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<DIV align=center><FONT size=5 face="garamond, new york, times, serif">THE JOAN OF ARC PROJECT THANKS YOU---AND INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR MORE </FONT><FONT size=5 face="garamond, new york, times, serif">JEANNE D'ARC JOI DE VIVRE IN 2010! </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT size=2>ATTACHED PHOTO CREDITS: Ride Hamilton (Joan at statue), Randall Schex (ladies-in-waiting), & Kimbeaux Welsh (krewe trio shot)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">(New Orleans, January 13, 2010) One week ago, on Twelfth Night, the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc strolled French Quarter streets for their second annual parade and Joan's 598th birthday. Many aspects were a first-time for this special second year, including: </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">1. The selection of a student Joan of Arc from a pool of local female applicants aged 16-19. We plan to hold this "Maid of Honor" contest each year to help involve and honor young leaders in our city with Joan-like qualities. The chosen "The Maid of New Orleans" for 2010, Blair Davis, a student at Isidore Newman with an impressive dedication to community service--in particular, her work with The Arc of New Orleans--had this to say about her experience: </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><EM>Dear Amy, I just wanted to tell you again what a thrill it was for me to be selected as this year's Joan. Riding horseback through the Quarter at night amidst all the historical architecture in a beautiful costume with a group of special individuals recreating an important period in history was a powerful experience. I particularly enjoyed getting to know some of the members in the organization. Caye sparked my interest in horsemanship, Antoinette had so many creative ideas, and the Wisconsin contingent were so kind and invested in helping the city. You especially made this whole process fun and inspired me to want to learn more about Joan. <BR><BR>Thank you and all the members of the Joan of Arc Project for providing me with an opportunity I never will forget. <BR><BR>Sincerely, <BR>Blair </EM></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">(References: Caye Mitchell, our original Jeanne d'Arc and horsewoman and parade expert extraordinaire, donated her time, expertise--and her horses!--to prepare Blair to ride in the parade; Antoinette de Alteriis donated her seamstress and historical costuming talents to advise krewe members and host an all-day costume workshop at the Joan of Arts Fete to create quick, simple, and historically accurate outfits; and a group of recovery workers from Lake Edge United Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, who stumbled upon our parade last year, returned this year as paying krewe members donning handmade Benedictine monk outfits...)</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">See these excellent shots by <A href="http://nola.com/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>nola.com</A> photographer Matthew Hinton for a glimpse at all of the above: <A href="http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/01/joan_of_arc_parade_2010.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/01/joan_of_arc_parade_2010.html</A></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">2. The hosting of a first annual Joan of Arts Fete, a free all-day conference dedicated to discussions of Joan, from the medieval times in which she lived, to the complexities of her canonization process. The Bienville House Hotel, the official sponsor of The Joan of Arc Project, generously donated staff, time, services, and space for this intellectual and inspiring day of conversation, which began with a Power French workshop led by Alliance Francaise instructor Martine Burtaire, included presentations by local historians such as Dr. John T. Sebastian, Director of Medieval Studies at Loyola University, religious leaders like Sister Rita Hickey, OSC, of The Poor Clares, and presentations and performances by artists like actress Janet Shea and her NOCCA theater students, musician Thais St. Julien, New York playwright Kathleen
Kelly and local musician and native Frenchman Raphael Bas. The day culminated in a Jeanne d'Arc Cabaret, with haunting and humorous interpretations of Joan, from ArtSpot Production's Kathy Randels' riveting, revelatory song from her 2004 "Maid of Orleans" performance piece, to Annie Lousteau's newly written hilarious and heroic folk song, written under the tutelage of local singer/songwriter Paul Sanchez in a Joan of Arc songwriting workshop that day. The minstrel group Wolgemut left the room buzzing with laughter and newly taught dances...</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">3. New parade elements included: SINGE, a local fire dancing group who lit up the parade gathering spot at the Bienville statue as the sun went down; New Orleans Pipes and Drums, who led the parade in a nod to the Scottish soldiers and bagpipers who led Joan into Orleans, France to fight with her and lift the Siege of Orleans in 1429; the use of an authentic wooden medieval cart, made with great attention to historic detail and accuracy by the Carpentry Apprentice Training Program at Delgado Community College; the donation of 598 candles by the Magazine Street store Objets Trouves, given to parade-goers with Joan For Mayor matchbooks to light the way and celebrate Joan's glowing beginning rather than her fiery end. </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">4. The emphasis on handmade or at least hand-decorated "throws" (a.k.a. "alms, offerings, or tokens" since the krewe is adamant about not throwing and not using plastic items) continued in earnest this year. This year's highlights: small vials of holy water given out by the Madison, WI "monks"; 16 handpainted wooden swords given out by our student Joan with the help of her page and schoolmate, Ty Molbak; 100 <A href="http://saintsforsinners.com/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>saintsforsinners.com</A> handpainted medallions, necklaces, and coins handed out by krewe Royalty members and donated by Rob Clemenz; and 50 handcrafted magnets of Joan's Voices: St. Catherine, St. Margaret, and St. Michael made by Poor Clare craftswoman Sister Rita and given out by our Army level krewe members. Wooden doubloons donated by Raphael Monzon which included the krewe's
emblem (Joan of Arc's crest) noted the year the krewe was founded, 2008 (though the first parade was Twelfth Night 2009). </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">5. An all-day costume workshop and continued costume consultations continuing up to minutes before the parade by krewe member Antoinette de Alteriis ensured that everyone walking was costumed accurately, and in many cases, quite inexpensively! Many krewe members with seamstress skills designed their own costumes, some purchased theirs, and several relied wholly on Antoinette's creativity and knowledge to help turn their own clothes (or curtains!) into last-minute medieval wearables. Blair Davis's (Maid of Honor) saintly costume was created by Living History Project costume designer Veronica Russell. </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">6. A new tradition was begun: the crowning of a krewe King in honor of Joan's "crowning" achievement: ensuring that Charles VII was crowned King of France! This year we selected David Villarubia, owner of The Degas House, who was not only crowned by young Joan in a short and sweet symbolic re-enactment of the crowning at Rheims Cathedral in 1429, but also gave us and was given the honor of handing out King cake as a combined Happy Birthday, Happy Coronation and of course! Happy Twelfth Night to all post-parade party goers at the Joan of Arc statue at Decatur and St. Phillip Streets.</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Thanks to every single person who walked with us, who emailed or called or wrote to us, who donated their time in small and large ways, such as: Janet Gisleson; who hand-numbered and delivered our 598 white candles! Musica da Camera, who played medieval music for our Cabaret and offered a breadth of knowledge of medieval culture; Etienne Dages-Desgranges, Communications Attache for the Consulate General of France in New Orleans, who interviewed our three Maid of Honor finalists and ensured that we had a new French flag waving above the Joan of Arc statue at the parade; Annie Flettrich for her ongoing ideas and input and French Quarter Business Association for their support; Ken Ferdinand and The French Market staff for their encouragement and support; Andre Duvoisin, constant behind-the-scenes krewe (and krewe founder)
companion and unsung hero who conceived of the Joan student contest (among other things) and who made the tasty medieval punch (among other things!); Karen Kern at the Arts Council for encouragement and assistance with our grant proposal; Chris Rose, Ann Maloney, and Molly Reid at the Times-Picayune for "getting" us and for their generosity of mind, time, and ink; Jamie Hauser, who brought her colleagues from the Louisiana Renaissance Festival to the fete and parade and introduced us to many medieval-loving folks; The Market Cafe for donating their stage, restaurant, heaters, and staff time for the post-parade party; Marika Christian, for initiating and administering our FACEBOOK page; Molly Jahncke, who connected us with Delgado's Carpentry Apprentice Program, hand-engraved Joan's wooden sword, and made a really cool fairy tree as a reference to Joan's trial; Julie Wallace, who volunteered her time to create <A
href="http://www.joanofarcproject.org/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>www.joanofarcproject.org</A>; Deb McDonald, for hosting and facilitating our Joan of Arc Book Club at Garden District BookShop; Elizabeth Pinney for sheperding the Maid of Honor application from a French teacher P.O.V.; Jane Caruso, who reached out to the Caledonians; Rhonda Findley at Pop City who makes, displays, and sells our JOAN FOR MAYOR t-shirts at her store; Linda Friedlander, who transformed the Vieux Carre room at the Bienville House into a magical medieval residence for our fete and cabaret with her impeccable taste and unique "objets"; Roberta LeGrand, who singlehandedly organized our silent auction (proceeds will benefit Metropolitan Center for Women and Children and The Arc of New Orleans); Rob Clemenz for donating his gorgeous and sacred items from saintsforsinners.com; Caye and Fred Klotz for their horse expertise and being our true parade leaders
and our top soldiers; Kelley Faucheaux and Gambino's Bakery for the donation of King cakes and!!! Special thanks to Miss Erin Boreros, sales manager of The Bienville House Hotel, for her unending support, kindness, generosity and unwavering patience in helping to make The Joan of Arc Project a sustainable, stimulating organization dedicated to celebrating Joan and making the city an even cooler place to live! </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"I have no fear for lack of men. There will be many to follow me!" --Joan of Arc</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The best thing about this Project is the fact that nice, smart, creative people keep coming forward with their ideas and gifts of all varieties...and we have a place for everyone with a sincere interest in Joan and all she represents. Special thanks to every single new krewe member, for your incredible faith in us! Last year we were renegade, this year we asked for dues...thank you for joining this new krewe and helping to shape it!!!! </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">VAS-Y JEANNE! ON EST AVEC TOI! </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">To stay in touch with us, to get involved, and/or to attend more neat events in 2010, including book discussions, costume and craft sales and workshops, films, theater and musical performances and more, become our fan on Facebook (Joan of Arc Project); sign up for the blog, <A href="http://www.stjoankrewe.blogspot.com/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>www.stjoankrewe.blogspot.com</A>, and follow us on Twitter (stjoankrewe). To join the krewe, check back in a few months after our post-Mardi-Gras recap krewe meeting by visiting <A href="http://www.joanofarcproject.org/" rel=nofollow target=_blank>www.joanofarcproject.org</A> for updated 2011 membership rates and levels. </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Contact Amy with any questions: <A href="mailto:stjoankrewe@yahoo.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:stjoankrewe@yahoo.com">stjoankrewe@yahoo.com</A> or if you prefer: </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Joan of Arc Project</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">P.O. Box 56815</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">VIVE JEANNE D'ARC! VIVE LA NOUVELLE-ORLEANS! </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">---AND HAPPY MARDI GRAS! </DIV>
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