EVE ENSLER

Her words, blog buddies...and yet they should be the thoughts that are on all of our minds. Please read. comment if you feel like it.


I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.??

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."??

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.??

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.??

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.??

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.??

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.??

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.??

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Loverly.

Everything is really crazy right now, but I really wanted to update, so I chose a youtube video that I enjoy watching when I get stressed : ) please enjoy everyone, and hopefully I will be able to ACTUALLY update sometime relatively soon!

Hamlet 2

Hamlet 2 was fantastic. Everyone needs to go out right now and drive/walk to your nearest movie theatre and see this movie. Especially all of you theatre peeps. It was really one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Rock Me Sexy Jesus was probably my favorite song...just saying.

New York Memories

After talking with my friend Natalie today, I realized I didn't really go into the full details of my fabulous New York trip.



We saw four shows while I was in the city: Xanadu (8 stars), Damn Yankees (8 stars), August: Osage County (9 stars), and [title of show] (10 stars). Now, I realize that my star rating system might seem a little high/far-fetched, but please remember that this was my first New York Theatre experience. The fact that I was watching a show on Broadway added a good 2 stars to each of my ratings...hehe.

On top of the shows, we also were able to travel to different parts of the city for the full NY experience. Brooklyn, Midtown, Upper-West Side, Financial District, Korea Town...were there any parts of the city that we didn't see? Yes, in fact, there were...all the more reason to take another trip soon.

Before I part for the day, bloggers, I would like to offer you another blog to read. My good friend Natalie (pictured above) is currently working on starting up her own blog (http://naskren.wordpress.com/) and I highly suggest it. She is very artistic and spunky, which is conveyed in her stylish blog.

Much love to you all.

Molly and Kory

Hey y'all. Back in the city, and my roomie and I wanted to do a blog for everyone. The first clip didn't work, so ignore the abrupt beginning. Enjoy!

Back to the City

Hello all, and sorry it's been a while since I last posted...i blame it on bracing myself for the upcoming move back to Chicago. I'm sooo ready to get back, and I am sooo ready to see everyone again, but I am sooo not ready to finish packing tomorrow. I absolutely loathe packing. But, on the brighter side, I have about half as much to pack as last year since I'm moving into a furnished apartment...which means no shitty college room accessories bought at Target. Excitement. So, I still have to post a thorough account of my NY trip, but I feel like it should be done through the magic of youtube...maybe Wednesday..? We shall see. I hope everyone's Tuesday is spent doing something other than packing. Peace.

NYC

Hello all! I am in the wonderful world of New York City right now, and I am enjoying every minute. Last night, I went to see Xanadu, which was wonderful, and I couldn't help but notice how small the theatre was...I guess I expected to go to shows here and have the theatres be immensely huge. I actually really enjoyed the small, intimate theatre setting...if for nothing else, than for the fact that even though my friend Natalie and I were in close to the back row, we were still able to see really well. If the show wasn't great enough, sitting a few rows in front of me was Scott Alan, who is a songwriter I just adore. It was a great night. Today, I'm heading off to Brooklyn to go to an IKEA, and then later on we are going to attend August: Osage County...it's a straight play, but from what I've heard about it, I think that it should be an excellent show! I'll update again soon with more adventures from New York! Have a fabulous Friday, bloggers!