A good book has no ending.

Classes are over, grading is finally done, and only one more day in the lab until I take off for a getaway in the country. Time for a little reading... for FUN! Here's my stack of books for the break (which I'm betting is a mere tenth of the stack of books that Beth is planning to read during break ;) )
Evolution under the Microscope (Swift). I borrowed this one from Doug in April. Yeah... April. Totally interested in the subject, I just find it hard to motivate myself to pick up a dense science text when I get home after I've been thinking about science all day! Must finish it. Seriously (And discuss)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling). Probably my 4th go through this one. Love it. "I open at the close." GAH.

Old Testament Turning Points (Matthews). Required reading for the OT seminar at ECC in early February. With two classes, teaching, and research next semester, I'd better get this one finished now.

The Return of the King (Tolkien). I've been promising all the LOTR summer book club friends that I would read this so that we could all watch the movie together soon. I will make good on this promise. :) I go to find the sun. (Out of all the LOTR quotes why is this the one that sticks in my head?! I have no idea, but I like it.)

The House at Pooh Corner (Milne). A birthday gift from a friend. I've been reading snippets before bed this week and totally enjoying Milne's whimsy.

And as is typical of me... since I can't pick just one to start with... and have to have a book for every mood, I'm at least halfway through three of them.

Slacktivism

Slacktivism
formed out of the words slacker and activism

term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction

examples: online petitions, awareness wristbands, ribbon bumper stickers, joining facebook group, youtube videos

This subject was brought up by Mateo today as Twitter was flooded with World AIDS Day related posts. And I recall having a similar conversation with Emily a few months ago regarding people changing their facebook statuses to reflect their support of healthcare reform. (I tried to find the convo, but searching months of facebook wall posts is ridiculous and incredibly inefficient.)

On one hand, I totally agree with the cynical view that chiming in on a twitter trending topic or changing a facebook status is worthless and just a way to make us feel like we're making a difference without getting out of our chairs and really doing anything about it. But on the other hand, I think something is better than nothing. Maybe no one clicked on the link I posted today for World AIDS Day, but there were also thousands of other people who posted the same thing. And at some point someone clicked on it and read the site and hopefully learned more about HIV and AIDS. That one small action won't do much, but when it comes to something like HIV/AIDS I really do think that awareness is the first step to knocking down prejudices, misconceptions, and mistreatment of those who have it, gaining a better understanding of the importance of developing vaccines and/or immunotherapies and more funding with which to do so, and in the end making life better for a lot of people. I'm not so naive to think that government funding agencies are going to listen to a bunch of people on twitter, but I think there is value in getting a lot of people involved on the ground level and even just making them think about it instead of ignoring it. And I'm not so naive to think that people aren't just doing it with the "slacktivism" mindset to make themselves feel more active. Here's a little insight into my mindset when I do something like this and how to keep it from becoming slacktivism:

1. Only facebook/twitter/etc causes that you really believe in. If you post every cause you can get your hands on it'll just be white noise or your facebook friends will 'hide' you in their newsfeed. So for me, virus-related diseases are close to home since I study them. HIV is especially big since it affects a large population (~33 million according to WHO) and is pretty difficult to combat. Another is the Downs Syndrome Buddy Walk. Bloomington started their own 2yrs ago to benefit people with Downs in the Btown area. The daughter of one of my professors has Downs; she's 5 and an awesome kid.

2. Make an effort to be involved in the causes you share online. I've done the Buddy Walk the last 2 yrs, and this year got some classmates to do it with me. Last year I wrote this post regarding companies that take the slacktivism to a consumerism level and I said I'd skip the middle man and donate straight to the RED campaign. I'll admit that I never got around to it, but I'm doing it now. You can too. Even just learning about the cause and spreading the word can make a difference.

3. Pray. Can you think of a better action to take than to bring it before our God?! Here are my prayer requests concerning World AIDS Day.
For God's healing of those struggling with HIV/AIDS and secondary infections.
For them to feel God's love and hope.
For support, rest, and health of the families and caretakers.
For funding for research of HIV, antiretroviral drugs, vaccines, and immunotherapy.
For God's guidance and blessing on these scientists and medical doctors and their work.
For understanding, compassion, and wisdom for the general public regarding HIV/AIDS.

4. Believe that God can use the internet for good. And that a lot of (biologically) unrelated people from around the world can come together and do something BIG. Case and point.

So there are my thoughts. At the end of the day, I can't cure AIDS, but I think something is better than nothing. What do you think?