Yep we look like an angry emo boy band.... so what!
It was Willie's idea, (or maybe Danny's?), but I think Danny was just being lazy and said "I'm not shaving for the rest of the month." Truth is none of us wanted to shave this month, guy or girl. None of us wanted to do anything this month. There were days I didn't want to do anything but stay in bed and imagine that November was gone. The day's were getting shorter, Alabama was playing with new meds to treat its bipolar weather, and I was spending most of my time trying to figure out at what point the stress will end. There's a licensing exam, then internship applications, then interviews, then ranking/matching +/- scrambling +/- finding a job. Don't worry, it's even gibberish to me.
The rule was, whoever won "No Shave November" would get to choose the charity. We each put in $20 (that's a lot of money when you are probably pretty close collectively to $1 million in debt) and in the end it was William Joglar (that hairy beast), who resisted the blade and was crowned this year's champion scruff machine. (The winner was chosen by a subjective vote, since my idea to weigh our manly trimmings on a scale was deemed... gross).
The charity is the Prostate Cancer Foundation... because cancer is a sonofabitch and it's present in some form in everyone's lives. Prostate cancer affects about 15% of all men at some point in their lives and is most common in older men (Ages 40-70). It is more common in black men (60% higher risk) and men that consume diets high in fat and/or alcoholic beverages. Screening tests are available and should begin at age 40. By testing early your doctor can monitor changes to the prostate size and shape to determine when more invasive diagnostic tests should be pursued.
We chose this charity for a many sentimental and personal reasons as all of the 4 gentlemen in the photo above have or had family members continuing to fight or have fought cancer battles in the past. This donation was just a small salute to acknowledge their fight. This charity scored very highly on accountability and transparency (www.charitynavigator.com) and I encourage all to visit their website to learn more: www.pcf.org
One of my goals in maintaining this blog has not just been to be a better person, but hopefully create a domino effect or create some kind of small spark in my friends and family to want to do better. We all want to be good people and live better lives and leave this world better than we entered it. There just needs to be a place to start. So, by getting my friends and family excited about doing these with me, I think I am working towards that. See y'all soon.
-Thomas
Some helpful references:
http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/default.htm
http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/prostate
