Blank Noise update

[Blank Noise Project]
March 8: Blank Noise Action Heroes-Call for Submissions

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 6:39:01 AM
From: jasmeen patheja

Hello,

Last year just before March 8, International Women's Day,
Blank Noise set up a blog-a-thon , linking all of you and
many other readers not on our mailing list, to each other
through a particularly sensitive and private subject -
the re-telling of experiences of street sexual harassment.
We thought the solidarity in numbers, the anonymity the
Internet offers and the significance of the day itself might
allow some people to tell stories they had never told before.
We expected some thoughtful stories, some provocative ones,
some that would disturb and stay with us, perhaps forever.

But we did not expect over 240 deeply personal testimonials
to come rushing out. We did not expect 131 comments on a
single post. We did not expect the media to pick it up the way
they did, with coverage ranging from regional to international.

This March 8, we're hoping to take the journey begun last year
one step forward. We've heard each other's testimonials, now
let's share each other's actions. On March 8, 2007, Blank Noise
launches an Action Heroes website, which collects no 'victim'
testimonials, no stories of bit-back hurt, no stories of
indifferent onlookers.

This archives and builds your testimonials of a situation where
you emerged as the hero! This space will launch with the
stories of action plans. Give us your strategies.
Your interventions. The time when you subverted a situation,
flipped it on its head and gave the 'perpetrator' no chance but
to stop what he was doing. Give us your success story. Tell us
which action hero you are. We will post strategies and
interventions from eight countries up on our brand new
space on International Women's Day.

We're also looking for volunteers to help on this project:

Please email us if you can think you can help out: this is a
two-month project only and we could do with all hands on
board! Especially with reaching out to people who might not be
on the Internet or able to write....

We will have lots more details for you when you email
blurtblanknoise@gmail.com , the words
"march 8 volunteer" in the subject line.

And of course, start writing straight away!**

Hope to hear back soon!
The Blank Noise team
--
BLANK NOISE PROJECT

Ph:+ 91 98734 85284 (In Delhi)

+ 91 98868 40612 (Bangalore)

www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

RELATED :
Holla Back California

**A sample piece along with guidelines
is available in PDF format
e-mail: frdmilltx (at) yahoo (dot) com

Blank Noise : An Update

Hello!
Here's a quick update on the Blank Noise front!
1. We at Blank Noise are working on the blog and trying
to clean it up so that a first time visitor can easily
figure us out!

Your suggestions are welcome! If any of you with technical/
conceptual inputs would like to volunteer,
email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

2. Amongst the last few posts has been the latest of our
online projects. called 'Tales of Love and Lust'. We asked
you to contribute things you have been called on the street
and have begun to compile a 'dictionary' of eve-teasing,
that defines what we are not. The first set out is a list of
food names in the form of poster charts. They will be
translated in the local language and plastered around the
streets of your city. If you would like to get this going by
volunteering to :
1. translate the text
2. organize printing ( figure out local printers/ cost/form a team/
delegate tasks/ locations for posters)
3. fund the campaign
4. post production/dissemnation paste posters, or organize-
email us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

Coming up is a list of 'things'/ 'statements'/ descriptors
sent by all of you in response to tales of love and lust.

3. Ratna Apnender and Hemangini Gupta both members
of Blank Noise core team began something they've been
hoping to do for a while - critically question some of
Blank Noise's assumptions and examine the implications
of strategies. for instance, how is our perception of
harassment biased by the class and background of the
people involved? can approaching the police cause more
harm than good? is a good response to harassment one
that adopts the same attitude and language of the
perpetrator in a give-back-as- good-as-you-get kind
of way?
Questions, thoughts and niggling doubts - they're all within
the last few posts and were specifically intended to get
us to talk about things that might have been bothering
many of us on these reader lists or who are volunteers.

Do drop by and add to the debate on
www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com thanks!

Hemangini

BLANK NOISE
mob : 0049 152059 13339
WWW.BLANKNOISEPROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

JAN 28: ACTION HEROES BANGALORE

Virtual Poona Blogger is pleased to support
the work of The Blank Noise Project including
the upcoming Jan 28th call for Action Heroes
as outlined by Jasmeen Patheja :

Here's another one! One more action,
one more time!
"Who we are, where we go, what we wear, how
we sit, stand, talk, walk in our very own cities.
Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around,
hang around, without looking 'available.' "

Blank Noise Bangalore calls for Action Heroes
to intervene on the streets of Bangalore. An action
hero's reaction is not an emotional
outburst, but in fact a strategy/a plan/a choreography.
An Action Hero knows how to judge a situation.
An Action Hero chooses to confront or not to
confront, but at no point ignores/ avoids the
problem. Are you one?
Would you like to be an ACTION HERO?
Blank Noise Project Bangalore calls for women/
girls/ ladies/ of all ages, languages, colour, and
shape to be participate in a street intervention on
Sunday January 28th.
Venue: Brigade Road. By participating you will
be celebrated as a BNP Action Hero.

We guarantee that this action won't ask you to be
acrobatic, but to be yourself, and experience the
site you act upon transform. Be the stimuli, be an
action hero.

Confirm /ask us questions at 98868 40612.
This street intervention will be approximately
1.5 hours ( 5 - 6 30 pm)
The group meets at sharp 4 pm at 'ganja park'
off brigade road on rest house road. PLEASE TRY
AND MAKE IT ON TIME/ EVENT DETAILS AND
THE POA WILL BE DISCUSSED. it is futile to repeat
it over and over again for those who dont make
it on time.

To sign up mail us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com,
subject titled ACTION HERO, BANGALORE.
Any one can volunteer to work behind the scenes/
run around and get this going! Last week was
handled by Yamini Deen, Soumya Shekhar and
also Sanjana.

Looking forward to plenty of action! Let's get this going!

Thankyou!

The Blank Noise Team

( further details will be given to those who sign up).
--
BLANK NOISE PROJECT

Ph:+ 91 98734 85284 (In Delhi)

+ 91 98868 40612 (Bangalore)

www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

Blank Noise : Please Ask

A recent post on the Blank Nose Project Blog says:
'With this blog post, we want to open space for dialogue. If you have a question
for Blank Noise, or even an area of doubt send it in right away. Your questions
could be simple- but we must feel challenged to answer. For the first time, we are
screaming out loud- QUESTION ME

Send in your rarely asked burning questions about Blank Noise to us at
blurtblanknoise@gmail.com......'

Take the time to read the Comments section and to post your question.
See how far they've come in their quest to end street harassment and violence
against women. Show some support and give them respect.

Spread the word. I'm trying to.

See all Virtual Poona posts about Blank Noise here

BLANK NOISE: What Did You Call Me ?

This is for the over-18 crowd !

Below is the latest message received from

The Blank Noise Project, currently involved in compiling
a list of reader- submitted derogatory, sexist names that
are used to describe them. All submissions are welcome
and uncensored.




"Hello!

Over 70 people participated !

Thank you for creating the list of food names you have been
called by unknown people in public. You can view the list of
presented in the form of ' word image meaning revision chart'
here

We propose to keep building this list as a part of our
" Tales of Street Love and Lust"- an archive of street
comments/ gestures/behaviour that will be disseminated in
public as information about street sexual harassment.

Keep sending them in! ( blurtblanknoise@gmail.com/
subject titled 'excuse me') You can print these posters and
put them up in your streets/locality/bus stops. To make them in
your local language- email us and let's translate it together!
We look forward to hearing from you

Thank you,

Blank Noise Team "

BLANK NOISE mob : 0049 152059 13339
WWW.BLANKNOISEPROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

POWA and Blank Noise Think Alike

An interesting Ad image for People Opposed to Woman Abuse (POWA) that I
came across while checking the RSS feed for Scary Ideas, website that
tracks unusual media files. (See warning below)

This one



brings to mind my friends at the Blank Noise Project in India,
who bravely fight the daily fight against Violence and Sexual Harassment
of Women in their communities. Notice how in India their call to action by
subtle (Blank Noise) methods parallels the one in South Africa, a country
that's thousands of miles away. Yes, it's a ongoing, worldwide problem
since time immemorial and they need your help in spreading the word that
it's downright wrong, immoral, disrespectful, hateful, demoralizing, immature
and plain stupid.

Be Warned : Scary Ideas can be scary as it contains images that
some may consider offensive or NSFW !

See all Virtual Poona posts labeled Blank Noise

Silence - from Blank Noise Project

Jasmeen from the Blank Noise Project said :
Nupur Mathur participated in Blank Noise in 2003,
when the project had just started. She along with eight
other students of Srishti School of Art Design and
Technology were participants of workshops I facilitated
over 3 months. At that time I was graduating and Nupur
was in her first year.


Read the story of the film here :
BLANK NOISE PROJECT:
Silence- short film by Nupur Mathur

Blank Noise Blogathon in March

Jasmeen of India's Blank Noise Project says :

Hello!

Last March 8 (Women's Day), we had a blog-a-thon that asked
you to blog stories of street sexual harassment. It began with an
announcement on this blog that was picked up by bloggers across
India, and soon in different parts of the world. We shared stories we
had never shared before, sometimes stories we thought we had long
forgotten, stories that we had often wanted to bury. We read each other,
we linked to each other and we linked back to the Blank Noise Project
blog. We were touched by each other's stories, moved by them, and,
we like to imagine, drew strength and sustenance from the long,
cross-cultural chain of shared experiences. It's this strength that we're
asking you to share experiences of, on March 8th, 2007.
The baton is handed over right here, right now!

Announce this on your blog and on the morning of March 8th, 2007,
share with us a story (or two, or five or...) of fighting back?!
When did you flip a situation so you could resist, when did you give
back as hard as you got? When and how did you choose to confront?
When did you become an Action Hero? Action heroes have formed
the theme of the last few Blank Noise interventions and it's this spirit
we ask you to share and celebrate on March 8, 2007!

So announce the Blog-a-thon, and on March 8, share your action story!
If you are a male blogger and wondering how you fit in, tell us about an
Action Hero you know!

http://www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

Related :
http://virtualpoona.blogspot.com/2007/02/start-dreaming-ladies.html

Technorati tag

Blank Noise : We Never Asked For It

Monday, May 07, 2007

MAY 12-15 WE NEVER ASKED FOR IT- BUILDING CLOTHES INSTALLATION IN DELHI.

Blank Noise in association with PSBT invites you to participate
in building WE NEVER ASK FOR IT.

WE NEVER ASK FOR IT asks you to take a stand, and believe that
you never 'provoked' someone to violate you. We ask you to bring
garments you wore when sexually violated / 'teased', harassed on
the streets. Each given garment is a witness and a testimonial to the
incident.
Blank Noise has been receiving clothes from the public over the last year.
When we have received 1000 garments we will install them on the streets
of cities.

We look forward to seeing you and the garment soon at India Habitat Center
between the 12th and the 15th of May.

For those of you who can hand in garments before the opening date, please
contact us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com or call Amit Kendurkar at 9313373881

This installation is part of PSBT'S " International Festival on Gender and Sexuality ",
which is beginning on May 12th 2007 at Indian Habitat Center. Steins Auditorium at Indian Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

We are also looking out for volunteers to help put this installation up and ready.

You could volunteer to collect clothes from friends/ relatives anyone!

You could also volunteer your time between the 12th and 15th.

So be there, and bring your clothes along!

posted by Jasmeen @ 4:15 AM 0 comments links to this post

BLANK NOISE PROJECT: Excuse Me ?

Dear Blank Noise readers/ supporters :
The following people have participated in " Excuse Me?" :

• Surbhi Goel,
• Sneha Bhat
• Payal Kamat
• Jyotsna Mandana
• Naeem Mohaiemen
• Soumya C Shekhar
• Ratna Apnender
• Shikha Sethi
• Iz
• Chaitra Yadavar
• Nayantrana Abreo
• Vinita Bharadwaj
• Nabila Zaidi
• Annie Zaidi
• Neelam Jain
• Raheema Begum
• MIchaela
• Paige Trabulsi
• Reema Banerjee
• Sneha Singh
• Chitra Badrinarayan
• Meghana Chythanya
• Ruchika Bahl
• Anusha Hari
• Ratna, Shravanthi
• Hemangini Gupta
• Sindhu Menon
• Jasmeen Patheja,....
• Neeti Jain
• Beatrice Jauregui
• Tanisha Soni
• and you?

30+ people have sent in their responses to being called
fruits, vegetables, meat, animals, things, objects

We already have a list of over 100 ridiculous and
humilating words/ statements being prepared.
Please email us your list by the 14th of August. Be an agent,
get family members/ friends/ peers/ colleagues/ acquaintances/
strangers to re call the same.....make that list and send it to
us asap! The responses will be up and out on the blog. besides
that they may be printed in the eve teasing dictionary that we have
collectively built/ and or might be announced out loud in public.
Your name will not be printed if you choose to be anonymous.

Be it malai ( cream), watermelon, samosa, or any thing else
that makes you look back and ask " are you talking to me???"

Think back and send in that list.

Thank you for your support and encouragement over the years!
This time we ask you to participate, yet again! Hurry!

In spirit

Blank Noise
mob : 0049 152059 13339

WWW.BLANKNOISEPROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

BLANK NOISE PROJECT: What ?

MIRCHI? SAMOSA? BUTTERFLY? LOLITA?
TAMATAR(TOMATOES)?

What did you just hear?

Send us your list of strange, bizzare, disgusting, funny,
humiliating words that have been used towards you/
your body when you were out on the streets.

Get others around you to recall the same.

email us at blurtblanknoise (at) gmail (dot) com, subject
titled, "excuse me?"

Your email responses will be listed on the blog with
photographic illustrations of the responses. Email us no
later than Aug 3rd. Let's build the 'eve teasing' vocab!

Thank you! Blank Noise Team -- BLANK NOISE WWW.BLANKNOISEPROJECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

Walk The Night

Hello!

This year on International Women's Day, March 8,
Blank Noise supported by Radio Indigo invites you
to WALK THE NIGHT!

We are meeting at Rest House road, (off Brigade Road)
park at 6 30 pm. The walk begins at 7 pm. We conclude at 9 pm.

All we need is you and your enthusiasm!

Please email us immediately at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

or Phone at 91 98734 85284 (In Delhi)
+ 91 98868 40612 (Bangalore)

Bring along your friends, family, neighbours anyone, any age group!

Fun. Thrill. Action. Guaranteed!

Blank Noise
--
BLANK NOISE PROJECT
www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

BLANK NOISE : New Eve-Teasing Episode

'Eve Teasing' in India is considered a joke or prank.
Blank Noise is a public and participatory arts project that
seeks to explore street dynamics and recognize 'eve teasing'
as street sexual harassment or violence.

In the latest episode a Lucknow lady finds herself being
groped by the driver of the auto-rickshaw she is in and
deals with the situation in typical 'Action Hero' style.

Visit the Blank Noise Project Blog and open your eyes to
the plight of women in India.

Start Dreaming, Ladies !

My friends over at the Blank Noise Project
(part of Google Groups) are looking for a few good dreamers.
So go ahead and make a wish......

'I want to run wild on the streets at night'
That's my fantasy. The thing I most wish I could do in my city.

What's yours? What are the top ten, twenty, one hundred things
that you wish your city just let you to do?

Email us your dreams for your city. Stay anonymous if you choose.
We will post it on the blog and may use it for an audio piece.

Please email us at :
blurtblanknoise@gmail.com. While we believe that there should no
deadline for dreaming and wishlists, we would appreciate it if you
start dreaming and mail us right away!
Last date- Feb 28, 2007

Thank you

Blank Noise!

BLANK NOISE PROJECT
Ph:+ 91 98734 85284 (In Delhi)
+ 91 98868 40612 (Bangalore)

www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

The Blank Noise Project

Finally an age-old threat, public nuisance and disgrace is
being tackled head-on, not by strongmen politicians
or such but by the victims themselves.....

"Eve Teasing, as the name suggests, is considered
a joke, a prank. Eve Teasing is street sexual harassment.
The project seeks to recognize eve teasing as a sexual
crime and establish the issue as something that may
be normal, but is unacceptable. The Blank Noise project
works both online and on the streets of Bangalore,
Mumbai , Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad.

We invite you to come along!"
- the publishers of the Blank Noise Blog

Related :
Currently most e-mailed story from Yahoo

BLANK NOISE PROJECT: Update

Give a little. Live a lot.
BLANK NOISE PROJECT: SUPPORT

Open House Today for a House With a Heart

Once in a while one comes across a truly noble person with a just Cause,
a person who belongs right up there on stage with all those CNN Heroes who are
annually honored with prizes and recognition for their efforts. Beverly Bronson of
Ghar Sita Mutu is one such person, with an underfunded organization that is barely
recognized, from what I gather when I check her updates on Facebook..

Firoze Shakir, a Mumbai-based photographer and blogger is a friend from Flickr
and Facebook who requested I add Beverly Bronson, founder of Ghar Sita Mutu,
as a friend. All it took was a few lines on the website to convince me that I was witnessing
the work of an individual with a heart of gold :

 
Photo copyrights by Ghar Sita Mutu on Flickr

" Ghar Sita Mutu was founded as a charity in 2001 by Beverly Bronson,

a volunteer social worker in Nepal, when she found two abandoned brothers 

aged two and five huddled together outside their tin hut in the streets

of Kathmandu, Nepal. Unable to find anyone to care for the children, Beverly 

became their guardian and admitted them into a bleak and overcrowded hostel

attached to a small school. The boys did not thrive, and she began to dream
about starting a charity to provide a home for them and other abandoned
children that would also help support and train destitute mothers." 

Beverly is someone who gave up her life as a small antique shop owner in New York

to seek a more meaningful one as a volunteer social worker in far away Kathmandu, Nepal.

 Photo copyrights by Ghar Sita Mutu on Flickr

The only ongoing support I could offer to Beverly in my current financial situation was the
comfort of friendship and encouragement via my words and network friends, and so I put

out an 'Add as a Friend' request on Facebook.....and Voila ! Hearts burst open with words
of love and support !


Thanks to all these wonderful friends on Facebook who responded to my
request to add Beverly Bronson my Hero, as a friend. There was little hesitation
on their part or in their hearts it seems. Apologies if I've omitted any new friends
who may have joined my network in the interim between publishing this post.
Contact info is listed below.....join on Facebook and leave your comments there,
or if you wish to donate, click here


Adrienne Gonsalves of Pune, India,
CEO of PACE Communications Mumbai

Akshay Mahajan of India, 
roving Photojournalist





Alan William Roberts 
Photographer from Wales UK


 
Andruta Bell
Teacher in Romania


Angel Danger
from Udine, Italy


Anthony Posey
New Orleans Photographer

Benn Bell,
Photographer in New Jersey


Blank Noise in India
Organization that fights against Sexual Harassment of Women


Bridget White Kumar
International Author, Blogger, Specialty Chef based in South India


Chris Mortensen
Entrepreneur in Asheville, North Carolina

Claudia Minnalouche
International Translator and student currently in Dublin


Dale Hyde
News Media blogger/publisher


Dan Carwyn
My schoolmate from Pune, India, now in Lesmurdie, Australia

Dev Pandey Mumbai India

Diana Manning
Artist/Owner Diana Manning Studio in Argenta, Illinois

Emilys Apartmentskasiopi A 
in Kassiopi, Greece

Firoze Shakir
Barefoot blogger-street photographer from Mumbai India

Glenn Losack New York NY
Musician, Photographer, Psychiatrist and International Humanitarian

Gorgo Gorghi 
Musicologist from Palermo, Italy

• Geri Goldman Reichgut 

  New York, NY
  

Heather Rothey
Photographer/Horse Whisperer in Ogden, Utah

Heidi Anne Morris
Photographer and student in Bath UK

Isabel Quiñones Pentell 

• 
  
• 

  Isabelle Robbe-Dren

Jagannath Mistry 
 Indian artist now in Brazil



Jasmeen Patheja
Feminist, Activist, Photographer, Blogger, Founder of Blank Noise

Jeanne Lozier
Singer-Songwriter in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Jeet Thayil
Musician-Artist Mumbai India

Jennifer Naidu
Teacher-Writer Pune, India

Jitendra Hassija 
Friend from Pune, India

Jocelyne Costa

Judi Just
Photographer-Artist from Miami, Florida

Kara Sachs
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Kaushik Dutta
West Bengal, India

Lievanta Evelyn Millar
Student ~ Mumbai, India

Linda Schaefer
Photographer, Author and Teacher in Ada, Oklahoma

Lisa DuBois
Photographer, Journalist, Digital Artist New York NY

Lydia Naidu
From Pune, India

Manav Sachdeva Maasoom
UNICEF, Consultant Services, Writer, Poet from New York, NY

Manoj Phulphagar

Marcel Duvoix
Author, Entrepreneur from Ypsilanti, Michigan

Mariami Nadareishvili
From Tbilisi, Georgia

Marla Miller
Registered Nurse from Hancock, Minnesota

Monica Martinelli
Linguistics Specialist from Jesi, Italy

Montana Newman

Oriah Miller
Author, Entrepreneur, Comsultant from Marina del Rey, California

Petra Cerjak from Ptuj

Prabhat Za
Photographer from Kathmandu, Nepal

Preet Soni

Régine Engel
Photographer-Artist from Strasbourg, France

Raisa Sheikh
Teacher from Pune, India

Rajesh Kumar
Consultant Cosmetic Dermatologist in Mumbai, India

Rajputravel India
Travel Agent in New Delhi, India

Rama Sethu Ranga Nathan
PSG College of Technology · University of Madras, Chennai

Ramona Borthwick
Musician, Photographer, Artist, Graphic Designer, Entrepreneur
from Boston, Mass.

Ray Framroze
From Goa, India


Romeo Fraioli
Photographer from Arce, Italy

Sandy Hawkins
From Niceville, Florida

Sean O'Sullivan
From Seattle, Washington

Sherrie Lovler
Calligraphy artist, Poet, Blogger

Simona Mortensen
Nursing professional from Asheville, North Carolina

Susan Marie
Nlogger, Radio Jock, Humanitarian, Talent Co-ordinator, etc. from Buffalo, New York

Tushar Naidu 
Pro Club DJ in Dubai UAE

Uwe Paschen

Environmental Engineering · Narita-shi, Chiba, Japan

Environmental and Agricultural Consultant

Valentin Arfire
 Photographer from Timisoara, Romania

Varsha Manik  from India



Ghar Sita Mutu Photos on Flickr :

Beverly's Contact Info :

	+977 2392060116Mobile 1 212.529.0832Home
Email	bevbronson@yahoo.com
On Facebook	facebook.com/bevbronson

Interesting story of Kathmandu orphans in this video :