various events around the world.

More projects were inspired around the US and around the world and a second documentary movie is in the works on these.

I have told David Smith, that I would help him with some of the technology I work with as part of my eWarrior and to help bring Toastmasters to his school and town.

Leatherheads - Day 4 Fan in the Stands

Arrived on the set at 6:30 for the wardrobe and makeup...yesterday a winter scarf was added to my wardrobe. Every day, I had my hair done and then before I can leave one of the makeup directors checks my face and tells me to "shave closer". There is a table with 3 electric razors. I was told in the 1920's era men shaved close.

Each day I am more impressed with the level of detail that goes into this film to keep it authentic to the 1920's. There is an incredible team of wardrobe people that are on the set each day making sure every single outfit on the extras is authentic an being worn correctly.

One of the things we have to do is "hike up our pants" as men back then had their socks showing and the pants had no breaks in it. The woman on set have the most gorgeous hats...A hat seems to be a very common item for adults and kids in that era.

In the morning we went out to the stadium and sat in the stands as the directors wanted to get audience reaction shots. As one of the production assistants ran up and down the field we practiced our cheers and boos. We also just sat there an looked bored and then restless. I could relate well to this scene as I envisioned being at a Carolina Panthers game (I am a rabid fan..part Panther fan, part NY giant fan)...so I know how o cheer and boo! and act bored.

Across the field another director and team was filming a scene with Renee Zellweger. All I can say is "She has a good set of lungs".

Later we completed that and I ended up in some shots as a sideline reporter again. We then broke for lunch late today.

In the afternoon, we basically stayed in the holding area. We spent time talking, reading playing cards and waiting to go back out. I signed up to continue as an extra for future shoots after Monday in some other cities such as Winston Salem and Statesville.

Also today a photographer came to "digitize" some of the extras. I lined up in front of a screen while having my arms outstreteched slightly. The photrograper too my picture facing directly at him. The turned us to each side adn took a picture. This digitized version of me may end up in the film (although I am cluesless to what level of detail.

I also want to note today that there are definitely interesting people as extras. I met a woman who runs a company related to Monarch Butterflies, a historian and antique collector, a sports anchorman who does voiceovers,. , and we also killed time with some amateur comedy and singing.

Some musicians came to try out for another scene in the movie and one of the extras did a great job singing some 1950's tune while they played.

We had a nice surprise of a relatively early release today as it started to rain late in the day. As we were waiting for our shuttle bus to take us to our cars, George Clooney walked past looking glad to be done with another day of filming. Some young kids from the movie tried to chase him down before he made it to his trailer.


Off to bed -- 11 pm here. ...have to be on set at 6:30 am again. This continues to be an amazing experience.

Leatherheads - Day 4 Fan in the Stands

Arrived on the set at 6:30 for the wardrobe and makeup...yesterday a winter scarf was added to my wardrobe. Every day, I had my ahir done and then was told to "shave closer". Thre is a table with 3 electric razors. I was told in the 1920's era men shaved close.

Each day I am more impressed with the level of detail that goes into this film to keep it authentic to the 1920's. There is an incredible team of wardrobe people that are on the set each day making sure every single outfit on the extras is authentic an being worn correctly.

One of the things we have to do is "hike up our pants" as men back then had their socks showing and the pants had no breaks in it. The woman on set have the most gorgeous hats...A hat seems to be a very common item for adults and kids in that era.

In the morning we went out to the stadium and sat in the stands as the directors wanted to get audience reaction shots. As one of the production assistants ran up and down the field we practiced our cheers and boos. We also just sat there an looked bored and then restless. I could relate well to this scene as I envisioned being at a Carolina Panthers game (I am a rabid fan..part Panther fan, part NY giant fan)...so I know how o cheer and boo! and act bored.

Across the field another director and team was filming a scene with Renee Zellweger. All I can say is "She has a good set of lungs".

Later we completed that and I ended up in some shots as a sideline reporter again. We then broke for lunch late today.

In the afternoon, we basically stayed in the holding area. We spent time talking, reading playing cards and waiting to go back out. I signed up to continue as an extra for future shoots after Monday in some other cities such as Winston Salem and Statesville.

Also today a photographer came to "digitize" some of the extras. I lined up in front of a screen while having my arms outstretech slightly. The photrograper too my picture facing directly at him. The turned us to each side adn took a picture. This digitized version of me may end up in the film (although I am cluesless to what level of detail.

I also want to note today that there are definitely interesting people as extras. I met a woman who runs a company related to Monarch Butterflies, a historian and antique collector, a sports anchorman, a few computer programmers, and we also killed time with some amateur comedy and singing.

Some musicians came to try out for another scene in the movie and one of the extras did a great job singing some 1950's tune while they played.

We had a nice surprise of a relatively early release today as it started to rain late in the day. Off to bed -- 11 pm here. ...have to be on set at 6:30 am again.