"strip down for solidarity"

Summary of the weekend: Exhaustion. Prepare yourselves.

9:30AM flight on Thursday to Chicago O'Hare.
Somehow, I lucked out and was assigned seat 12D, smackdab in the middle. One 60 year old woman on my right, and a 60 year old man on my left. I was reading an article Paul Farmer had written in prep for the summit while we were taxiing around. Enter Jon Welsh, proud Irish Catholic with a charming accent and cheery smile - he asked me about Farmer and we got to talking about global health and HIV/AIDS. Somehow, the bushy-haired woman next to me got involved via Iowa connections to Mr. Welsh, and there we were, having a full-out discussion on life, healthcare, The Fugitive, marriage, European history, relationships, religion, and the war from take-off to touchdown, over my cup of increasingly deflating Gingerale. I felt 2 lbs heavier with wisdom as I crossed over to Baggage Claim and waved goodbye to my flight confidants. Mr. Welsh's advice for making a relationship work? - 1. You have to be head over heels. 2. You have to work your ass off. Well, in my case - check, and, check.

Touchdown at Chicago O'Hare at 10:45AM CST.
2 Hour L-Train ride to Evanston. I met up with Sirisha near Northwestern, and we grabbed an Indian lunch buffet (mmm Tandoori Chicken + nan). We sat talking about the fellowship long after the food was pulled, and the servers had left after their own post-shift lunch break. Later that night, Ed Cardoza, VP of Development of Partners in Health opened the night with a speech on the summit's central theme of "Pragmatic Solidarity". All the while, his words were colored with encouragement to push for student's involvement. Yet at which point are you able to turn motivation into mobilization? Intentions, well-wishes, and brilliant ideas are stagnant and one-dimensional without pragmatic solutions and active engagement. I always wonder: Can students become the primary vehicles for pragmatic solidarity?

*Edit*

Friday, August 4th - Speakers, GlobeMed Development, and Dancing
Speakers from Opportunity International, Global Fund for Women, Concern America, and the Global Business Coalition (GlobeMed's heartthrob and local celebrity- dark, not so tall, and strikingly brilliant Neeraj Mistry). Roundtable on Developing Health Partnerships with Grassroots Organizations. Chapter Break-outs and Fundraising Chapter Challenge + a delicious glorified Bali Hai-like dinner. Closing speaker, Dr. Atim, from Uganda. Metro to Oglevie, Downtown Chicago. Festivities at Neal's amazing apartment (located right on Navy Pier, and across from Oprah's suspected penthouse) supplemented by choice iPod music. Dancing a.k.a 2 hours of cardio and perspiration at Hunt Club. Hit the bed at 4:00 AM.

Saturday, August 5th - Benefit Dinner and More Dancing
Four and a half hours of sleep. I shut my eyes Friday night, thinking I would be able to wake up to my 7:20AM Alarm. Wrong. I always seem to forget that I have an uncanny ability to shut off the alarm on my phone with a phantom arm. I woke up with a jolt at 8:41AM... we were supposed to be back in Evanston, in the lecture hall for Victor's presentation by 9:30AM. Evanston is a half hour train ride away. With complete disregard to hygiene, I pulled my hair up in a somewhat decent ponytail, pulled on a pencil skirt, and half-heartedly tucked in an oxford shirt that was covered with railroad tracks of criss-crossing creases. We rushed out to catch a cab, and I walked into the lecture hall with a bagel and banana in hand at 9:37 AM. Next: Development/Fundraising, Social Entrepreneurship, and Health Partnerships Workshop. UCLA had the great idea of taking advantage of their famed "Undie Run" for a fund-raiser. "Strip down for Solidarity", who doesn't love it? Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to change for the Benefit Dinner, and I met with Sirisha at 5:00 down in the lobby to have one last heart-to-heart about Uganda. I sat at a table with Sirisha, and Dr. Atim at the Benefit Dinner. My table was right up front, and the back of my chair was immediately in front of the speaker's podium. Throughout the keynote speeches, I let my starvation override any bashfulness and good manners - unfortunately, the not-so-discreet sound of my knife scratching the ceramic plate while tearing apart my chicken cordon bleu did not go unnoticed.

Later that night, I went to an Irish Pub, "The Celtic Knot", with about 15 GlobeMedians from UCLA, Truman State, and Northwestern, and then went over to Koi with Truman's GlobeMed President to meet up with the rest of the group for some dancing and farewell bonding. Coincidentally, the National Taiwanese Conference was being held at Northwestern that same weekend, and I soon realized after walking into the front door of Koi, that I had just stumbled upon their jam-packed after party.

At about 2:30AM, I caught a cab to Chicago to meet up with the UNC girls at Hunt Club. My driver, Amil, and I had such an interesting conversation. I guessed right, he was Gujarati. I asked what he wished most for his two kids, and he said "Prosperity". I asked what he wished they would be, and he said "One will be a doctor. The other will be a lawyer". So often, first generation Asian immigrants (including my parents) equate prosperity and power to these two professions. Sometimes I wonder if this 'best-intentions' hope carries residual restrictions in a kid's interests and development; medical school and law school aren't always a straight shot, or necessarily fulfilling. We got onto the topic of Bollywood, and discussed movies like Veer Zaara and Kal Ho Naa Ho (mostly about how I cried for hours on end during each one). For the record, Amil thinks Aishwarya Rai, the "Most Beautiful Woman in the Universe" is "Not that special". (:

Sunday, 3:00AM - Non-stop
Amil dropped me off at Hunt Club. Our group didn't leave until 5:00AM, and from there, it was straight to the apartment to pick up our luggage, and then to the airport where we were supposed to board our flight back to RDU at 6:40AM. In contrast to my flight from the RDU to Chicago O'Hare, I lost consciousness as soon as I hit my seat, with no memory of conversation or even free Gingerale. I hadn't slept since Friday night.

I collapsed on my bed right when I got back to my dorm room around 10AM, and didn't wake up until 8PM when I had my first meeting with Paul about the Center for AIDS Research Documentary. From there, I churned out an organic lab write-up, PUBH 420 paper on HIV/TB, and a Music paper and presentation on the Medieval Spanish Convent, Las Huelgas.

This week, I'm going to need sleep. And lots of it.

GlobeMed. Let's be the Change.