It’s late at night and Parky has insomnia again. To kill time, he starts browsing the Interweb, and comes across this contest/art project for the upcoming World Parkinson Congress in Kyoto, Japan – which, of course, Parky plans to attend.
Here are the contest rules and related information, since we can all get involved:
- “Soaring for Hope” is a massive art project run by three women with PD: Naomi, Amy and Clara. They plan to construct a giant installation of 10,000 folded paper cranes, many of which will be inscribed with messages of hope.
- They invite people the world over to submit either folded origami cranes, or hopeful messages that can be written on the cranes.
- The World Parkinson Congress is overseeing a raffle related to the project. One lucky winner will receive a $2500 travel grant just for submitting a short message of hope. Another lucky winner will receive a $2500 travel grant for posting a photo of herself/himself holding the written message OR holding an origami crane. Click here for the details; the deadline to enter is November 30, 2018.
Of course, Parky’s raccoon curiosity kicks in, so he does a Google search about origami to learn more. And then something strange and magical happens…
The origami comes to life! Three origami birds appear in a forest glade. But they aren’t cranes!
“How do?” says Parky. “Do you know any cranes? I need some for the Soaring with Hope contest!”
“No, we don’t,” one bird responds. “But we know about the contest and can offer a message of hope: Let’s hope a cure for Parkinson’s appears by the end of the decade! If not before!”
Another bird says, “The cranes may have headed south for the winter…why don’t you try there?”
Eagerly, Parky heads south…way down to Antarctica! Whoa! A colony of black and gray penguins greet him!
“Hey, what’s up?” Parky asks. “Have you seen any cranes around here?”
“The only crane I know is when I crane my neck to swallow a fish!” the lead penguin replies, and some of the penguins in the back crane their necks to demonstrate. “But we can contribute a message of hope: We’ll get through this if we live peacefully and purposefully, and participate in ongoing research. Why don’t you search for your cranes in a warmer clime?”
So Parky heads to the tropics and communes with some tropical fish.
“Seen any cranes around here?” he asks.
“No, and thank goodness! They love to eat us for dinner!” the fish reply. They speak in perfect unison with excellent enunciation, having been well schooled. “But we can offer a message of hope: Don’t despair, help is close by! There are many people who care about you! Meanwhile, why don’t you try a bamboo forest in Japan? The cicadas there may know where some cranes are!”
“Good idea!” the Parkster says.
Parky arrives in a bamboo grove quite near Kyoto, and meets three cicadas.
“Hey guys, do you know where any cranes are?” Parky asks.
“Bzzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” the cicadas answer. “Bzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzz You are very special and you’ve lived an incredibly interesting life. Keep on keeping on! Bzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!”
So Parky resumes the Google image search. Something magical happened last time; maybe it will happen again! Isn’t this a feature with Google+?
And guess what?
An origami box appears on the keyboard! What could be inside?
It’s filled with exquisite, miniature origami cranes! OMG, wow and jeepers!
There are five cranes, and they’ll be perfect for the Soaring with Hope project! Hooray!
So Parky packs the cranes back in the box, with strips of paper inscribed with the messages of hope that the other origami animals gave him. As there were only four messages, but five cranes, Parky ponders a bit, then adds a fifth message by channeling one of his favorite poets, Emily Dickinson: Hope is the thing with feathers; use it to fly through all kinds of weather!
Now we just have to wait for the sun to come up, and head to the post office!
Group photo at the end.
Let’s review the main points, shall we?
- “Soaring for Hope” is a massive art project run by three women with PD: Naomi, Amy and Clara. They plan to construct a giant installation of 10,000 folded paper cranes, many of which will be inscribed with messages of hope.
- They invite people the world over to submit either folded origami cranes, or hopeful messages that can be written on the cranes. Click here for the address and related info.
- The World Parkinson Congress is overseeing a raffle related to the project. One lucky winner will receive a $2500 travel grant just for submitting a short message of hope. Another lucky winner will receive a $2500 travel grant for posting a photo of herself/himself holding the written message OR holding an origami crane. Click here for the details; the deadline to enter is November 30, 2018.
And finally, let’s talk about Parky! Click here if you’d like to buy one for yourself or a friend. The profits from the sale go to the Travel Grants fund, which helps junior researchers, clinicians, health care professionals from developing parts of the world, and people with Parkinson’s pay for expenses at the upcoming World Parkinson Congress in Japan.
To see more photo-stories about Parky, click here: click!
Bruce- this is such a great post – I loved all of Parky’s origami. What a talented raccoon!
Thanks for sharing the hope!
Amy
Oh my goodness, that’s a lot of origami to create! It reminds me of the island party with all the origami you made. The story reminds me of a story I used to read to Annie and Claire when they were little: Ask Mr Bear. It’s about a little boy who goes on a walk searching for a birthday present idea to get his mom, and he asks lots of animals who all say ask Mr Bear. And Mr Bear gives him the best idea. A Bear Hug.