Visions 20/20 and Beyond : April 2015

Friday, April 3, 2015

“Avenue of Heroes”

“Oceanside the Beautiful, Home of the Brave”

Our many Cultural Communities and Their Arts are the Beautiful,

Our American Military Services and First Responders are the Brave.

The physical location of the City of Oceanside is incredibly beautiful. As you enter the City going west on Mission Ave, you see before You the blue Pacific and Palm trees lining the vistas shining with incredible beautiful light. This is the first almost surreal impression of our City. It is literally out of the Movies. I mention Top Gun.

The First Visual Impression is one of Grander and Beauty. The first Visceral Impression is felt almost instantly is the vitality and energy of our People. Young, engaged, outward bound and constantly in motion, they typify our City’s population which is young in demographics, and young in their questing of a new life style. They are risk takers. Daring to set up shop in a City with an image of being a Military Town, these newcomers are making a change unlike anything we have seen before. Artists, Crafts makers, Micro Brewers, Clothing Designers, Theatre Venues with performers of professional stature, Authors, Poets, and Composers.

They Are The Beautiful.

Another First Impression is one of the Visual Impact of so our very young Military Service members. They walk our streets and avenues with a step of vibrant confidence and new found strength of Purpose. Many come from other states, and yes, other lands. They have a spark in their eyes of knowing, engaged in the responsibilities of their Nation’s Missions.

Meeting them they will look you in the Eye, and when we say “Thank You” they acknowledge with a quiet dignity.

Many of these young people stay in Oceanside and become first responders for they have found a place in the Sun that welcomes and honors them. They Are Our Brave.

Oceanside is home to many cultural groups from

America

and abroad.

Our many Cultural Communities include; White, Black or African American

American Indian, and Alaska Native, Asian: Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino Japanese,

Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian , Guamanian ,Samoan, Hispanic

They bring their Cultural Art forms to Oceanside. They are our Beautiful.

In Oceanside the Brave serve in many different capacities. They rescue on a daily biases our Senior Citizens with dire concerns. They visit our Schools and teach our Children the basic skills of CPR and Traffic Safety. They inspire our Teens to become protectors of their neighborhoods, and they keep us honest in our daily traffic commutes. They rescue our Pets, help old folks across the streets, and help with rescues on our Beaches. They Are Our Brave.

I sing this song for I have lived in many different social economic and cultural Cities and Towns. From the City of Newport Beach on Lido Isle, to Boston, to Eureka Ca, Encinitas, Scobey Montana, and Whittier. From all of these many places I have gathered the important impressions of “what” makes me a Citizen of a Place. I have found this Place two times in my Life, Oceanside in the 90’s when it first became a vision for the Arts, and now in the New Century of exploring the implementation of the Arts, bringing a new vision of possibilities. This is of belonging. Oceanside is the most Welcoming of Cities, it has become my City, and if you come, it could be Your City of finding your purpose of what makes a Home.

The Honor Project

The Honor Project would encompass three elements which will integrate with each other to become an International Destination. A Third component “The Valor Arts Center” will be the last piece of the Project and will be a Center for our Service Community with an Arts/Educational/Technology framework.

“The Avenue of Heroes” is envisioned to be located down Mission Avenue, east to west, from the top of the hill from the off ramp of I5 to Pacific Street. Clusters of our Nations flags of the Services and the American flag would be located on the corners of every intersection of Mission. The Marine, Naval, Air Force, Coast Guard, Army and our National flag would be visible all the way down Mission. The Mission renewal project is projected to have sculptures in the several cutout areas in this project. These projected sculpture sites could have “Hero” sculptures placed there as part of the “Walking Tour”.

THE HONOR PROJECT

Memorial Garden ~ Walking Among Heroes

The White Horse “Spirit of Valor”

What does the White Horse mean? To me personally it recalls the first day I drove to the Library in Oceanside and glancing up the hill I saw a White Horse. He grazed on the Green Grass and it was a peaceful scene as the 76 Hwy and had not yet become an incessant stream of noise. Folks far and wide knew him as the Spirit of the San Luis Rey Valley.

This Horse was the last of a herd of white Arabs although I did not know this at the time. I stopped the car and got out in another world of mists and sunlight together combining into a feeling of indescribable ethereal bliss. Incredible, I thought he is a metaphor for the real and the fantasy of the world I live in. He is a symbol of our young brave Veterans and our First Responders in our Real World.

I choose the White Horse for our Oceanside Plaza to symbolize the bravery of our Service Men and Women who live and serve, some giving the ultimate sacrifice in this world of Peril so we can live in Freedom in America. This White Horse is Free, without saddle or bridle, he races with the sun and keeps us within his heart as we keep those who sacrifice for us in our Hearts.

A Symbol such as this beautiful white horse will become a powerful emblem of bravery for our Community of Oceanside, he will send this message far and wide telling the world about our Military Service and of our First Responders and the sacrifices they have made for us all.

THE HONOR PROJECT

The Memorial Garden ..."Walking Among Heroes

“To Walk among Heroes” is the vision of our Marine Community and they have been pursuing this dream for many years. Two bring to our Downtown Center, the life size bronze sculptures of our Heroes in the most visible and lasting way, the history and life story of these Men and Women who are the Peacekeepers for our Country.

The Bronze sculptures would be placed in the Central Core of the Downtown Plaza with the QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) for the Viewer to learn about the historical figure they are viewing. This would allow instant ability for the Sculpture to become an interactive venue for us to learn about our First Responder Heroes, and our Military Heroes. An Interactive venue where The Wall of Names (with the QR code) would list those who are part of our local history both past and present. The fountain part of the central plaza would be gravel instead of water and the surrounding wall would be faced with a surface suitable for inscribing the names of our Heroes. Indigenous Plants would be placed along the walking pathways to enhance the natural beauty of the Hero Installation.

THE HONOR PROJECT

The Valor Arts Center

The Third component would be the Valor Center. This Center of Art Making is the most vitally important of all my conceptual concerns. A truly integrated working place where of bridging the “gap” between our many diverse Communities of Oceanside and North County. A place where no labels are noted, no distinguishing between the professional and emerging art makers and those who wish to teach, learn, and donate time to provide a safe harbor for new beginnings.

The new digital art forms, the “art makers” movement, and the early childhood opportunities would exist between young and old. Whether Classical forms of art or the exciting forms of public art, the center could be a melding of opportunities and rewards of preparation for new careers.

My view of the San Luis Rey Valley overlooks the Green Hills of Camp Pendleton and the hearing of the sonic booms of planes and artillery are the reality of the lives of those who live there. My heart aches for the knowing that these young vital people who give us so much will be changed forever.

My heartfelt wish is to bring to our Veterans a place where there are no labels, judgments, or monetary cost to them to begin again. To become a normal Citizen of purpose and self reliance to begin the new life of success in our City of Oceanside, this, we owe them and their families who sacrifice so much for the safety of us all. The Village of “Community” will be there for New Beginnings.