Tradition that you gather with people having the same degree that you were getting. You all walked together. Lawn all bydown the myself. One of the advantages of this unique situation is that i could say with equal honesty that i was first in my class or last in my class and be telling the truth in both situations. I would like to thank the leadership for this opportunity to speak about the importance of the National Historic preservation act in safeguarding the american cultural heritage. In 1966, Congress Passed the National Historic preservation act. This was a huge moment and things have never been the same. Aboutwas an excitement the middle 1960s with the passage of this act and the programs that came out of it that i hope we can rekindle here we canwhich is a yes look at what we are doing. I in aside, my wife and the early 1970s learned the came, when the italians. Eaning 1870 teaching in rome at the International Center for conservation. I asked a room full of new students where they were from. Italy,asked, who is from only three hands went up. ,hen i asked, who is from rome 20 hans were quickly raised. Seminal andn a somewhat negative year for romans. After nearly 3000 years of being known only as romans, they were renamed in the mind of some, italians. Today still don not accept this. So they will say it with a sniff, when the italians came. It reminds me of a scene in gone with the wind. Yankees in georgia . Likewise, 1966 was a seminal year for american Historic Preservation. With the passage of the National Historic preservation act, american preservation was reborn. I had therowing up, good fortune of spending some time with my parents friends, our distinguished secretary of state. He was a lover of history and especially those moments or events that changed things forever for the better. Andarned from him expression i treasure. He would speak about being present at the creation, meaning those moments in our lives when something new and wonderful was being born. Moment was on july 16, 1969 when neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off from the moon. I was standing at a lunch counter at the National Park service in washington and watched that on an old black and white tv screen, and i thought to myself, it has taken all of Human History to arrive at this leave when human beings the planet for the first time. The National Historic preservation act of 1966 changed the fundamental structure of how we do preservation in the United States. Ago, andis a long time many of us do not remember how. R when we did it any other way looking back on american preservation legislation, as im the firstll know, piece of Historic Preservation legislation in the United States was the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allowed the president to ,et aside public natural areas such as park and conservation land. In 1906 act stated that it was intended for, and i quote, the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest. It was limited to sites of national significance. They were to be given, according to this 1906 act, the title of national monuments. We have kind of gotten stuck in that and that phraseology. I hope today that we can just move on to a more creative vocabulary. In 1916, congress created the National Park service. In 1935, Congress Passed the Historic Sites act, which ,eclared, for the first time that it is a National Policy to preserve for public use Historic Sites, buildings, and objects of national significance. They came out and said not only was it a good thing to do but that it was a National Policy. The reason that was so significant in 1935 is that it gave every single federal agency the authority to have a player in this game, to put something in their work program, their budget to help achieve this new National Policy. Up until 1966, the federal governments preservation focus remained largely defined by the ands national monuments. The private sector across the country carried the responsibility for state and local efforts. An early and shining example of of pricegrabber private preservation was demonstrated by the union when acquired mount vernon in 1958. Later, the partnership of the reverend w a r goodman and John D Rockefeller was equally in their rescue of the 1920s of the colonial capital in williamsburg. Similar efforts took root and thrived across the nation largely encouraged by the example set by these two seminal projects. In 1966, Congress Passed the National Historic preservation act, and american preservation was changed forever. These were exciting days to be involved in american preservation. All of us were touched by it. Some of the people important to the implementation of the act included i would like to mention their names today george herzog, director of the National Park service, robert garvey, director of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation , ernest conley, director of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation at the park service, and william murtaugh, who was the first keeper of the National Register of Historic Places. In many of our minds, he will always be the keeper. Wikipedia tells us about this act. Im almost embarrassed to suggest that my Research Includes wikipedia, but it does. It is so easy, and i am coming to trust it. Wikipedia has this to say the National Preservation act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States of america. The act created the National Register of Historic Places, the list of National Historic landmarks, and the state Historic Preservation offices. Hose are huge accomplishments actoes on to say the was signed into law on october 15, 1966 and is the most farreaching preservation legislation ever enacted in the United States. Interestings an exercise in reading after a gap of almost half a century. Many of its provisions are farsighted and remain the central to this day remain day, but thereis are things we can still do to move beyond its impressive vision. , i would like act , andad you some bits of it coming from my background as a bureaucrat in the department of interior, i have an enormous respect for what it actually says in the law or what Congress Actually said in their enabling legislation. We often forget some of the adjectives or take a new view that isnt exactly what they intended. Senate by the house and of the United States of america , congressss assembled finds and declares that the spirit and direction of the are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. Wow. The spirit and direction of the nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. Thees on to say historical and cultural foundations of the nation should be preserved as a living part of our Community Life and our development in order to give a sense of orientation to the american people. Look atside here i each of you. Each of you is in on repeated divine event an unrepeated divine event. There will never be another you. Dont worry about madame curie or albert einstein. The only thing that you can do with any authenticity at all is to be you. What is that . Give, through the use story past, pieces of our , a sense of orientation to who it is that you were born to be . You cant be me. I cant be you. Weve got the same set of toys in our toybox, and i would like us to think about how we can use in our be more authentic work to build a peaceful world. Say ins on to the face of everincreasing extensions of urban centers, highways, residential, commercial, and industrial presentents, the governmental and nongovernmental Historic Preservation programs are inadequate to ensure future generations a genuine opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the Rich Heritage of our nation. Words, right now we are saying, we are in trouble. I think we are still in trouble. We havent won the battle. We have been fighting it. We are doing a good job. Leadership is being taken by organizations. Weve got a Good National system of this, that, and the other that we are all familiar with, but i dont think we are there yet. Phew,t sit back and say, we did that. We have to keep working and keep working hard. Say goes on to although the major burdens of Historic Preservation has been rne and major initiatives initiated by private agencies and individuals thats still it is nevertheless necessary for the appropriate federal Government Agencies to accelerate their Historic Preservation programs and. Tivities the biggest thing that happened in the National Historic preservation act is section 101. The secretary of interior is off the rise to expand is authorized to expand and maintain the National Register of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American History, architecture, archaeology, and culture hereinafter referred to and toNational Register grant funds to the states for the purpose of preparing statewide historic surveys. Are over oneere Million Properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places or. 600,000 are right, individually listed, and another 400,000 are contributing buildings in an historic district. The secretary of the interior certainly has done a good job expanding and maintaining the National Register. Notice how the act says, not create a National Register but expand and maintain. 1906,s because, since there were already national from 1935,and National Historic landmarks. The first register was the Shopping List of all of those. Actionis thing went into. Looking at our preservation picture from a state and local perspective, as well as the national perspective, we began adding to our National Register sites of local and state significance. That was the most enormous step forward. You didnt have to be in mount vernon to be protected. You could be a simple site in a Simple Community that meant something to the people of that community, and it would be legitimately accepted on the National Register of Historic Places. I had a personal connection with the implementation of the act. At that time this is so bureaucratic i was chief of protective Services Division of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation of the National Park service of the department of interior. There is going to be a pop quiz at the end of this. Shortly after the new active the secretary of the interiors and any phone rang, inpatient staffer in the ,ecretarys office said to me the new act calls for criteria or standards to be established by the secretary. What are they . To which i replied, there arent any. Well, write them then, he said, and slammed the phone down. Ably assisted by one of my branch chiefs, set about writing what are now known as the secretary of interior standards for the Historic Preservation projects. The diplomacy involved in achieving this objective cannot be exaggerated. As gary and i had to achieve the approval of all of the state Historic Preservation offices, including farflung dominions imagine crafting standards that were equally applicable both in guam and in providence, rhode island. That was a challenge. Ins was truly an exercise onesizefitsall, which is a difficult proposition at any time. In our intention to create flexible standards to get guam and providence in the same place , we worked hard for language that would work. Sadly, much of that flexibility has been lost in subsequent revisions of the secretary of interior standards. For example, the original standards contained words such. Whenever possible these words have now been shall. With must or there are 10 standards. I will sayoften, and it again right now, i am not moses. I did not write the 10 commandments of Historic Preservation. I wrote with gary the standards , but in taking out the words over the years, such as whenever possible, leaving a little individual ,nitiative in different places and theyre being replaced with l, it has tended to turn the standards into the 10 commandments of Historic Preservation. It means that poorly educated or poorly prepared usually, poorly paid staff at state and local agencies are able just to point to the piece of paper and say, it says here, must, it says here shall, and they will make a decision not based on what is right for their community but what it says in the standards. That is not where gary and i were headed. Whenever possible. We never intended to take the ultimate decision away from the people who care for and are responsible for the wide variety of Historic Resources we find across our great nation. Objective was to establish a program of matching states. N aid to the the act says, having as their purpose the preservation for of properties that are significant in American History, architecture, or archaeology archaeology, and culture. The act also called for the establishment of a program of matching grants and aid to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. What is important about two ours one might jump over the words for public benefit. We had to be very careful not to create a grand and aid program aware uncle sam where uncle sam could authorize the states to give money to people to fix up their house without any clear demonstration of public benefit. It became a requirement of the program that, if you received grants and aid under this program for your house that was listed in the National Register, you are perfectly eligible, but you needed to make it available to the public at least once a year. Say,erent just going to thank you, take the check, and locked the door. I think this is been enormously helpful in that not only has it made it possible for the public to see places they might not itinarily see, but i think has also build confidence in the program with the general public. The term Historic Preservation protection, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction as activities that are eligible iner the act and to be used districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects. The earlyotice, from legislation, the word districts crept in, thank heavens. The city of charleston, South Carolina had one of the first historic districts in the country. First, we didnt think in terms of districts. Now, we do. They got that plugged into this act to make it eligible under earlier legislation. You could do all of this if your project was significant that is an enormously important word. In American History, architecture, archaeology, or culture. Im going to suggest later that we add a little bit to that. The act is very careful i would love to meet the bureaucrat who put that in nothing in this act should be construed to be applicable to the white house and its ground, the Supreme Court building and its grounds, or the United States capital and its related buildings and grounds. Thesere all of legislators saying, it applies to all of you, not to us. The act also established the enormously important Advisory Council on Historic Preservation , and it said there should be 17 members, seven from the government and 10 appointed by the president from outside the federal government. The seven within the government easy to spot. The secretary of the interior, the secretary of hud, the secretary of commerce, the administrator of the General Services administration, the secretary of the treasury, the attorney general, and the chairman of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They are appointed by the president , and the act says, the Council Shall advise the president and the congress on matters relating to Historic Preservation. Act as you will recall, the states that the term Historic Preservation includes protection, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. I hope you will notice that these terms are presented according to an ascending degree of intervention, and each one has a specific meaning. Protection the first one i think of it as the gentlest of all the words. It means to keep something as you find it, protected but not changed. If you need to put a chain link fence around it because its getting vandalized, thats ok, but you are not doing anything to it. Youre going to fix a hole in the roof, fix a broken window, but it means to keep something as you find it, protected but not changed. Rehabilitation means to modify something, howbeit with it withvity albe sensitivity, so it can serve a useful purpose. The word rehabilitation has everything to do with bringing an abandoned or underused historic structure back into the useful life of its community. Of some very obvious ways that you might need to do this, but it isnt change. From what was there earlier. A plumbing, heating, air conditioning, life safety issues , access for the handicapped. The list is quite long. The price tag can be quite significant, but rehabilitation is saying, make it useful and safe for your community now. It involves more than protection. Restoration means to return something to its exact appearance at a specific moment in its past. Restoration, to restore something. Meaning,very specific to return something to its exact appearance at a specific moment in its past. Many people think that restoration means, make it look like the day it was built, but it doesnt necessarily mean that. You might have a very famous thing happened or event take place in a building that was , but youn the event want to restore the building if you want to celebrate the event to look exactly as it did at the moment of the event, not the earliest form the building may have taken. My favorite example of this is a very sad one, and that is the Lorrain Motel where dr. King was murdered. You want it to look like what it looked like the moment he stepped onto the balcony, not what it looked like when it was first built. Reconstruction means to recreate something that has and to do so out of entirely new materials. Reconstruction means to recreate something that has vanished and to do it out of entirely new materials. The Capital Building in williamsburg is a reconstruction. The Governors Palace in williamsburg is a reconstruction. There is not an old piece of material in either building. What reconstruction doesnt mean it is reassembling pieces of a damaged or demolished building. There is a very fancy greek word ostylosis. Alled any in themple fell over sands of egypt, but youve got all the pieces, you can put them back together. That is not reconstruction. You are putting back original pieces that are all there, as anosed to reconstructing. Ntirely vanished resource the original wording of the act has been amended several times since 1966 with the aim of strengthening it. These amendments i will not go into. You can find them for yourself. They are rather bureaucratic and boring, but they have to do with the newhe act work with National Environmental policy 1969,at was passed in making those two documents work. Ogether in 1976, congress wisely extended the section 106 Advisory Council process to eligible forrces listing in the National Register but not necessarily yet listed. This may sound like not a big deal, but i think its a big deal. There are many resources that you may be trying to preserve, which you are in the process of trying to get on the National Register, but it isnt there yet. The amendment to the act made it possible to have the Advisory Council look at all of that while you were still trying to get it on the register, not waiting until that had happened. The act has been amended to require federal agencies to establish internally their own staff for Historic Preservation programs. This was again a huge step forward. Be calling up the department of commerce and saying, why did you just bulldoze soandso . Huh . No. Historic what did you say . Where are you calling from . Now, federal agencies are required to have internally staffed Historic Preservation programs looking at what might be eligible within their purview to preserve and to actually preserve resources they have already selected. Least last but not thank heavens the act was amended to significantly increase protection for native american and native hawaiian preservation sites and efforts. One of the things i do in my job that i have tried very hard to i dontnt about zt off the plane in x, y, or and say, i love that one, we will keep that one. I get off the plane, and i say to people, i am here to help you preserve what you want to preserve. You tell me what that is. The individual background education or taste of the person my position, whatever that may be, is not imposed on a cultural area where we have very little expertise. That certainly applies to me when it comes to native american and native hawaiian preservation efforts. I have virtually zero competency in making adequate value judgments about what is important to those cultures. Ive got a little story i want to tell you. When i was teaching at the university of washington that their preservation program, i rounded all the students up and i said, please go over to the giant across route one and take a survey. Ask people as they come out of the giant, what do you think the term Historic Preservation mea ns . \ then write down their answer. When we get the answers, lets come back and look at them all. Fromverwhelming answer people coming out of the giant when asked, what you think the words Historic Preservation mean, they said, preserving the past. One very quick thinking person scratched his head and said, i think it is some kind of un leaded gasoline. We never found that person again. The people who said that preservation is about preserving the past were all wrong. You and i cannot preserve the past. The past is past. We werent there, we dont think like that, we are educated under the educational systems of the past. You and i are now people, and what hass to look at survived from the past into the present moment for us and decide from the present future. Our job is to decide what to keep from the present for the future. It doesnt mean preserving the past. We cant do that. Its gone. Besides, who would want to preserve every single chevrolet ever made . You dont want to do that. Selective, tobe be evaluative. In order to do that, we need standards and guidelines. That is the point of the secretary of the interior standards for Historic Preservation, to give you as a means ofse having a conversation with the person youre talking to. They arent the 10 commandments. Say,are there simply to lets talk about this idea. What do you think . Here is what i think. They are a way to begin to organize your thinking. No two places are alike. We do not live in a onesizefitsall world. What may be unthinkable to do in one place is just the right thing to do in another, because its a different part of the ,orld, its a different culture the materials are utterly different from what you and i deal with everyday. We need to be flexible and responsible, and we need to have some help in thinking about our responsibility. Journey. Ing about journey is big, bright, and wonderful. It currently includes many Properties Listed in the National Register. It includes properties that are of national significance. Am i correct, kate, that as a unit with its very clear edges, it is not yet independently listed on the National Register of Historic Places . That is what i thought. Here is the flag im waving. I want everybody in this room to boundariesy get the to help get the site its and independently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Why do i want to do that . Our present system requires you and me to pick out the few things in our community that it is clear to everybody that we want to preserve. I want to put the shoe on the other foot. I want developers to have to say, if i want to modify this, it is not negatively and af fecting the integrity of the area. If we want to preserve the journey footprint. Weve got to preserve the journey footprint and put it on the register so people have to that a change they want to make is honoring that and not eroding that. That, i donto think we are going to be as successful as we should be in preserving large areas. We can all work hard and preserving individual building, or maybe even a modest historic district, but when you talk about something as big as the journey area, i think we need a new tool. That is what i want to close with. I think we have work to do, and the work is to help journey get journey on the National Register so that journey, the journey experience is protected. Wantder to do that, we may to expand our list from the traditional categories of district sites, buildings, touctures, and objects include a new word ive got one, but i dont love it yet, and ive put it in as a possible word environments. Buildings,sites, structures, objects, and environments. The journey footprint is much bigger than in the store an historicthan district. It is much bigger than the already recognized sites, buildings, structures, and objects. We need to get a word in their to expand the traditional categories. That we talk about American History, architecture, archaeology, were culture or culture. You have to be significant in one of these areas. Again, i dont have the word yet, but ive got the idea. I want us to get the idea of stories in there. Area like the an journey footprint, think of the stories that we want to preserve that are more inclusive than an individual district, site, building, structure, or object. Again, its a question of scale. , you know, grow a little bigger, get a little bolder, and make it possible for such as journey to preserve what it is committed to preserving. Idea ofding the stories s or wordss hard to put into again i believe doing that would help us protect our national myth. Myth often has a negative connotation, as being something that isnt true. I look upon the word myth in an entirely different way when i look at greek myths or whatever. Contain stories which andthing absolutely valid worthy of preservation. Myths hat there are not meaning something untrue but stories about the journey footprint that we need to protect that are larger than an individual site that may illustrate in some way that bigger idea. I thank you all for listening to me. I want journey to succeed, and i int it to get very bold changing how we go about our work. Thank you. [applause] w. Brown morton to once again create a huge new and important challenge. I am so jazzed. I saw jonathan shaking his head. Next choice of workshops you have is i think this might be your term the large Cultural Landscape that jonathan is leading the charge on hand has brought journey into. We are so grateful to you for that. Do we have a minute for questions . We have a few minutes for questions from the audience. Kathleen kirkpatrick, our esteemed state Historic Preservation officer. If you would like to ask a question, the microphone right here is available. I want to acknowledge how thoughtprovoking your presentation was. I have to confess im struggling a little bit with it. I, of course, was going to remark on the wonderful emerging area of consideration of large Cultural Landscapes. I think thats an important evolution of the last 1015 years, borne by consideration for indigenous landscapes or battlefields, etc. Merged that should be into the register is something i struggle with. To whether weback are better served by perhaps treating heritage areas, large Cultural Landscapes, etc. As different tools, of equal importance as the register perhaps for preservation. Many of us see with the register itself is that in our proper zeal to have it be inclusive, it has perhaps become a less powerful tool for your words like selectivity. What was the other word that you used . We have perhaps reached a point where, when you talk about one million listings, that there is. Certain cynicism about it we are looking for other tools such as heritage area, Cultural Landscapes, and there is a bit of a danger here in continuing to move all of these tools into the register and expand, expand, expand. I wonder if you might comment on that. There is a fundamental contradiction as you become more time,ive, and at the same look for the true selectivity thats an excellent question. That is youbout dont want to water down what you are doing so that it doesnt mean anything anymore. My response to that is we need to do a better job educating people about what we are doing so they can see the value in , ratherg the footprint than sticking with a footprint that, for a variety of reasons, we are finding is no longer adequate. Boatt to build a bigger but one where people really understand why we are doing that. A crazy idea that i had that im working on it isnt crazy, its just daunting to get at what kathleen is talking about i want to work with all of you to develop a curriculum for Historic Preservation values for all theic School System way from kindergarten through 12th grade. Every single grade, you add a new piece. You might begin with, at kindergarten, where do you live . Does your house or apartment building, how old is it . What do you like about it . What is it made of . You begin to have children understand they live in the building that is brick or frame or old or new or whatever. Then you begin to move on as you move up in the grades with increasingly demanding questions of the students. By the time they get to 12th grade, they understand what. Istoric preservation means i also i dont think i will ever win this 1 i want to dump the term Historic Preservation. I think it is very oldfashioned. We all sort of know what it means, but i think we are about something much more profound than simply preserving history. I think we are also about preserving community identity, preserving who people think they do. And what they might i grew up in a very old time virginia family. Who imen in my family spend more time with than the men, because i grew up during the second world war, and all the men had uniforms and were in i parts of the world would hear my greatgrandmother tell me, do we know who they are . I understand they are nice people. Are they an old family . I grew up with that attitude of sorting people out. In this room is from just as older family is anybody else in the world. E all go back i think we need to think very hard about whose history we are. Alking about sometimes, i think we are not, and there are groups in our own communities that feel excluded orm our Historical Society ,ou name it whatever group the sons of the american revolution, the waterford group. There are people who feel excluded from that. Im not criticizing those organizations for their focus, but we need to build a bigger boat and get more people on board. Add that whenjust Beth Erickson did yeomans work, Early Research in creating what exactly was here, pulling all the registered files and the National Register, what became abundantly clear, one million acres already on the National Register within this swath of land, 16 national landmarks. Woefully lacking was the recognition of female native american female, native american, or africanamerican contributions. One of the first things beth thought and she achieved was seeking partnership with the department of virginia historic the foundation for humanitys, to bring who worked scholars for three years to combine primary source documents, creating 100 stories of africanamerican contributions within the journey which had not been told and shared. We are currently on the path of getting those 100 sites now on the National Register. Brown, to your point, and in recognition to beth and of research and dedication i want to acknowledge that that is exactly where we have tried to move the journey. It is becoming as inclusive as possible. I know that we have to move on, but before breaking for our workshop, i want to recognize and ask you to help me thank brown. I am particularly mindful of the fact that he is the most unique unrepeated divine event i think ive ever met, and our small way we arethank you planting 13 for each of the of theted Divine Events 620,000 men who died during the civil war and marching those trees along our Cultural Landscape from Thomas Jeffersons home straight up to gettysburg. Our team thought, long before we understood the importance of event,rpepeated divine that we are dedicating one of those trees in your name as a small way of saying thank you. [applause] bless your heart. Thank you. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspanhistory. 1864, a majors in thing that happens is that grant becomes overall commanding general. Whooln finds the individual agrees with him that war is not to be thought traditionally. Youris, massed troops, troops against fractions of the enemy. He believes that what needs to happen is that the union troops, which are many more than the confederates, need to be attacking at every point at the same time. Grant agrees with that. He makes sherman to take his place as commander of the western army, and the idea is, they come together, and in may, they begin moving simultaneously. With grantss perception of war changing and becoming more like lincolns, sherman implementing total war by the march to the sea, and in 1865, the march through the carolinas, what happens is the war changes. The war becomes begins to move more clearly in the direction of the union. Every weekend, we are marking the 150th anniversary of the civil war with our series about the people and events that shaped the era, saturdays at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv on cspan3. Table in the 1990s, when a lot of the current Regulatory Environment existed, did have over 90 of the market. Today, the cable industry has a little lower than 50 . The business has matured. You either have to do two things. You have to lower costs, keep your margins good, or you have to find new sources of revenue. I think they are attacking both of those things, but to focus on the revenue side, i think one, looking for new ways to delight and hold consumers. If you look at comcast and its excellent in the platform, if you can make a video on demand more attractive, easier to use, the interface is more weblike and delightful number one, dont lose what you have. You also see them taking advantage of broadband. That is a blessed source of new Business Opportunity for our industry. It is growing much faster. It still has a huge addressable market. It has good economics. It is a good business. Change in telik medications, technology advances, and the future of the cable industry with michael powell, monday night at 8 00 eastern on the communicators on cspan2. Artifactsek, american takes viewers and archives, museums, and Historic Sites around the country. The we visit the Smithsonian National museum of American History and washington, d. C. For a tour of their centerpiece exhibit of the starspangled banner. 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the British Naval bombardment of baltimores fort mchenry during the war of 1812. The flying of the garrison flag, the morning after the barrage, inspired Francis Scott key to write the words that later became our national anthem. Good morning. Im jennifer jones. Im in charge of the starspangled banner. Officer forenior American History tv. I was the chief conservator. We are going to take you on a small tour today. Please join us