Crazytown

THE DRESS CODE: A FEMALE PROBLEM, CREATED BY THE PATRIARCHY?

On the sexualization of teenage girls...

by David Davila

One of the biggest problems of a Trump presidency is that little girls and boys are being taught that girls are sexual objects. I cried when Hillary Clinton lost the presidency not only because I feared a country under the rule of a fascist white supremacist but also because of the message that came with that win: it's okay to sexually assault women. 

Within the context of the next four years I'm torn as to what to tell my four year old niece or any other school age girl for that matter. Should I continue preaching that women should be able to wear whatever they want because they are not owned by men, or should I instead tell them to protect themselves from evil men at all costs including covering up their midriffs? I want to think that I would continue telling them to wear whatever they want. 

When shared that message on facebook before my feed suddenly became an explosion of anger from people I knew in Texas who claimed that I was teaching girls to be sluts, or teaching them to use their sexuality to get ahead in the world. I argued that I was simply teaching them that they were valuable members of society and should not be controlled by men. However I do see the basis for their claims. Many women have used their sexuality to get ahead in this world including our future first lady, Melania Trump. 

Melania Trump's pornographic past is no secret and it is the exact thing that has made her first lady. Still, as millions of people condemn her for her past and the path that she took to the White House, I instead think she is not at fault. She was a woman who took the only thing she had in her power to elevate herself in a world dominated by the patriarchy. For it was in fact the patriarchy who created pornography in the first place. It is predominantly men who spend billions of dollars in pornography annually and it is men who have created a culture that sexualizes women so much that there is an entire illegal industry based on sex trade. 

So instead of "slut shamming" Melania Trump I applaud her for being courageous enough to take power when she saw the opportunity. There are many teenage girls who see the same opportunity in their environments and decide to take it. Many of the girls being sent home from school for baring their midriffs are among these women. Still, I'm not sure I can blame them because as a country we have again proven that a women has more worth as a sex symbol than a strong leader who fought her entire life for the good of the public and for children's rights. 

We have reinforced the myth that a bathing suit is more valuable than a pantsuit. I'm ashamed at everyone that thinks it is better to elect an alleged pedophile and known sexual assailant than an intelligent and experienced female leader. My common sense wants to tell young girls to use their bodies to gain a man of stature, but my heart still needs to tell them that this is not the way. Instead I call on all young women to unite against the patriarchy, to don a pantsuit and rebel. To go full Lysistrata on men in America. Women are half of the country and yet tyranny won the 2016 election. 

Ladies wear whatever you want because it is your choice. If you want to wear a bikini than wear it. If you want to wear a burka than wear it. Just please show up, and please never stop fighting the injustices created by men in power!

EVERY ACTION HAS AN EQUAL OPPOSITE REACTION

aka. It's Hamilton lyrics from here on out, people.
By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and a lot of New Yorkers are making the pilgrimage (haha, see what I did there?) back to the small midwestern hometowns that they moved away from to be the artists, writers, and other assorted over-employed roles this city requires of them. The holidays can be tense for a lot of people, and this year, 2016, the most ridiculous year of all time, is probably going to be an especially tough one for some. Before we go a step farther, may I recommend something that you should absolutely read in preparation for spending time with people who may not agree with you? (All credit for finding that goes to my thoughtful husband, who has been calling the SHIT out of our elected representitives this week, regarding Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon- and you can too.)

There has been a lot said since the election. A lot of noise from both sides. A lot of reminders that it's so important to fact check one's news sources. A lot has also already been said about how all this infighting by the electorate is distracting people from what is actually happening in Washington right now- or rather, a lot of it's happening right here in NYC since the president-elect has that perfectly nice tower here that he'd like to stay in. I have feelings that change every day about how much this political upheaval is affecting my life and the lives of those I care about. Some days I feel like a navel-gazing millenial who is as entitled and stuck up as the right claims the liberal elite is, and a lot of the rest of the time I am so nervous that I'm going to become one of those people who stand by and watch as totalitarianism takes over. I am afraid that one day in the next four years, I'm going to look around and not be able to tell the pigs faces from the faces of the people. 

This past weekend, after the cast of Hamilton publicly spoke after their Friday evening performance that Mike Pence attended, Donald Trump wrote a series of tweets demanding that the cast apologize for addressing Pence, calling the Broadway production of Hamilton overrated, complaining that Pence was booed (by the audience, not the cast), and hilariously invoking the sentiment that theatre is a "safe space" and by respectfully addressing Pence the cast somehow broke that bond. He has since tweeted about his hate of SNL, and Alec Baldwin's impression of him, demanding "equal" time, for the "other side", whatever that means (he does know there isn't another "side" to make fun of now that he's won, right? Not to mention that some of the funniest skits this week on SNL skewered liberals). 

"Thank you so much for joining us tonight. You know, we had a guest in the audience this evening. And Vice President-elect Pence, I see you're walking out but I hope you will hear us just a few more moments. There's nothing to boo here ladies and gentlemen. There's nothing to boo here, we're all here sharing a story of love. 

We have a message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out. And I encourage everybody to pull out your phones and tweet and post because this message needs to be spread far and wide, OK?

Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical, we really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us — our planet, our children, our parents — or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.

Again, we truly thank you for sharing this show. This wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men [and] women of different colors, creeds, and orientations."

- statement read by Brandon Victor Dixon (who plays Aaron Burr) after curtain call on behalf of the cast and creative team.

Pence's attendance at the show, Trump's outrage at the cast exercising their free speech, and the subsequent attention paid by the artistic community and others alike have been called a distraction by many. And there's a lot to distract from. What has actually happened in the week and a half since the election? While we are being distracted by tweets? During the internet's infighting about what constitutes peaceful protesting? SO MUCH STUFF. The president-elect's recent Trump University fraud settlement and ongoing accusations of molestation, his daughter who runs his business sitting in on a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, hiring a white supremacist as his chief strategist, his hotel in DC being a conflict of interest as foreign dignitaries are beginning to use it to garner favor (and his statement that presidents don't have to worry about conflicts of interest), the hedge fund heiress who is one of his primary backers and a powerful voice in how he runs things, Melania and Barron's decision to stay in Trump Tower and his plans to return there as frequently as possible (costing the NY taxpayers millions), his meeting with the press in which he complained about unflattering pictures used of him. By the time this post publishes he will have probably tweeted about like 50 other things.

But I disagree with some that this is merely a distraction that liberals are "falling for" and coming off as pretentious artists who are sore losers. I think it's also an indication that Trump is exactly as thin skinned as he has always seemed, so LET'S GET UNDER THAT SKIN. Sometimes things can be more than one thing at a time. We can note that he intends to distract and obfuscate real issues, that he has no intention of attempting to appear more "presidential" on twitter, while still remembering all the very real and scary things that he continues to say, do, and not stand up against. Having people continue to infight is good for the business of Trump. It's good for those he's put in power. Artists must remember their power as well. Satire, skewering, bringing things from shade to light is what artists do best, and despite what Trump may think, it's literally what theatre was created for. Props to Mike Pence for one thing (and one thing only, mind you): when he heard the booing from the audience as he walked into that theatre, he says he told his daughter "this is what freedom sounds like". Damn right, Mike Pence. Damn right.

Now is the time to focus more on him and the government that has been elected and those he appoints to surround him. We must not get wrapped up in our own internet battles about what constitutes racism and if political correctness has gone too far. Those are valuable conversations, but only if they're actual conversations. Everyone in America, left and right, is tired of the corruption in government and leadership that only serves itself and the 1%. It's time to take him seriously- he wanted us to, and a lot of us didn't. On both sides. He's an incredibly easy man to not take seriously and it is the primary mistake almost all of his opposition (average voters and the DNC like) made during the election. Let's remember --as his opposition now has over 1.5 million more votes than him (as far as the popular vote goes)-- that this is the most unpopular president-elect of all time. No one has entered the office with a lower approval rating. Like a lot of unliked bullies, Trump is jealous of those who are well-liked. He is protective of those who show any loyalty to him, regardless of their beliefs or qualifications. This is important. We must be paying attention, we must be listening. It sucks that this election has finally ended and yet we can't get on with our day, month, year, without thinking about politics again for a nice long while. But that clearly hasn't worked well for us in the past, has it? I'm talking to us, my bubble of  liberal elites here in NYC. I'm talking to our families in the midwest and other assorted small towns, some of whom were vocal during the election and now have become eerily silent, or who had remained silent the whole time and are now frustrated that things aren't going "back to normal". I'm talking to the most vocal of Trump's supporters, who are thrilled and victorious and wondering how many days into his inaguration he will wait before completing that wall- a month? Two? (Spoiler alert: nope).

Despite America's long history of political satire and using comedy to make clear that our politicians are members of a democracy, rather than a dictatorship, Trump finds this element of his new leadership position distasteful. Very much like when Gob in Arrested Development temporarily becomes president of the Bluth Company, demands that his employees roast him and then fires them all when they actually take him up on it, Donald Trump would love nothing more than to only surround himself with yes-men. Let's make that hard for him. Let's inundate him with sketches, satire, political criticism, peaceful statements of protest, until he can't possibly respond to each one with a snippy short-sentenced tweet. ("Very sad." "Overrated." "WRONG.") We have a long history of placing our leaders under scrutiny through the arts. In recent years, Obama, George W, Reagan, and Bush were all recipients of memorable satire and creative critique that I remember well, and they accepted as part of their jobs. The time for quietly ignoring, passing blame, or hoping someone else will take care of things for us is over. As for us theatre kids, let's remember those freshman Theatre History classes and get excited to be the political activists that the Greek originators of the modern art form of performance intended. 

ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who would like to use this space to wish her Dad a very very happy Turkey Day Birthday!!!
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POPULISM YEA YEA

"And we’re gonna take this country back for people like us, who don’t just think about things."
- Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer)

"Take a stand against the elite...

They don't care anything for us

And we will eat sweet democracy

And let them eat our dust."

Reality television has a simple and deeply watchable formula. You get a handful of very different people into a house, or on an island, or on opposite teams, and then you gently poke at their insecurities and fears. You manipulate footage to make it seem like people are instigating fights, and then you let those inevitable fights play out. You ask leading questions and then sit back and watch as the building burns. Donald Trump looked at the America we live in today and he saw a brilliant opportunity. He saw immigrants, Muslims, an LGBTQ community with recently acquired human rights, women tired of a system that punishes both ambition and procreation, black Americans scared of corrupt police officers, non-corrupt members of the police tired of being blamed for the actions of others, genuinely down on their luck white people tired of feeling like all the assistance and attention goes to people of color, people of color confused but yet utterly resigned by the fact that white people can't see how racism is still so deeply ingrained in the system, liberal elitists alarmed at the dangers we pose to the environment we all live in, religious conservatives tired of being blamed for the extremist behavior of a few, and veterans who feel underappreciated by their government all while struggling under the constant wars our country has been engaged in since the Bush administration. Ideal reality show fodder. Toss in two political parties falling apart at the seams, and stir! 

Make no mistake, Donald Trump is deeply uninterested in actual governing. He has no interest in doing the boring stuff Presidents do in the not-remotely-guilded-enough oval shaped office he will now have to occupy, as little as he wants to be there. And that, more than anything else, is what I am worried about. He's a self-interested, thin-skinned, businessman who is wildly unqualified for public service. He simply saw an opportunity to premiere the ultimate reality show, complete with the edge of your seat promise that he may or may not accept the results of the election. Last Wednesday he accepted America's metaphorical rose, and immediately started handing off responsibility to the DC insiders and usual suspects he vowed to remove, backed way off of the dramatic and TV-worthy promises he made but knows he won't fulfill, and is clearly ready for the next 4 years to go by as fast as possible. He has gone from having nothing good to say about President Obama to recognizing the need to utilize his help learning what his job is, as he apparently has been surprised by the scope of it. He and his team weren't even aware that they would need to entirely restaff the White House. His civic knowledge seems lower than that of your average viewer of The West Wing. 

And is it really a surprise? Trump will be the only person ever elected to the presidency with absolutely no prior elected office or military experience. Donald Trump didn't invent the hateful feelings he has encouraged, and it's giving him far too much credit to suggest that he did. It's very possible he doesn't even really hold those hateful opinions himself, deep down, but encouraging something is exactly the same as subscribing to it. My wise Momma used to tell me when I was little that by not making a decision, you're making a decision. You don't get to instigate racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and other assorted hate that bubbles just below the surface of our society through tweets, vaguely threatening comments, evasive answers, and refusal to state your position. You don't get to toss matches like that into a building and then run away. He knows his followers were yelling racial and homophobic slurs at his rallies and he refused to speak against it before the election. My alarm at Trump’s winning is not equivalent to a conservative voter's alarm at Obama’s win 8 years ago. Obama, regardless of whether you agree with him about policy or not, never encouraged hate speech, radical ideology, or conspiracies. Obama felt the need to address the nation the day after the election and remind us that our democracy promises a peaceful transfer of power, a statement only necessary because the new president-elect frequently suggested that he may not accept the results of the election if he had lost.

A lot of Trump voters are confused about these liberal fears because they have received the exact reverse of the confirmation bias we all got. We saw the racism and xenophobia of his supporters, and what they saw was angry liberals whining about dumb, uneducated white people with guns. A really interesting perspective that can be gained from all this was written about very intelligently in this article, a relevant sound bite of which is: "I say 'racism' and mean 'a system, built up over centuries of American history, that privileges white people over everybody else.' Many rural whites hear 'racism' and think it means, 'You’re a bad person who hates black people,' when they believe they’re not actively discriminating against anyone because of race. And that goes for plenty of other terms as well — 'privilege' or 'rape culture' or even 'feminism.' There’s a communication gap, and there has to be a way to bridge it."

Now that he has won, Trump was asked on 60 Minutes if he would speak against the offensive rhetoric of many of his followers and, after insisting such a thing surprised him, he looked into the camera and said: "Stop it". But that's not how reality television works, and Donald Trump knows it. He has riled up a group of people who are afraid of a diversifying nation. He has poised a political party that before Tuesday was splintering and has just spent an entire presidental administration doing practically nothing other than obstructing policy, to now represent every branch of our government. We are deeply in need of checks and balances. Those who tell you this is politics as usual and "you win some you lose some" are misinformed. I mean, Glenn Beck and I are starting to have weirdly similar opinions on things, which is surely a sign of some sort of apocalypse. One of Trump's very first acts has been to nominate Steve Bannon (vocal anti-Semite, white nationalist, anti-woman founder of alt-right "news" source Breitbart...look up literally anything about this douchebag) as his chief strategist and senior counsel. When approached by journalists, neo-Nazi and former KKK leader David Duke (who, like his choice for president, enjoys ranting about things on Twitter) praised Trump's choice of Bannon, which is pretty much all you need to know about Bannon. And, in a twist of hypocrisy so ridiculously ironic that you would consider it a case of sloppy writing if it was a plot point in a legal drama, Mike Pence is now in the middle of his own withholding-email scandal. 

At this point, here is what I would most appreciate: those who voted for Trump and only paid attention to the news sources that supported their opinions, who possibly think all this white nationalist support of Trump is being overblown by the media, I would beg of these people to actually look into these white nationalists and their views. Read and listen to the actual words of Donald Trump and the responses he encourages. Decide what it means to you and your idea of democracy that the world leader most excited about a Trump administration is Vladamir Putin, and that his state-controlled news channels all favored Trump winning. Decide how you feel about a state-controlled news channel (this is a Fox News article that confusingly seems to praise Putin's imaginary approval ratings, while reporting on the fact that he has those approval ratings simply because he controls the media). After actually looking into these things, I would beg of those people to be appalled at the viewpoints of those who they must now align themselves with. That they, as supporters, demand that Trump take responsibility for what he has instigated (including the acts of violence against minorities perpetrated in the days following his election) and to distance himself from these people. Because so far he hasn't. So far he's only embraced the divisiveness that got him elected by choosing divisive people to advise and surround him.

I personally have overlooked the violations of my fellow American's human rights for long enough. Many friends of mine who are people of color, Muslim, and other vulnerable minorities, were not particularly surprised on Tuesday night. That I am surprised at all by the outcome of this election reveals the insane amount of privilege I have in my life. That the Democratic party is surprised by this outcome is an indication at how unaware they were that running an unpopular, if immensely more qualified, candidate from a Washington political dynasty was exactly the opposite of how to play the game of politics against an unpredictable antiestablishment "maverick", as Sarah Palin might say. I'm also deeply sad for the people who saw a Trump presidency as their only option. I'm sad for those who are uneducated and uninformed, who are disappointed in lack of consistent access to quality healthcare, lacking basic resources like safe drinking water, and struggling to even sustain themselves in our incredibly wealthy country. I am saddened that they were desperate enough to believe that a vulgar billionaire obsessed with ratings would actually have their interests at heart, or even have an interest in governing at all. For me, comedian John Oliver voiced it best when he pointed out on Sunday: "While some are arguing that Trump may not have meant all those things, that leaves us with two devastating options, either we just elected a president who didn't mean a single word he said, or we elected one who did."

Peaceful acts of protest in cases like this are not only appropriate, but necessary. I have personally become inspired to get involved beyond simply voting. It's been easy to be comfortable, even apathetic, for a long time- but now we must take our share of responsibility for the governing of our country and those in the electorate who saw no other options for their future. Donate to the ACLU, to Planned Parenthood, and organizations like KIND whch offer pro bono legal aid to immigrant and refugee children. Learn about the members of our Supreme Court and why the decisions they make are so important, write to your representatives, call your senators and congressperson and tell them your concerns, vote with your dollars (find out what businesses do or do not support homophobic/anti-refugee/anti-environmentalist groups); donate to charities that directly affect at risk and LGBTQ youth, the refugee crisis, the homeless in your community. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, a VA hospital, a women's health center, or with a fantastic local organization like The Uprising, which was started by a wonderful friend of mine and supports youth education and quality of life here in NYC.

Also, if you haven't already been vetting your news sources to make sure they are actual journalism- well, now's the time to start vetting. Work on a local level to support a third party you care about. So many people disliked both candidates, but ultimately only one of the two major nominees was going to win. Bernie Sanders, an independent, understood he would make a bigger difference running as a democrat. If you want a third party, work to strengthen it year round and not only once every 4 years. Remember that ultimately 947,584 (and counting) more people voted for Hillary than for Trump, and thousands more voted against him via a 3rd party candidate...and yes, in our government, the popular vote is not how U.S. elections are decided. Only half of those eligible to do so even voted at all, which is such a shame because that means those people forfeited having a choice on our congress, the senate, and many ballot initiatives. I am well aware that writing this on an artist's blog means I am mostly howling into that echo chamber I spoke of earlier, but it's specifically to ask that you take stock of what you can do that is active and meaningful, and to pledge that I will do the same. Here's a simple list of more suggestions to get you started and to give you some inspiration. Most importantly, educate yourself about history and do what you can to help educate the young people of our nation as well. As George Santayana wrote (although it is oft misattributed to Churchill, in an instance of truly meta-level irony): "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It's up to the American people to make sure that this is a Trump reality show that runs no longer than 4 years. 

ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who thinks the supermoon was pretty amazing, actually.
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A VERY NASTY HALLOWEEN

By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer)

So it's almost Halloween, and you're interested in going as this year's most topical costume, a Nasty Woman. You might even have a Bad Hombre or two to take pictures with! This is pretty much the only political Halloween costume I'm interested in everyone I know dressing up as this year, so let me help you narrow down all the possible bad ass Nasty Women of American History that you could choose to go as. (If you missed the 3rd presidential debate and somehow have no idea what I'm talking about, please avail yourself.)

ANGELICA SCHUYLER  

As my favorite 6 year old recently said to me: "Shisha, don't you wish you could vote for Alexander Hamilton for president?" So while you're working on that time machine to bring back our most woke founding father to provide a viable third candidate (is it too late to change my party affiliation to 'Federalist'?), you might as well pay tribute to one of Hamilton's fantastic female characters. This doubles as a possible group costume if you have a couple other nasty lady friends you're hitting the town with on Halloween. What you need to pull this costume off: An absolutely fantastic pink silk authentic colonial era ballgown. If you can't track one down, may we recommend just snapping your finger in the air all night and saying "WERK"?  

JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG 

I mean, obviously. The Notorious RBG is a delightfully easy and comfortable costume. Trump had some choice words to say about RBG as well during the last debate...likely because she's such a Nasty Woman. While he's busy keeping the foundation of America's democracy "in suspense", you can pass the time rounding up a black robe, white lace cravat, and crown. Bonus points for bun, gavel, glasses and pocket Constitution. 

HARRIET TUBMAN

Being one of history's most interesting spies is a great Nasty Woman costume idea. You'll need a headwrap, shawl, posse of Union soldiers and some $20 dollar bills. Speaking of, this makes a fantastic couples costume if you can round up a grumpy Andrew Jackson with his own handful of twenties to be your bad hombre for the evening. 

HILLARY CLINTON

Of course, you can always go as the original inspiration for this entire concept. All you need is a pantsuit, really. Bonus points for the blonde mom-hair. Even more meta might be to go as Kate McKinnon's genius impression of her... we'll leave it up to you to figure out how to convey that. 

SUFFRAGETTE

A lot of Trump supporters on the internet have been calling for a repeal of the 19th Amendment, so what's more relevant than going as an original fighter for women's right to vote? Really all you need is a skirt, a throaty Glynis Johns vibrato (preferably), and a picket sign that says "Votes For Women". There's also always the option to get really controversial and be Ironic Sexy 19th Amendment, just print it out and pin it strategically to your underwear. 

ABIGAIL ADAMS

This first lady famously wrote to her husband and all of Congress the words: "Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation." WERK, Abigail. What do you need to costume yourself as this original founding woman of female rights and anti-slavery? I guess if you can't actually BE Laura Linney, the next best thing is to get that sweet hat. 

 ELEANOR ROOSEVELT and LORENA HICKOK

She wasn't publicly out during her lifetime, but if you're looking for a good same-sex couples costume that exemplifies the Nasty Woman point of view, you can't do better than one of America's most beloved first ladies and her long-time lover. To pull it off, the two of you will need some finger waves, pearls, cigarettes, and absolutely no PDA. 

THE 2016 U.S. OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS TEAM

Simone Biles firmly stated this summer after becoming, arguably, the best Olympic gymnast of all time, "I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, I’m the first Simone Biles," and immediately became the world's tiniest feminist hero. If you and your squad want to roll up as these strong ladies, you'll need some red white and blue leotards, a whole lot of confidence, and hair/eye glitter. SO MUCH GLITTER. 

JANET JACKSON

It's the obvious choice, and begs the question "how will you get the song 'Nasty' to play in the background everywhere you go", but it's still a great costume: military inspired jacket, huge side-fall of curls... and if everyone mistakenly thinks you're Beyoncé, it still works. 

ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who is proud to be a very nasty woman.
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30 NASTY WOMEN TO ADMIRE

Nasty, bossy, butch, bitchy, sensitive, emotional are just a few of the very loaded words used to demean and delegitimize women. But these women tend to be assertive, dominant, confident, original, inspired and invaluable, and sometimes a gal's got to reclaim her territory and reappropriate these insults. Here are 30 of the Nastiest Women in History for your admiration.
by Liz Richards (writer)

 

1. The original nasty girl herself, Miss Janet Jackson
2. Bonnie Parker
3. Beyonce
4. Audre Lorde
5. Toni Morrison
6. Susan B. Anthony
7. Gloria Steniem 
8. Dorothy Pitman
9. Joan Didion
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Amy Winehouse
12. Sacajawea
13. Amelia Earhart
14. Patti Smith
15. Abigail Adams
16. Janis Joplin 
17. Elaine Harmon
18. Margaret Sanger
19. Marie Curie
20. Rosa Parks
21. Malala Yousafzai
22. Frida Kahlo 
23. Hedy Lamarr
24. Eartha Kitt
25. Cleopatra
26. Margaret Hamilton
27. Gypsy Rose Lee
28. Annette Kellerman
29. Dr. Mary Walker
30. Gertrude Ederle

WHY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND SNL MAKE ME DEPRESSED...

...and then motivated.
By Jennifer Anderson (Actor/Singer/Off to Rite Aid to pick up her Prozac)

The nation waited with much anticipation for last week’s SNL: On top of the fact that our hero Lin-Manuel Miranda was hosting for the first time, we’d all been blindsided with Pussygate and, through clinched fists and angry tears, we needed a little comic relief.

And SNL didn’t disappoint.

DEAD RIGHT

The SCOTUS with the Mostest.
By Alisha Giampola (Writer/Performer)

The Notorious RBG gave a speech in New York City last week at the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center, and I had the extreme honor of attending with my friend Ilana (of Argument Sessions fame). We stood in line to get our tickets checked with the obnoxiously giddy excitement of two teenagers circa 2002 at a Britney concert. Behold:

It's tempting to say that this is the nerdiest picture I've ever been a part of, but I'm sure I'm underestimating myself.

Justice Ginsburg was asked if she thought women still faced bias in the workplace as they did years ago when she founded the Women's Rights Project in the seventies. She conceded that while things have gotten better for women over the years, particularly from a strictly legal perspective, that unconscious bias towards both women and minorities continues to persist in workplaces and society in general. "People are comfortable with people who are like them, and white men are comfortable with other white men," she pointed out, a tiresomely familiar sentiment to any female who has ever tried to make an impression at a job or have a conversation in a public space or make a point at a political debate without being incessantly interrupted. Cough cough, Hillary. 

Literally don't know how you kept it together, girl. High fives.

When asked about the climate of discussion within the Supreme Court and whether or not things get tense during argument, RBG smiled and pointed out, "You can disagree without being disagreeable." Preach, girl. Justice Ginsburg famously had a personal friendship with a man who couldn't have been more her ideological opposite on the bench, late Justice Antonin Scalia. When talking about their friendship, RBG said that although they frequently did not agree, she valued their friendship, shared love of opera, and then visibly teared up as she added "He just made me laugh." That's the kind of classy, across-aisles working friendship I can barely imagine happening anywhere else in politics today. While I personally think Scalia was a horrible human with horrible ideas, I am happy to wrap my head around the idea that he and another person who I admire were able to put aside what made them different in order to seek out the things that brought them together.

It's blurry, but this is an actual picture I took of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being interviewed by Dan Abrams, live, and for that, you're welcome future little girls of America. 

The Supreme Court is the closest thing America has to some kind of panel of ancients. They're sworn in for life, the threat of losing their job never influencing the decisions they make, they look at change with a macro, rather than microscope. Decisions take time, the constitution requires study and interpretation, and ultimately dissents are as valuable as decisions. The queen of the eloquent dissent, RBG pointed out that "great dissenters are looking to a future age." This forest-rather-than-trees view of history is something I find comforting, particularly during an election season such as this. She discussed major heavy hitting cases including Citizens United and the recent striking down of the restrictive Texas abortion laws with equal gravity, and in the case of decisions she disagreed with, the hope that the dissents of her court could provide historical support for future generations who may be more amenable to change. It's so easy to look back on Brown v. Board of Education now and marvel at how ridiculous it was that racism used to be ingrained in law to such an extent, but then we unfortunately have almost daily reminders of the systemic and institutionalized racism that still permeates our lives. Active desegregation of schools basically stopped short in the 80s, and currently schools in the US are as segregated as they were in the 60s, despite the fact that bussing to desegregate student communities has been more successful than any other measures in raising educational fortunes of minority students.

HILLARY AND MOM

A Not So Perfect Pair
By Sam Perwin

My mother was nothing if not a feminist. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College class of 1971, and Boston College Law School soon after, she spent the beginning of her career working on Capitol Hill for such Democratic luminaries as Ben Rosenthal and Esther Peterson, both of whom fought tirelessly for the ERA. She helped Ellen Malcolm found EMILY’s List and was one of its first board members. My whole childhood was surrounded by back issues of Ms. magazine and educated, kick-ass women who created their own opportunities and careers for themselves. When Mom lost her third battle with cancer last year, we set up the Jean Perwin Memorial Fund in her honor to help women law students pay for their education. You’d think, then, that Hillary Rodham Clinton - with her Wellesley education, her Yale law degree, and her 25 years of fighting for women’s equality as First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State - and my Mother would be a match made in heaven. But no, Mom never liked Hillary. She actually thought she wasn’t feminist enough.  

Mom and Hillary doing their thing...in simpler times.

Back in 1998, I was 17, a junior in high school, full of hormones and sweeping generalizations about politics, sexuality, and marriage. I remember stating frequently (and cluelessly) how provincial the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal seemed. “Why is this a big deal?” I thought. “At François Mitterand’s funeral, his wife and mistress stood next to each other, and no one cared. If Bill wants to get a blow job from an intern now and then, that doesn’t make him a bad President.” This was not received well. While my family always encouraged healthy political discussion and differences of opinion, my father was quick to jump on me for assuming that all husbands cheat on their wives. “I don’t,” he said, proudly. “That’s right,” interjected Mom, “because you know I’d stab you to death if you did.”

And there was the problem. Hillary, as we all know, took it on the chin and stood by her man. That pissed Mom off. Deeply. How could an intelligent, accomplished woman just roll over and take it? Wasn’t she supposed to be this independent ball-buster? Mom wanted Hillary to be pissed too, to stand up and say, "No, I will be not be humiliated like this in front of the entire world. I deserve better. America deserves better. Women deserve better." Mom ranted every time she saw Hillary in the background behind Bill swallowing her anger and hurt for the camera. She believed that by not standing up for herself and walking out on her philandering husband, Hillary had set a bad example for the women of America.

WHO RUN THE WORLD?

Beyoncé, most likely. 
By Alisha Giampola (Writer/Performer)

I had the pleasure yesterday to participate in a documentary project conceived by an old pal from college/early days of restaurant work here in the city, Samantha Walsh. Her project, titled Womanish, "addresses what it means to be a strong woman". Sam clarifies that what most interests her in the idea of the "strong woman" is this: "why we even have to preface woman with that adjective in order to make that statement clear for the people around us, the society at large. But most importantly, for ourselves." 

Sam had reached out to me about this art project and mentioned that pondering those things had gotten her thinking about what made her feel most powerful, and in turn, what made other women feel most powerful. It's an interesting question, and one I was surprised to have some trouble answering. I feel all different kinds of powerful. I feel powerful when I'm done with a tough yoga class, or after mastering something difficult that I was scared to try. I also feel powerful when I've nailed a slightly complicated social interaction or when I'm wearing a particularly flattering shade of lipstick. I don't think that these kinds of disparate ideas about power are unique to women, but I definitely think women are frequently made to feel most guilty if they aren't able to simultaneously encompass all of them. I am reminded of the now much-worn quote from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, where she lays out in a fantastic rant a desire to render the "cool girl" obsolete: the Cool Girl of course being the girl who spends her energy creating a persona that is what she thinks men want her to be instead of who she actually, really is. 

During a summer when the world has watched Simone Biles become one of the most powerful Olympic athletes not just of the current games, but of all time, during a summer when women in general powerfully dominated their fields during the games, we can't forget that these most obviously "powerful" of women are still presented in comparative terminology and reduced to commentary on their marital or parental status, or if they were wearing enough make up. Women have finally been given a place a the table, but have not yet been allowed to forget who is still sitting firmly at the head of it. 

So yesterday, Sam was photographing and interviewing me for the Womanish project and as we were walking in my neighborhood, carrying camera equipment and chatting as we headed back towards my apartment, a smiling middle-aged man stopped us in our tracks. "Well look at these two beautiful girls!" He shouted at us. Sam and I exchanged a slightly weary glance at each other and moved on. Then, just a few minutes later, Sam was taking one or two last photos near my building and was in the middle of readjusting her camera as a man walking by hopped right into her shot, posed with me, and said "We're ready! Go ahead and take it!" He walked away as quickly as he had arrived and Sam and I were left in a combination of exasperated and bewildered amusement. "You should write about how middle-aged white guys think they're so funny." Sam joked. And she's right. I bet, with a quick show of hands, we can easily have an entire internet full of ladies who will vouch that Middle Aged White Guys Just Think They're So Funny. 

What was so preposterously apt about those interactions was that they occurred one right after the other during a brief time that Sam was literally in the middle of attempting to work on a piece of art that explores the frustrations (and joys, and struggles, and meaning) of being a woman in the world today. And being a woman in the world today is very much about cheerfully and frequently brushing off the blatantly unnecessary interruptions and condescensions of all manner of Middle Aged White Guys Who Think They're So Funny.  

I'm so interested to see this piece unfold, because Sam's pursuit to document all sorts of different women, of different ages, from different backgrounds and fields, should provide an interesting window into what women think about themselves and how being a woman shapes that self-examination. You should check it out too (and not just because I'm going to be a part of it, although that's clearly a great reason and you obviously have excellent priorities, carry on).

Most importantly: if you are womanish yourself and would like to participate, you should contact Sam at [email protected]. 

The Womanish project is on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. 

  (Above outtake photo of me definitely not being a yoga model via: Samantha Fairfield Walsh.) 

ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who has actually given it some more thought and probably has never felt more powerful than when she was 16 years old and was driving her 1998 Pontiac Sunfire with the windows down and Alanis Morissette cranked up. 
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AN AFFIRMATION FOR MEN SEEKING COMPANIONSHIP

I go through cycles with online dating, periods where I am more active and lengths of time when I'd rather be secluded. All of the single women I know - and I suspect this transcends gender and relationship status - know what it means to be confronted with unenlightened sexuality. Unsolicited propositions from men I don't know and the derogatory assumptions they make about me despite the clarity of my intent can be damaging no matter how I may brace myself, rework their words into humor, or dismiss the ignorance in their motives. I do not take my womanhood in stride, and no one should feel she has to. This is an affirmation for all men seeking companionship.
by Liz Richards (writer)

Honor yourself. 

Lead with love and perceptivity.

 

Honor your sex.

Treat your body with love as you honor the joyful sensations it brings to you.

 

Honor balance.

Know that what you take will be given back by will or by natural order, and what you put into the world will determine your experience.

 

 

Honor your feminine.

Be soft and allow your intuition to lead you in grace. 

 

Honor your masculine.

Use your power to inspire. Let your energy be present. Listen always.

 

Honor your loneliness.

Take time to cultivate solitude to affirm the person you are. Do not yield to insecurities and self-doubts, but do acknowledge them. Your psyche knows what you want and what you need. Do listen. 

 

Honor reciprocity. 

Only take what you can digest, only serve what you can offer. View interaction not as a game, this way you will lose as often as you win. Be prepared instead to take delight in each experience for what it is - a veneration and reverent integration of two selves.  

 

Honor her.

Know that she has also gone through this process. She too has come out the other side of heartbreak and degradation time and again and she too has an equal capacity for cynicism and serenity. She too has known passion as well as she has known complacency, and she too has an intent worthy of respect. How you interact with her will influence the cycle.

 

 Honor life. 

Our emotion, our intellect, our communication, and our sexuality are intimately connected. If one is injured, all are weakened. Live from joy. 

 

Do good. Be good. Celebrate the good in every interaction. 

 

*Paintings in this post are by Georgia O'Keeffe. See the source for details and for more artwork.