23.04.2013

OVER IT by Eve Ensler

Here is my favorite monologue from the show (see prior post). Imagine it being read by Ciara, with a wonderfully rough, deep, straight-forward, honest voice and an angry-sad, no-bullshit-taking attitude.


Over It

I am over rape.
I am over rape culture, rape mentality, rape pages on Facebook.
I am over the thousands of people who signed those pages with their real names without shame.

I am over people calling it freedom of speech and justifying it as a joke.
I am over people not understanding that rape is not a joke, and I am over being told I don't have a sense of humor, and women don't have a sense of humor, when most women I know (and I know a lot) are really fucking funny. We just don't think that uninvited penises up our anus, or our vagina is a laugh riot.
I am over how long it seems to take anyone to ever respond to rape.
I am over the hundreds of thousands of women in Congo still waiting for the rapes to end and the rapists to be held accountable.
I am over the thousands of women in Bosnia, Burma, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan, South Africa, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Afghanistan, Libya, you name a place, still waiting for justice.
I am over rape happening in broad daylight.
I am over a woman being gang raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi or gang raped and videoed in Steubenville Ohio.
I am over one in three women in the U.S. military getting raped by their so-called "comrades."
I am over the forces that deny women who have been raped the right to have an abortion.
I am over rape victims becoming re-raped when they try to prosecute their cases
I am over women still being silent about rape, because they are made to believe it's their fault or they did something to make it happen.
I am over violence against women not being a #1 international priority when one out of three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime - the destruction and muting and undermining of women is the destruction of life itself.
No women, no future, duh.
I am over this rape culture where the privileged with political and physical and economic might take what and who they want, when they want it, as much as they want, any time they want it.
I am over the endless resurrection of the careers of rapists and sexual exploiters - film directors, world leaders, corporate executives, movie stars, athletes - while the lives of the women they violated are permanently destroyed, often forcing them to live in social and emotional exile.
I am over the passivity of good men. Where the hell are you? You live with us, make love with us, father us, befriend us, brother us, get nurtured and mothered and eternally supported by us, so why aren't you standing with us? Why aren't you driven to the point of madness and action by the rape and humiliation of us?
I am over years and years of being over rape.
And thinking about rape every day of my life since I was 5 years old.
And getting sick from rape, and depressed from rape, and enraged by rape.
And reading my insanely crowded inbox of rape horror stories every hour of every single day. 

I am over being polite about rape. It's been too long now, we have been too understanding.
We need to END RAPE in every school, park, radio, bus, TV station, household, office, factory, refugee camp, military base, back room, nightclub, alleyway. We need people to truly try and imagine - once and for all - what it feels like to have your body invaded, your mind splintered, your soul shattered. We need you to let our rage and our compassion connect us together so we can change the paradigm of global rape.
There are approximately one billion women on the planet who have been violated. ONE BILLION WOMEN.
The time is now. One billion women are rising today to end rape.
Because we are over it. 

22.04.2013

V-DAY 2013

It's that time of the year again. V-Day is upon us. I believe it's fair to say that this year's show was  bigger and better than ever. We have never had such a big audience, never collected that much money, never played on such a professionally decorated stage and the readers have never been this fantastic. It was a blend of absolutely natural, mature, strong personalities, who merged their own stories with the stories they told in ways that made the audience laugh, cry, cheer - and RISE with us to end all violence against women once and for all. 

Meet the amazing cast of V-Day 2013

Beth: "Who needs a handgun when you got a semi-automatic?" 

Amazing as always: dear, dear Chika with no false pretense or facade. Just her voice sufficed. And one wish: "Say it".
My personal favorite: Ciara and "Over it". She was so engaging, the audience could not bear to sit still and listen - lots of spontaneous clapping and cheering!
 Erika convinced us once more with her Brazilian charm and "Hair".
 (Professor) Fong embracing even the smaller roles. She was a brilliant 6-year-old girl.
 Our department chair Nina with some fans ;-)
 Jenna and Hanna "Reclaiming cunt" bilingually and dialogically.
 Jenna and her mum Joan - if you see them on stage, you know where Jenna gets it from ... 
 Remember how shy this lady was during rehearsals? She definitely owns the stage now.
Go, Laura!
 Ladies and gentlemen, my advisor and rolemodel Martha!
 The audience rising with us!
THANK YOU TO ALL READERS, VOLUNTEERS AND ESPECIALLY OUR AUDIENCE FOR MAKING THIS AN UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT FOR A GREAT AND IMPORTANT CAUSE!

20.04.2013

COUNTDOWN

Yes, we are counting down the days that separate us from our trip to Europe. Of course, there is not much time for counting because the end-of-semester insanity has started. Thankfully, superactive Samu reminds us (read: commands us) to leave our desks and play outside every once in while.
Also, winter came back with mountains of snow. They call it "sprinter" (spring+winter). While Marko and Samu find that quite nice, Hanna had the need to make spring happen on the kitchen wall.

 Snowstorm in the middle of April!

 Let's play!