The city of Birmingham, AL was nice. Near the hotel we were staying, there were a few churches and restaurants around but overall the town seemed pretty empty. We found a cute little artsy, type vegan restaurant/bar, and watched the election with some of probably the most liberal, democratic people in Alabama. It turned out to be pretty fun though, and I definitely will never forget the Bottle Tree and the night of that election in Alabama.
The next morning we arrived early on the campus of Samford. As we drove in through the brick columns, officially on campus, I admired the beauty of it. We parked the bus and I really wanted to get out and explore the campus because it seemed so pretty. The campus was surrounded by fall colored trees, and it was an amazing sunny, warm day. I snapped a few pictures of the brown brick buildings and enjoyed the weather why we had some time as the crates were being unloaded from the trucks.
I was looking forward to the next town hall forum. I received some emails from people at Silk the previous day saying they got word in CO that press about the town hall forum was in the Alabama Newspaper. This was exciting because we thought this meant that there would be a big turn out. I grabbed some Silk product and headed towards the forum. We waited for people to pile in to the small auditorium and 5 minutes before showtime, we tried to go outside and recruit people to come in and join our discussion. Also Benji, the bassest in the band, was attending this forum so we really wanted to impress him. He is very passionate about the issues and was excited to get out and talk to students. Especially, because he feels our generation is the generation that has the most power to fix the environmental problems, and do proactive things to help improve the situation.
Similar to Iowa, we didn't have a great turn out, but the students that come have a passion for issues and they learn and listen to what the speakers have to say. This is also where I really get a chance to talk to the students. While I am give them samples and talk to them about why Silk is on the tour. These are the people that care about the fact that Silk offsets 100% of the energy used to wind energy. That the Silk office recycles, uses compostable products in the cafeteria, even as far as having items in the office made from recyclable material like the cubicles and carpet. The people at the forum care about these issues and understand what an effort it takes, especially for a corporate company, to do these things.
Helping set up the rest of the booths in the eco-village, getting the product on ice, and few other odds and ends took up the rest of the afternoon. Soon it was showtime...I got my new set of volunteers. My booth was set up outside tonight, which was great because everyone going in to the show was attracted to the booth. The reaction of Silk was a lot better than in Iowa. I didn't get as many funny faces and people that had never tried it before were more willing. A lot of students told me that their parents buy it at home and they drink it sometimes. I got a lot of people that really like to drink it. I later learned that it was actually good I was outside because the venue wouldn't allow people inside to their seats with the Silk. So people were chugging them at the door before the went in...at least they were drinking it:) I was happy with the reaction, and it was cool to get a chance to be outside and hit the people before they even got inside. It is hard, however, to get people to listen to why Silk is there. Most students coming to the concert are coming for the band, and here and there someone is interested in what the campus consciousness tour really is. Most importantly the name and the product is getting out to audience that normally wouldn't even consider it.
We packed up the show and I was excited because my Aunt Kathie was flying in to Birmingham that night and I hadn't seen her in a few weeks. She took a cab over to the venue and got a chance to check out the bus and meet my busmates! We hung out for a while and because it was late she only stayed for a little, but I was really happy a family member got a chance to see what my life is like on the bus.
Then back to my bunk...back to sleep...I had no idea where I would be waking up but not in Birmingham...
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