Josh Blue, landmines, concerts and invisible children

If you want to experience a good dose of positive, action-oriented change, the kind that JMU does so well, here’s your chance. This feels like a season to celebrate “Be the Change,” and the agenda for these first weeks of spring certainly is showcasing exemplary change.

Stand-up comic Josh Blue

I heard from Be the Changer Matt Trybus who works with JMU’s Disability Services that this week marks Disability Awareness Week. Starting today the week will feature amazing stories that will inspire and challenge you. Headlining the week is Josh Blue, comedian and winner of television’s Last Comic Standing. He will perform in Wilson Hall tonight. Josh, who has cerebral palsy, puts his disability in a new light by demonstrating with his own special brand of humor how disability is only a different route to ability.

Josh is only the beginning of an exciting week. Later in the week a powerful video about JMU student Trisha Smith, a brain aneurysm survivor, will be screened. The Appointment was submitted to the American Academy of Neurology Foundation for viewing at their film festival. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

That’s just a sampling. There’s much more going on. You can find out everything happening during Disability Awareness Week on the JMU website and here: http://www.jmu.edu/ods/awarenessWeek.shtml

Next week Be the Changer Todd Shifflett is planning his spring concert. It is scheduled for Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m. in Wampler Hall. Todd takes care of Wampler Residence Hall, and his concerts are his way of giving back some of the kindness he receives from students. Read more about Todd here  http://www.jmu.edu/bethechange/people/shifflett.shtml and on this blog.

Also next week Post-Conflict Recovery Week begins with a presentation by Ken Rutherford, a landmine survivor and global advocate for the Nobel Peace Price-winning work of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Rutherford is director of the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery and a professor of political science at JMU. The talk will take place in Miller Hall.

Image via Wikipedia

To learn more about Ken Rutherford, check out Dan Armstrong’s story here: http://web.jmu.edu/mediarel/PubAffairs-asp/PR-thisRelease.asp?AutoID=1313

And that’s still not all.

Tomorrow, the Invisible Children bus will be at the Convo. You won’t want to miss this inspirational program. According to JMU’s Public Affairs: Invisible Children’s newest effort, The Congo Tour, kicks off this spring. As a part of the tour, the film “Tony” will be screened March 29, 7:30 p.m. in the Convocation Center. Invisible Children is expanding its efforts from Uganda to the Congo and this film documents their efforts to rescue and educate children and rebuild in central-eastern Africa. JMU plans to screen other Invisible Children films in April.

And the best part — “Tony” will be there.

Don’t miss a minute of these opportunities to see change in action.

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