Join us June 9th at Noon

No. 6: A River Connected:

stories about river, race, home and climate

In this sixth and special River Days of Action edition of a twelve month series, A House Unbuilt will dive into four stories that connect the issues of river, race, climate and home in unique and intrinsic ways. This month featuring the stories of Dr. Leon Tarver of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Robby Tidwell of Fort Pillow Historic State Park in Tennessee, Jonathan Schilling of the Itasca Bio Station at the Headwaters, and Blaise Pezold of the Meraux Foundation in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish.

Zoom in June 9th, 12pm CDT - FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Together, we are taking action.

During ‘River Days’, there are many actions you can take:

1) Join the 20,000-person strong 1 Mississippi River Citizen community. From armchairs to wading boots, River Citizens are people the River can count on. Learn more and join free here:bit.ly/RiverCitizen

2) Restore our Mississippi River. Alert your congressional leaders. (Action coming soon)

3) Which of these 10 Actions to Create a Healthier River will you take?

Mississippi River Network

Watch May's episode of The River Connected, featuring the stories of Freda Hall of Grand Rapids, MN, Mitch Jurisich of Empire, LA, Rebecca Hutchison of Memphis, TN, and Jeremiah Smith of Rosedale, MS.

We know these stories are just the tip of the iceberg and please forgive the "raw" nature of some of the audio content—all the material is from body camera field recordings. Don’t forget that the new interactive website with complete stories and still raw but improved audio and video will be coming out this fall, so do stay tuned for that. We hope you’ll tune in and spread the word.

WATCH NOW

The Mississippi River was named the #6 most endangered river in the US by American Rivers. The threats of pollution and habitat loss are serious and ever present. You can help protect our great river by supporting the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative (MRRI). Let your congress person know today that MRRI needs their attention and their vote.

Watch the Video

Exhibiting locally in Washington County, Minnesota

In a shift from our slue of online offerings, we will have an artwork on exhibit at the Historic Washington County Courthouse starting June 4 and running into January. If you find yourself in the Stillwater region, please stop by to see the work and all the other interesting reflections on this theme: "Through the Eyes of Others"

The only real voyage consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes; in seeing the universe through the eyes of another, one hundred others – in seeing the hundred universes that each of them sees.”
– 20^th Century French author Marcel Proust

In case you missed it, we've been publsihed!

We are excited to announce our participation in the just released issue of the Open Rivers journal. Amongst other fabulous contributions, I have written and crafted a multimedia article featuring five women of the Mississippi River. I hope you will take the time to engage with How the River Moves Us: Women Speak Their Story and much of the other significant content in this issue of Open Rivers.

This first publication is just the beginning for sharing our stories. Our new storytelling website is coming soon...

Prototypes of the design are ready, and chapter one is nearly complete! Stay tuned for a release date coming this fall where you can experience all the voices of the Mississippi River that we encountered during our travels.

Please help us reach our funding goal to support this exciting collaboration with creative firm Studio Meta to design the interactive website that will bring the stories of Relay of Voices into everyone's lives. Tom and I have personally put $20,000 forward as matching funds. Every dollar you donate will be doubled up to the $20,000 match!

Give Now

And thank you!

A House Unbuilt is a 501c3 non-profit organization that uses radical listening practices to reconsider and reimagine the places where we are from, the people that surround us, and the times that we live in. Its flagship project Relay of Voices was created with the support of hundreds of local individuals, organizers, agencies, and governments.

Relay of Voices and related publications have been funded through generous donations, grants, and in-kind contributions. Special thanks goes out to the Bradford Family Foundation, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, 3Arts and donors to 3AP, Hank Danos, the Louisiana Seafood Promotions and Marketing Board, the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, the Mississippi River Network,Gray Stream, Mike Hamner, the Joe W. and Dorothy Brown Foundation, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Reed Mendelson, Lake Charles Memorial Hospital and Foundation, and Rick Richard.