User:BrianROwens

I started the page named St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument. This was my first significant Wikipedia edit. I am also the fellow who sculpted the monument and I am declaring my interests here because some may understandably see this as a conflict of interest. I have tried to be as transparent and neutral as possible.

My primary interest is to make it easy to find out what the monument is, why it is designed as it is, where the money to build it came from and why it is located where it is - concisely - from a source that is regarded as reliable. We're used to seeing monuments that honor an individual whose professional life is fairly well-known. This monument is unusual in that it honors people who are mostly anonymous, connected to important events that while verifiable, are not widely known outside of their city. Also, we are used to seeing urban "public art" projects that are funded entirely by laws that reserve a certain amount of a municipal construction budget for artwork. This monument is unusual in that it was almost entirely funded by individuals and small businesses. I think we will see more public art handled this way in the future and I was interested to describe how it was done.

This page is worthy of Wikipedia for the following reasons:
 * The events of the civil-rights movement in St. Augustine, FL that led to the making of this monument can be easily verified and are not contested by anyone known to me. The many sources that I draw from are consistent and in agreement with each other.
 * I have asked one notable, professional historian who is an expert on the subject of St. Augustine to critically review the article and I am waiting for his reply. I intend to ask at least one more.
 * I cite my own name as the designer and sculptor of the bronze portion of the monument, but this is normal for the times, especially since the monument is new and the name of the sculptor is known.

An additional note: On October 31, 2011 I added a link to my recently completed page of photographs on flickr named "Brian R. Owens Photo-stream". Many of the photos have written descriptions, but I have carefully used the same neutral language as in the wikipedia article. There is one link to my website, as provided by flickr on one of the pages, but neither the link nor the URL is repeated within the descriptions or is otherwise hidden.

I respect Wikipedia and look forward to contributing in the future.