"BACK IN THE SADDLE"

March 14, 2008

We are still raw with grief from the loss of Eve Carson and continue to honor her memory in many ways...

* There is a memorial service at UNC-Chapel Hill next Tuesday, and many from Athens (and the DGW crew) will attend. Shirtworks (provider of all DGW shirts) have created and donated 50 special shirts for Athenians to wear to this service, and we are so grateful for their (never-ending) kindness. These red shirts have a picture of Eve on the front; on the back is one of her favorite quotes (as listed on her Facebook page):

"Not for 5 minutes... will I be kept from the wonder..."
-- Binx Bollings

* Logan has volunteered to create a website about Eve, and he’s getting help from DGW "13th crew member" and fellow Harvard student, Chris Spence. Many of Eve’s friends are sending Logan material for this loving tribute.

* Another huge DGW supporter, Geri Bidwell, who lives in Santa Barbara, CA, ordered 50 DVDs of our film and plans to send them out to 50 college student body presidents along with a note about Eve and how supportive she was of DGW. Geri will encourage these college leaders to host screenings on their campus like Eve did at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The crew honors Eve by continuing our efforts to find a cure for DMD, and we’ve been busy...

* Last Sunday morning, eight of us traveled to Atlanta for an early morning Q&A at the Bregman Conference. The audience was filled with young adults who had special needs and who "strive to thrive" (the theme of this year’s conference). We couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic audience. Normally at a Q&A, when we ask if anyone has questions, it takes a while for people to raise their hands. At this event, every hand in the room flew up! The microphone was passed around, and Darius was asked the cutest questions: "Do you work out?" "Do you have a girlfirend?" "What’s your favorite food?" With every response from Darius or the crew, there was applause, and when we said goodbye, we got a thunderous standing ovation!

* On Tuesday/Wednesday, Jason and Daniel flew to Pittsburgh for a Q&A at the Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership (PEAL) Center state conference. This was another amazing crowd who asked great questions and gave Daniel and Jason an incredibly warm welcome. Afterwards, there was a party with karaoke, and Daniel and Jason did a duet of "Whoop, There It Is." Too bad we don’t have a videotape of that. It would get a ton of hits on youtube.com

* On Friday morning, Collin and Sam flew to East Lansing, Michigan for the East Lansing Film Festival. DGW screens there tomorrow afternoon. They’re having a blast in this college town, where tomorrow is a huge St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Hmmm....hope the guys make it to the screening! Funny story about this festival: Last year, we applied to it and got rejected. This year, they wrote and invited us to submit our film. When we told them we’d been rejected last year, they said they had a new selection committee this year and had heard a lot of good things about DGW. Not only were we accepted, but they agreed to host two crew members. Sweet!

* On Sunday evening, we’ve been invited to have dinner and host a Q&A with the youth group at First United Methodist Church. We’re looking forward to that and hope we get a good turn out.

* Fiinally, late Sunday night (actually about 2:00 AM Monday), Jason, Allison, Barbara,, and 13th crew member Justin Bell will load Darius in the van and head to Boston. We have a Harvard-wide screening on Tuesday, then a high school screening on Thursday at Fayerweather St. School. If you have friends or family in the Boston area, please send them our way!

This week marked the anniversary of the loss of Mario Robinson, Darius’s beloved older brother. On Thursday, Sam and Daniel took Darius, his mom, and other family members to visit Mario’s grave. This was the first time Darius had been there since Mario’s funderal, and it meant a lot for him to be able to pay tribute to him.

Know about it!