If you live or travel through NE Portland (or use Tom McCall Park), you have probably seen a series of names and dates, chalked onto the sidewalk ... or, the blur of them. That is the Iraqi Names Project. There is something especially compelling to me about the fact that the names, like our memories and attention towards the Iraq War, fade quickly.

The accompanying website is an excellent resource for seeing where Nancy Hiss and her folks are now. She also offers bios of some of the dead soldiers. (And, there's a video). And consider this: she's been chalking names since Memorial Day, and only came to the second year anniversary on July 29th. (The war began in March 2003. As of June 5th, the total US servicepeople killed in Iraq was 3,494.)

You can find her on weekdays from 7:15-8:15, and on weekends from 11-5.

Artist Nancy Hiss is creating an art work that consists of writing the names of all dead coalition men and women.

The names will thread their way through the fabric of Portland OR.

Only last names will be listed to honor the sacrifice of individuals & their families.

As you reflect on these names also remember the hundreds of thousands of nameless Iraqis and others who have been scared by this war.

The names will be listed chronologically by date of death.

As of this writing, Nancy and her gang are on NE Alberta Street, a little past 15th, heading east. They will definitely be out on Alberta for last Thursday. And a frequently updated map is online.

There's a nice article about Nancy and the project in the current Portland Observer and an older article in the Oregonian (Cambell, Jacqwi. Drawing notice to war's dead: Downtown, name by name, an artist meditates on soldiers fallen in Iraq, 06/06/2007, The Oregonian) that reminds you that, kids, chalking is illegal. Yeah, I'll get right on that.