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Showing posts from June 10, 2010

Ginko and Hope

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I'm up again. Third try. Hiroshi's ginko seeds are in the dirt this week. A favorite project from this past year is Hiroshi Sunairi's Tree Project . I've documented two previous attempts at growing a seed from the hibaku trees in Hiroshima -- the trees that survived the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, both of those attempts ended badly (view those posts by clicking on the keyword "tree project"). But with Hiroshi's encouragement, I'm going for another attempt. This time I've planted ginko seeds. There are many reasons why this project appeals to me so much. I like the idea of new life generating from the ashes of the bomb site. I also like the idea of nurturing and relationality that is inherent to participation. As well, especially with these seeds, I like the memories that resurface and reconnect me to my South Korean childhood—in the backyard grew a centuries' old ginko that, according to legend, the young emperor played beneath. (The le