>> about four years ago, [inaudible] look at how beautiful this was. there is our relationship to the planet. these regions are the wealthiest, the most powerful. that really has impacted the planet. it is almost impossible now to go anywhere and had it really be completely dark. there are very few locations that you can find. that means our relationship to the sky, there is a way where we dominate the sky. we cannot see anything really. we are blinding ourselves in a way.

>> you can look at the images, they are beautiful. when i started four years ago, there was a conversation about environmental issues that was very different. this is not being talked about in the way it is now. . this has just been like an amazing growth. i anticipate the project to be something that opens a dialogue to public interest in these ideas. so the work is really made to

be seen in this environment. it's been show in museum, in gallery, but never in a public setting. and it's kind of ideal for both myself and the works to have this real dialogue with the public not only in san francisco but people coming from all over the world. >> since the dawn of electricity, that light is something that people feel connected to and inspired by. personally, there is space to keep that alive, just finding balance. the key is to find some balance.

>> i am going to hope the others, dignataries are underway. our bishop, james langston, would you come at this time, please? we're going to ask our bishop langston if he would provide for us today the invocation. please, sir. >> we recognize our lord and savior. rest on your feet in honor of who our maker is today, for this occasion for which we have gathered, and rest as we celebrate this invocation to kick off mary helen rogers june

2010 kickoff. we thank you for the time and space to celebrate this grand occasion. we've come a long way, but we recognize we yet have a long ways to go. we thank you for what you have done, and pray for your blessings on this occasion today ont hose who come forth. let their be joy and uplift as you take us far beyond even our expectations, for this is your doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. we give you praise, glory, and honor. we thank you now. this is our prayer. amen, and amen. >> thank you so much, bishop.

i am going to ask various -- perhaps one person in the audience who loves this song more than i do, i am going to ask if he would come in this time and meet us and lift every voice and sing. pastor brown, would you come and lead us? come on. [applause] >> good afternoon. we are going to sing. when james weldon johnson wrote this hymn, he wrote it to tell a

story. you don't see a movie until you see it all and see the conclusion. i ask everyone to stand, and if you don't have the words, we invite you to get a program. ♪ lift every voice and sing, til earth and heaven ring ring with the harmonies of liberty let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the rolling sea. sing a song full of the faith

that dark past has taught us, sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on til victory is won. stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died. yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to a place for which our fathers sighed?

we have come over a way that with tears has been watered, we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, til now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. god of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way. thou who has by the might

led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray. lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met thee, lest, our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee, shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand, true to our god, true to our native land.

[applause] >> thnaank you so much. thank you. when i was a boy in sunday school, you had to learn all 3 verses and sing it yourself in front of class, and i have not forgotten. an interesting note, this song you just sang lost by one vote of becoming our national anthem, and i wonder would it have made us a different nation if all these years we had been singing about this, whether -- rather than bombs bursting in air. just a thought, you know. you can think about that on your way home. the mayor is not here, so we

will ask bevan dufty to give us a welcome, and followed by that, we're going to ask supervisor sophie maxwell to give us the mayor's welcome. thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. let me first say my mood improved so much when i saw the little ladies of praise, ok? so you can think about the matters of the moment, but when you see those ladies dancing, it changed my mood. i want to thank them. i am honored to be here. i want to congratulate montel jennings and the committee. this is the 60th anniversary of this celebration, and my