We pulled it off!! Last night was the first major fundraiser for Colectivo 41, the LGBT youth program at CASA that I have been working for during this internship. After about a month of meetings, disagreements, and many emails, I was able to experience the direct manifestation of our hopes and ideas. We had a gorgeous house to host our event, graciously lent to us for the evening. All of the board members and volunteers made the dips (Ted and I made salsa and guacamole) and we had vegetarian chiccharones, jicama and carrots with lime and chile, margaritas, wine, and lots of peanuts! One of the volunteers played the baby grand piano as Ted, Jim, Susan, and I all sat outside and greeted people as they entered. It was incredible. At one point we had a line of people that did not let up for 20 minutes. Every person and every face that I said welcome, hello, como estas, thank you, what is your name please, would you mind signing our sheet... towards every one of them I felt an overwhelming warmth. Michael Schuessler, one of the co-editors of an amazing book entitled "Mexico escribe con una jota," presented a slide show of the history of the LGBT community in Mexico. He told the story of the "41" - for whom Colectivo 41 bases their name. After he spoke, I could feel the energy of the people in the room changing. They were interested. Many of those that came last night had no knowledge of Mexico's LGBT history or the reasoning behind the program's name. Now they knew, and now they cared. A group of LGBT youth from the San Miguel community spoke. Each time one of them told their own personal stories the room erupted in applause. Then a couple spoke. They were lesbians, they had an 8 year old daughter and they were one of the first same sex couples to be married in Mexico City. They said they wanted to help be involved in a project that would help promote support for the LGBT community so that their daughter would grow up in a world with less discrimination. My face was becoming sore with laughter and smiles and the ongoing containment keeping me from screaming yeaaaaaaaa through out everyone's story. Joy, our incredible board director gave the final pitch. She relayed her own interest in being a part of the group and she challenged everyone in the room to give what they could. She ended the speech by starting the donations off with her own $500 donation. The room sort of exploded with movement and talking and excited gestures. We collected envelopes with checks and cash. Our goal was to raise $15,000. I know we didn't reach that goal but we created awareness. There are over one hundred more people on the planet that know of Colectivo 41 today than 48 hours ago. We left the party, after saying many good-byes with hugs and kisses and felicitaciones. Karen drove Ted and I to CASA where fundraiser number two was going on. Although we were all tired, we committed to staying for just half an hour. It was a change of scene to say the least. Music was shaking the auditorium and there were about 30 young Mexican kids hanging out, mostly against the walls off to the side. No one was dancing. At first I felt incredibly intimidated. Here we were, awkward, older, white. How the heck were we going to dance and not look just...really dumb. And then a few of the promotores came up to me with squeals and hugs. They reminded me that I had promised I'd dance, even if they didn't. I had said I would! Alright then. I grabbed Ted and we headed out to the middle of the HUGE empty dance floor. We started dancing, Karen taking photos. Eventually we were joined by Gabby the fabulous librarian and her adorable cousin. We danced, we hopped around, Gabby and Mauricio were all style and class, we even played the limbo. It was great! Later, as Ted and I walked home with a leftover bag of potato chips, we realized that it was like being in high school again. Most of the young people there were just trying to figure out a way to get drunk and make out with someone. Maybe we were just feeling sentimental but it was pretty sweet actually. I was really happy to be home before midnight, eating chips and grinning like a fool as to my good fortune.