Mind stretching, body numbing ...

First off - it says Nov 30th which is when I started writing it, but now it's the 1st, so pretend it says the 1st.

Okay, sorry for the break in updates - last week held the Thanksgiving holiday, and due to Cougar tradition the entire week has no school. Therefore I traveled home for the holidays (as will happen again shortly ...) for about a week. It was fantastic. Allison, one of our students, stayed at my house a couple days which was a blast. Again, visiting home often seems more draining than restorative for my sleeping schedule, but psychologically and emotionally it was invigorating.

On to the bigger and better - today is World AIDS Day. December 1st. Actually the 20th anniversary of the holiday since the issue of HIV/AIDS was first recognized globally. As some of you may know, last year the UW hosted an event amongst its students sponsored by World Vision's Acting on AIDS (a college advocacy challenge). The event was orchestrated to present the visual representation of the 6,000 children who lose a parent to AIDS every day - this was pulled off by 5% of the student body sporting bright orange 'ORPHAN' t-shirts. 2,000 students representing orphans - It was powerful. Needless to say, I'm a little antsy to put together that type of event again. That being said, a few months ago I was checking the Acting on AIDS website only to find the 6,000 challenge - a challenge to re-create that visual using pictures of children affected by AIDS, to raise $6,000 per campus, and to get 6,000 signatures on the 6,000 Challenge Petition (to get congress' attention, increase the amount of aid spent in the Global AIDS Bill, and to make sure that 10% of the budget goes directly to orphans and other vulnerable children).

So, yesterday.

It took quite a bit of planning to finally get to yesterday, but we did it. We used a spot on campus that apparently has never officially hosted an event before - it's called the 'hello walk', a high traffic area in which traditionally you're supposed to say 'hello!' to everyone you pass. It also has good lawn space, important for placing stakes. Thursday night we assembled the 600 children's pictures that World Vision provides you with (each picture to represent 10 children) on kebab stakes and made some signs to place on the trees and such. This morning we arrived around 8am to set it up, and I don't believe at that point it was snowing, but there was definitely snow left on the ground when we arrived. So we staked along the main pathways in the area, set up our table and our signs, and began to engage the passers by. I should mention that this was really able to happen because the INN partnered with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and also with the AFA (African Friendship Association). I don't think there is any way I could have pulled it off on my own.

We made cable 8 news, got 262 signatures, raised about $75 (substantial for coming from the pockets of college students ... dining cards really screw over fundraising), froze our feet to numbness, and felt really good about the whole thing. Yes, it was snowing the entire time. Yes, I could not feel my feet for most of it. Yes it was worth it - to engage in conversation with people about the issue, to give students the opportunity to encourage other students to think about the issue, to know that most of the students who signed were intentional about knowing what they were signing, and that we could be a presence on our campus that causes some people to think about what's going on in the world outside of Pullman. Priceless.

And now the snow has started and has yet to stop. It's been going strong for at least the past 3 hours. I like this sitting in doors thing. It isn't freezing which is a plus. I tried to video some of it for you to see, but I found out my cords don't actually connect to the computer in order to let me transfer video, so that stinks. I'm gonna go figure that out ...