Invisible Children Event

Invisible Children is an organization that in the last several years has become popular with young activists. On Friday March 6^th the Virginia Commonwealth University chapter of Invisible Children held a screening of their documentary “Go,” which debuted in the fall of 2008.

The movie is centered around, then high school sophomore, Amanda Mitchell and two other high school students. Before the filmed played, a few Invisible children gave some background information. After talking to biology junior Briana Lambert it is evident that this is a cause that many students can be passionate about.

The purpose of Invisible Children as a national group is to raise awareness and gain support to end the longest running war in Africa and to stop Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Arm that kidnaps and forces children in Northern Uganda to be soldiers.

After the brief information session the lights dimmed and the film started playing. It was a 40-minute emotion filled documentary that shed some light on lives affected by Joseph Kony and the LRA in Northern Uganda.

Several students had competed to win a trip to Africa with Invisible children; the documentary followed three of them around as they learned about Uganda and helped rebuild schools as well as making ever-lasting relationships.

Creative Advertising sophomore Matt Whitt said that the film “solidified a lot of things that I kinda knew where going on, but to see it actually happen was a different experience. Putting a name and face to the actual events is what Invisible Children does really well; they personalize it.”

The film gave viewers a chance to get as close as they could to experiencing the drama of everyday life of young people in Uganda. Amanda Mitchell went on a emotional rollercoaster while on her summer trip to Africa. She found a girl just like her; they shared a love for music and like to do all the same things teenage girls like to do. After quickly becoming friends Amanda found out about the girls secret that hit her like a wall.

After the screening Amanda gave a brief talk. She said that before the trip “all I wanted to do was to make a difference; more than just holding a sign.” Before the trip she only worried about where she belonged but once she met the girl, Gloria, she had a purpose.

Invisible Children is always searching for support. There are a few ways that students can get involved. Every other Sunday at 5 p.m. the VCU chapter meets in front of the Common’s theater, the exact date of the next meeting is unsure because of spring break. If time commitment is an issue a student can sign up for Tri on the Invisible Children website where they can donate three dollars a week.

[pictured is Matt Whitt decorate in his Invisible Children garb]

I should Start Again

For as long as I can remember music has been a big part of my life whether I was just listening to it or even playing. When I was an infant and would get upset my dad would put on some music and dance with me around the room until I calmed down. As I got older I found a cassette player and took my parents old tapes and stay up at night listening to music until I fell asleep. My parents started to buy cds for me and my sister to listen in the car or around the house and I really started to appreciate music.

In forth grade I was old enough to join my elementary school's orchestra. I chose the violin because it was the smallest and I was pretty small. I instantly fell in love with music. Playing the violin wasn't a task and I actually enjoyed it. Even though I loved playing every now and then it felt like a task when I had to record my practice hours. I remember sitting in my basement practicing for what seemed for hours waiting for my mom to come down and tell me that my time was up. My favorite part about playing the violin was when my best friend and I decided to enter a duet contest. The piece we played for it was a little more challenging than we were used to and it was great going over to my friend's house to practice it. For the most part we practiced without supervision and everything would go really well. There is only one practice that I can remember that didn't go well. We had decided to practice outside on the sidewalk in front of my friend's house, I got so mad at her for holding the bow the wrong way that I packed up my violin and walked home. I was afraid that the judge would notice that she was holding the bow the wrong way and take off some points. We had a great time at the competition and I thought that I was going to play forever but then I moved.

I moved the summer after 5th grade and joined the orchestra at my new school. I soon found out that the group that had been playing for a while was more advanced than me so the teacher suggested that I should join the beginners. I had been playing for two years so I did not feel like starting over so I decided to quit.

Since then I have tried playing other instruments like the piano and the guitar but nothing seemed to stick to me in the way the violin had. Now I wish I could start playing again. It would be cool to take a class at The Blue Ridge Irish Music School when they offer classes in the violin or to learn bluegrass. Maybe I can add relearning the violin to my summer to do list.

Woah! This post was going to be about how important music is to my life, how I have been known as the friend to go to for new music and how music is a great escape but it went in a completely different direction. Maybe later I can write about that.

Chapstick

Almost everyone that knows me knows that I carry chapstick everywhere that I go. It is one of the things that I never leave home with. I think my use of chap stick has gotten so bad that it is safe to say I am addicted to it. When I loose a stick I get upset and stay upset until I find it again or until I can buy a new pack. I know it is kind of a silly thing to be addicted to chapstick but some how it has happened in the last few years.

I think it started sometime during my junior year of high school. I was put on this crazy medicine to help my skin. It was so intense that I had to go in once a month to get by blood drawn to make sure it wasn't harming anything internally. One of the side effects of the medication was crazy chapped lips. That winter the combination of the medication and the windburn from snowboarding I was forced to use chapstick for what seemed like every ten minutes because otherwise my lips would hurt too much. By the summer I was off the medication and no longer suffering from windburn but I still felt the need to apply chap stick constantly. I was like that for at least another year and for some time after that.

Today it isn't quite as bad. I still carry a tube with me everywhere I go but I can actually go for several hours without putting it on. Every now and then I go back to old habits but overall I have gotten much better. It is a silly little thing that I'm working on and felt like sharing.

A Big Adventure

In the last couple of weeks I have been trying to help a friend of mine at a different school where to study abroad. She has narrowed it down to either Scotland or Australia and is torn. The school in Scotland is much smaller and has a riding club but Australia is so cool and she won't get many more opportunities to go there again. I have been trying to help her decide but the both us can't decide which place would be better.

This has gotten me thinking of where I would like to go abroad for a semester. It is something that I definitely want to do but I just have no idea where. My friends, roommates for next year, plan on going to Italy one semester together. They told me I could go along. I love Italy but I'm not sure if studying abroad for a semester with friends is the best idea. I feel that part of going abroad is knowing nothing about the area and knowing no one there. It is a chance to really get to know yourself and experience wonderful things. I'm not even sure if I want to go to Italy. I have been there before and think that it might be cool if I go somewhere that I haven't been yet or to one of the cities I visited over the summer in Europe that I only spent 18 hours in.

I guess I will just have to talk to my parents and see what they think. I don't think I'll go anywhere until the fall semester of junior year so I have some time to think it through and really decide if i want to go.

What I Need

In one of my last posts I wrote about how I need to get some sort of journal and keep it at my beside to record my dreams, because maybe one day they could be turned into books or movies. I have decided to get a moleskine notebook to carry around and leave next to me while I sleep.

I plan of making this notebook a scrapbook of my live, my thoughts, and my travels. As well as well as writing out my dream in it I plan on using it to write down any sort of idea or phrase that comes to me during the day. I will put flowers in it and drawings and tape any sort of thing that I find and feel is worth keeping. The book will be a reflection of my life, anyone who picks it up will see the real me, my insides, my mind.

I'm Not a Fan

I am not a fan and waking up that my dream wasn't real. Last night I had a dream that was filled with happiness and haikus and it seemed so real, then I woke up and realized that I was lying in my bed and not sitting on that bench in the restaurant. This dream was an extension of my reality, things I would like to happen, and maybe will. In that dream I thought things had changed but they didn't. It is morning and everything is just the same as yesterday. My location is the same. The work load is the same. The relationships are the same. Maybe if I keep dreaming they will eventually change. I hope they do. Once dreams become reality the day will be great.

Tattoo

For much of my life I have been able to appreciate the tattoos that I saw around me. I love that they are just another way of expressing yourself. They are your own little painting to display to the world to tell them a little bit more about yourself.

Sometime in high school I decided that I would join the masses and get a tattoo. I would get one but I told myself that it needed to mean something and I wanted to make sure that I would still love it years later. At first the only tattoo ideas were silly and impersonal, like a star on the wrist. It seems like almost everyone has a star on them somewhere. After realizing that the star was a stupid idea I was lost for any other tattoo idea. I knew I still wanted one but couldn't figure out what I wanted.

Then last semester a great idea popped into my head. I should get a tattoo of a sea turtle. So I looked online for sea turtle designs and found the perfect one. It is just a solid black figure of a turtle with a spiral as a shell. I have always loved sea turtles. I got a shirt when I was in 2nd grade at the beach with the turtles on it, and now, even though it is falling apart, I still wear it every so often.

Besides just loving sea turtles I love what they stand for. I am very much like a turtle, when I feel threatened by the outside world I withdraw back into my own 'shell'. They also tend to keep to wisdom and knowledge to themselves. Some say that the turtle stands for earthy, grounded, and steady. Three things that like. While they are for land turtles I feel that they can apply to sea turtles, because they are similar (just live in water). Everything I find out about the symbolism behind turtles makes me want the tattoo even more. Maybe I'll get it this summer, I just have to find a way to pay for it.