This past weekend marked the start of our ninth year here in Venice and our eighth Fourth of July party. For a change of pace, we experimented with a few new twists to add some purpose to all the vodka tonics and Coke and Malibu’s. Our summer intern, Keats, has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Kathryn Davis Project for Peace to travel to Cairo, Egypt, for six weeks to assist in the renovation and outfitting of a school that caters to the children of Egyptian rubbish-collectors. Before she departs on the fourteenth, we decided to have the party dual-serve as a fundraiser (later renamed “Fun-raiser” by our new roommate, Bill Watson) to help provide more needed supplies for the school (laptops, tables, school supplies, etc.).
The biggest hit of the night—besides our charming bartender, Jason—was a “presidential photobooth,” so named because it mimicked the scene of a presidential portrait--with powdered wigs, tricorner hats, a stretch of thick manila rope, a globe, and a sword. A friend commented that it would look like a poster for tea partiers except—oh wait!—there were books.
Guests could pose however somberly or scandalously they pleased in exchange for a $10 donation to the Cairo Recycling School. The snapping of the flash prompted some to expose their inner gangster, to unbutton shirts, and even to drop jeans. In total, the evening raised almost $300.
The progress of Keats’s project can be followed here: http://recyclingschoolpeace.blogspot.com/ and the entire collection of presidential photobooth photos may be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericraptosh.
A big thank you to all those who made the party such a success and to those who were generous enough to donate to the school.
The biggest hit of the night—besides our charming bartender, Jason—was a “presidential photobooth,” so named because it mimicked the scene of a presidential portrait--with powdered wigs, tricorner hats, a stretch of thick manila rope, a globe, and a sword. A friend commented that it would look like a poster for tea partiers except—oh wait!—there were books.
Guests could pose however somberly or scandalously they pleased in exchange for a $10 donation to the Cairo Recycling School. The snapping of the flash prompted some to expose their inner gangster, to unbutton shirts, and even to drop jeans. In total, the evening raised almost $300.
The progress of Keats’s project can be followed here: http://recyclingschoolpeace.blogspot.com/ and the entire collection of presidential photobooth photos may be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericraptosh.
A big thank you to all those who made the party such a success and to those who were generous enough to donate to the school.
