‘The Patriotic Spirit’

Pays Tribute To America In Wake Of Disasters

By Kendra Bobowick

“I packed up my car in the fall of 2004 and headed out to photograph America. I wanted to give something back to my country that had suffered through September 11 and the Oklahoma City bombings. I captured the American flag and her people in all 50 states…”

The opening sentences of Chris Seman’s just published book, The Patriotic Spirit, explain a journey the Newtown resident started more than seven years ago with his camera, a seed of patriotism, and a sense of both pride and adventure following separate acts of mass death and destruction on American soil: a terrorist bomb attack in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, and a September 11, 2001 series of four coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda terrorists against targets in New York City and Washington, D.C. His book is a tribute to the disaster victims.

“So many people lost someone in those tragedies,” he said this week. As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches this weekend, he says, “I think some people have forgotten. They will watch something on TV for a few minutes, but if it doeasn’t affect them directly, they may forget.”

Instead, Mr Seman has documented patriotism with photos of residents from every states displaying an American flag, and coordinated his photos and recollections into a book that is finally in print.

 “I did it!” he said. “I am very glad the book turned out.” He calls its publishing “just a stepping stone.” He said, “I traveled, got the photos and stories … the hard part is to get the book out there.” He is now promoting his book, sales of which will serve as a fundraiser for the disaster memorials in Oklahoma, New York City, and Washington D.C.

On the glossy back cover he wrote, “Please do your part by buying a book or giving a donation to show your support as an American and human being.” The $35 price “is a lot less than it cost me,” he laughed, thinking of the gas, film, travel expenses, and years he invested in this project.

This month his efforts have culminated into a picture book including brief impressions of his stops in each state. He now hopes that “anyone who is an American” can reach this book. Its pages can “inspire or remind people” that may otherwise take for granted a free country, he said. By traveling from one state to the next he realized, “You get the feeling of our free country as you go.” To have his self-published book at last tangible and in hand, he said, “It’s a big relief, but it isn’t over yet.”

Recalling his time traveling, he said, “A lot of the country is nice and generous and people appreciated what I was doing.” Inside the book’s pages are images of regular people, Las Vegas show girls, veterans, working men and women, families, and friends holding out a flag in front of state capitals, mountain ranges, ski slopes, beaches, in front of homes both destroyed by natural disaster or preserved in a historic district. Mr Seman is holding the flag in some places where he stopped, including his wedding picture from New York. Mr Seman’s wife Aimee is featured in the photo on the book’s back cover.

Noting his experiences in various parts of the country, he said, “Sometimes I had to wait hours and sometimes just a few minutes to find someone to hold the flag.”

Would he do it all over again? “Only if I was sponsored,” he joked. “I love to travel, and I am patriotic.” Would he do things differently on a second trip around? He laughed to himself, then said, “It was rough sometimes, not knowing where you were going or where you’re sleeping — too many uncertainties.”

He is counting on sales of his book to start a chain reaction as some people buy it and others see it and also make a purchase, but, “It’s stressful,” he said.

Learn more about Mr Seman and his book at www.ThePatrioticSpirit.com, where copies are available for purchase.

Mr Seman thanks the people who have helped and supported him in this project, including layout designer Lynne Phillips.