author Terry Pratchett (the /Discworld/ series, /Good Omens/ with Neil Gaiman, etc., etc.) has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. Last week, he gave a speech to the Alzheimer's Research Trust Network in the UK (PDF of the full text available at tinyurl.com/2uggrk) wherein he announced a $1M US (500,000 GBP) contribution to the Trust. The notion hit the blogosphere that fandom could match this amount in short order; thus was born www.matchitforpratchett.org/ .
The following comes from the latest post to the Match It For Pratchett blog:
"In Nightwatch, the men who fought and died (and in one case, fought, died and kept on fighting) in the Revolution are remembered by the wearing of sprigs of lilac every May 25th. The online Pratchett communities have adopted May 25th as Wear The Lilac day, an unofficial holiday celebrating Pratchett's work. Now AG has taken it one step further with these fantastic Lilac Pins with the proceeds split between the American Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Research Trust."
The pins in question are available here: tinyurl.com/yqo54j
The more fannishly cognizant of you may recall that May 25th is Towel Day, as well ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day ). I'd love to see the halls of the convention awash in lilacs*, towels, lilac-embroidered towels....
* As our intrepid Chief of Staff, Sabre, has reminded me elsewhere, the power is in the symbology, not the genuine article. As such, we humbly suggest and request that you limit your "wearin' of the lilac" to synthetic representations thereof.
The following comes from the latest post to the Match It For Pratchett blog:
"In Nightwatch, the men who fought and died (and in one case, fought, died and kept on fighting) in the Revolution are remembered by the wearing of sprigs of lilac every May 25th. The online Pratchett communities have adopted May 25th as Wear The Lilac day, an unofficial holiday celebrating Pratchett's work. Now AG has taken it one step further with these fantastic Lilac Pins with the proceeds split between the American Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Research Trust."
The pins in question are available here: tinyurl.com/yqo54j
The more fannishly cognizant of you may recall that May 25th is Towel Day, as well ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day ). I'd love to see the halls of the convention awash in lilacs*, towels, lilac-embroidered towels....
* As our intrepid Chief of Staff, Sabre, has reminded me elsewhere, the power is in the symbology, not the genuine article. As such, we humbly suggest and request that you limit your "wearin' of the lilac" to synthetic representations thereof.
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