At a bagel brunch on Sunday, I took a bite of a bagel, chewed and swallowed. It was just what I needed after having already worked on a final project for three hours.
I looked down at the bagel, and then stopped suddenly before taking the next bite.
It was a poppy seed bagel. I have to take a drug test by the end of the week for my internship next quarter.
What if eating this poppy seed bagel makes me test positive for opium or heroin?
Nervously, I searched the room for help. “Is anyone here a Seinfeld fan?” I asked. “Or a marine biologist?”
I reached the table of AEPi freshmen, who, naturally, understood both my concern and the reference. They assured me that eating one poppyseed bagel would not affect my test results days from now.
“Okay, but if I test positive for the drugs, it’s on your shoulders,” I told them.
With only pumpernickel and more poppy seed bagels left in the brown paper bag, I ate the rest of my bagel, obsessively brushing off as many of the seeds as I could.
But when Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, started making the room snow, I knew I had had enough.
We danced. We laughed. We winced in pain. We took stretching breaks. We changed our socks. We ate energy bars. We cried.
This past weekend, I was among a group of 750 dancers and hundreds of other committee members for Northwestern University’s Dance Marathon. We worked toward two goals: to raise money for pediatric cancer and to make it 30 hours without collapsing.
Members of the Tzedek-Hillel DM Team (slogan: “More than the Hora”) during the first block of Dance Marathon. Back row (from left): Merrie, Joe, Lilly, Scott, Corinne, Ian. Front row: Abraham, Lia.
In many ways, Dance Marathon is an individual event. Besides raising at least $400 each, every dancer had to prepare for the marathon physically in the week prior to the event by eating lots of carbs, drinking water, exercising and getting enough sleep. But the second the marathon began, we were no longer individuals.
Dancer Relations committee members cheered us on and offered us massages. The Food Committee gave us smoothies, pizza, fruit and even challah during Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” (one of the highlights of the weekend) and made sure we were well-nourished. The emcees and co-chairs entertained us, and representatives from Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Evanston Community Foundation (the two DM beneficiaries) encouraged us to keep dancing.
Food Committee members serve grapes and challah during Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” song in the first block.
When my eyes began to close, Max woke me up. When I needed someone to lean on, Abraham kept me from falling over. Lilly and Andrea K., the DM veterans, offered helpful advice. Stefani, my fundraising partner, was one of the group’s main cheerleaders. Laura was my go-to person when I needed a hug. Scott reminded me to smile. And when the event was all over, Brian was there to carry my bag and walk me home.
At a little after 1 a.m., the DM co-chairs announced the total amount of money raised. More than 1,000 people in white t-shirts in a big white tent huddled in anticipation of this number—the reason we had been dancing nonstop for a full weekend. Last year’s number to beat was more than $708,711.
And there it was. $933,855.
We did it. Together, we had raised a seemingly insurmountable sum of money. As we presented checks to the beneficiaries, their representatives were more floored by the amount than we were. For Bear Necessities, our check of $593,739 is the biggest donation they have ever received. Thinking about how many children with cancer this donation would allow to lead semi-normal lives, everyone in the room found their eyes tearing up.
The sense of unity in that tent touched each one of us.
The work, the pain, the joy we felt while dancing for so long served as a symbol of the work, pain and joy we put into fundraising. One person alone could never dance for 30 hours, but with 1,000 other NU students, it’s easier. One person alone can maybe raise $400, but when you combine that one person with 1,000 others, you can reach $933,855. And that is when you make the biggest difference.
As the signs decorating the walls of the room read, “Live. Give. Love.”
I’m so glad I was a part of it.
More pictures and videos from DM:
Foreground (from left): Max, Mike, Rachel, Devin, Lilly. Either Mike and Devin are having emotional reactions to this song, or they’re napping while standing up.
Joe (left) and Belinda dance to the “YMCA.”
Scott (from left), Joe, Lilly, Stefani, Laura, Rachel and Lia enjoy their last block of DM together.
Dancing to “Celebration.”
Dancing to “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Dancing to “Since You’ve Been Gone” in the last block.
I will be reporting, working on multimedia projects and maybe doing some other odds and ends from late March until mid-June.
If you live in the South Florida area or know of anyone who does, contact me and recommend fun things to do in the area, things I should know before I go and possibly ideas for housing.
Some Fort Lauderdale facts from Wikipedia:
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s main office is on Las Olas Boulevard, which includes great shopping, restaurants and a riverwalk (see pictures below)
Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Venice of America” because of its canal system.
Average high temperatures in April, May and June are in the upper 80s, and average low temperatures are in the low 70s.
The area used to be known as a “Spring Break mecca” for college students, but since the 1980s, the city has discouraged college students from spending their breaks there. In 1985, an estimated 350,000 college students went to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break; in 2006, the number was 10,000.
Fort Lauderdale is about 40 minutes from Miami, three and a half hours from Orlando and four hours from Tampa.
It’s time to pack up my sandals, buy some SPF 30 sunscreen, memorize the map of south Florida and prepare for a wonderful opportunity at a great newspaper in a great city.
