Vagina Monologues continued

These are pictures from the Vagina Monologues...the next blog down has the description.

This picture is the mold for the chocolate vaginas that we sold at the show!

The Cast!!!

V-Love!!!

Part of my monologue included attempting to get the entire audience to shout "cunt!" um...yeah.

Trish liked them!

This is Ani... what a riot.

The Vagina Monologues

As you may or may not know, the Vagina Monologues and its campaign V-Day is an organized response against violence toward women. There is the night of monologues, but there is also a whole month of activities like seminars, workshops, arts events and more geared around ending rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation, and sexual slavery. Its also a lot of fun in celebrating wOmeN!

so, i thought to myself, i'm into that. i believe in ending violence against women and also i knew the group of girls that were getting involved and i secretly really wanted to get to better know this amazingly strong and beautiful group of ladies. i used to like theater, why not audition?

then i got the audition monologues... you want me to say wHaT? ok, i am not a super shy girl, but some of those monologues were pretty intense. i didnt feel completely comfortable with those about rape. but.... i jumped out of my comfort zone and auditioned. to my temporary dismay, i got a part. to my further dismay it was the monologue called "cunt."

ok, so i LoVed the book about women's issues called "cunt" when i read it some time ago, but what in the world was this all about? i understood that the character was trying to reclaim the word. make it positive. make it sexy. make it hers.... But.... it didnt even make sense to me. it was all about the sounds actually. not a story. anyhoooowwww--- i almost backed out, but didnt want to look like a coward and also did i mention how cool the other girls were that were involved? so cool. such amazing women.

in the end, i had no idea it was going to be even half as powerful and wonderful as the whole experience was. we had wonderful seminars, including one put on by some of the boys at the school "male monologues' talking about what it meant for them to grow up male, facing those stereotypes and sometimes twisted roles, from a latin american speaking about machismo to a guy from Jordan speaking about women's roles, a kenyan and also fillipino. it was beautiful and fresh since they all wrote what they were saying.

the spotlight this year was on violence against women in the democratic republic of congo where the war has left over 200,000 women raped. most of the proceeds from our show went to aid the cause there and the rest went to the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. if you are not informed on this subject i highly recommend checking out this link: http://www.vday.org/drcongo

i expected it to be neat, but it was so... important. the whole campaign. just by rehearsing these monologues we would end up having conversations about life, love, sex, abuse all that stuff that rarely comes up on the norm. some stuff that is taboo to speak of, but feels so good once you have. the monologues were only part of it, but man we really did so well with that. we had the audience laughing and crying with us the whole way. performers who had been in tears because they were nervous just an hour before the show ended up blowing EVERYONE away. afterwards, so many women came to us and thanked us from their hearts. the monologues lead to some women speaking out about violence that had happened in their past in a way that they had never done before. they appreciated our frankness and courage to go on stage and perform whether it was funny, empowering, devastating, tragic... it was important.

Africa and Middle Eastern Night Continued

These girls (above) came from the United World College to share their skills and culture with us!

Jackie, an amazing human rights activist from Kenya--showing her moves. I heart her!

A Rwandan cow (i think) dance--represented by Rwanda, Iceland, and the U.S.

Myriam shared a Ethiopian number (below) with the help of United World College friend and UPazistas!

Oh, Jennifer... such a queen!



Upazistas learning a new dance together

Jordan, Egypt, and....Iran? I might have those countries wrong, but man these guys were great!

these boys were amazing

African and Middle Eastern Fashion Show with Help

Ethiopian and Sudanese Beauty

Rwandan dance

so in a convo with a friend the other day, i found out who didn't want their pictures posted.. so yay, here is everyone else! enjoy!

Africa and Middle East Night

PHOTO CREDITS: the amazing Morea Steinhauer











The cultural nights have definitely been my favorites all year. It is so wonderful to see my school mates in their traditional clothes, celebrating who they are and where they come from. Music is always a main feature and Africa/Middle Eastern night was no different. There was more than 3 hours of dancing from Rwanda to Egypt. And of course, so much good food, too! I have lots of my own pictures that I took of the event, but we were asked not to post any online because many of the participants religion forbids it. However, my very talented friend, Morea Steinhauer took this photo shoot of some of our friends and shared them so I am sure it is fine.

a long time ago...

that first picture is my mom and my landlady/host parents: Annia and Carlos! They are wonderful!

wow. its been far too long since i have written anything on this--nothing since february! not only that, but i have been pretty lame at keeping up with regular correspondence as well. life has been soooo busy! so so so busy!

well, i can try and catch this thing up a little now and do more when classes are out next week! next week--craziness.

my mom came to visit in march. it was really a nice visit--she came to class, my teacher from sierra leone loved her! and also spent time with my landlady and her husband-they gave her a beautiful costa rican jewelry box for a gift! and then we went to the beach, ate gelatto, saw monkeys and sloths, and relaxed!