Today was such a beautiful day. I volunteered this morning to help set up the Broadway Flea Market and support an organization very close to my heart. It felt so good to be there with a huge group of fellow Wagner Theater students representing our school and what we stand for. Besides the fact that I think Wagner's theater department offers top notch training, there's something else that makes Wagner Theater stand out among its competitors. And it's the simple fact that this student body cares. We have huge hearts. How many other 18-22 year olds would wake up (or pull an all-nighter) at 5:30 in the morning right after a huge party the night before to help unload trucks full of tables, chairs, and boxes of goodies while battling hangovers galore? We are a family. We are Wagner strong. And I'm proud to be part of it.
One of the reasons I love the flea market is because I get to see a community of aspiring Broadway hopefuls and seasoned professionals come together as one to raise money for a fight against AIDs. Being that it is 2013 it's easy to forget or push aside the struggle of HIV/AIDs. But the horrible truth is that the fight against AIDs isn't over. It isn't a dead issue. In fact, it's far from being a dead issue. It's very much alive and it's affecting people every single day. We don't talk about it because this isn't the 1980s. We don't hear about it in the news anymore. And sadly enough, I'm still disgusted with the highly inaccurate negative stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDs. More people should be informed and educated. More people should know the facts rather than the myths. I think it's something that needs to be talked about more often. Once a year isn't good enough since people are contracting the virus every single day. Scratch that, according to aids.gov, every 9.5 minutes someone in the U.S. alone is infected with HIV.
I got to be with my Wagner family today, and I got to see alumni, directors from last year, and a lot of my OPTC summer family. I felt so lucky to be surrounded by so many special people in my life in one day. On my way home I realized how much my life is filled with love and how lucky I am that I can say that.
At the flea market there was a box filled with these fabulous red high heels. They had your name written all over them, Justy. I don't know who went home with a pair of those beautiful shoes but I know that whoever it was will not be able to strut in them as gracefully as you would've been able to.
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