"I punched him!" Me and Babe doing our scene for V-day.
Last Friday we put on our own version of V-day. Unfortunately not the actual Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, but we put together an impressive collection of poems, monologues, scenes, and even a song. I had the glorious opportunity to perform in three separate acts: An empowering slam poem by the amazing poet Mayda Del Valle entitled "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" (youtube it, her performance is incredible), a rather silly little scene about 12 year old girls and love with Babe (ridiculously fun and intended to lighten the mood between intense pieces) and an incredibly heart-breaking and difficult duet from the actual Vagina Monologues with Bella. All about genital mutilation and its effects on the individuals who suffer it, the duet was so difficult that I literally took out my contacts and left my glasses off so I wouldn't have to look anyone in the eyes while I spoke those words about pain and loss and being a woman in the worst possible sense. I cried. And for those of you who don't know, crying is one of my least favorite things in the world to do, let alone to do in front of people. The performance was so intense, even depressing I almost wonder why we did it. Why do we put ourselves and the audience through that kind of emotion? Here's what I've come up with as an answer:
We do these things because they're real. Because these are real issues that people need to deal with and figure out how to handle. Everyone's going to handle them in different ways but they need to be handled. Whether you join an organization or actively do something in your own community or others, or even handling these problems the world has in your thoughts and prayers, confronting and handling them isn't an option.
