AIDS Walk 2009!!!

(Kelly, Alicia, Vikki)

YES!! The AIDS Walk was this last Sunday. And yes, it was awesome.

Alicia and I started our day bright and early and drove up to the city. Thanks to UCSF’s cooperation, we got cheap parking for the day right across the street from Golden Gate Park. Checking in was a breeze and playing with our rewards for our fundraising was of course a blast.

We had gotten there so early, we had about an hour and a half to wait for the walk to actually start, so we met up with our friend Vikki and chatted, made new friends, watch a rescue attempt of a poor lost mole, and listened to the entertainment from the stage. Next year I hope to secure a place closer to the stage so that I can actually see what is going on up there.

Once the walk started there was a mad dash for the starting line. We tried to hang back a bit so as to not get trampled, and for the most part were successful. Very early on we encountered our first and only protesters. They were quite nice and only held signs warning me that God will judge me. Yes, God will judge me, so you, please don’t. What made it great though were the drag queens partying it up right next to the protesters. Sequins, geisha style makeup, singing and dancing… They were quite hot if I may say so myself.

There was never a dull moment along the walk. There were stopping points along the way where volunteers handed out oranges, popsicles, multigrain bars and other snacks of the like. There were men walking by with their Ipod players propped up on their shoulders as if they were 90s style boom boxes, men (errr… women..) walking in their underwear, men dressed is space man outfits, and my personal favorite, a naked man with face paint and a sign around his mid section advertising nakedclowns.com. I have yet to visit the site… :S…

The AIDS Walk is definitely a must in my next years ‘to do’ plan, only I will make it bigger and better. Yes, that means that all of you are getting an invite to join my team, fundraise, and walk with me! And with California’s current budget situation it will be more necessary than ever. Most of the organizations that this event supports have already lost most of their funding. As San Francisco is one of California’s cities with the highest rates of HIV and AIDS, these services are needed. In total, the AIDS Walk was able to bring in over $3.5 million and Alicia, Vikki, and I were able to raise over $1700 ourselves. Imagine a difference we could make with a bigger team!

And, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who made this possible!!!

Mirror, Skull, and Chair

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, artists used to create a type of painting called a 'vanitas'. Yes, it sounds like 'vanity' because it means 'vanity'. In these paintings were symbols of a lustrous life. Books to show that the subject had knowledge, pearls, money, and jewels to show that they were wealthy, mirrors to show that they were a bit narcissistic... And a skull to remind us that death is unavoidable. Then in the background would be a painting of the final judgement. Jesus doesn't care how much money you had, or how beautiful you were. You'd have better been a good person as well, or you're not getting though those big pearly gates.

Through the years, the religious symbols of these paintings have been made much more subtle, or at times non existent as is in the following example.

'Mirror, Skull, and Chair", finished in 1962, Oil on Canvas by Paul Wonner

By far the most appealing vanitas I've seen yet. Rather than using deep, dramatic colors, Wonner chose to use softer colors to invite us in, and allows the light to fill the room rather than focus on one focal point coming from above (as the earlier versions have to symbolize the presence of God). Vanity is still present with the use of a mirror, and a palette of makeup next to the skull, yet the more simple use of these symbols lets the painting be understood by a wider audience. It is not riches and excessive knowledge that Wonner wants us to see within ourselves, but the obsession with beauty. Makeup and a mirror to adorn ourselves, with a little pink flower; beauty.

Wonner was an impressionistic painter, yet this painting is much closer to realistic than most of his other works. You can see, even in a photograph of the painting, that the brush strokes are heavy and deliberate, yet the entire painting comes together as a whole without the need for much questioning. Ok, I'll admit, I'm guessing that the palette on the table is makeup, however given the other visual ques, I think it's a fair guess. We can see through the mirror that the sky is blue, and the room is flooded with light. The skull is peaceful looking as opposed to jagged and piercing as the skulls in the more traditional vanitas paintings are, and the door in the background is ajar as if to tell is that all are welcome here. In death comes judgement, we cannot escape this no matter how beautiful we are, yet it might not be so bad after all.

Charity: Water

Charity Water has been doing some amazing photos of the day. This is Caroline in Uganda. Thanks to charity: water, her town now has a new well providing clean water to the town's people. What an amazing smile she has.

Kiva Loan #5!!

Today marks the first day of a new month... which means I get to lend again!!! I went out to kiva.org and was thrilled that there were four loans available in the health sector. After much deliberation I chose to lend to Birtudes who operates an herbal medicine business from her home in the Dominican Republic. I liked her because she sells natural vitamins, teas, and clay rubs... and I've been reading about the benefits that green tea has on our health. :)

Below is a picture of Birtudes with her group members.

Lead in my Purse?

The Center for Environmental Health just released a new study today. They looked at the lead contents of purses being sold in the United States, and found that some of them had 90 times higher lead content than is legal under the federal laws. Many states have more strict laws than that, so imagine how far over they are in those states...

Lead can be found in both the vinyl (any faux leather product) as well as dyes and paints. This means that canvas bags are not safe either!

Lead poisoning has been attributed to lower cognitive ability than would be otherwise and learning disorders. (hm, is our obsession with cheap fashion responsible for the growing numbers of learning disorder diagnosis's in the U.S.?)

Below is a list of the retailers selling the contaminated purses, and a list of the brands that are contaminated.

The retailers found selling bags that contain high levels of lead include:
Kohl's
Target
Macy's
JCPenney
H&M
Wal-Mart
Aldos
Ross
Forever 21
New York and Co.
Ashley Stewart
5-7-9
Bakers Shoes
Sears
DSW
Anchor Blue
Bloomingdale's
Express
French Connection
Lane Bryant
Pacsun
Sanrio
Tumi
United Colors of Benetton
Victoria's Secret

The brands of bags found that contain high levels of lead include:
Fluff
Aldo US
Ashley Stewart
Urban Brands (Ashley Stewart)
Bakers
Chinese Laundry
Lulu NYC
Forever 21
Relic
Haddad Accessories
H&M
St. John's Bay
Worthington
Nine & Co.
Nine West
Apt. 9
Daisy Fuentes
Liz & Co. (by Liz Claiborne)
Dana Buchman (by Liz Claiborne)
Roxy (by Quicksilver, Inc.)
Rosetti
Cul-de-sac (Sears)
Steve Madden
Xhiliration (Target house brand)
Urban Expressions
No Boundaries (Wal-Mart house brand)
Fossil

All of the information here was found on the CEH website, and Wikipedia (which IS a source!!)

Kiva Stats

Today I learned where the stats to my Kiva lending practices can be found. This just gives me an overview of who I've been loaning to, and what sectors they belong to. So far, my four loans have gone to four different countries. Three of them to women, and 2 of them to the health sector. I'm thinking I want to focus my efforts in the health and education sectors because health and education are world wide issues that I tend to get behind quite easily. However, if someone in retail or food services pulls on my heart strings just the right way, I'll of course lend to them :)


Gender
Male 25.0%
Female 75.0%

Country
Nigeria 25.0%
Pakistan 25.0%
Togo 25.0%
United States 25.0%

Sector
Construction 25.0%
Retail 25.0%
Health 50.0%

Kiva Payments

Today marks an exciting day in my lending practices at Kiva. I got my first payments back!! I'm so excited to have $3.00 in credit to apply towards July's loan. Plus I believe I have one more payment coming July 1 so I should have a little over $3 to put towards my next loan. Eventually I hope to have enough people paying me back that it will be a self funded endevour, and will only cost me the 15% donation to Kiva each month. Of course, this is going to take a bout two years to reach given my current rate of lending. Maybe I'll have to bump it up to two loans per month :) I know I've already done two this month, but I was so excited today when I found a loan to give in the 'health' sector. Those seem to be few and far in between so I try to catch them when I can. Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for her) this loan won't be available come July, but hopefully there will be more!