HELP: Displace Me

Hi Everyone. Ok so I know it's been a while, but I've been busy. I really want to tell you all about Displace Me, Invisible Children's national event/rally.

Last year we did the Global Night Commute, an even where 80,000 Americans left their homes and slept outside in their local downtowns to bring attention to the conflict in Uganda. It made a huge impact. Oprah even got us on her show for it. Wow.

We're doing it again this year...even bigger, even better. This year's event is called Displace Me. We are calling on YOU to displace yourself to bring a voice to the millions of Ugandans that are living as refugees because of the conflict.



It will be held in 15 cities across the country. For most of you Californians, you'll be displacing yourself to Los Angeles, to join thousands of others. I know, I know...LA's far. BUT COME ON! That's the point! People in Uganda have been displaced into refugee camps for over 10 years and are in serious plight. The LEAST we can do is drive 2 hours in give up a day of our lives for these millions.

It's on Saturday, April 28th, starting at noon, ending at noon on the 29th. It'll be an experiential event, and you'll leave knowing what people go through in displacement camps.



Watch the video: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe/

(press play on the front page)

Then SIGN UP on that same site linked above! And tell everyone you know to do the same! It'll mean the world to mean...but more important, it'll mean the world to 1.5 million Ugandans living without a voice.



Peace and Love.

Blake

It's Boone a Long Time

So…it’s been a while. A lot has happened since my commentary on our collective love for the “Q.” I wrote that about midway through our time in Charlotte, NC. We had some good Q at a place called Lancaster’s with our friend Dru Willis. There’s a lot else too…I’ll just write all the random stories and thoughts as they come. Sorry if it’s hard to discern a logical flow.

Our stay in Charlotte was rather inconvenient – in relation to driving and travel. The first half of the week, we stayed in a very northern suburb called Mooresville, a beautiful lakeside community that is the hub of all the Nascar teams and biz. We met great people and had a great time.

However, every one of our screenings were down in Charlotte – a 45+ minute drive. That’s not too bad, right? Except for the fact that all of our screenings were at high schools…requiring us to be there at 6:30 or 7 in the morning. That put us waking up at 5am everyday for a while. Yikes.

Then we moved downtown…and had high school screenings back in Mooresville…at the crack of dawn, once again. Poor planning…but beggars can’t be choosers, after all. There was also one day where we stayed in Charlotte, had to be in Mooresville at 7am, then had to drive down across the border to South Carolina for a midday screening, then back to Mooresville to get the other half of the team we left at the school (hour and a half drive), then back down to Charlotte to go home. Yikes again.

We had our first REAL day off while in Charlotte. It was a Saturday, staying with a friend of a friend of a friend (= no IC connection) so we could truly chill and do nothing (a missed luxury). We had some time off from the constant pouring out and meet ‘n’ greet. It was team time, just the 4 of us venting, talking, laughing and fellowshipping together. It was a great time of renewal and revival in our team. Much needed and much appreciated.



Then it was off to Boone. Boone is a rather small mountain town in the Appalachians, home of Appalachian State University. It was one of the best, if no the best, cities we have been to. Multiple reasons:
• Gorgeous – mountains everywhere, cool town, great people
• Beautiful weather – 70 every day in the mountains
• Few and quality screenings – everyday at 7pm only (= whole day to hang)
• Great people – some new best friends for sure

App State had a great demographic of people – true mountain/outdoor people. Everyone wore Chaco sandals, short cutoff jean shorts, flannel shirts, and beards. Every recreational activity involved rock climbing, camping, four-wheeling, hammocks and mountains. Beautiful.





We also met a random woman – Angie Ryan – who was an author and journalist. She was writing a novel about Uganda and the LRA and the war. She knocked on the van window one day and wanted to talk. We met up 3 or 4 times for interviews and coffee. That was a first – contribution to novel and to multiple newspaper articles.

Oh and we had two extra members of the team – 2 friend from the office in San Diego – Anna, our tour support intern, and Sarah, a roadie from last year. That was fun.

Then it was off to Asheville, NC – another mountain town, but less woodsy and backcountry. It was compared to a Seattle/Portland/San Fran of the east (and in the mountains). It is quite progressive, eclectic and artsy. We did a church screening, two high schools, and a public library.

We had one day off – incredibly eventful. We drove through the night to take Anna and Sarah to the airport in Charlotte by 5am to head back to San Diego. Then on the way back, we ventured into the Pisgah National Forest and went to place called Sliding Rock – a 60+ ft rock that had been made slick by 1000’s of years of river flow and moss, forming a natural water slide. We took the plunge. The water was 45 degrees tops, the air was about 50 degrees, and it was overcast. Frigid, but well worth it. Memories to last a lifetime.

We then went to the Biltmore Estate with some comped tickets. The Biltmore is the largest private residence in the US – a mere 175,000 square feet, 255 rooms. It was the private residence of George W. Vanderbilt from 1895 until he died. It was originally situated on 195 square miles, which has since been reduced to a mere 12,000 acres. This was an ESTATE, in the true definition of the word. Incredible.



Well…I know that is a lot, and mostly a factual recollection of events to catch you up to speed. But, much as happened. All is well with us, we are being well taken care of, blessed with hospitality, food and fellowship. The constant state of being a guest is wearing on us though, despite our great treatment. We look forward to the consistency and normalcy of home. One month to go. Wow, has it gone fast.

Q

One of my favorite new parts of life, thanks to the road, thanks to the South, is a food, moreover a way of life. Barbeque, or "Q" as it's called, is this newfound blessing.

On the west coast, barbeque is an event - like a party, gathering, or get-together. It could also be used to describe the physical grill on which various meats are cooked over an open flame, or that act of cooking in such a fashion.

In the South, barbeque is a specific food, much like spaghetti, tacos, etc. Now while barbeque can come in several different forms, it mostly refers to a barbeque sandwich. The sandwich is constructed thusly: pit-smoked pork shoulder, marinated and basted, then pulled or chopped, topped with slaw, served on a white bun. See what I mean? It's very specific.

Now we (specifically Alex and I) have come to be somewhat of barbeque experts-in-training. We've had so many styles - each city and region has it's own distinct style. We started in Memphis, which is know for dry-rubbed baby back ribs. That's right, no sauce, but lot's of spices and flavor. They also have some good standard sandwiches, nice and saucy.

We then ventured out of bbq country (into Kentucky - which is NOT the South). We were missing our new favorite food until we got to Southern Virginia - where we found Eastern Carolina style bbq. Eastern style is vinegar based, not sauce based - no red bbq sauce. It has a lot of flavor, but a little more natural flavor, letting the pork speak for itself. We don't really like Eastern style much.

As you venture west, more and more sauce is introduced into the picture. We got to Lexington, North Carolina, the self-proclaimed barbeque capital of the world. Lexington style is much like Eastern, but with "dip." Dip is vinegar-based, but has elements of red sauce and spice. It's good, but still, we like the saucey stuff.

We are now in Charlotte, far enough west for sauce. But at this point, the sauce and the Q are still separate - coming in a bottle on the table for self-application. This is satisfactory, nonetheless, because sauce is better than no sauce. It'll only get better from here; we're heading west.

Raleigh + Beyond

Raleigh was incredible. We met awesome people. We had good screenings. We did fun stuff. I'll share a few fun stories.

Story 1: The Graveyard. So we got back to the house we were staying at in downtown Raleigh, with our friends from Vintage 21. None of them were home. Locked out. It was 8 pm. The house was on a street called Bloodworth - creepiest street name I've ever encountered.

We were waiting around the house, in the van, wandering, wondering what to do. Then April and I remembered that we had seen a graveyard across the street. Why not visit it, we thought. So we cruised over. The entrance was ominous - black rod iron gate, all bent up and gnarled, one single light illuminating the old cobblestone driveway. The sign told us of the history, "Raleigh City Cemetary, 1798."

We walked through, looking at graves marked from the 1700 and 1800's. The tombstones looked almost theatrical - like the ones at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion - bent over, cracked and broken, corroded from years of weather. We met the famous families of Old Raleigh - the Pooles, the Polks and others.

As we ventured further into this place, the light grewer dimmer and dimmer, the scenery creepier and creepier. We saw more and more broken, slumped and dilapidated grave markers, and above ground catacombs. April and I were beginning to walk closer and closer to each other. I could try to come to a climatic and scary conclusion here...but I'm not feeling it. It was pretty scary, bottom line.

We revisited the graveyard at least 3 more times, taking new friends there again and again as we met them and wanted to bond over a good scare.



Story 2: Our Accident. We were driving from our house in North Raleigh toward Chapel Hill for a screening at a high school in the morning. We were merging onto I-40 from I-540. I had to get over to the right lane. I swerved quickly to avoid almost missing the ramp. The line of cars came to a quick and abrupt halt. I slammed on the brakes and nearly hit the car ahead of us - trust me, a 15 passenger van full of people, luggage and merchandise does not stop on the dime. Luckily, we were in the clear.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked in the mirrors to check our surroundings. Then I saw it - the truck behind us screeching and jerking to a halt...or at least he was trying. He did stop, with the help of our rear bumper. We pulled over and I checked the damage. It wasn't too bad. We conversed with the two cement workers that drove the truck, called their office, exchanged info and took off.

We seemed to be in the clear, just needing to replace the bumper at some future date, nothing immediately urgent. We pulled up to the school, ready to unload and start the screening. We were running - the accident had set us a bit behind schedule. I ran to the back, laid my hand on the back hatch handle, pressed the button and pulled. Only the door didn't open. I looked down and saw that the bumper had been bent up in such a way that it blocked the door and we couldn't open it at all.

I began to run to the side door, thinking that I would just grab the merch and equipment through the back. I halted after a step, realizing the impossibility of what I was planning. We had built cages in the back of all the vans to hold the merch in place. Our merch was trapped, literally imprisoned. We could see it. We could even touch it through the grate, but there was no hope of getting it out.

Luckily the high school had all the equipment we needed to show the film, and they had requested that we didn't sell merch that day. I spent the day calling body shops, driving between them to get estimates, asking about removal and disposal, and communicating with the cement company office and our office. I ended up finding a shop that could yank on the bumper and adjust the mounts, to liberate our back door. Problem solved.



Story 3. Mud. The accident happened the morning after our night of all out fun. Going back to the house, I made a wrong turn (which happens quite often). I so went to flip the van around by pulling a few feet off the road in the grass. The grass looked deceivingly firm and supportive. The van begun to spin and the wheels dug in. We were stuck.

Lisa, Alex and I began forraging in the forest for sticks and logs to wedge under the wheels. After constructing ramps, we made multiple charges to pull the van out. We only dug in deeper and deeper. Seeing into the future a bit, I thought it might be a good idea to call AAA as a safety net. Alex called me a quitter and a pansy. I continued with the call. They gave us an estimate of 1 hour till a tow truck would arrive.

Though help was on the way, we went back to work to get the van out. "Might as well," we thought. We gathered rocks, broken asphalt and more logs. We made more and more attempts to get out. We appeared to be making progress little by little, yet we didn't appear to be getting out of the ruts.

Then I saw the flashing lights of the tow truck pulling down the road. "Let's try it one more time!" Alex and I yelled in unison. We had wedged rocks down under the tire by now and made a pathway of branches to support the behemoth vehicle.

"GUN IT!!!"

I gunned it. And we pulled out, right as the tow truck had pulled up. "Sorry," we said. But we weren't we were excited with the sense of achievement and victory. We were laughing and giving high fives. We had defeated the mud.

Up to date

So now I sit at a window seat of the second floor of the Raleigh Morning Times - an incredible coffee shop in downtown Raleigh. We've been here for 2 days, and already it's been great.

Our first contact was a group of guys from Vintage 21 church (yes the church that did those famous Jesus videos on YouTube - check 'em out). We've been staying with Jared Mercer, Director of Social Justice Efforts at the church.

The church is self-described as "Biblically conservative and culturally liberal." The name comes from "Vintage faith for the 21st century. Basically they strongly believe in opening the doors of their church to the community - artists, musicians, friends, seekers and doubters - regardless of they are members or if they are even believers. What a revolutionary thought - a church with an open-door policy, and people focused on loving and serving their community by being entrenched and active in it. All this without compromising scripture for the social gospel or something.

So we stayed with a group of 4 guys from Vintage in their 19th century downtown Raleigh house - looks like all the old houses in the "Historic" Adams District around USC. Felt right at home.

The screening at Vintage last night was great - incredible people. New faces....and old. We had a great chance to hang out with my good friend Kevin Kirkland from Fallbrook, who now lives in Raleigh with his wife. He took us out to an incredible lunch, came to the screening and then did pizza with us after. His wife is gone on business, so we have plans to spend more time together. When the cats away...

Oh and Raleigh is even warmer then Norfolk. There are buds on the trees and we have to use the A/C from time to time. Praise the Lord.

Farewell Virginia

It was our last week in Virginia. It's our second state completed. It was spent in Norfolk...or "Norfik" or "Norfuk" or "Nawfuk" if you pronounce it like the locals. It's kinda like how Louisville isn't pronounced "Lewis-ville" or Louie-ville", but "Lovol." Enough with the rhetoric.

So...it was our last week in VA. And it was incredible. It was our most consistent and steady week in the state - we've had a bit of a choppy time in Virginia.

First and foremost...the weather! It was glorious - highs of 50 - 60 degrees; the coldest it got was 35. I never thought I would be singing the praise of 50 degree weather, but in comparison to what we have experienced, that is luxury.

We had incredible hosts too. We first stayed with a random distant friend of sorts. The story starts back in Dec. 2003, when I first met Jason Russell and was introduced to Invisible Children. We stayed up all night with his Bible study kids (freshmen in HS) who were also a part of his family's theatre company, CYT.

I met this one kid who was the biggest goof of them all, Owen. I met him a few other times with Jason. Once was when I went to a production of "Pocahantas" that Jason directed and Owen was John Smith. The last I saw him was at J & Danica's wedding in Oct. 2004. Supposedly the last thing I said to him was, "if I ever find myself on Little Creek Road in Norfolk, VA, I'll call you."

Well, last week, I found myself on Little Creek Road. I didn't remember my past comment. I had however, for whatever reason, remembered that this strange Owen kid had moved to VA. I texted J and asked him where. Norfolk he replied. We got in touch with Owen and ended up staying at his house. He has since moved to NYC for school, but his family was more than welcoming. Our stay with them, however was the worst example of our schedule getting the best of us - leaving before the sun rises in the a.m., and returning near midnight, over and over again. We hate to use family's homes like bed and breakfasts, but it's hard to avoid sometimes. The Spruills were gracious though.

We had some incredible screenings that week. Great high schools - Granby, Norfolk Christian, Great Bridge, Ocean Lakes, etc. We did Norfolk Christian's chapel, then each of us went to classrooms to lead discussion for the rest of the day. I had a group of 6th graders who grilled me with questions and engaged in relevant discussion for a full hour. Then I was in a class of seniors who asked 1 question. I guess 6th graders aren't worried about looking cool yet.

Great Bridge really was great. Everyone at the school had already seen the film in a previous screening (that was a first). So we had a number of smaller class screenings where we showed the Update and the Emmy bracelet video (which is incredible, by the way).

They were ready for us. Sara, Haley and Sam had already raised over $2000 through sales of their own t-shirts. They had plastered every hall with handmade posters for IC. They even MADE invisible children. What? They wrapped themselves with packing tape and then cut out the shell - so it was a transparent tape person. Genius. Their vice principal was incredible and loved IC already. She was all about empowering her kids to run with it on their own, and keep hands-off.

We stayed with Sara's family and we were spoiled. I mean spoiled. We were welcomed with two huge batches of cookies and home cookin'. Then there were individual goodie baskets full of tons of candy, individual handbags filled with cologne and such (her mom worked for a fragrance company). It was like a 5 star hotel.

We awoke every morning to full breakfast. They let us borrow their mini-van for errands (which felt like a sports car after driving our huge van for 1.5 months). They made us huge meals per our request every night - surf and turf, homemade Carolina bbq...the list goes on.

What's more, the family was incredible. I got a chance to converse a good deal with Mr. Crow...or should I say Captain Crow. He was a C/O at the nation's 2nd largest naval base in Norfolk. From humble beginnings in rural Kentucky, Capt. Crow had proven himself one of the Navy's finest leaders. Despite being a military man, he was suprisingly humorous, witty and hilarious. I laughed at his jokes and personality as hard as I would a close friend. He also passed on some key wisdom on leadership that he had learned in his 30 years in the Navy.

Upon departure, they filled the back of our van with more candy, cookies, drinks and junk food that we could carry. We couldn't thank them enough. They were incredible.

If that wasn't enough standing on its own, we had our friend and "boss" Jessica Chan out from the office in San Diego to stay with us in Norfolk. It was great to see her and spend some quality time with our friend. We got lucky too that she came during one of the most amazing weeks of tour. :)

Norfolk will be missed..everything execpt the road. The roads and highways were the most confusing I've ever been on - we got lost more in 5 days that the whole of the rest of tour combined. I could go on for a long time...but I'll stop. This blog is already long enough.

Connected...

So...I've stated multiple times that we've met incredible people. Now I just had the second experience of meeting someone with an unbelievable story and connection to Uganda.

We screened at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, VA tonight. It was great. I met a guy who was representing STAND (Students Taking Action Now in Darfur) - Sulaiman Bah. Come to find out he is Sierra Leonean. He was there during the civil war - saw it first hand, and left and fled to America. That, in and of itself, is unbelievable.

Not only this, but he also used to live in Saudi Arabia. And who was his next door neighbor??? Idi Amin. The former dictator of Uganda who was exiled for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sulaiman was friends with Amin's two sons - he knew the man. Whoa. And he stated this so non-chalently.

Sulaiman was maybe one of the most informed and active people I have ever met. He was an international relations major, and reflected it. He knew endless amounts about Sierra Leone (of course), Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. And we only talked for 30 minutes.

Nothing short of unbelievable.

This was 2 weeks after we met Mr. Bendarti - the Indian from East Africa in Roanoke. Bendarti was an old playmate of Yoweri Museveni - the current president (or arguable dictator) of Uganda.