Dear friends,

As the first anniversary of September 11th approaches I invite you to join me at:

Releasing Frozen Tears - a Ritual to Melt the New Cold War

to remember the tragedies of that day and the tragedy of our government's response, and to resist this violence.

This quiet ritual will take place on September 11th, 2002 at 9:11 pm on the pedestrian bridge connecting Nicollet Island (the north or upstream end) with Boom Island Park in Minneapolis.

On the bridge we will light small candles representing our passion and our wishes and place them in boats made of ice. From the bridge we will then lower our boats of ice into the current of the Mississippi River. The river will carry our message to the universe. The candles and the river will melt the ice, symbol of the New Cold War.

(The New Cold War is sometimes also called The War on Terrorism. It involves major media complicity.)

Maybe 5 people will come to Releasing Frozen Tears - a Ritual to Melt the New Cold War maybe 50, maybe 500. I invite everyone who would like to come to participate. Participants need to come with a candle, and an ice boat.

The candle should be small and able to burn for not more than ten minutes, with no metal parts, so that after it has burnt up, nothing remains. I suggest a small biodegradable candle, like beeswax or soybean oil candles, wider than it is tall, to prevent tipping over.

Below is my method for making an ice boat. I call it A Frozen Tear. Feel free to copy it, or experiment with your own boat. You want to end up with a chunk of ice that can hold a small candle protected from the wind, and that knows which end is up when it floats.

How to make A Frozen Tear

  1. Buy some 9 or 10 inch round balloons.
  2. Fill one with water in a medium to large metal or plastic mixing bowl - ideally a bowl that cradles the lower half of the balloon. Fill it to nearly full, creating a pear shape, but not too tight. (You don't want it to burst in your freezer. I have made a dozen, and this has not happened to me.)
  3. Place it, pointed end up, in the freezer.
  4. 24 hours later, cut the tip off of the balloon, and look to see how thick the ice is. The balloon will freeze from the outside in. It should be about an inch thick.
  5. Return this Frozen Tear to the freezer, if the walls are not yet an inch thick leave it there until the ice appears to be 1 inch thick. (Check about every 3 hours.)
  6. Remove your Frozen Tear from the freezer, keeping it in the bowl. Cut the balloon so it pulls down from the tip.
  7. Place a towel, forming a collar, around the top to keep the melting water from carving into the sides of your frozen tear. (This step is optional, but recommended.)
  8. Melt the tip of the ice, the top, with a hot cast iron frying pan, continue to melt the tip until you reach the liquid core.
  9. Pour out half of the liquid from the core, and return the tear to the freezer in the mixing bowl. This will form a Frozen Tear with a bottom half of solid ice and a top half that is hollow. This insures that the tear floats upright, and creates a hollow to hold the candle, shielded from the wind.
  10. When the bottom half is frozen solid, remove it from the freezer, melt the opening on top far enough to get your candle inside easily and add one last thin layer of water, just enough to get a flat surface inside. Return it to the freezer until this last layer is solid.

Your Frozen Tear is ready.

I encourage you to try it out ahead of time, float it in your bath tub so you know it will work on Sept 11th. If it works, put it back in your freezer, and bring it to the park in a cooler. Don't forget your candle, and matches.

There will be baskets at the bridge to lower our flaming frozen tears into the mighty Mississippi.

For further information, check out the web site at www.frozentears.org or send questions to this e-mail address: notanewcoldwar@aol.com

I will conduct a free Julia Child's style workshop to learn how to make a Frozen Tear at my apartment on Nicollet Island on Wednesday, September 4th at 7 pm. E mail me and I will send directions. Do let me know how many are coming with you.

Thanks. I hope you can participate on the 11th of September. in peace,

Patrick Scully
notanewcoldwar@aol.com