AIDS Walk 2006

[jedusor]

Joe and Nicki show off Penn Valley's little sign thing. I spent a lot of time holding that sign.



Sharai, Joe, Nicki, me, and Lincoln. Link refused to look at the camera. Nancy Harrington was handing out these Penn Valley shirts- the design is pretty cool.



It's about 9:30 at this point, and people are still congregating. Those cardboard ID lube boxes were everywhere as trash cans.



Mindy, Student Activities Director.



Adrian, with Brenda in the background. I actually met Adrian on the UMKC campus at the salsa dancing thing. He was all sad because none of the guys wanted to dance with him.



The last pic I took of Scott in the Hat didn't work out too well, so I brought it and snapped another one. Scott is purely awesome, I love him to death. I might give him my shirt, because he didn't get one and he was really the driving force behind the Penn Valley team. We earned over $800 in donations, and it wouldn't have happened without him and Nancy.



Speaking of Nancy, this is her with her husband. Nancy taught the HIV/AIDS honors seminar last fall, and wrote me a glowing recommendation letter for Reed.



Brian, a janitor at Penn Valley. I think it's pretty cool that a janitor showed up with our team.



Karen, my boss at the TLC, and Mindy.



Cutest. Photo. EVAR.



Nicki and Joe again. They're kind of like Richandamy from Zits; it's difficult to get a picture of just one of them.



Ashley, who was also in the honors seminar.



MCC, as it turned out, meant "Metropolitan Community Church," not "Metropolitan Community Colleges," of which PVCC is one.



Sharai with a muffin.



Nicki was slightly less innocent with her muffin.



I really, really like this picture, and I'm not sure why.



Brenda with her husband and kids. (Well, I'm not positive that he's her husband, but I think he is.)



The Hat made the rounds, as usual.



I think Brenda brought her kids last year, too. It might actually have been the first time I met her.



The Starbucks was free. That's the only reason Mom's drinking it. She was wearing several buttons, including her ITMFA button and the "fag enabler" button that I want to steal.



The walk begins.



A quick team photo before we join in, minus me and Ray, who were both taking pictures.



Mom and Brenda, pushing their strollers.



Across from the Nelson-Atkins Museum.



Keep in mind, we were around the middle of the line. There were a frickin' LOT of people there.



Cheerleaders were positioned along the route.



I don't know why there was a firetruck parked there.



Walking down Cleaver II.



Even though both sides of the street were closed to cars, everyone seemed to walk on the right.



The last time I saw these three before the end of the walk. We all kind of got separated.



They shut down the intersection of Cleaver II and Main for us.



Ashley, Scott, and Zach. Ashley would probably faint if I showed her this picture.



This was about where Mom had to stop, because Link was being a first-class brat.



A picture of the split at Nichols Fountain.



Ray taking a picture of the split at Nichols Fountain. I just realized that I never got a picture of Ray's face. He's HIV+, and has been for twenty-four years, but he's completely healthy, despite never having taken any drugs for it. His doctor apparently calls him his posterboy.



Good Samaritan Project! Ashley is involved with this, too.



In addition to the cheerleaders, we had music stations along the way.



I stopped running around at this point, and stuck with the group. Or rather, tried to. I don't think more than five people were all together by the end.



Homeless people enjoying the show. This is where the camera ran out of memory. I borrowed Scott's, but his ran out of memory too, so I went back to ours and deleted a bunch of pictures that I'd already downloaded to make room for the rest. Scott promised to burn me a CD of the pics I took with his camera.



Picking back up on the other side of Brush Creek. Those people across from me are almost finished with the route.



A couple and their dog take a rest.



More music, with a cool statue.



I reunited with part of our group here.



Nicole, PVCC reservations coordinator extraordinaire and my occasional chauffeur (when she spots me at the bus stop), with her daughter.



Adrian's feeling the heat, but he's still smiling.



Hey, who's that over there?



It's Ray (he's the one in the red hat).



Darren, who is about half an inch shorter than me and calls me "shortie."



The end of the line.



These smart cheerleaders took refuge in the shade of a bridge.



The end is nigh...



One last cheer team.



Every flag has the name of someone who died from AIDS in the past year printed on it.



This is my favorite of the flag pictures...



...but I like this one too.



They made me sniff a bit.



There were people standing by the flags, reading off the names.



If I end up staying in Kansas City for another year, I'll volunteer for the walk.



I'd like this job.



There was a table with little memorials on it.



That's a copy of the National Dean's List. I sent in my bio information for that yesterday.



The teddy bear...



I read the poster board. Victor Jones was a very religious person.



Michael J. Arnold.



Back at the party.



The view from the stage. A lot of people had left at this point.



One team was named after someone who died from AIDS. It looks like the guy is trying to hide, but he gave me permission to take the picture.



The staff had golf carts and trucks to ride around in.



High school kids painted tiles to sell. All of the money from everything went to the fight against AIDS.



I particularly liked this one.



I bought a hat. I got one last year too, but I can't find it, and its colors weren't as cool anyway.

I don't know why some of the pictures are huge. If someone tells me how to change that, I will.