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Politiku Project Proposal
A proposal to teach and facilitate a political haiku writingworkshop for active, retired and reserve men and women serving
in the military suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
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What is Politiku?
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Politiku is inspired by haiku; a genre of Japanese poetry that condenses apersonal encounter with nature into seventeen syllables.
The seventeen syllables are subdivided into clusters of 5-7-5.
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Traditional haiku relies on the kigo, or
seasonal reference.
Temple bells die out./ The fragrant
blossoms remain./ A perfect
evening! -Basho
A mountain village/ under the piled
up snow/ the sound of water.
- Masaoka
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Rather than condensing a personal encounter
with nature, Politiku condenses a personalencounter with a a trending news topic.
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The kigo is therefore replaced with a
political reference.
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Where is
Politiku?
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Politiku started on my
personal blog in 2008.
In 2009, I began cross
posting Politiku on Arianna
Huffingtons blog.
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Being a Huffington Post
blogger means Politiku
posts are widely read andfrequently syndicated by
other online publications.
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Online journals,
websites and blogs
have also writtenabout Politiku.
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Politiku writers and enthusiasts promote Politiku through their
Facebook & Twitter networks.
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What does thisHave to do with
Vets suffering
from PTSD?
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For some, processing combat
memories is an emotionallyoverwhelming, isolating and
even debilitating experience.
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How Politiku Will Serve
US Military Veterans Suffering from PTSD
Encourage vets to take emotional ownership of their personal narratives
Publication opportunities should they want their words circulated
Provide a fast, accessible and immediate sense of project completion
Train them to communicate war experiences in a non-active, reflective and sometimes
humorous way
Empower vets to confront and address media exaggerations & inaccuracies
Enable vets to rebuild impaired communication skills through daily practice
Rebuild focus, short term memory and writing skills in a supportive environment
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Politiku WorkshopWill be Structured
as a Military Unit
Group will be no larger than eighteen and will
consistently work together
A short but intensive training period to familiarize
with haiku and poetry written by active and
inactive military
Topics will be assigned spontaneously and with
tight deadlines
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Featured Politiku Contributors
Workshop facilitator will work with board of advisors, relevant
government and civilian PR department/firms and pre-existing media
outlets to select topical contributors to feature in published
selections.
To respect the privacy of all workshop participants, any direct
interactions between featured Politiku contributors and workshop
participants will require signed statement of confidentiality.
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Privacy and Politiku
Because PTSD is a medical condition, the privacy
of all workshop participants, will be protected by
the facilitators.
Workshop participants will have opportunities to
publish anonymously
Individual workshop participants will retain
personal copyrights to all work produced in the
workshop.