Love, Life and Appreciation

We went to Baltimore yesterday to Club Hippo for a NOH8 Campaign Photo Shoot.  The mission statement for the NOH8 campaign is "a charitable organization whose mission is to promote marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest."

Here is a history on the campaign:

" On November 4, 2008 Proposition 8 passed in California, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The defeat provoked a groundswell of initiative within the GLBT community at a grassroots level, with many new political and protest organizations being formed in response.

The NOH8 Campaign is a photographic silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska (http://www.bouska.net) and partner Jeff Parshley in direct response to the passage of Proposition 8. Photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world, with "NOH8" painted on one cheek in protest.


Three years since its inception, the NOH8 Campaign has grown to over 20,000 faces and continues to grow at an exponential rate. The campaign began with portraits of everyday Californians from all walks of life and soon rose to include politicians, military personnel, newlyweds, law enforcement, artists, celebrities, and many more."

We both support this protest and support marriage, gender and human equality. 

We got to Club Hippo a little past 7 pm and signed a model release form.  We were in the late 300s for our number, which shows how many people attended this event. We waited until our number was called which was a little bit of a wait. They were at 225 when we had gotten there. They called  groups of numbers to get their picture taken. While waiting we met a nice woman named Jennifer who came alone. She was really sweet and energetic.  We wore white tee-shirts for the shoot and had a NOH8 sticker tattoo on our cheek. 


The shoot was very quick and we had practiced what we were going to do before the shoot, however it was quick and we were directed on what to do by the photographer. I had seen pictures of other people who had done the shoot and thought the poses they did were what they created, but the photographer told us what he wanted, took about 10 quick shots and we were done. It was actually better that way. The pose he had us do was much more creative that what we practiced. I think that because of the time, since it was around 9:30 pm by the time they got to us, they might have been quicker. I saw one man before we took our shot, do a really interesting pose, where one leg was up. I don't think the photographer directed him on that, hehe. 


Overall it was a good experience. If in the future we decided to do it again, we have more knowledge of how it goes now. The shoots are all over the United States, though most are pretty far away. I think the campaign came to DC last year. I'm not sure if it'll be in DC this year. We won't see our professional shoot for 4 to 8 weeks. Hopefully the shot came out good and that we both don't look like a deer in headlights. Here is a photo gallery of some shots by other people who did the campaign.


We took these photos before the shoot.

On March 25th I left for Tallahassee, FL to attend the 6th National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Educational Partnership Program (EPP) Education and Science Forum, at Florida A&M University.  The forum started on March 26 and ended on the 28th.  I presented my research on the economic value of air quality forecasting in the Washington DC and Baltimore metro region. I am in the starting stages of my research and I presented more of the statistics I found, when comparing measurement of air quality to model forecasting of air quality.  I presented my work during the poster session.

The trip was good, though the flight going to Tallahassee was a bit of a hassle. Before the afternoon of March 25th there was no direct flight from DC to Tallahassee. If you were traveling, you would have to take a connection flight. I was on a morning flight to Charlotte, North Carolina then Tallahassee. I must say that in my recent memory I can not remember a time I had as much turbulence as that morning flight. The pilot said it was light to moderate, my hand was on my seat for most of the time. The flight from NC to Tallahassee was a smaller plane that sat about 30 seats. I remember I was on a plane like that before to go to the Bahamas with my parents. I liked that flight and thought the plane was cute. I mentioned the afternoon because at 2:30 PM the first inaugural direct flight flew from DC to Tallahassee. That flight was greeted by the Mayor of Tallahassee, a water cannon tribute by firetrucks, news reporters and a cake at the airport. Some of my classmates were on that flight. I thought that was cool.  The way back we took a small plane to DC. It was direct :-)

I think my session went well. I got a lot of people that seemed interested in my research and a lot of feedback that I will use towards the research. This forum marks the first time in 2 years I have presented research.  It was nice to present. I remember when I did an oral presentation for my research on fog occurrences. That was so nerve-racking. I think I said "um" so many times. Here I was more relaxed and clear. Some of my classmates presented their research as well and a few took home first place and honorable mentions for their work. I didn't win anything. Maybe next time :-)

Though I enjoyed the trip and the beautiful weather of Tallahassee, I was so anxious to get back to Rex.

Here are a few pictures from the event: