Sorry it's been so long!

Hey friends, sorry I've been out of touch a bit had to do a visa run to Cambodia, so threw in a trip to Angkor Wat ruins and Phnom Penh for some VM research (THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!) and now everything's a blur of vagina madness. But here's how they decided to use my photos and interviews for the testimonies, thought you'd be interested, and more to come soon. Also, don't be alarmed that my blog's been 'flagged' for objectionable content, I find it amusing and their objections are objectionable in my opinion. Don't get too excited, the sex factor hasn't been amped up or anything fun like that. Huge all-cast rehearsal last night was invigorating- news channels were filming away and Bangkok is getting all a-flutter with the vagina spirit, or curiosity anyway.

As I was taking photos and buzzing around the room, one of the cast members snagged me, 'Did Alanna tell you?' I was thinking she was referring to something not yet checked off my to do list, and then she latches on to my eyes and says, ' this weekend I was held hostage and a man tried to rape me for hours' And just like that you're slapped by it, the wind is knocked out. These violent metaphors seem appropriate as that's exactly what it feels like, that's what it is- violence against anyone IS violence against all of us.

I hugged her. I said what I am supposed to say, but what does that really mean? 'What timing, what a coincidence don't you think? And I want to tell you about it, I want to talk about it.' I watched her the rest of the rehearsal, as she delivered the lines from the new Congo monologue about how the violence touches all of us, how it is present in what we do, and what we don't do. And I marvelled at her bravery to even be standing, much less part of this collective roar against violence. The VMs is good for my heart. As all this regular yoga is stretching muscles I had forgotten about and sweating out all this unnecessary junk, as do the Monologues. My heart feels like some kind of insane magnetic field with all these positives and negatives pushing apart, holding me together, making me hum with feeling and urgency and love.