Dear V Warriors,I encourage you to read the rest of her letter here.
I am on my way to San Francisco, the last city of the V to 10th tour before New Orleans. It has been a wild, inspiring, disturbing journey. I have spoken at nearly 22 places—colleges, conferences, auditoriums, theatres. I have traveled on some main roads, but mainly I have been off the beaten track in small towns like Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Clemson, South Carolina, and Florence, Alabama. I have spoken to crowds of hundreds and thousands. I experienced nearly seven snowstorms, a hail storm, one blessedly hot day in Austin, Texas. I have stayed in places with names like the Sleep Inn, Apple Butter Inn, and The Mansion.
I have seen the faces of hundreds of activated, vital, committed, diverse women and men who are literally giving their lives to end violence against women and girls. Women and men who have changed their cultures, told their stories and helped others do the same. I have met the V-Day activists who have raised money, raised hope, raised hackles, raised the V flag in community after community. I have seen the most beautiful original posters, t-shirts and buttons. I saw Megan’s red and black skirt in Alabama, where she sewed the V-DAY logo as a design. I heard 200 women chant “Cunt!” in Alma, Michigan. I spoke in several churches, one called Beneficent, which is my new favorite word. It means “loving kindness”. These churches and the feisty spiritual women and men who run them or work in them gave refuge and support to V-Day when other churches or religions tried to censure the productions.
A year ago on TTaT: ii, dos, due, 2, two, deux !!
Thanks for the link to this. I was rather blown away by Even Ensler when she came to my school (which she mentions in the letter, with a slight error in the name, though.) Our Women's Commission is helping sponsor one student trip to New Orleans for V to the 10th.
ReplyDeleteFrom everything I've seen of her on tv (and read), I imagine she is a very compelling speaker.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool that your school is sponsoring a student trip to V to the 10th. With all the star talent involved, it looks to be pretty amazing.