101205EWO

MOUNT VERNON — The “Eyes Wide Open Ohio,” a peaceful demonstration to the United States involvement in the war in Iraq and a memorial to the casualties of the war, was on Public Square in Mount Vernon on Saturday and Sunday. The multi-media exhibit includes 96 pairs of combat boots with photos and names for each Ohio soldier killed in the war, an Iraqi memorial with civilian shoes to represent Iraqis killed, literature about the tax dollars from Ohio for the war and a video of the national exhibit.

Keri Allen-Hogan, a volunteer at the exhibit, said, “I’m here because the last thing we ever needed to do was go to war in Iraq. Thousands of innocent people are being killed for polictical reasons — it’s a travesty.”

The national exhibit was unveiled in Chicago in 2004 with 504 pairs of boots symbolizing the lost lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. With each passing week, each stop in a new city, more pairs of boots are added to represent the newly fallen. Alongside the boots stands a wall of remembrance with the names of the more than 11,000 Iraqi civilians who have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion began.

A pair of black combat boots for each Ohio soldier killed in the Iraq war was part of the multimedia exhibit, “Eyes Wide Open Ohio,” on display in Mount Vernon’s Public Square on Saturday and Sunday.

The exhibition is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee to express its opinion of the human cost of war and to commemorate all the lives lost. The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service.

Erik Blount, a student from Fredericktown, was affected by the exhibit.

“This is not cool,” he said. “Five percent of the casualties are from Ohio. When war is necessary, you gotta do what you gotta do. But this war was not necessary.”

The Knox County Voices for Peace, the Knox County Democratic Women and Activists United worked together to bring the EWO exhibit to Knox County.

According to Erin Salva, coordinator of the local exhibit, family members of Knox County’s fallen soldiers visited the exhibit as well as military veterans in support of the war. A candlelight vigil was held Saturday evening, which included a poem read by local resident Mona Parsons and “Taps” played by J.J. Minor, a high school student at Fredericktown. A noon prayer service was held Sunday.

Eyes Wide Shut
By Kirsten Reach
Published: Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Kenyon Collegian

Rows of empty soldier's boots stood silently in front of Olin this week as part of an exhibit called "Eyes Wide Open" that is touring the country. The exhibit aims to illustrate, through arranged pairs of boots and civilian shoes, the loss of human life during the Iraq war. Each pair of boots represented a soldier from the state of Ohio who had died in Iraq, and each pair of street shoes represented 1,000 Iraqi civilians. The exhibit was co-sponsored by Activists United and Knox County Voices for Peace.

The names of the Iraqi citizens and soldiers were read aloud at a candlelight vigil the evening of Oct. 17. Many of the soldiers represented by these boots were college-aged.

"I was struck that there was somebody who was 51 [years old]," said Professor of Art Claudia Esslinger. Erin Salva, Coordinator of Disability Services, said she noticed a range of student responses to the exhibit. One student commented on the amount of space remaining for wounded soldiers, and another stated ambivalence about the war because her boyfriend is in Iraq.

Salva also said she spoke with Tom Martin, father of Ryan Martin, the first Ohioan soldier killed in the war. He expressed reluctance about Activists United's use of his son's name in a project he perceived as anti-war.

"This isn't as much about being anti-war as it is about promoting peace," said Salva.

War exhibit opens eyes
by DREW BRACKEN
Sentinel Correspondent
Originally published October 20, 2005

Photos by Steve Klise

Will bringing the war in Iraq closer to home stir more emotion over it? It worked for several people attending the Eyes Wide Open exhibit last week at the First Baptist Church.

It was intended to open the eyes of Americans to the death and destruction of the Iraqi war.

On the front lawn of the church last Wednesday, through Friday were exhibits including rows of soldier's boots, which represented the troops from Ohio killed; a diagram of Ohio with poppies, which represented injured troops from Ohio; and rows of civilian shoes from children and adults, which represented a fraction of the thousands of Iraqi casualties.

"The effects of war, these boots representing all the soldiers who have died, these are real human beings," said Julie Reiswig of Kirkersville, a member of the church and a volunteer at the exhibit. "These are people's sons, brothers. I think it helps to have it right in your face to see what the cost of war has been on a very personal level."

As of Oct. 13, 96 Ohio troops and 1,996 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.

"I knew the numbers, but it just makes it more powerful to walk among the boots and to see some pictures," said Granville resident Bill Nichols. "So it makes it just a little more immediate. The boots tell you there ought to be somebody standing in those boots that won't ever stand there. For me, I think it's a little like walking through a cemetery and having a fuller sense of what we're losing in that war."

His wife, Nancy Nichols, echoed the sentiment.

"I think it makes the tragedy of the whole war more vivid for me, especially looking down at those tiny shoes," she said. "I think of the tiny people who are never going to be with us. It's very moving."

Eyes Wide Open is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social action organization that, according to its Web site, educates, advocates and organizes on concerns of justice, peace, sustainability and democracy.

The exhibit's mission was stated by Chuck Hutchcraft of the Great Lakes Region of the ASSC.

"It is obvious that we are not meant to see," he wrote. "If we don't see, maybe we won't care. If we don't care, we won't demand an accounting of the costs. With the wool pulled over our eyes no one will demand an end to the war, to death and destruction. But as the boots travel across this land, from Rockford, Illinois to Oberlin, Ohio to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where our forefathers whose eyes were wide open declared our independence, and beyond, their echoes reach more and more ears. As ears hear...eyes open and see."

Rick Mixon, interim pastorat First Baptist Church and a self-described lifelong pacifist, said he's noticed an increasing discomfort if not outright opposition to the war.

"But I think there are people who still support war, who see war as a viable option for settling international conflict," he said. "I don't see war as a way of settling international conflict. I think there have to be better ways to do it especially in terms of human life and suffering."

"I think that's part of what the exhibit is meant to help people come face to face with the human toll war takes," Mixon added, "I think that's an important witness. For me it's helpful to say these are real human beings, real families, real communities that are being affected by this. There's got to be a better way to do it."

Moira Manley of Granville agreed.

"I'm pretty against the war to begin with, so seeing it out here makes me feel really good," she said. "I think it's been ignored by so many of the people. I think it's about time the war in Iraq is brought closer to the everyday people."

There was a candlelight vigil Thursday night. For more information about the Eyes Wide Open exhibit log onto www.afsc.net.