V-Day

I know I promised we'd talk about Eve Ensler.  And we are, just not about The Good Body.  I realized maybe we should just talk about her most famous play first and the movement it begat.

Tomorrow is V-Day.  And it’s also Valentine’s Day.  Same thing? Nope.  V-Day is more serious, depressing but also more powerful and meaningful than Valentine’s Day.  On February 14, 1998 Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, started this grassroots organization to stop violence against women all over the world.  It raises awareness and funds to support amazing activists who work to end rape, battery, sex slavery, genital mutilations, etc.  See?  Much more impacting than a box of chocolates and a cute teddy bear.  And you don't have to be in a relationship to care about it.  (Don't get me wrong, I still love Valentine's Day, and I still want roses like these ones Jarrod gave me.)

One way to raise awareness is to host or attend a V-Day event, most commonly a performance of The Vagina Monologues. This year also marks the 20^th anniversary of The Vagina Monologues.  This play is a series of monologues celebrating women's hardships and strength in them.  Some of them concern many women’s insecurities about that body part; some of them bring up darker, more serious issues of violence and abuse.  Eve Ensler says she wrote the play because she was “worried about vaginas”.  She was “worried about the shame associated with vaginas” and “what was happening to vaginas”.  This play is uncomfortable.  It will gross you out.  It will make you sad.  It will scare you.  You will feel something.  And it's something you need to feel.

If you haven’t had the upsetting yet eye-opening and amazing experience of seeing this play that The New York Times has called “probably the most important piece of political theater in the last decade”, you need to.  Truman State has two showings of the play this weekend, February 14 & 15 at 8pm. If you live in Kirksville, you should go. If you live in Kansas City, UMKC will be performing The Vagina Monologues on Tuesday, March 4. In St. Louis, Washington University also has performances this weekend on February 13, 14 & 15 at 8pm. If you happen to be living in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is showing it February 26 at 7pm. If you are a dear friend living in Muncie, Indiana, you have to wait until March 25 & 26, but you still get to see the play. There. I think that safely covers my entire readership. :) 

Happy V-Day, guys.