Last weekend, we held Friends Changemaker Weekend for the first time. A merging of Spring Lobby Weekend and Quaker Public Policy Institute, we brought an intergenerational mix to Washington D.C. (well, Arlington, mostly) for 3 days of advocacy training, community-building, and finally, a lobby day against funding for this absurd war in Iran.

One question that came up was “what was one of your earliest memories of advocacy?” I shared with a few people at my table memories of protesting the Iraq War on the street outside of my high school, a distinctly unpopular opinion in conservative Orange County. I still remember the smug, snide faces that Taylor Smith would make about it in Biology class. There was also a Beard for World Peace Facebook group somewhat soon after, though it must have been towards the end of high school, since we didn’t get access to Facebook until we got our .edu emails.

Early in the iPod craze, I was learning Photoshop. Some of the first stuff I ever made on Photoshop were political memes. I’ve tried to find copies of them, I could have sworn that I had seen them in the last few years, but to no avail. One was the famous photo of an Abu Ghraib prisoner, hooded, standing on a box. I silhouetted the prisoner and put the Apple iPod white headphones on and some snarky iSomething below it. I’m not sure. iAbuse Prisoners?

Friends Changemaker Weekend was a win. I designed… so much stuff… Programs, stickers, pins, photo booth props, banner stands, handouts, development giveaways, swag, nametags, podium art, powerpoint templates, awards interstitial slides. I co-led a workshop on Art as Social Action. I coordinated two photographers and a video team. And a talented illustrator, Joey Hartmann-Dow, who designed our cover art. Jumped in on A/V support when the hired crew couldn’t seem to mix someone talking into a microphone or control the PTZ camera we paid damn good money to rent from them. Managed changes on house lighting and stage lighting. Helped coordinate the staff photo, the group photo, the flow of Senator Van Hollen’s speech on Tuesday morning. Packed up the office materials to bring to the hotel. Packed up the hotel materials to bring to the Church. Dropped materials at the office. Schlepping schlepping.

All of these traits, hobbies, interests, seem to continue without interruption, from at least the age of 12 or 13. These passions all persist for photography, design, peace, music, gathering, prayer, and protest. And pogonology.

I left Friends Changemaker Weekend on Tuesday to fly directly to Cincinnati for the Religion Communicators Council conference, where I’m a board member. More on that maybe tomorrow. Now, to sleep, perchance to dream.