Well, well…Our first week on the road has already come to an end. We arrived in Tucson last Monday night and were greeted by our host families as we pulled in. This week I stayed with good friends of my parents here in Tucson, the Worcesters. They are also UWP alumni from when my parents both traveled back in the 70’s. Tuesday we meet at Centennial Hall, the University of Arizona auditorium, where we started some training for our middle school community impact program “Stand for Peace.” In the afternoon, we had a guest speaker from the organization SACASA, the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault. We discussed some issues regarding sexual assault and learned what the center does to assist victims and their families in the area. The rest of the afternoon was filled with dance and vocal workshops to prepare for our show.

Wednesday was a CI (community impact) day and I joined a group of 10 students at the AIDS foundation in Tucson. They are a large organization of around 50 employees who offer almost any service you can think of concerning AIDS. We worked on some projects for them filling condom packages with information that goes out primarily to gay bars and clubs in the Tucson area. It was interesting to learn that while most people believe that the number of HIV infected people is deceasing in the US, it is actually at a slight incline. When we returned for the clinic, “Cast C”, the other UWP cast on tour arrived from New Mexico and we did some stage set-up/workshops at Centennial Hall.

Thursday was the first time our cast used our “Stand for Peace” program, which we did at Desert Sky Middle School. The program involves putting 3 UWP students (each usually from a different country) in each class where we lead activities in teamwork, eliminating discrimination, bullying, teaching about different cultures, and many more. We work with the 6th to 8th graders in mostly hands on and discussion activities to teach them to respect others. Our cast then performed a 5 song set “mini show” in the afternoon for the entire school of 800 students in their gym. They had a great response to the show and loved our “stomp” dance that they could perform with us, as we were able to teach them in their classes earlier in the day.

Friday was the BIG DAY as we prepared all day in rehearsals for our show that night. For the first time we put both casts B and C together into one big cast for this performance. This week has been the same week in Tucson as the Up with People reunion, so we had 1200 alumni coming to the show, as well as another 1800 sold out for a total audience of 3000 people. Let me tell you that it was just a bit intimidating walking out onto a stage with that many eyes staring back at you. I spent some time doing cast movement, mic groups, and sang my solo “Ounce of Positive” as well as performed our final song, “We’ll be there.” The crowd was amazing and the show itself lasted about 2 ½ hours.

Saturday we spent most the day at the La Paloma resort where the Up with People reunion was going on…we had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with the founder of UWP, Blanton Belk, and his close friend Raj Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. They shared some incredible stories with our cast and their amazing visions for the future. Raj Gandhi spoke to us of, in his view, the most important issue of the next 20 years…reaching and breaking the barriers between our generation and that of the young Muslim generation. We also heard from Carolyn Lee, an Up with People legend, who told us, among many things to “keep your eye on the ball”. Overall, what an amazing first week on the road! We leave tomorrow for Globe, AZ for 3 days, and then Sierra Vista, AZ for 4 days…then onto San Diego. I’ll keep the blog updated towards the end of that week. If you made it through this all…Congratulations. Thanks for taking the time and please make comments if you wish…