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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2002

Birmingham-Southern, local businesses to sponsor Sept. 11 remembrance event

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-A Sept. 11 Service of Remembrance and Reconciliation featuring writer, teacher, and activist Dr. Parker J. Palmer as keynote speaker will be held at noon Sept. 11, 2002, at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Birmingham.

The public service, co-sponsored by the college with ArchitectureWorks, the Downtown Rotary Club, Energen Corp., and Protective Life Insurance Co., also will feature Birmingham-Southern students and messages of hope from representatives of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. There will be a liturgical dance and the Birmingham-Southern College Concert Choir will perform. Earlier in the day on the BSC campus, Sept. 11 will be remembered by morning prayers at 7:45 a.m. in the Interfaith Campus ministry room in Hanson Dorm, bell tolling and a moment of silence at 9:10 a.m., and the playing of Mozart's "Requiem" in the cafeteria at 9:11 a.m. A candle lighting ceremony will take place at the Edwards Bell Tower at 9 p.m. Students, faculty, and staff will be making memorial origami cranes all day in the atrium of the Norton Campus Center.

Palmer is best known for his work on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. He serves as senior associate of the American Association of Higher Education, senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute, and founder of the national Teacher Formation Program for K-12 teachers.

Palmer's work has been featured by The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Change Magazine, The Christian Century, CBS-TV News, National Public Radio, and The Voice of America. His most recent book, Let Your Life Speak, was selected as Book of the Year by the Association of Theological Booksellers.