Saturday, July 07, 2007

The Pitch

I was really bored the other day at my summer job. I completely forget what I was thinking about at the time, but somehow I got the idea into my head how interesting it would be to see all the protesters in Lafayette Park.

For those of you who don't know, Lafayette Park is the town-square-like space opposite the White House in Washington D.C. It's named after the Marquis de Lafayette, the young French noble who helped colonial American troops in the Revolutionary War, and his park has long been considered the rallying place for protesters. Protesters of all kinds gather here; they protest nationally controversial issues and seemingly insignificant issues alike. Usually only protests of the former kind get any media coverage, but why should that be?

I want to stay for a few months during the summer in Washington DC and go to the park everyday, each day hopefully interviewing a protester or observing a rally. I could even interview the reactions of passersby to the rallies for more perspective on the interaction between the city and the park. I want to bring attention to the protests--big and small and, I'm predicting, serious and wacky--that are being staged in Lafayette Park.

There's no political agenda, although I admit I tend to have very strong opinions on political issues. The information I would glean from these protesters could serve to amuse or sadden, soothe or enrage, and, hopefully most of all, motivate. I don't know what kind of people I may meet once, or if, I get to the park, but maybe there's an audience out there that can find something useful in the anecdotes I can gather from them.

So, here's where you (hopefully I'll get some kind of traffic to this blog before summer!) come in. I need feedback and suggestions for making this project better. Does it interest you? If so, which part specifically? Also, I would very much like to hear from some DC natives who are familiar with the park. Maybe some times of year are busier for the protesters than others? Even if summer is convenient for me, I don't want to dedicate time to covering this if it's not a busy 'protesting period.'

If I get a lot of feedback, I'll probably put up some polls with more specific questions. Until then, please comment!

Thank you in advance, I hope.
MB

4 comments:

Parker Smith said...

Photographs and relevant links for context are what keep me coming back to that kind of content - a bit of mockery where deserved doesn't go amiss, either...

Natalie said...

i think this would make an interesting photo blog - i.e. a photo a day of the park.

i'm not sure if you've seen the site http://www.wdydwyd.com/galleries/bm/index.php - but it may be something you can repurpose for your cause without actually performing interviews...

Ana said...

i think it's a very cool idea. do it newsblog style-- photos, blurbs, interviews, but you could also do more in depth personality proiles and stuff. if it's well-written and engaging, i'd read it and link to it and such.

Ana said...

PS, you should back-date or forward-date this post or whatever, so it's the first thing people see when they go to this page. :)