Rachel Lynn Brody's Blog, page 26

So, About This Guy.

Ever seen “Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy“? No? It’s fun. Dean Cain and Zach Braff, back after Superman and kind of before Scrubs. Also, John Mahoney. Oh! Oh! And TIMOTHY OLYPHANT. Not the topic of this blog. But:

The friends in the film have a convention of adding a descriptor to a name to identify the gentlemen who they get friendli…er…with. Like, “J. Crew guy,” a hottie in a J. Crew sweater. And that is the background to this post.

There’s this dating website that I’m on where you suggest going to do something, and then other people say yeah, that sounds cool, and you pick which responder you want to meet. Then you go do the cool thing. It’s great. You have something to do that you wanted to do Not By Yourself anyway, there’s plenty to chat about because, you know, you’re doing stuff, and because there’s a set activity, you’re not casting around looking for ways to prolong or shorten the date.

So I had a date on Saturday and it was fun, he helped me with an errand I’d needed to run for a while now, and at the end he helped me load up the stuff I’d bought into a taxi and we talked about getting drinks, maybe, one day later in the week.

Well, that’s all still the plan, but earlier today something came Totally Out Of Left Fucking Field, because earlier today he texted me to let me know he was sorry for not having texted sooner, but on Tuesday afternoon he was told he was being let go from his job. Which is enough of a bitch in the best of times, and definitely less pleasant in any year after 2008. Adding to the “laid off from work” stress and the “laid off in a recession” stress was, however, another wrinkle: “lose my visa ’cause I was laid off from work” stress.

I thought I was hanging out with Ikea Guy. Turns out, he’s Deportable Guy. Le sigh!

“Passing” versus “upholding” a law.

First: I am thrilled that today the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was judged by the Supreme Court to be constitutional.

Second: The Supreme Court did not “pass” this act.

Third: The Supreme Court did uphold this act.

Fourth: “Uphold” and “pass” are two different things, and in fact it would not have been possible for the Supreme Court to “pass” this legislation. As much as we talk about legislating from the bench, the court has to have a law presented to them before they can rule on it, and Congress is where this law was actually passed. If it hadn’t been passed, then there would have been no way to challenge it. I’m sure the lawyers out there will correct me on that if I’m wrong. But I’m pretty sure I’m not wrong.

As happy as I am that many many people will continue to get health coverage and not fall victim to pre-existing conditions, discriminatory premiums and more, the writer and editor in me is dying to take a red pen to all those tweets talking about how the court “passed” the law.

What the court did do was uphold the law, i.e., agree that it was constitutional (although not on the grounds that most expected it to be upheld upon). Alternatively, it could have struck down the law.

But the law had already passed. In Congress. Which is where laws get passed. They do not get passed in the Supreme Court.

Thus ends today’s civics lesson. Thank you.

Call for Submissions: ANY OBJECTIONS? Glasgay 2012.

 

ANY OBJECTIONS?

 

CALL FOR WORK

Seeking 10-Minute plays from around the world

for reading & discussion at Glasgay 2012

 

Theme: acts of union, marriage equality, LGBT civil rights

 

From full, equal, legal status to the total denial of the presence of homosexuality within their borders, LGBT Marriage Equality means different things in different countries.

 

What does it mean in yours?

 

Snapshot the LGBT  experience in your native country and submit your 10-minute play to AnyObjectionsSubmissions@rlbrody.com

Winning entries will be performed during Glasgay 2012,

 the UK’s biggest LGBT arts festival, as part of a rotating program

presented between 23-28 October, 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Writers may also be awarded a small honorarium for their work.

Requests for anonymity will be respected.

10-MINUTE PLAY SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: 

AnyObjectionsSubmissions@rlbrody.com.

DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES:

AnyObjectionsGlas2012Flyer_FlagGraphicA

Deadline is August 30, 2012

No submission fee.

Glasgay! t/a GALA Scotland Ltd, 27-29 TRONGATE Glasgow, Scotland G1 5EZ

Tel:  0141 552 7575  |  Fax:  0141 548 5157  |  Web  www.glasgay.com  |

A Company Limited by Guarantee  |  Registered in Scotland No. 157153 |  Registered Charity SCO 23620    |  VAT Registration 797 3863 59

Writing Spaghetti

Right now my “writing plate” feels like it’s full of a dense, stodgy pile of concept-rich spaghetti. Everything is tangled up with everything else, and once I get through this plate of stuff I know it’s going to take a long time to digest.

I try to do three entries a week here, and after the pointed focus of the recent vaginathon, it’s been tricky to find a topic that doesn’t feel self-indulgent and limp by comparison. It’s because of where my various projects are at, I know: that frustrating time between initial brainvom and settling-in.

I have two short stories that need to be worked on; in putting together a collection for this fall, I’ve wound up with little screaming chunks of fiction waving their arms and running around my mental writing desk. I’m trying to keep them in a drawer and only take them out one at a time. Working on one becomes a distraction from the other, then working on the other takes some of the tension out of working on the first.

One, I have to go back through and re-thread a point, because of something I took for granted that turned out to be false. It reminds me of the maps they make of the London Underground – disproportionate, based on connections. I can choose a different point – something that fits the descriptions and scenes I’ve already written (in which case the tapestry of the story still needs to be reviewed in full, to make sure the patch doesn’t show) or I restitch the scenes from the ground-up. Either option will work. I’m just not sure, yet, which choice will result in the stronger story.

The other has a distinct theme in my mind that isn’t coming out yet in the text. The full text of the second story has not been written yet. So this is okay, if gelatinous.

A friend’s novel needs proofread. I should go to the gym. I should be out in the city, enjoying today’s gorgeous weather, doing something instead of home and hunched over the computer, particularly given the abatement of the heat wave of the last few days.

At the very least, I should take a shower.

I’ll start with the shower.

Public Action/Performance: Reading The #VaginaBlogs in Union Square Monday Night

It’s been a week since I first heard about Vaginagate; just four days days since one of my personal heroes performed her groundbreaking and award-winning play The Vagina Monologues in Michigan, in theatrical protest of the censure of two women representatives on the floor of the State House.

Over the weekend and through the day on Monday, I organized a solidarity action with a group of women in New York City; internet participants contributed links to their own #VaginaBlogs, speaking out about what had happened and how it related to women’s health and women’s issues in America today.

I arrived in Union Square with a colleague who had volunteered to come along, though she didn’t intend to read. There, we eventually found @ItsMeMarisol and her daughter, as well as @gavechase, @storygirlsarah, and one of the editors of The Veillee Blog. It was about twenty minutes past six on Monday night in Union Square – a bustling, busy time – and we didn’t have signs and we didn’t have an amplifier. Plenty of people had shown interest in the event, and we weren’t sure how to find them. There was one woman standing and looking around near the corner I’d tweeted we’d be waiting at, and the group sent me over to see if she was looking for us.

About five steps away from her, I suddenly jerked to a stop when I heard:

“VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA!”

The girl looked up – but she wasn’t the only one. Heading back to the group, we quickly decided the shout made for the perfect punctuation; we’d shout the chant three times, then we’d head into the first blog entry. Then we’d shout again. Then we’d read some more.

We stood in Union Square and read out the blogs that had been written: blogs by mothers, by clergy, by straight white guys, by poets, and by other – well, Ensler called them “Sheroes” during her speech on the State steps (thanks to the commenter who left a link on my previous VaginaBlogs post).

As we read, a crowd gathered. As one woman observed to me afterwards, it was mostly men who were stopping and listening – but they were listening, not leering or heckling. And the women who stopped were smiling and nodding and staying, too. From the crowd, a young woman walked up to us wearing a white t-shirt that read: “I

Once I finished reading Vagina Vagina Vagina, we shouted our chant again and moved on to  @ItsMeMarisol’s daughter. Then @ItsMeMarisol herself; this was when something amazing happened: another woman in the audience walked up to me and asked what we were doing. I explained, mentioning Eve Ensler’s performance. At the mention of Ensler’s name, the woman looked shocked. They knew each other. I was shocked; talk about a sign. (And yes, before you ask, when I got home I did my homework – she was legit.)

As we read, a crowd gathered. People approached us, asked questions. One man stood seriously for several minutes, reading to himself from Sare Liz Gordy’s blog on the idea of the Universal Feminine Painbody.

We read for about 45 minutes. It was an amazing experience. Due to noise issues, recording video didn’t work too well – but I’ll try to grab some captures from the one video that did survive and post them some time soon.

@ItsMeMarisol and I have discussed having another action in NYC, and several more bloggers have posted #vaginablogs in response to the call for work. If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to check out the blogs that have already posted, and if you wish, to contribute yourself.

Thank you to everyone who contributed, everyone who’s read, and everyone still to post #vaginablogs. Let’s keep this conversation going.

Thanks, Planet! HOT MESS Gives Back.

Cover design by Sarah Hartley

When I approached Eric, Sare Liz, RJ and Miranda about working on HOT MESS: speculative fiction about climate change, one thing we agreed on was that a portion of the proceeds from the book should benefit climate-change-related charities.

Well, the first batch of royalty payments are in, and we’ve made donations to both the Climate Science Defense Fund and the Earth Island Institute, with more to come.

If you haven’t yet, buy a copy of HOT MESS, (available for Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and in print) and help contribute to spreading ideas and combating climate change.

M iranda and I will be releasing HAIKU OF THE LIVING DEAD, a book of Zombie Haiku submitted from internet users around the world, on Friday, July 13th.

The Vagina Blogs: NYC #Vaginagate #Solidarity Event

Monday, June 18th, from 6pm-??? EST: Union Square in NYC

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to every single one of the (as of this writing) nearly 1K people who have visited, read, or reposted/tumbled “Vagina Vagina Vagina.”

Things are happening. This Monday, playwright Eve Ensler will be reading her groundbreaking play, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES on the steps of the capitol in Michigan. This story is receiving attention from the MI Democratic Party, which is involved in setting up the event, as well as the Huffington Post.

I Want To Show Support, But I’m Not In Michigan. What Can I Do?

Live in New York City? Tomorrow night, some friends (both old and new) and I are going to meet up in Union Square. We’re going to peacefully show show solidarity with women around the country. Don’t live in NYC? You can do this in your city or town, too. How?

The Vagina Blogs.

Write a blog, tumblr, comment, or other piece, preferably (but not required to be) 400-500 words long. Tag it as #VaginaBlogs, wherever you post it, and link back to this post so we can register a trackback link. Don’t have a vagina, but have a problem with this conversation not being over yet? WE WELCOME YOUR SUPPORT. Join us.

A Vagina Blog can be about your vagina. It can be about how you and your vagina feel about the continued national assault on our right to stop being asked whether No Means No. How do you feel about the national conversation? How do the women in your life feel about having to constantly repeat that No Means No? How do you feel about how, nationally, time and energy are consistently being wasted by people who really should have better things to worry about legislating? It can be funny, it can be personal, it can be serious. There are as many different kinds of #VaginaBlogs as there are women who have #vaginas and men who support our right to have ownership over them.

We will be in Union Square reading out people’s blogs, tweets and more for as long as can be sustained. Join us, either here or in your own city, by using the hashtag #VaginaBlogs and contributing your thoughts.

SIMPLE SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Write 400-500 words (it can be more or less, these are just suggestions) about Vaginagate and the national conversation on women’s reproductive rights.

2. Include the hashtag #VaginaBlogs.

3. Post it on your blog, tumblr, twitter or facebook. (If you don’t a safe place to post your entry, submit it in the comments below.)

4. Submit a link where we can find your post in the comments below.

 THAT’S ALL IT TAKES.

Also, consider emailing your blog to the Michigan House Speaker: JamesBolger@house.mi.gov.

We’ll start reading in Union Square as soon as we gather.

Join us.

And if you don’t like reading or talking in public, come anyway. You don’t have to read, and your presence makes a difference.

Check back for updates, because we’re going to try to livestream our readings. If you’re in another city and you want to do something similar, please leave a comment with your location and a spot that works.

We’ll read until we can’t read anymore, whether we run out of material or the park closes or we’re all tired and some of us have to go back home to sleep before going to our jobs in the morning. We’ll read peacefully and we’ll read with love.

And maybe we’ll keep reading on Tuesday.

What actions are happening in your city? Link to this post in order to get a trackback link and spread the word. Check back here for updates.  And as one commenter on Vagina Vagina Vagina put it: VAGINA HUGS! 

UPDATE: 12:51pm: Just got off the phone with Eve Ensler’s team. While there won’t be a livestream of the event in MI, they are filming it and will post excerpts online after the fact. We are also changing the hash tag to #VaginaBlogs to respect Ms. Ensler’s copyright. I’ve changed everything but the URL to this post, because that had already been distributed. Please act respectfully.

During the phone call, Ensler’s team drew my attention to her piece OVER IT, written last year.

This line in particular stood out to me: “I am over people not understanding that rape is not a joke and I am over being told I don’t have a sense of humor, and women don’t have a sense of humor, when most women I know (and I know a lot) are reallyfucking funny. We just don’t think that uninvited penises up our anus, or our vagina is a laugh riot.”

If writing a Vagina Blog isn’t your thing, take inspiration from OVER IT. What are you over? What are you fed up with? Tag your entry #VaginaBlog and link back to it here. 

Vagina Vagina Vagina.

How many times does a woman need to say “No” before the person she’s speaking to takes her seriously?

Last night, I started seeing internet chatter about Reps. Bynum and Brown of Michigan, who were barred from speaking on the house floor due to speaking out of turn. Both are women, and the debate they were barred from speaking in was one on yet another anti-abortion-access bill: HB5711, which Speaker Bolger (@SpeakerBolger on twitter, if you’d like to let him know your thoughts) described via tweet as protecting “women from dangerous practices/unsafe facilities for abortions, requires proper handling of child’s remains.”

The quote that started #Vaginagate? Essentially, “I’m glad you’re so interested in my vagina, Mr. Speaker, but No Means No.”

Sexual Violence: Not A Joke

While I agree with tweeters who say that joking about sexual violence doesn’t help advance equality for women, this doesn’t play as a joke to me – nor does it play as an inaccurate analogy.

In recent months, multiple states have passed laws which prevent women from fully exercising control over our biological processes. Rape is not the only form of sexual violence. Intimidation, badgering and barraging us with bills that call into question our right to determine the treatment of our own bodies are also forms of sexual violence.

How many times do we have to say “No” before lawmakers respect us enough to listen – and stop wasting everyone’s time and money with these debates?

While @SpeakerBolger may have gotten a response that was not as respectful as he wished, neither is his or his party’s commitment to making women spend time and energy repeatedly defending access to our hoo-hahs respectful.

A Sustained Attack On Women’s Mental & Physical Health

From Planned Parenthood bombings to excommunicated nuns to legislative manipulation, I feel like a battering ram is being used against the women of this country. Stop it, every person without a vagina who thinks they have a say in what happens to mine. Stop it, every person with a vagina that isn’t mine. Stop making me repeat myself. Stop making me spend my time and energy fending off this degrading mental and ideological abuse.

It’s not moral or ethical to batter another person with the same question over and over and over in different phrasings, breaking them down to the point of exhaustion – then act against their oft-expressed wishes the moment they can no longer defend themselves. That’s not the behavior of someone who should be making laws. It’s the behavior of a spoiled child.

But that’s what’s going on with women and our bodies and these bills and laws. (And with a number of other civil liberty issues: PIPA/SOPA/CISPA, anyone?)

So what can we do about it?

Late last night, I tweeted the author of The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler,  and asked a question: would she be willing to support a round-the-clock reading of her play outside the Michigan State Legislature?

This morning, she tweeted me back.

BREAKING EDIT: 7:23PM EST 

“@EveEnsler has just tweeted the following:

Vaginas Take Back Michigan Capitol. I’m be there w Sen Reps activists & thousands to perform Vagina Mono on steps @ 6pm. COME SAY THE WORD”

If you can’t be in Michigan, be online and vocal. 6pm Monday night.

UPDATE: 8:01PM

Just had an email from @EveEnsler’s team; things are getting crazy and this is getting huge. I will be in NYC promoting the hell out of it any which way I can.

UPDATE: 9:01PM (every hour on the hour?)

Interest is being expressed in a New York based solidarity event Monday night. Please let me know if you’d be interested in participating; leave a comment or tweet me at @girl_onthego. 

Check out the hash tags #ConnectTheLeft and #WarOnWomen for access to broader conversations on this issue.

HE GOT MY EYEBALLS! Effective Targeted Marketing Online

This morning, I re-downloaded RedditIsFun for my latest replacement phone.

After installing and activating it, a message popped up: the developer, “just one guy,” had built in a pop-up that offered the user a choice of whether to allow a single ad per post at the top of each screen. In the pop-up, the user is also informed that the ad option can be toggled on and off at any point in time.

This came hot on the heels of a conversation about how Twitter has started pushing ads from streams its users don’t follow into their twitter streams. On Twitter, my response is to block the twitter account of the corporation that’s paid Twitter to impinge on my eyespace.

With RedditIsFun, I clicked “okay.”

I don’t normally subject myself to ads, because the average American already sees thousands per day – and living in Manhattan, I’d guess my daily average is compensating for the other tail on the bell curve – but here, I agreed. If the ads are obnoxious, I’ll turn them off. If not – if the developer of RedditIsFun is selling his adspace smartly – then I’ve now agreed to see what he’s schilling as a way to help subsidize my use of his program.

So rather than being met with annoyance, his advertisers might actually find themselves making sales to an interested member of their target market.

Smart sale of adspace means I don’t want:

- Ads that demean women.

- Ads that condescend to their viewers.

- The same ad over and over again. (Yes, Hulu, I’m talking to you.)

I do want:

- Ads for products and services that actually interest me

When an advertiser hits the sweet spot and finds their targeted marketing, their ad dollars can be incredibly productive. Last week, I attended the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue at Rockaway Beach off the back of my Klout score; I connected with like-minded individuals, did some good for the environment, drank free (and tasty) Barefoot Cuvee, and both tweeted and blogged about the event. Win-win-win-win-win. So I’ll buy into a targeted ad scheme that results in advertisers subsidizing an app that gives access to one of the most useful websites currently out there.

So there you go, indie developer. You got my eyeballs. What are you going to do with them?

 

Photos from the @BarefootWine #beachrescue

Here’s what I was doing last Saturday. Met loads of cool folks, had a blast, and worked on cleaning up Rockaway Beach as part of the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue. After a couple of hours of collecting trash on the beach to make it “barefoot friendly,” they took us to a bar and plied us with free wine and food.

Given that the first short story in Hot Mess: speculative fiction about climate change, Eric Sipple’s “She Says Goodbye Tomorrow,” is about how changing microclimates affect one woman’s family vineyard, it seemed like a great opportunity to go and meet some people, do some good, and spread the word about the book to people who liked both wine and the environment.

We got picked up from near the BBQ festival in Madison Square Park and they took us out to the Rockaways, we spent a few hours cleaning up trash, then a few more being wined and dined at a gorgeous little waterfront bar (unfortunately I’m blanking on the name). The Barefoot bubbly was delish, the people were interesting and engaging, and I’ve wound up with some great new friends on Twitter because of the day.