If you're in Austin...and you're able to somehow pull yourself away from Hunter Pence's first start and the Rockets...come hang out with me: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe/ MAJOR, THIS MEANS YOU!!!
Max, You should check out a book I just finished last night. What is the What, by Dave Eggers. I think you'd really enjoy it.
We just had a showing of Invisible Children at our coffee shop last week. You spending the night at that event?
yeah...i'll be there. leaving in about an hour. taking a group of kids. how was the turnout at the showing?? the reaction?
cool..i'll check it out. OK FOR ME TO CALL YOU LATE TONIGHT TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE ROCKETS, TEXANS AND HUNTER PENCE???
Absolutely. Disregard the slurred speech, however. Wow, that sounds really selfish in a thread like this.
nothing selfish about enjoying the moment with friends! ok..i'll be calling. i told Jake I'd call to ask him...but i'm pretty sure he'll be asleep before the Rockets end.
Turnout was great from what I hear (I wasn't able to be there). It's been showing at a variety of places over the past several weeks, so they've been building a lot of publicity. That's awesome that you're taking kids to that - should be an eyeopening event!
If you haven't had a chance to see the video yet, check it out. It's horrific...but certainly eye-opening. Hard to imagine people living in conditions like that. I'm really looking forward to this. I wish I had time to stop by your coffeehouse on the way out of town...but we have to get the kids back.
Yeah - it's definitely on my list of things to do. Its just hard to want to sit down and watch something you know is going to be depressing. No worries - next time you're in Austin, let me know!
Is this for people who aren't that familiar with the situation in Uganda, and what their government did? I mean, are you supposed to take people with you who don't know much about it?
it could be for that. but it's mostly about getting some news coverage like a peace rally. increasing awareness generally in hopes of getting Americans to put pressure on our govt to put pressure on Uganda to resolve this thing. i googled "invisible children" on the news part this morning and there were all sorts of stories about this event. so in that sense, it's working. there are 18 locations around the country hosting this event tonight...60K people have signed up...probably about 75-80K will show up. they think about 7K will show in Austin.
Oh okay, that makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking about. I thought it was about making people more compassionate about the situation. I thought to myself, "people who are volunteering for this probably have a great deal of compassion." But yeah...that makes a lot more sense. It's sad that our government (no Party excluded) is waiting for the public to be more aware of this so that they can do something. It's sort of like a police officer watching a person being mugged, and waiting for an onlooker to yell at them before they stop it.
nah! took some high school kids from church. not my little guys. it was a great event. i didn't sleep more than an hour...i'm still tired. but i was happy to be a part of it.
http://media.www.dailytexanonline.c...s/displace.Me.A.Visible.Success-2887554.shtml 'Displace Me' a visible success Thousands attend event simulating Ugandan suffering By Katherine Fan Nearly 4,000 people convened at the Travis County Exposition Center Saturday, braving 85-degree heat, portable toilets and a lack of showers. They were participating in "Displace Me," an event organized by Invisible Children Inc., designed to simulate the plight of civil-war-torn Uganda. The participants, mostly students from universities across Texas, made make-shift shelters out of cardboard. Their contribution of saltine crackers and water bottles was taken away upon registration to be redistributed later during the program, symbolizing the paucity of food in Ugandan relocation camps. The phrase "invisible children" refers to children belonging to the Acholi ethnic group forcibly abducted to become child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. "I just decided to drive up today," said Josh White, a Baylor University sophomore. "I think it's important for the world to see that we as young people care about our community and our world and to show we're not as apathetic as people think we are." The "Displace Me" participants watched clips from documentaries about the civil war's impact, wrote letters to senators requesting help, and spent the night outdoors in sleeping bags and cardboard shelters. "We are different colors, but one people," said guest speaker Ocia Jacob, a Ugandan "invisible child." Abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army as a boy, he escaped and hid in fear of being recaptured. During that time, he told his story to the producers of the documentary, "Invisible Children." "He is the face of 'invisible children,' because he has touched so many people," said Jenna Stauffer, a 21-year-old Invisible Children volunteer. Stauffer is one of several staff members traveling across the country with the Invisible Children organization who have taken a year off from college for the cause. Invisible Children organized 13 teams this year to present the documentary in churches and schools across the nation. The four-member Texas team alone hosted more than 130 screenings this past year, said Brice Crozier, 23, who headed the team. The teams hosted "Displace Me" in 14 other cities Saturday night, totaling more than 67,000 people nationwide. "I think it's very cool that the youth of this country are helping the youth of Africa," said Waco resident Melanie Smith. Smith's 20-year-old daughter Katie Burch is working with a team currently in Chicago, while her younger daughter, 11-year-old Audrey Smith, raised $100 at her elementary school for the cause last year and has written to U.S. senators and children in Uganda. "Invisible Children has given our family a lot of purpose," Melanie Smith said. UT-San Antonio junior Jeremy Jjemba has a personal tie to Uganda. Jjemba, who came to the U.S. after he lost his mother to AIDS in 1997, attended "Displace Me" looking for material for his second book. "Many of the people in Uganda don't believe these movements work, because they've been colonized by the Western world for so long," Jjemba said. "I want to prove to them that such activities really work."
