I was there in the room...New Orleans Style!
I was there when the completely self-less woman began to cry because she was in awe of the fact that volunteers had traveled hundreds of miles through airline shutdowns, etc to be there to support the cause. It is a cause that effects us all. We should have no choice but to support it.
I was there when 1200 women who were displaced by Katrina walked back into a building that had been a slow death to them. I watched as they were welcomed into the waiting arms of their sisters, as they were celebrated and honored, as they were reborn.
I listened as a woman cried because she had the chance to do yoga for the first time since the storm. It had taken that away from her. She had it back now.
During the show Swimming Upstream, I watched from off stage as women recounted stories of Katrina. How they had lost their pets, the money, their homes, their sense of security, and their dignity. I wept and railed for them.
I watched as hundreds of women from all over the world marched shoulder to shoulder in solidarity through the streets of New Orleans. Some with pink hair and fishnets, some in traditional African clothes and carrying drums. All of them intent on one purpose. Stopping the violence.
I was there in the room when tens of thousands of women came together to celebrate their bodies and tell their sisters from the gulf south that they are not alone. When 4 women stood on stage and reclaimed the word C--t (for the sake of email filters) in 4 different languages. When we talked about violence, and gumbo, and sex, and clothes, and a guy named Bob. I was there in the room. I remember.
I am changed. I don't know how an experience can not be change you. A revolution was born. A vision of a new world birthed. V-World. Your participation in the Monologues may seem like a small thing, but if the money we raised brought one person respite, allowed one woman to sleep through the night, ended the cycle of senseless violence for one person...I would and intend to do it all again. Many times!!!
I came back very encouraged and with many wonderful ideas. I will keep you all in the V-Loop!!!
Much love!
Deb