Showcasing international fashion is only half of the work. The other half is scrambling for last minute preparations. UW senior Raluca Sima, director of Global Connections, and sophomore Sonia Trevi?o-Dopatka have been down to the wire with two days until the launch of their organization’s first and internationally represented “Human Rights Awareness Week Fashion Show.”

With participating organizations from the Cambodian Student Association, LBGT, Hmong Student Association and international students from their respective countries, all the last minute headaches have inevitably materialized, with bailing models and venue changes. It’s a shame that unexpected changes, and time are rarely, if ever, merciful to designers and organizers despite preventative measures to thwart fashion show entropy.

Still, nothing must go unwarranted that could subtract from the show’s concept, particularly when Global Connection’s second half of the brainchild is centered around a notoriously controversial, and an all too often swept under the carpet, political issue concerning human rights.

Entirely student run, Global Connections dons an ambitious attitude and super hero spandex, tussling with the minor to sinister global issues by means of enjoyable and educational agendas. Slipping into a less enterprising, more civilian role, the organization hosts weekly meetings that promote cultural awareness by fostering affable environments for dialogue between the international and domestic American members.

“Members include students and faculty who work at UW and other people from Madison. You don’t need to be in the UW campus to join our organization. We draw a diverse crowd,” Sonia Trevi?o-Dopatka said.

Handfuls of eager international and American students, faculty and citizens of Madison quickly shuffle through the gaping doors and comfortably situate into groups, immediately engaging in informal conversations of their preference. Others linger at the door, warmly greeting members and newcomers into the association.

It’s possible to spend the entire Friday afternoon acquainting yourself with members and discussing cultural experiences, or to forget that class started ten minutes ago, having been wrapped up in conversation about sleeping a fourth of the way into the new Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy that your girlfriend desperately wanted you to accompany her to.

Such informal, weekly gatherings, within the homely ambiance of finished wooden walls and sleep inducing couches, congregate around coffee tables and red matted tables that provide an all you can eat complementary continental breakfast. Global Connection’s main events frequent the use of distinguished speakers and professionals. This fashion show will be no different.

Opening the show will be Florence Chenoweth, United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) representative and executive director of the FAO Liaison office in New York.

“[Florence Chenoweth] will be promoting the UN belief that children, men and women have an equal right to acquire or retain a nationality,” said Sonia Trevi?o-Dopatka. Florence Chenoweth was designated Liberia’s first female minister of agriculture, until a coup d’etat impelled her and her children to flee the country by foot to Sierra Leone. She eventually settled in Madison until she attained a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.

Once the final model turns her back to the audience and disappears behind the curtains, a finale integrating the concept of international unity should leave an impact on spectators, even well after the show.

**The doors to “Human Rights Awareness Week Fashion Show” open at tonight 7:30 p.m. International Conversation and Coffee Hours meets every Friday in the Browsing Library of Memorial Union from 12 to 2 p.m.**