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525,600 Minutes...

So, I've talked about getting more involved in some things.
One of my biggest passions in life is helping people, I want to help people in any way I can.
Last night mom and I through around some ideas as to how we could do that.

To start, World AIDS Day is Tuesday.
So, we are planning on starting something to benifit AIDS research and awareness.
The PLAN is to start a website that has information on HIV/AIDS a place that has info on where to get tested, info on how to prevent being infected, etc. . .
We also want to start selling things to benefit HIV/AIDS research. I mentioned in the blog I wrote for the USAfundraising.com contest that I'd love to donate to The Shawl Circle.
I would, along with many other orginazations and research groups.

We figured out we could sell red rubber bracelets that say "Find A Cure" on them, we are planning on making keychains, and further in the future we want to have t-shirts, tote bags, etc... We want this website to grow and we want to further our way of spreading awareness and educating people.

At the moment we are trying to figure out how much money we will need to start up, then a name for our website and then we will begin making the website, gathering information and making things to sell to benefit HIV/AIDS Awareness and research.

I've always said that one voice can mean something but 1000 voices can make a difference.
It's our responsibility to make that difference.

Love & [World] Peace
Brandi <3

Just some things I got to thinking about this weekend...

I guess Amanda was right when she asked me what I was thinking about this morning...
She knows me too well to not know when something's on my mind.

I got to thinking about a lot of things this weekend. . .One, a thought that frequently crosses my mind, how blessed I am to have such an amazing family. It's people like Amanda, Ashley, Steven, Bobby, Sandy, Face, Charlie, Papa John, Auntie Raven, and so many more that keep me going everyday (I mean, outside of the people I live with =P) They are some of the reasons I get up every morning. And they just don't realize how much they mean to me.
It's people like Papa John who inspires me to do better. He was the person who inspired me to look further than what I can do and look at what I could do. He is one of the biggest reasons I am going to college. . .And he doesn't even know.
It's people like Amanda and Ashley that help me remember how the simple things in life can be the most amazing...The time we spent together friday was something I really enjoyed and will always have in my thoughts. Even if it was crazy, random and sometimes stupid things it was something that made my week.

Another thing that I've been thinking about, especially this weekend, is what my future holds for me. I have sort of a plan, I want to get my GED and I want to go to college, preferably for Occupational Therapy. Papa John made a lot of comments this weekend about me, he said over the mic a couple of times that I'm gonna be President of the United States one of these days, and honestly it made me start thinking (Like most things that he says does) that maybe I need to think outside of the box about my future. Yes, having a plan is good, but having other things in the works is even better. Thinking about all of the HIV/AIDS and Native American health issues that Papa John is currently working with, and I want to get involved with, the talk about all of these things made me realize maybe having a career is good, yes. But, one of the main things I want to do in this world is help. I want to help people, I want to help kids, I want to help the enviroment. . .I want to teach people how to be safe and healthy. I want to teach all these young girls that it's okay to be yourself and not care what people think about the way you look, I want to teach them to be confident and stay with their beliefs no matter what.
Those are the things that are really important to me.

That is pretty much everything that has been on my mind this weekend.
And I'm not sure what to do about some of it. . .
I hope things work out the way they need to.

Love & [World] Peace
Brandi <3

December 1st 2009

World AIDS Day is coming up on December 1st.
A lot of people might ask, why is that important?

I can give you many reasons. I can tell you that there is over 500,000 people currently living with AIDS, I can tell you that over 2,000 of those people are children under 13 years of age.
I can tell you that annually, there are 70,000 new infections of children under age 15. Many of these children are or will become orphans. Without treatment, approximately half of the children with perinatal infection will die by the age of 2... I can sit here and write out all of these numbers, but there is more to this disease than statistics.

Behind all the research, behind the ribbons, behind the numbers. . .There are people.
To most, the numbers mentioned above are just numbers, information gathered to raise awarness for this disease that so many don't want to talk about anymore.
In my eyes, every number is a person. . .And it does not matter who that person may be, young, old, black, white, they are people and they diserve to be treated just the same as everyone else.

I first got into HIV/AIDS awareness in 2000 when I lost my great-uncle because he contracted it from his partner, whom he trusted. I was young when he passed away, but I understood. From then on I promised myself that I would do all that I could to raise awareness and educate people about HIV/AIDS and about how to be safe. And that is exactly what I have been doing.

I am very active with my Native American heritage, I go to gatherings all over the Panhandle of Florida, lower Alabama and lower Georgia. I see all of these gatherings as a place to educate in many ways and most recently I have been helping a group of people educate about HIV/AIDS, as I will continue doing.

USA Fundraising.com is putting on a contest in honor of World AIDS day.
They will be giving away 2,300 red woven bracelets that say "Find A Cure" on them, which can raise anywhere from $2,300 (If you sell them at $1 each) or $11,500 (If you sell them $5 each).
I urge you to all enter this contest, I am.
This is the link to enter. Please do : http://www.usafundraising.com/charities/charity-fundraising/aids-awareness-bracelet-contest.html

If I do win the braclets, I would honestly love to sell them and donate the money to The Shawl Circle or to the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center.

This is important, I can't stress it enough.
If we don't educate people about HIV/AIDS, what is going to happen to our future generations?
We need to protect our children and our futures.

Love & [World] Peace,
Brandi <3

Just a "quick" update on things...

Right, because my blog posts are short.
A lot has happend since I updated last.
After Chattahoochee I got sick, so instead of spreading the germ to everyone else (Even though, that is what happend to a lot of people at Chattahoochee) I skipped ceremony. However, I went to North Bay this past weekend.
Oh boy, it was amazing. No, amazing doesn't begin to describe it.
I went there Friday, I planned on dancing and seeing people I missed.
I got there and Anna was there, I saw Sandy, Bobby, Steven and Charlie. Papa John and Auntie Raven were there...The normal group of people I hang out with. I guess that's when it all started.
Bobby and Sandy invited me to dinner with them that night and I went with them, Steven and Charlie. It was interested, because other than last year at Floridatown when I stayed at Bobby and Sandy's house, I had never really been with them away from a pow wow. It was good though, we talked, caught up, Steven and Charlie made me laugh...and blush. A lot. lol
But it was awesome. I had a lot of fun and I wouldn't have traded that night for anything.
So, I went home that night (and as I teased Steven, I slept in my nice warm bed!) and we got up early Saturday morning and headed out there. We danced, we laughed, the usual. Amanda, Face, Ashley and her cousin, Dusty showed up Saturday. I also saw some people I hadn't seen in a long time. Lori and Jimmy were out there. I've known Lori since I was 7 years old, she's the one who first started teaching me. I still have my first shawl that she gave me one day at dance practice. It was awesome to see her and her husband out there. Jimmy seems like he's relaxed a lot, which it really cool.
I also got to see Shannon and her older sister, Kristine who I hadn't seen in at least 2 years.
So, the entirity of the day was amazing. I got to see people, we danced our butts off. . .I embarassed some white boy in the circle by making him lead a two-step with me. lol
Anyways, moving on. That night was pretty mellow. I hung out with Steven and Charlie (I was sad, Amanda had to leave that night.) But, hanging out with the two of them was very insightful. lol. You learn a lot of things when you hang out with a Chemist and a Historian. Just sayin'
So, some how we got on a conversation about earning eagle feathers. I can't quite remember how it came up, but it did. Charlie commented that he had earned a lot of them but didn't have all the ones he earned. I asked him (and it's funny because later I realized Grandaddy had asked him the exact same question at Floridatown last year) if he had any and he said he had one. . .And of course something slapped me in the forehead and I had to do it.
The next morning me and mamaw brought one of Grandaddy's eagle feathers and I explained to him that someone had told me to do something and I'm sure he could figure out who. I brought up the conversation we had had the night before and I gave him the feather. Honestly I've never seen him so speechless, let alone on the brink of tears.
He didn't have to say anything at all, even though later he thanked me for it. . .I told him it wasn't me, I was just doing was I was told to do. He understood.
It's odd, because I had never really talked to Charlie before, not like we did this past weekend.
He showed me a spot in the woods behind a vendor where the ancient ones were. A place I had never been in the ten years I've been going to North Bay. Honestly. What he showed me makes me sad to see some of the people on that land and how they treat it. There is so much there.
After that we got ready for grand entry. We were all by the east gate when Judy who was the arena director for the weekend told Charlie she wanted him carrying the eagle staff. Charlie being who he is, he was honored to do so. . .I didn't express this to him, but I have a feeling that Judy had a little help with that desicion that day. During Grand Entry something really amazing happened.

For the past 2 months, anytime a memorial song has been played at a pow wow I have cried.
I've cried because it hurt so bad to not be able to see Grandaddy out there with the rest of the veterans. . .But, this time it was different. I stood beside Steven during the entire grand entry and I made comment the moment we got lined up around the circle that Charlie was going to end up making me cry. . .When he posted the eagle staff, and I saw that feather in his hand, when I saw how proud he was to carry it. I couldn't help but cry. But for the first time in the past 2 months, they were good tears. They were proud tears. At that moment seeing how much he honored Grandaddy, it was amazing. So, after grand entry and everyone was out of the circle, the first thing I did was go over and hug him. . .and I couldn't help but break down in tears and I have never been so honest with any of the guys that I call brothers at a pow wow. I told him I had never been so proud to call him my brother, and it was true. From that moment on the energy was amazing. It's unexplainable. I was in such a good mood and I wanted to explain it to everyone but I couldn't. It was impossible. The only way I can possibly think to even attempt to put my feeling (and the feeling I still have) into words is peaceful. And I owe a lot of that to Charlie, and I'm not sure if he fully understands it or not. But I am glad to have him in my life, no. . .I am blessed to have him in my life.

The peaceful feeling that began at that moment has continued and I still have it in my heart at this very moment. But there are other things going on in my mind as well.
There is so much I want to do, the main thing that I am worried about right now is my school.
I have said before that I hate how far behind I am and I want to get my GED but it seems so far out of reach right now. However, tonight I decided to really do something about it. Mama has told me before she would help me with whatever she could. The only thing I need to improve to pass my test is my math. Which, I've never fully admitted to anyone how bad my math skills really are because honestly, I feel stupid when I admit that I only know basic math. I feel stupid when there are kids younger than me that can do higher math than I can. So, I'm going to talk to her. She is one person I feel like I can talk to, especially when it comes to something like this. I know she will be encouraging and I appreciate that and I could probably use it.

But none-the-less, things that happend at North Bay have made me seriously think about some of the things in my life. They've made me think about my future and what I want to do with it.
And, no doubt that this coming weekend will be just as amazing.
We're going to stay at Bobby and Sandy's again for Floridatown. It's going to be pretty awesome.
I can't wait to see everyone again. Let alone, I can't wait to dance again. . .and Ken will be there as well.

So, I will probably update again soon.
Hopefully.

Love & [World] Peace
Brandi <3