Oh, little journal, how often I neglect thee...
I keep putting off the day to day accounts of my being because I want to take the time to blow you away, Reader. I want to do a post that's inprirational and empowering and flooded with all the things boiling inside me right about this past weekend. I don't have time for that, though, not now, and so I put off writing down the facts, so one day when I do have the time to churn out a tear-worthy essay, I won't remember the things I want to remember.
Anyway, here they are- some facts, that is...
I worked until 10ish Friday night and then went to Jeff's to sleep for a bit. I woke at 4:30ish and went to the parents' house to get Graham's car, which I then drove to Tuscaloosa. I got to watch the sunrise on the road (it seems I've done that a lot over the past year), and I listened to NPR the whole way. I got to Lindsey's dorm room at 7:30, where I changed and then headed (with her and Genivieve) to meet the rest of the group and load the van and cars with cardboard and crackers and water. We left at 8:30, maybe, and drove to the Civil Rights Park in Birmingham.
Even in broad day light, that place is sketchy as hell. I wonder what the people honored in this place would think of their legacy now? That's a topic for another day...
We found a Nathan, which was VERY exciting, as well as Terri, who is doing a piece on rural poverty and suburban poverty (if I remember correctly), but being a journalist, she came to talk to our group! It was a pleasant surprise. We stopped there to decorate the vehicles; we were quite hippied up by the time we left for Atlanta.
Actually, we went to Woodstock, where we drove to an empty field and unloaded everything, registered, and began to build our cardboard villiage. It was really incredible,,, when we got there things were all painted with Invisible Children logos and whatnot, and everyone was so very excited to be together and representing a fantastic organization. I got to talk to some of Lindsey's friends more than I have before, which was great, because they're pretty wonderful people. I spent the majority of my time with Ryan and Stephanie, though I also talked a lot to Genivieve and Kristen (and Lindsey, of course!). Ryan and I constructed a lovely little cardboard home and pretended to play house; I must say, I was sad to leave our humble abode.
Not too terribly sad, mind you- it was rather full of spiders and the heat didn't work.
We spent a fair amount of time being recorded for the video they plan to show before the senate, and then had a short break before returning to see our speaker, a Ugandan minister who has been displaced for the entirity of the war. We also watched videos, had our crackers and water, and held 21 minutes of silence (for the 21 years of civil war). Overall, it was amazing.
The next morning we packed up and headed home. In Tuscaloosa I took a nap and ate lunch with Lindsey and Alex. After that, I went home. The drive was fantastic, as I played Jimmy Buffet the whole time and sang loudly and often off-key. The weather was beautiful. Once at Jeff's, we goofed off for a bit (Jeff had spent way to much time being mature and serious all weekend- the need to be childish was oozing by the time I arrived, and I must say, I was aching for a bit of silliness myself), then we did a foolish tag team as we worked on projects that should have been done long ago.
I got several huge things dealt with Monday (schoolwise), and I have been much more at ease this week.
Now I'm off to my last class of the semester, excluding two finals next week. Happy Wednesday!