22 March

Our Rainbow Connection: Finished

by Jon Katz

We finished work on our Rainbow Connection this afternoon, it’s drying out now and heading for its home outside the Mansion assisted Care Facility tomorrow at 11 a.m.

It’s a big beautiful rainbow, the message says “I Love You.” The Rainbow Connection was started by children in several cities who wanted to communicate with their friends from school, who they miss very much.

It seemed to me this idea – showing the people penned in right now, from students to residents in assisted care – that they are not forgotten and are loved, is a beautiful one and ought to be supported and shared.

So we’re on it. I’ve sent our rainbow video to Sue Silverstein, the art teacher at Bishop Maginn High School as well, and she is already asking people around her to jump in. The school has been closed for more than a week.

Sue’s daughter Tara Malone, a Bishop Maginn graduate and a TV producer in New York City, was one of the first to respond:

I agree with Picasso that all children are born artists, the drive is just bled out of them as they grow up. To me, this idea is bigger even than children out of school and people locked down in nursing and assisted care.

It seems to me an idea for all of us. We are not supposed to be getting close to one another physically, but the kids have come up with a wonderful idea. Let’s talk to one another through the medium of rainbows, which always suggest another side.

I’ve heard from people in Ohio and California and Texas already saying rainbows are popping up in windows and online there, I believe is a beautiful way to connect with one another and remind each of us that we are all in the same boat, on the same wild ride.

Rainbows are loved by everyone, they transcend the mindless snarling of the left and the right. Kids know what many adults have forgotten, it is important to speak to one another in loving and beautiful ways.

We’re going to hang our rainbow on a ramp across from an easily accessible window, they may do the same for us.

If you or someone you love is making a rainbow, please feel free to e-mail it to me, I’ll try to share some on the blog.

2 Comments

  1. Sometimes being alone means getting in my head without an exit sign but mostly being alone is my drug of choice.

  2. I love your rain bow. In recent years I have felt that the rainbow was taken over by gays. I have nothing against gays but thought it was unfair that if one had a rainbow pin, or wore a rainbow people made assumptions. Your idea will take the rainbow back to being a sign of hope that all can embrace, gays and all.

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