UTVS Providence 2009

So I guess I should catch everyone up on the big event this past month - Until the Violence STOPS: Providence 2009.This is the second year we've held a festival as part of the V-Day (www.vday.org) festival season. In 2008, our first year, we were one of only three festivals worldwide (Los Angeles, CA and Paris, France were the other two) and in 2009 we were again one of three (Detroit, Michigan and Nova Scotia will have festivals in the fall). So looks like we're pretty cutting edge in Providence, eh?


Background:
The Until the Violence STOPS festivals grew out of the V-Day season, which was begun by the playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues). She started her non-profit organization (V-Day) because each night after her performance of TVM women kept coming up to the stage and disclosing their stories to her - stories of domestic violence, sexual assault, FGM, sex trafficing - and she wanted to do something positive with the energy that the TVM productions created. So, she started the V-Day non-profit organization and allows communities to perform her play, as long as 100% of the proceeds raised from those performances are donated to local organizations that are working to end violence against women & girls. It all begins at the grassroots level, right?

So I've produced the play for the past 10 years all around Rhode Island (think I might be just a bit vagina-ed out? Never.) I've had the great good fortune to meet and work alongside some amazing women in this state that have lent their time, energy and voices to help raise awareness and funds and it's really been a blast. The movement in RI really grew over the years, to the point where I have become rather good friends with Eve and her V-Day crew - who knew? She's travelled to Rhode Island several times over the past few years to speak and lend her energy to our events and it's always fun to get caught up in her energy and passion when she's here. She's a whirlwind, that's for sure! And her staff are loyal, hardworking and just as passionate - they're all easy to love!

So, let's see..... the 2009 festival was really great. We had about fifteen events this year, all taking place from February 20th - March 1st. I was in charge of two of the events - the Good Body fashion show and The Red Tent, the closing event. They were both a lot of fun, and both raised money for the RI Crisis Assistance Center of which I am the Executive Director, so it was important to get the word out about the work we do with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.


Jessica, Sarah and Teddy working at the registration table

The Good Body fashion show was held at The Loft at NYLO - what a great venue! The staff at NYLO were really wonderful and couldn't do enough for us. They donated the space and all the delicious food for the buffet. They even created a special drink for the day - the Twisted Twat!


Backstage at the fashion show - what would I have done with Jae keeping everything running smoothly - thanks Jae!

There were 13 models, ages 15 - mid-50s and all sizes - because every woman is beautiful - no matter her age, the size of her waist or her pocketbook! I think everyone had a great time strutting their stuff on the catwalk and we couldn't have pulled it off with out the great people from Chestnuts Day Spa in Providence and our fashions donated by Sonya's, Dress Barn and Zuzu's Petals.

It was really a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to do this event - it was my very first fashion show, but I hope not my last!

And we made a great team - Jae, Teagan and I!


I'll post more about the fashion show and the Red Tent later....that's all for now.

Getting started....

In the beginning.....

Wow, where do you begin with one of these? Am I just kidding myself? Maybe I'm too old to have a blog of my own.....

OK....so as you can see by the picture, I started out life by being an "inside the box" kind of girl. That started to change in my early thirties as I started finding my own voice (admittedly it took two failed marriages and a good deal of time on my own to find that voice, but that's ancient history).

So now that I'm finally coming into my own (51 is quickly creeping up, yikes!) I'm really starting to enjoy my life. I have a great group of friends, interesting volunteer work that I do on a daily basis, and a hubby that's pretty darned okay. If I only had the chance to travel a bit more I think it would be pretty perfect, but I'm not complaining. I love where I live and can't wait for the spring, my favorite season.

Speaking of spring, I have a ritual that I really enjoy each year. I was fortunate enough to live with my great grandfather until I was 14 - he was 96 when he passed away. He emigrated to America at the age of 16 and made a new life for himself and found work as a landscape architect in New Jersey. He had a green thumb that was unbelievable and could literally make anything grow! Every spring he would plant the little seedlings and bulbs and nurture them through the summer and our garden and yard would look like a showplace in a magazine. I was so in awe of him that I used to follow him around in the yard each afternoon and he told me what he knew about loving and respecting the earth.


Now every spring when it comes time to have my hands in the dirt I have a running conversation in my head with him - about my yard, my life, remembering what he taught me so many years ago, and mostly just letting him know that I still think of him and hold his memory close. Funny, but out of my entire family I feel closest to him. When I got divorced I changed my last name to his - Rafi - and have kept it even though I remarried. I feel most like a Rafi than anything else I've ever been. Just goes to show you never know how you'll influence someone......I miss him still.This is my great grandfather with five of his six children - My grandmother Marie, My great uncle Steve, my great aunt (and godmother) Emma, my great aunt Rose and my great uncle Harry. Emma and Steve are still alive - Emma is 94 and Harry is 89, and both live alone and are completely independent - hope I get that gene from them!

So, the rest of the family.......well......

Mom was kinda quiet and loved being a mom. I am the youngest of three girls. Older sisters Judy and Karen who are now 60 and 53 respectively. I have several nieces and nephews but admit that I am not close to any of them...not sisters or their kids. We had a family secret that kept us from being close to each other and when I went public it really was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am a child of incest, thus no mention of my father here. Suffice it to say he's dead and forgotten, sad, but ancient history.

All in all I think I've turned out pretty okay. I'm happy with my life, and talking with people makes me realize that I'm kind of unique in that way...not many people are really happy with their lives. They tend to think if they had more time, more money, more things...somehow they'd be happier.

I guess I've learned that my needs and my wants are two different things. I have not only much more than I could want, but much more than I need. I really am lucky.

This is about 25 years ago - me, my sister Judy, my sister Karen and my mom. Wow, things change.