Call to Action! SOF Announces 100 Looney Centennial Acts Campaign

MAKE A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION TO HELP US REACH 100 J.T. LOONEY CENTENNIAL ACTS in 2020 by pledging to do something — anything — to celebrate the Centennial of “Shakespeare” Identified by J. Thomas Looney

In conjunction with the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship’s celebration of the Centennial of “Shakespeare” Identified by J. Thomas Looney, the Centennial Committee is launching a campaign for 100 Acts Celebrating the Looney Centennial throughout 2020. In addition to the major national event at the National Press Club in Washington DC on March 4th, local events are being planned throughout the country. Individuals may also join the celebration by carrying out simple personal actions. We are seeking to reach one pledged action in 2020 for each of the 100 years since the birth of our movement. Everything counts, both individual and city-wide or regional. Already, local events have been announced from Seattle to Miami, from Boston to San Diego, in Utah and in Michigan. Won’t you make a New Year’s resolution to help us celebrate the 100th anniversary of the book that brought the truth to light?

Please join the celebration and watch the Shakespeare mask fall from the face of the true author, Edward de Vere, as we move toward our goal. AND help us to put 100 pins on the Centennial Map! We are aiming for 100 pledges by March 4th so that the result can be announced at the National Press Club event.

Here are some ideas for you to consider, from simple personal actions to city-wide events:

• Read “Shakespeare” Identified in Edward de Vere the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford by J. Thomas Looney or, if you’ve already read it, one of the other Looney Centennial books edited by Jim Warren, such as “Shakespeare” Revealed: The Collected Articles and Published Letters of J. Thomas Looney.
• Wear a Looney Centennial T-shirt everywhere you go on March 4th and carry a Looney Centennial brochure with you to give to anyone who asks what your T-shirt is about.
• Ask your local public library to purchase a copy of the Centenary edition of “Shakespeare” Identified (they need to commit to purchase; gifts do not assure shelving).
• Put a copy of “Shakespeare” Identified in your favorite “Little Free Library.”
• Tweet about the Looney Centennial, make an announcement on your Facebook page or other social media.
• Propose that your book club read and discuss “Shakespeare” Identified.

  

• Put the Looney Centennial poster (pictured, right) on your office door the week of March 4th and have brochures on hand for those who are interested. (See “Looney Centennial Materials” below.)
• Buy a copy of “Shakespeare” Identified and send it to someone you know with a personal letter explaining why it is important to you.
• Contact the editor or arts writer of your local newspaper and ask them to carry a story on March 4th about Looney and the identification of de Vere as Shakespeare; or write a letter to the editor about the importance of March 4th.
• Make an appointment with the English, history and/or drama teachers at your local high school, or the professor at your local university who teaches Shakespeare, to discuss the Looney Centennial and inform them of the research on Looney’s thesis which has been done in the last 100 years.
• Organize a “Shakespeare” Identified 100th birthday party and screen one of the Oxfordian films or documentaries such as Nothing Is Truer Than Truth or Last Will. & Testament.
• Organize a banquet or cocktail party open to the public with readings from ”Shakespeare” Identified, a birthday cake and toasts.
• If you have a community art house cinema, request that they screen one of the Oxfordian documentaries or films, and lead a discussion group afterwards.

  

• Organize a lecture about Looney and “Shakespeare” Identified for one of the resource people listed in the SOF Speakers Bureau.
• When the videos of the March 4th Looney Centennial become available, organize a screening of them.
• Celebrate the 470th birthday of Edward de Vere on April 12th.
• Take a course about the Shakespeare authorship question in honor of J. Thomas Looney.
• If you have a lifelong learning program in your local senior center or elsewhere, offer Bob Meyers’ power point presentation on the authorship question.
• Mount a local production of Mirror Images: The Life of Edward de Vere in the Works of Shakespeare, which will be available in the fall of 2020.
• Participate in the De Vere Society’s Looney Centennial activities and tour in England in the summer of 2020.
• DONATE $$$$ to help fund our activities (checks should be earmarked for the Looney Centennial).

What will be your Looney Centennial Act(s)?

PLEASE register your pledge to carry out a Looney Centennial Act on March 4th or any time during the year 2020 by sending a note to Linda Bullard, lindafern@gmail.com. Include your name, location, type of action and date you intend to carry it out. We hope to have reached 100 pledges by March 4th so that it may be announced at our Looney Centennial launch in Washington DC. We will be preparing a compendium of actions pledged and would love to have PHOTOS from local events and individual acts. If you do not wish to have your name listed, but are willing to have your location, date, and type of action included, please note that fact. SOF may also be able to provide limited media assistance for city-wide events, especially when a speaker from the SOF Speakers Bureau is hosted. If you would like to request PR support, let us know when you pledge your action.

For further information on local participation in the Looney Centennial and for publicity materials and resources, contact Linda Bullard at lindafern@gmail.com.

Looney Centennial Materials:

A letter-sized poster for display on office doors (see image, above, right) can be downloaded for self-printing. Click here to download in jpg format; or click here to download in pdf format. Brochures and T-shirts are expected to be ready before March 4th . . . stay tuned. Contact Linda Bullard for materials.

The Centenary edition of “Shakespeare” Identified edited by James A. Warren and also Warren’s “Shakespeare” Revealed: The Collected Articles and Published Letters of J. Thomas Looney are available on Amazon. A limited number may be available for larger registered local events. Additional titles for the Looney Centennial have been announced by Jim Warren to be published in 2020.