Students share awareness project
''It was one of those things you never forget," Kelly Quinn said of seeing ''The Clothesline Project: Breaking Silence Against the Abuse of Women" at Medfield High School when she was a freshman. ''The display is so simple in some respects, yet its message is enormous."
Now Quinn and Lyndsay Church, both seniors at Medfield High, have helped bring the project -- a display of T-shirts dedicated to victims of sexual abuse and assault -- back to the school this week, to commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
On Wednesday, during free periods, students will have the opportunity to make a shirt for themselves or a friend or relative who has survived abuse or to honor someone they know who has died as a result of assault or domestic violence, said Quinn, who plans to study social work at college.
On Thursday, the project will be displayed in the school library, and the public is invited to view the shirts. Several members of the community will be on hand to provide resources and answer questions, including school nurse Mary Patch; wellness teacher and personal safety instructor Kathy Brophy; Youth Outreach Worker Dawn Alcott; Linda Stanley, a counselor from Wayside Trauma Intervention Services; and Medfield Police Officer Lorona Fabbo, a rape aggression defense instructor.
Quinn and Church have also sold pins to benefit Wayside Services; made and displayed posters bearing statistics on rape, incest, domestic violence, and related crimes; and assembled a bulletin board featuring quotes from abuse survivors and listing resources for getting help.
''We all hope that this project will be more than a display, but rather a catalyst for change in the community, both local and global," Quinn said.
PARK AND RIDE -- Charlie Hamilton of Bolton is living out his fantasy. And while he does it, he may be helping someone else's dreams of health come true.
On March 31, Hamilton, 40, embarked on his bicyle with the goal of visiting every Major League Baseball park by the end of the summer.
While completing the 11,000-mile ride, he hopes to raise at least $125,000 for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the cycling organization that raises money for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through its Jimmy Fund.
Hamilton had no prior connection with cancer until a good friend was recently diagnosed with the disease.
The quality of care his friend received from Dana-Farber was yet another reason why he chose the PMC as his charity.
Hamilton left home with a tent, sleeping bag, mattress pad, clothes, laptop, camera, and tools and replacement parts for his bike, as well as the blessings of his wife, Molly, who encouraged her husband to take time off from his job and family to live out his dream ride.
Those interested in donating money to the PMC on Hamilton's behalf can visit www.hitforthecycle.org.
ART TO ART -- Suzanne Stumpf of Natick has earned a reputation over the years from her work as a flutist, co-artist director of Musicians of the Old Post Road, and as a member of the Wellesley College faculty.
But recently Stumpf has been making a name for herself in another artistic medium -- ceramics. Though she began working in clay just five years ago, she recently had work selected for three national and regional exhibits: the Vitrified Clay National in Rockport, Texas; the State of Clay, sponsored by the Lexington Society for Arts and Crafts, opening May 2; and the Cambridge Art Association's National Prize Art Show, opening May 6. Stumpf was also asked to show six dinner plates at the 2004 Strictly Functional Pottery National in Lancaster, Pa., April 23 through May 31.
Stumpf likens the lines and forms of her ceramic pieces to musical phrases. But there are differences as well.
''Music is a temporal art -- the moments of creation are in the live concert. [But with] ceramics, the object is still there after you're done creating it." The permanence of three-dimensional art is both exciting and frightening, she added.
BLING FLING -- Over a year ago, Watertown's Michelle Stewart launched her Inner Bling website (www.InnerBling.com) to promote the sparkle within ourselves, as opposed to the bling-bling we buy to show off on the outside.
Stewart's intention was to sell T-shirts and bumper stickers with Inner Bling messages like ''Shine within" and ''Show your soul, not your stuff," and once the business got off the ground she would donate a portion of online sales to nonprofit causes that complement the Inner Bling message.
Now, with Inner Bling hearing ka-ching, ka-ching, Stewart is entering into charitable relationships with several organizations, promising 10 percent of online sales to Media Education Foundation (www.mediaed.org, based in Northampton); Americans for the Arts (www.americansforthearts.org); Tolerance.org (www.tolerance.org); and Project Think Different (www.projectthinkdifferent.org).
Stewart will celebrate her new business relationships by giving 25 percent of her profits from sales at Ladies Night 2 -- a fashion show and sale featuring pop-inspired creations by area women -- to Project: Think Different.
Stewart chose Jamaica Plain-based PTD because the organization works locally to ''create, develop, and amplify new messages using music, film, and video to inspire positive change and remake popular culture," she said.
''Ladies Night 2" will take place at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, 85 West Newton Street in Boston's South End from 7 to 10 p.m.
For more information, contact Honah Lee Milne at 617-697-7405 (thehonahlee@hotmail.com) .
Cate Coulacos Prato can be reached at prato@globe.com.
