Big Book Pages for Peace Kicks off World Tour： First Stop Boston’s JFK Library

Boston， Mass -- The Pages for Peace Foundation and the Bookmakers and Dreamers club of Groton Dunstable Regional Middle School kick off the World Tour of their Big Book： Pages for Peace with a fundraising event at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston， Massachusetts on Wednesday， October 8， 2014. It will be the first public viewing of the pages since the project began more than ten years ago.

The fundraising Gala event will feature a special keynote speaker， Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury， former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and former President of the UN Security Council， who will kick off the official global launch of the Big Book. Ambassador Chowdhury has been an inspirational champion for sustainable peace and development， and has helped advance the cause of the global movement for the culture of peace that has energized civil society all over the world. He has been a friend of the Big Book from its very early stages. The evening will also feature a special video message by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Remarks will also be offered by John Feal of the FealGood Foundation， Terry Greene of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows， and Lewis Randa of the Peace Abbey. The event will be hosted by Chronicle’s Ted Reinstein.

波士頓，麻省——和平之頁基地及格羅頓鄧斯泰地區(qū)中學(xué)著作家與夢想家俱樂部將開啟他們的大圖書的世界之旅：2014年10月8日周三這一天，在波士頓馬薩諸塞約翰肯尼迪圖書館，將舉辦和平之頁籌款活動。這將是該項目于10年前開展以來首次公開展出。

籌款活動將有一位特別的主旨發(fā)言人，安瓦魯·K·喬德哈瑞大使，他是聯(lián)合國前副秘書長及聯(lián)合國安理會前主席，他將正式開啟大圖書的全球之行。喬德哈瑞大使是可持續(xù)和平與發(fā)展的積極擁護者，曾為和平文化的全球運動做出過貢獻并鼓舞了全世界的社會團體。他是大圖書在早期發(fā)展階段的伙伴。當(dāng)晚，還有聯(lián)合國秘書長潘基文的特別視頻。同時，F(xiàn)ealGood基金會的約翰·費爾、9.11和平未來家庭的泰瑞·格林以及和平修道院的路易斯·蘭達都會發(fā)表演講。活動由Chronicle的泰德·瑞恩斯坦主持。

The event will mark the culmination of a decade of effort on the part of a group of middle school students， their teacher， and a small but dedicated band of volunteers. It will also be the beginning of an equally challenging chapter in the life of the Big Book： Pages for Peace.

In 2004， teacher Betsy Sawyer asked her after-school writing club， Bookmakers and Dreamers， to write about their feelings regarding the September 11 terrorist attacks， which occurred when the middle school students were in second grade. “My students expressed their concerns about terrorism， natural disasters and many other scary situations，” says Sawyer. “They also expressed their strong desire to make a difference.”

Out of that simple idea was born a very big dream， to create the largest book about peace in the world in the hopes that it would inspire other students to make a difference. The children wrote thousands of letters to people around the world， asking them to answer five questions about world peace. And the responses came flooding in. Local companies stepped up to donate ink， large format printers， and paper -- as the book got bigger and bigger.

這個活動將是一個高潮，標志著這群中學(xué)生、他們的老師以及人數(shù)雖不多但專注的志愿者們十年的努力。這也將是大圖書：和平之頁發(fā)展過程中另一個充滿挑戰(zhàn)的開始。

2004年，貝琪·索亞老師要求她的課后寫作俱樂部，著作家與夢想家的學(xué)員們描寫其對于9.11恐怖襲擊的感受，事件發(fā)生之時，他們是中學(xué)二年級的學(xué)生。“我的學(xué)生表達了他們對于恐怖主義、自然災(zāi)害及其他很多令人驚慌的情況的擔(dān)憂，”索亞老師說。“他們也表明了想要改變現(xiàn)狀的強烈愿望。”

簡單的想法背后是一個很大的夢想，即做出有關(guān)世界和平的最大圖書，以此激勵其他學(xué)生去改變當(dāng)前的狀況。孩子們給全世界的人們寫了成千上萬的信件，信中提出了關(guān)于和平的5個問題。回信也如潮水般涌至。當(dāng)?shù)氐钠髽I(yè)開始捐贈墨水、大型格式印刷機以及紙張——當(dāng)圖書越來越大的時候。

The Big Book is now 1，000 pages and stands 12 feet tall and 20 feet wide and includes letters from some of Massachusetts -- and the world’s -- most famous citizens and leaders， including the late Senator Ted Kennedy and Secretary of State John Kerry. Nelson Mandela， Jimmy Carter， Maya Angelou， Pete Seeger， General Peter Pace， and UN Ambassador and former Under-Secretary-General， Anwarul Chowdhury. There are also 3，700 pieces of artwork， music， poetry， comments， and quotes from people of all walks of life and from every corner of the world.

The scale of the Big Book is so big that turning pages has become something of a logistical challenge so engineering students at UMass Lowell are currently designing and working on an automatic page-turner.

But the students and Sawyer now have an even bigger dream， showing the world what they have created. Future plans include taking the Big Book on a World Tour， beginning with an exhibit at UN headquarters in New York City. The students believe sharing the messages in the Big Book with as many people as possible， will teach students and people everywhere that they can make a difference and help to change the world.

大圖書現(xiàn)在已有1，000頁，12英尺高、20英尺寬，包括一些來自馬薩諸塞州——以及世界——著名人物及領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的回信，像是議員泰德·肯尼迪、國務(wù)卿約翰·克里、納爾遜·曼德拉、吉米·卡特、瑪雅·安吉羅、皮特·西格、皮特·佩斯將軍以及聯(lián)合國大使及前副秘書長安瓦魯·K·喬德哈瑞。他們當(dāng)中，同時還有3，700份來自各行各業(yè)世界各個角落的藝術(shù)作品、音樂、詩集、評論及引用。

大圖書因為太大使得翻頁成了一種挑戰(zhàn)，因此麻省大學(xué)羅威爾校區(qū)工程學(xué)的學(xué)生們最近正在設(shè)計并制作一種自動翻頁器。

然而，學(xué)生和索亞老師現(xiàn)在有了一個更大的夢想，他們要向世界展示這項成功。未來的計劃中包含大圖書的世界之旅，從聯(lián)合國總部紐約的展覽開始。學(xué)生們相信，與盡可能多的人分享大圖書里的信息，會告訴其他學(xué)生和人們改變現(xiàn)狀并為改變世界做出貢獻。

The purpose of the exhibit and event on October 8th will be to raise the funds necessary to accomplish this goal.

During the ten-year process of creating the book， a not for profit 501c3 organization was formed to assist the students in accomplishing their dreams； the effort is driven by volunteer parents， community members and students. More than 400 students are now involved in the Big Book effort， as current club members or alumni. The original Bookmakers and Dreamers club members have just completed their sophomore year in college and remain committed to the effort， as does Sawyer whose passion for the project has not diminished.

Tickets for this inspiring evening are available for a donation of $100 for adults and $50 for children and may be purchased through the website pagesforpeace.org. The ticket price includes admission to the museum and a tour， drinks and a 4-course meal. The evening begins at 6 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m.

10月8號的展覽及活動的目的就是為了完成這一目標來籌措資金。

在圖書制作的十年間，成立了一個非盈利組織501c3以幫助學(xué)生實現(xiàn)他們的夢想；父母志愿者、社區(qū)成員及學(xué)生們一起為共同的目標努力著。400多名學(xué)生正參與大圖書計劃，他們或是俱樂部成員或是校友。著作家與夢想家俱樂部的首批成員剛剛結(jié)束了大二的課程，并仍然投入于這項活動中，就像索亞老師那樣對此的熱情絲毫未減。

通過pagesforpeace.org網(wǎng)站，成人捐贈$100，孩童捐贈$50便可獲得這樣激動人心的夜晚活動的入場券。入場券包含博物館參觀門票、飲料及4份菜品的餐。晚上的活動于下午六點開始，十點結(jié)束。