Jacquie Coté

My name is Jacquie Coté. 

I am not a filmmaker, musician, poet, nor am I an activist.

I am a geologist...with a pet chicken named Clara.

I came to Albuquerque in search of work.

And as fate would have it...

I moved into an apartment next door to a very interesting fellow. We talked about all manners of things, and then he began to tell me about a documentary he was creating.  I was entitled Committing Poetry in Times of War.  I was truly captivated by the story.  It seemed crazy to me that things like this could happen in today's society.  Teachers being suspended and/or fired for allowing their students to question the direction their government was heading; police officers, sworn to uphold the law, attacking peaceful protesters on the street, using horses, police dogs, rubber bullets, tear gas and helicopters. …In Albuquerque, mind you...

This was not, forgive me Burquens, Watts or the Bronx.  Most of these protesters were college kids...people with their kids.  I thought jeez... then, I saw the raw footage of the police attacking the protesters, and I asked,"where is this, Beirut?" No, it was just little ole Albuquerque…the city to which I had just moved.  I was appalled; my outrage could barely keep up with the tears in my eyes.

So, I was hooked.

I thought, somebody had to do something about this blatant attempt to control the populace using fear and intimidation tactics.  And someone did...that very interesting fellow I told you about before, my next door neighbor, a very talented, passionate man named stavros.

Over the year and a half that followed, I volunteered to work on this amazing film project and set aside my goal of finding a geology job. I have probably watched this film, or portions of this film, hundreds of times, but even to this day I find myself still teary-eyed, enraged, encouraged, and hopeful after each screening.  

It is a story that needs to be told; a piece of art to behold; and a lesson to be learned.  No matter your political persuasion...there lies within this film honor, courage, humor, hypocrisy, and wisdom.  History of lessons we all should have learned.  Knowledge that we all should know.  To keep our freedom, our democracy, we must not allow the most abhorrent voice to be silenced. It does not matter whether you agree or not, the smallest voice silenced, allows each of us the chance to be silenced ourselves.

You see... I am only a geologist with a pet chicken named Clara.  In the big political spectrum, I'm just a girl who likes rocks.  But, my voice, like yours, matters.  Thank God there are storytellers to remind us of what we are, what we can aspire to be, and most importantly what we never should become.  I hope that every man, woman, and child sees this film.  It will change your life.  It changed mine.

My name is Jacquie Coté.  I am not a filmmaker, musician, or poet.

I am a geologist, and I am an activist.... with a pet chicken named Clara.