Only 12 More Days

ONLY 12 DAYS LEFT ON OUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN  

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Thanks to over 40 friends, relatives and supporters, we’ve raised $7,625 of our $12,000 goal, and we have less than two weeks to raise the balance. If you can contribute, great! Whether you can or not, please forward this to those in your network you think will be interested in this project. Post this link to Facebook or Tweet it. The more we can spread the word, the more likely we are to raise our goal.

This update highlights Mark Ellinger. Mark is a photographer, historian and lover of the central Market Street area. Mark photographs are a perk that contributors to the 5 Blocks campaign can receive. As with all our artist perks, a percentage of your contribution goes directly to the artist. For Mark’s full story: www.upfromthedeep.com.

“In 1968, at the age of eighteen, I moved from Ohio to San Francisco and enrolled at the [San Francisco] Art Institute. During my first semester, I soon began spending most of my time in the film department. I worked as a recording engineer, sound designer, and composer (and occasional actor) for various film labs, studios, and independent film makers including George Kuchar, and Larry Jordan.

Near the end of 1985, my life was completely torn apart by a cataclysmic manic-depressive breakdown. I was introduced to heroin, which made all my pains go away, if only for a few hours at a time. For the next five-and-a-half years, I chased the bag and lived on the mean streets of San Francisco, where I found out exactly how low I could sink.

Thanksgiving Day 2000… I was nearly killed by septic shock. Coming face to face with my own mortality turned out to be an epiphany that awakened me to the ineffable sweetness of simply being alive. Near the end of 2002, I rescued a cheap digital camera from the trash and used it to make a record of my new life and surroundings. The buildings and streets I’ve photographed ever since are now permanently lodged in my psyche, just as people who live and work in the central city have become a permanent part of my life.

As tangible reminders of what we’ve done, who we’ve known and where we’ve been, our personal artifacts and mementos reinforce our sense of personal continuity and thus help us comprehend and adapt to life’s vicissitudes. Our memorabilia are material evidence of our exploits and accomplishments, our triumphs and defeats, our blessings and misfortunes."

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