Phantom Soldier Meditation Project

It's a late night and I'm getting ready to go to bed but I wanted to pass this along to the viewers here about something that's occurring in Philadelphia, PA.

A number of us here in Philadelphia have begin noticing little pink plastic toy soldiers popping up all over the city from Center City to West Philadelphia, North Philly and University City and well, some of us started taking pictures of these, myself included.

I didn't know what it was but while browsing some local Flickr groups, I had remember seeing someone else post one as well and checking that person's profile, they had updated some of their pictures with a picture of a flyer kind of explaining what was happening.

This is the Phantom Soldier Meditation Project...

And these are what people are seeing glued to fire hydrants, the famous South Street Bridge, electrical boxes, corners of building, and just about anywhere else within eyesight, though often inconspicuous, that they can be attached.

Some, including myself are assuming it is a memorial/protest of sorts about the Iraq War and it's begun raising some eyes in the area, mostly from local photographers although with a tip (from yours truly) to Brian Howard, who writes the Philadelphia Citypaper's blog, The Clog, it got a mention a couple of days ago under the heading Mysterious Mysteries: Pink Bullets.

So I thought tonight I'd pass this information onto anyone reading at this hour. Also tonight, a Flickr photo group for PSMP (as it's been abbreviated) sightings has sprung up. Feel free to check it out and if you're local to Philly, have noticed these little guys around and were wondering what they were, now you know. Furthermore, if you have a camera and would like to take some pictures and share them with that group, I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

Take care.

•  Phantom Tip Jar?

  by Stand Strong on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 10:39:00 PM PDT

•  excellent idea

  Glue plastic soldiers all over the place as a reminder: even if you don't have someone close to you over there, reflect on the war.  

  Pink was an interesting angle: because after all it's a highly visible color and there's no way any toy company makes toy soldiers in pink, so there's no mistaking the message.  

  In other cities one might try other colors: orange, red, bright green, bright blue.  Fluorescent paint would go a long way toward making them all the more visible.  

  Or just put them up in the usual drab green they are made in, once the word gets out enough that people know what it means to find a little plastic infantry guy with raised rifle, glued to some unusual place such as the inside of a public mailbox door or up on the column of a public building or inside a phone booth or in an out-of-the-way part of a bus stop.

  Someone should stick them around in the halls of Congress.  Not with glue of course, since that could be interpreted as vandalism, but perhaps with double-sided tape since it can easily be peeled off (Scotchflex is a pretty strong type of double-sided tape but it too can be peeled off if one goes about it carefully).  Give our Representatives and Senators something to disturb their day the next time they give in to Bush's Iraq insanity.  

  by G2geek on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 11:11:14 PM PDT

•  I love guerilla art!

  This is truly excellent, since it has a very pertinent point that's obvious when you see it - pink soldiers are no accident, no little boy left them behind.

  "Kilroy was here" is similar, but maybe more organic, since it was propogated by many different people spontaneously.

  When I was at Purdue a long, long time ago, somebody wrote this mysterious slogan all over campus, in bathroom stalls, on sidewalks, any flat surface: "Chocolate pudding wrestle with a long silky haired girl". That was a little disturbing.

  by Lefty Mama on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 12:11:44 AM PDT

•  This is a cool hedz-up

  Thanks for bringing it to our attention, world-wide, on DKos.

  Ummm...you might want to fix this line, though:

  "This is the Phantom Soldier Mediation Project..."

  You have it right in the diary title, but just above the pix, it's a bit confusing.  Big difference between "meditation" and "mediation", y'think?

  I like this concept of these phantom pink soldiers appearing everywhere.  For us to pause and meditate on, you bet.  Thanks again for posting about this.

  by sockpuppet on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 01:09:58 AM PDT