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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.