Pussies Unite!

I had a chance to see The Vagina Monologues on Saturday at Union College in Schenectady. Although the play gets some bad reviews from people who see it as anti-heterosexuality or anti-men, I found it to be a good experience and well worth my $7 (90% of which went to support Schenectady's YWCA and the rest went to benefit this year's Women in Conflict Zones campaign).

TVM is a play written by Eve Ensler about women, their sexuality, and of course, their vaginas. It is based on interviews Ensler conducted with women of all different backgrounds, and it consists of separate monologues that are based either on one woman's story, or a compilation of several women's stories. The monologues touched on issues such as menstruation, transgender women, homosexuality, rape, domestic violence, genital mutilation, birth and even the all-important topic of pubic hair. Parts of the monologues were inspiring, others were saddening, and there were some funny parts too.

Saturday was the second time I saw the production. I noticed that Union College’s production didn’t quite do everything it was supposed to. Some of the monologues require accents or props that the college students didn’t use. I remember the production I saw three years ago at the YWCA was better with these things.

The college girls did perform well in other ways though. The monologue about menstruation is a compilation of many women’s stories. Six or seven girls sit on the stage and read a few sentences at a time, telling dozens of girls’ stories in just a few words or sentences each. The timing of each girl’s lines was well done. When one girl was finishing her few words or sentences another would jump right in without hesitation. The stories of menstruation really bled into one another (pun intended). I thought it gave a really nice effect.

As for the play having a homosexual agenda or being anti-men, I don’t see it. There were monologues that portrayed lesbian relationships positively, but also ones that were positive towards heterosexual relationships. The monologue titled Because He Liked to Look at It was about a woman who came to love herself and her vagina through an experience she had with a man. There was also a monologue about the wonder of birth, which of course would not be possible without the help of a man. There were also parts about rape and domestic violence that portrayed men negatively, but these issues cannot be ignored simply because they are unpleasant. I thought the balance of good and bad was well done. It made the audience realize that the vagina and a woman’s sexuality can be the biggest source of pleasure or pain for her, depending on her experiences. Either way, it is important and should be recognized.

The Vagina Monologues is usually performed near February 14^th around the country for a reason. Most people celebrate this date as Valentine’s Day and see it strictly as a commercialized holiday to spend with lovers. The Vagina Monologues has changed this by proclaiming February 14^th V-Day. The “V” in V-day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. It is meant to spread awareness of and help stop violence against women and girls across the world. Proceeds from TVM, including sales of tickets, the infamous pussy-pops (chocolate vulva-shaped lolli-pops), “Vagina Warrior” T-shirts and jewelry, and other donations, raise money for organizations aimed to promote a stop to violence against women. The production itself also allows people to hear actual stories of women who have experienced violence, as well as hearing facts and statistics between some of the monologues.

So the play does an excellent job of raising awareness about violence, but I still left feeling empowered. A girl can’t help getting caught up in that “pussies unite” mood when leaving the show. Spending two hours talking frankly about vaginas is a welcome break from society’s normal hush around the topic, and it feels nice. I recommend this play to any woman. Men can also get a lot out of the show in the sense of awareness and possibly even slightly more empathy towards women, but don’t expect to leave feeling empowered guys. Maybe someone will write The Diaries of a Penis for you or something.

For more information about V-Day and its mission you can visit the V-day Homepage

Daylight Saving Time starts earlier and ends later this year

I've never been a fan of losing an hour of my day on the first Sunday in April. Daylight Saving Time (NOT Daylight SavingS Time) is a nuissance and entirely unnecessary. Dealing with it for a half a year was bad enough, but now our "extra" hour of daylight will last even longer. This year Daylight Saving Time will start on March 11 and we won't get our hour back until November4. This change has prompted me to share my grievences about the time change with the world. Or at least my blog readers.

First we'll start with a little history. Just a little, I promise.

Around the time of World War I, the US and some European countries started using DST to conserve energy. The thought was that having an extra hour of daylight at night would mean one less hour of using energy to light homes and businesses. My first thought upon hearing this was that it didn't make sense because we don't just gain an hour of daylight at night, we steal it from our morning daylight. But then I realized that we'd be more likely to light our homes at night than we would while we're sleeping before sunrise. So they got me there.

But wait. Maybe that doesn't work today. After doing some reading, I realized that people are also more likely to use their air conditioners in that extra hour of daylight in the summer, which is when we experience Daylight Saving Time. Also, people are more likely to drive in the daylight, burning precious gasoline. Reports show that 1% or less of the nation's energy is conserved during the Daylight Saving Time. Maybe finding alternative energy sources is a better way to conserve fossil fuels than robbing Americans of an hour in March.

There are other reasons that Daylight Saving Time and I are not friends. It really does throw off my sleep pattern. As crazy as my sleep cycle is anyway, losing that hour makes it even weirder, and it takes weeks for me to get over the change. Most people complain about the loss of an hour of sleep for at least a few days. Think about what it must be like for someone with an actual sleep disorder. I imagine it would take months to adjust.

Farmers agree. They say it takes the roosters weeks to adjust to the time change. They (the roosters, not the farmers) crow at the same time, whether the clock says it's an hour earlier or not. Farmers, and other people whose work hours are based around daylight, are forced to start work an hour later, which often means they lose an hour of leisure time at night beause they are still working.

The whole thing doesn't make sense to me. We have to go around to all of our clocks and change them, adjust our sleeping pattern and lose an hour of our day, because it saves less than 1% of our energy consumption. And now it's taking over the year by starting earlier and ending later. The monster must be stopped!

Anyway, here are some summertime activities that are harmed by DST:

• Drive-in movies
• Fireworks
• Waking up in daylight
• Catching fireflies
• Looking at the stars
• Staying cool outside on a summer night
• Skinny dipping (it's easier in the dark)
• And Sundial reading
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