What it took to put on OBR - YOU!

One Billion Rising RVA has come - and gone - like a tornado rushing through my life.  For five weeks, from Jan 7 until Feb 14, my brain was in its highest gear, working to create a powerful, life-changing event for Richmonders, one that would put an end to violence against women, once and for all.

That may have been a too-lofty goal, but it didn't keep me from envisioning it and working towards it.

Kelsey Bedolli, Janett Forte, Julie Willard, Susan Singer

Five of us women: Janett Forte, Kelsey Bedolli, Julie Willard, Alba Jaramillo, and I, worked countless hours each day to pull together a huge event in a very short span of time.  It was exhilarating, fascinating, frustrating, dramatic, satisfying, maddening, and ultimately one of the biggest highs of my life.  It was amazing to see how the five of us worked together.  Without even talking about what needed to be done, each of us would work on parts of the project that needed to be with hardly any overlap ever.  It was almost magical!

Here's a very brief overview of what had to be done in five weeks:

•  Find a location for the rally - the Richmond Coliseum was truly perfect, and the people we worked with there could not have been more helpful.  A completely positive experience.

• Find a fiscal sponsor so we could run donations through a non-profit, making the donations tax-deductible and therefore easier to ask folks for - the Action Alliance was a gracious sponsor, allowing us to also use their copier to run off 1000's of flyers to promote the event, and to use their offices to meet in
• set up a way to get donations - Indiegogo worked beautifully, and we raised $3315 in little over a month through the generosity of friends and co-workers and family members and strangers.  It was thrilling each day to check in and see what had happened since the last time I'd looked.  Thank you!
• Find speakers - we were exceedingly blessed to find many good speakers to share their stories with the attendees.

Claire Sheppard and Kristi VanAudenhove

1. Mayor Dwight Jones inspired us to contact our legislators to let them know we insist that VAWA be passed.  Thanks, Mayor Jones, for joining us!
2. Claire Hylton Sheppard shared the painful story of her daughter's murder and inspired us with her courage and determination to make sure it doesn't happen to others.
3. Carol Adams of the Richmond Police Department told us about her mother's murder at the hands of her father and how it affected her as a child.  She has gone on to be a powerful advocate for children ever since.  It's great seeing pain turned into activism.
4. Rebiya Kadeer, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, shared with us the predicament the Uyghurs, a minority ethnic group in East Turkestan in China, are in.  Her life story is powerful and full of pain and suffering, but she is a powerful reminder of what just one person can do to bring attention to the plight of others through outspoken advocacy and efforts.



Rebiya Kadeer and her translator Omer Kadat



Carol Adams

5. Kristi VanAudenhove of the Action Alliance shared with the attendees what the Action Alliance does and gave people ways to get involved themselves so they can make a difference just like our speakers have done.  She also encouraged all of us to take the One Billion Rising pledge to do at least one thing this year to help end violence against women.  Here's the pledge:

I am one of the One Billion Rising and I PLEDGE that on 14 February 2013, I will make violence against women and girls the central issue of our time and help to end it in my family, school, job, community/city/state/country by doing the following. 

•  Find musicians - Gaye Adegbalola and the Wild Roots were the perfect accompaniment to the speakers.  Their music is powerful and evocative and empowering and gave us a chance to dance and feel the power in our bodies.
• Find an emcee who could keep things flowing.  Christina Feerick of WRIC TV8 was super!  She, like all of the speakers, donated her time to help the cause of ending violence against women.  She promoted the rally on the news, on FB, on Twitter.  She was terrific!
• Find Halal meals for Ms. Kadeer and her translator - first I had to learn what that was - thanks, Julie! - then I had to find someplace to get them for them.  This was not so easy, but we managed!



Khalima

• Find entertainers for the time slot from 11-12 and coordinate them all.

1. Khalima did her wonderful belly dancing
2. Sara Heifitz stepped in at the last minute to substitute for another actress who couldn't come and performed a couple of Vagina Monologues beautifully and powerfully.  There was another actress who did a monologue, but I don't know her name.  If you were she, please let me know!
3. Aja Hull and John Blake brought slam poetry to the OBR arena and added immense power to the happenings.
4. Glow spinners and hoopers took part to add to the multigenerational aspect.
5. Susan DePhillip came and sang and played her guitar and added much beauty to the day.
6. Denise Bennett told a funny and meaningful story in Spanish and English then sang a beautiful a capella song to entertain us all.



Aja Hull



Denise Bennett



Drummer in the hallway

7.  
8. Drummers came to drum at the end of the rally so we could all dance - Diana Harris brought 15 drums to the Coliseum so that that could happen.

• Create a way for participants to acknowledge their own experience.  Shirley Silberman learned how to do Papier and Cloth mache' in order to create the Dragon so people could Conquer their Dragons. So beautiful and creative!

Studio X

Dogtown Dance and Khalima

Planned Parenthood volunteer

 

• Organize a resource fair so folks could find help or volunteer opportunities if they felt so led - the YWCA, Action Alliance, Safe Harbor, First Things First, Planned Parenthood, Studio X, dogtown Dance, Beyond Barbie, Hollaback, Circle Safety & Health Consultants, and a bus from the Latin American Art Association were present to support and enrich our attendees' lives.  We even managed to find a T shirt vendor who traveled from Waynesboro to sell T shirts for the event.
• Spread the word about One Billion Rising RVA - we had a Facebook page, a Facebook event page, a website, a Twitter account, Instagram, Pinterest - you name it, if it was social media-related, I think we had it!  And we had volunteers who helped us fill each with interesting things for folks to read!  We also sent out 5 different press releases to the local media.  We had articles in several blogs - La Diff furniture store even wrote a piece about us!  We were on TV, on the radio, in the newspaper, in Style Weekly, etc.  I'll post all the links in another blog post.  Our Facebook reach maxxed out at 13,497, with 735 people "liking" us - so far.  
• Organize marches the day of the rally to let people in the area know it was happening.  Carly Evans, Alba Jaramillo, Lori Gardener, Diana Harris along with Kelly and Eugene from American Family Fitness Center held a rally at 8, and the YWCA held another at 10.  They certainly enlivened the city with their enthusiastic support of OBR!
• Print up countless flyers as well as programs for the events.  The Action Alliance provided us with access to their printers for the flyers and Conquest graphics generously donated the programs for the rally.



The YWCA supporters walk to the Coliseum from the Y



Bobby Lohr, T shirt vendor with customers

•  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Create complementary events to support OBR and to spread the word and the energy even further.

Renee King and They Dance When They're Happy

1. Women Rise! a juried art show held at Crossroads Art Center.
2. Cranksrising - a bike race/scavenger hunt organized by Lorene Davidson and created to raise awareness and to provide supplies for the women at Safe Harbor shelter
3. Beyond Barbie: Four Fridays in February - a performance series produced by Dawn Flores consisting of four nights of entertainment around issues of importance to women.  Denise Bennett, Lisette Johnson, Kathleen MacDonald, Sylvia Clute, Peggy O'Neill, Jess Lucia, Jackie Jones, Jenny Warne, Paige Russell Rosemond Rosemond and Susan DePhilip, (and perhaps others I've regrettably not remembered to include) graced the stage and moved us with their candor and courage.
4. Hollaback had a benefit at Babes of Carytown on Valentine's Day which benefitted OBR.



Hollaback's Afton and Jenn

5. The Vagina Monologues, directed by Julie Willard, will take place at the Gottwald Theater, April 26-27 and will be the last of the series of complementary events for One Billion Rising!  Watch our FB page for info on how to get tickets.  It sold out last year - we're expecting the same this year.

• Find volunteers to help us create all these wonders and to help out the day of the event.  Our email list of volunteers ultimately had 60 people on it.  What a testament to each of you for your solidarity in ending violence against women.
• Make the event run smoothly Valentine's Day!  Julie Willard was the stage manager who kept things running.  Kelsey Bedolli helped the volunteers get where they needed to go so they could do what they needed to do.  Janett Forte picked up the slack wherever necessary.  I spoke from the podium before the other speakers to set the tone for the day.
• Get insurance in case someone got hurt.  That involved estimating how many people would attend and making sure we had enough insurance but not too much. Our insurance agent, Mike Cushnie, was kind and helpful beyond reasonable expectations.  When I told him we needed to insure for 10,000, he gracefully helped me lower my expectations so the insurance wouldn't cost us $750, but only $495.  He was a true gift and a kind man.
• Raise $7500 in 5 weeks!  We had a private individual who was willing to take the risk and put up the money for the Coliseum, agreeing to take the loss if necessary.  That made all of us feel determined to raise enough to keep her from losing money.  Thankfully many of you - 116 to be exact - answered our call for donations and helped us out.  That doesn't include the kind souls who donated cash at the event and can't be enumerated or thanked individually.  It does include AlterNatives and Extreme Pizza who held profit sharing events to help us out as well.  We were blessed by a generous community which is also committed to ending violence against women.  
• Organize a Flash Mob so we'd have a very cool dance to start and end the program.

That's probably a long enough list!  I know you get the idea!  And I'm certain I've left out people - I apologize for that!  Please let me know who I've left out and I'll happily include them - each of us Lead Organizers took on different parts of the rally, so I may not even know everything that got done!  Despite that, I am deeply grateful.

Thank you, each and every one of you who helped in any way to put One Billion Rising RVA together.  I wish I could give each of you my personal thanks for working so hard to make this event happen.  There was such an incredible outpouring of love and support and caring!  The energy the day of the event was palpable and powerful.  It makes me believe that violence against women truly can end if we all put our minds to it and say NO.

I can see it on the horizon.  Can you?

Open letter about One Billion Rising RVA

Dear Friends,

I'm so grateful to you for reading my blog and for caring enough about issues I care about to follow my story as it evolves.  Today I have a request for you.  I am asking that you get involved in One Billion Rising wherever you live in the world.  Risings are happening in 182 countries, so you're very likely to find one within an hour or two of where you live.

If you live in Richmond, VA, you are in luck, because there's one happening at the Coliseum.  And I'm going to tell you all about it!

This past fall, you may remember, I went to a conference called Women and Power at Omega Institute in Rheinbeck, NY.  There I heard Eve Ensler, author of Vagina Monologues, speak about what she has seen as she's traveled the world, speaking with women from here in the US to the Congo to Bosnia and all around the world where horrors are being perpetrated on women.  I learned that one in three women will be beaten or raped or abused, or perhaps even killed, in her lifetime.  The stories Eve shared moved me to action.  She created One Billion Rising as a worldwide movement to bring attention to the fact that one in three women equals over one billion people on this planet.  Her goal, and mine, is to END violence against women.  NOW. 

I came home from the conference and immediately began to organize One Billion Rising RVA.  I am joined by a core group of four other organizers, and, with the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance as our fiscal sponsor, we are creating the main event for Valentine's Day AND a large number of complementary events throughout the months of February and March.  These events include Women Rise! (an art show with art which responds to the theme of women rising to end violence); 2 performances of The Vagina Monologues; 4 evenings of Beyond Barbie (the performance series I created in 2011 to accent issues of importance to women); Cranksrising, a scavenger hunt/bike race; and others!  The support from the community has been tremendous and leads me to believe that the time is ripe for bringing awareness to this issue and that we can truly make a difference NOW!

So how can you help? 

We need everyone in the city to know about the event!  We are hoping to have at least 10,000 come to the event - women, children AND men - we love our V-Men!  We can't end the violence without men!    If you have contacts with the press, I would be tremendously grateful if you could get me in touch with them so we can get the word out most effectively.  If you can forward this email to everyone on your email list, that would be HUGE!

We also need financial support.  The Coliseum is being incredibly supportive and is charging us only the bare minimum to use the facility - phenomenal! - but we still have $5000 in bills to pay - not bad for an event which will reach, potentially, everyone in the city and surrounding area!  If you feel moved to make a donation, I would be very, very thankful.  You can donate through indiegogo at http://www.indiegogo.com/OBR-RVA/x/2115411?show_todos=true.  You can even get thank you gifts like tickets to the Vagina Monologues or advertising at the event for your company if you'd like.  We would love to get Richmond's companies involved in this movement and in this event so the community will KNOW that this is important, not just to the people suffering the abuse, but to everyone.  Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse hurts business.  People suffering from these horrors are more likely to miss work and to be less effective when they are there because of the tremendous energy it takes to deal with the fallout of it.  By supporting this event, you are supporting your employees - and most likely many of your loved ones - and showing them you, too, want to end the violence.

I'm asking you to attend the event!  And encourage your loved ones and employees to come as well!  It's during the lunch hour, so you won't miss much work.  Walk over to the Coliseum and bring everyone you can think of.

We need over 300 volunteers the day of One Billion Rising.  If you have an hour or two you'd like to donate, or if you can bring your employees and have them do community service that day, yay!  We'd be delighted!

Please come to the complementary events as well!  They will be wonderful!

Thank you for taking the time to read this email.  I hope to hear from you and to learn how you feel you can help.

I'm attaching our press release here so you can learn more about the event.  Please feel free to forward it to anyone you would like.  And please get in touch if I can answer any questions or if you'd like to donate or volunteer!

Thank you so much.  Your support makes a difference.
Susan 

Press release

*********************************

Did you know that over 354,000 women currently living in Virginia have experienced, or will experience at least one incident of sexual violence in her lifetime? (Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Center for Disease Control, 2010) Further, 971,900 (1 out of 3) Virginian women have experienced, or will experience at least one incident of severe physical violence from her intimate partner, including rape, physical violence, and stalking. (Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Center for Disease Control, 2010.) These statistics are alarming. That is why the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance (Action Alliance) has partnered with over 60 community leaders, artists, performers, slam poets, musicians, and local sexual and domestic violence non-profit organizations, to launch “ONE BILLION RISING RVA,” a rally to raise social awareness about sexual and domestic violence and to call for an end to these horrors.

On February 14, between 11 AM - 2 PM, at the Richmond Coliseum, potentially 10,000 or more people will gather to call for an end to violence against women, to learn what's already being done and what needs to be done, to celebrate women's strength and empowerment, and to dance and feel the energy of 10,000 people united in a common cause.  It promises to be an extraordinary event, the first of its kind in Richmond! One Billion Rising RVA will be a joyful and empowering event that will include informative, sobering, and uplifting talks, slam poetry, music, dance, and art that is appropriate for all ages. It will also include a community resource fair at which community members will receive information about sexual and domestic victim services in Richmond.

ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On February 14, 2013, V-Day’s* 15^th anniversary, One Billion Rising RVA, in part sponsored by the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance**, will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women and men across the world as we express our outrage, demand change, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

 “When we started V-Day 14 years ago, we had the outrageous idea that we could end violence against women,” said Ensler. “Now, we are both stunned and thrilled to see that this global action is truly escalating and gaining force, with union workers, parliament members, celebrities, and women of all backgrounds coming forward to join the campaign. When we come together on February 14, 2013 to demand an end to violence against women and girls it will be a truly global voice that will rise up.” (To learn more about Eve Ensler and her intentions for One Billion Rising, please read the following article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/24/one-billion-rising-end-violence-women, or her most current article in The Guardian:  http://onebillionrising.org/blog/entry/the-delhi-rape-savile-ohio-this-violence-will-no-longer-be-tolerated.  Eve is a powerful writer who doesn't hold back!  She makes for great copy!)

The rally being held on Feb 14th is not the only event associated with One Billion Rising RVA.  There are also many complementary events being held.  Here is the information about those:

• Two separate versions of The Vagina Monologues, both a community and a college (VCU) performance.  These will be held towards the end of March, Auditions will be held at the Action Alliance Headquarters at 5008 Monument Ave, Suite A, Jan 27, 1-4 PM and Jan 30, 6-8 PM.

• Women Rise! is an exhibition celebrating women and our empowerment! Richmond area artists will be displaying their interpretation of the One Billion Rising theme in all media. The Opening Reception, including an Awards Ceremony and Juror's Talk by Susan Singer will take place February 9 from 1-3 PM at Crossroads Art Center at 2016 Staples Mill Rd. Artwork will be on display through March 3.  Entries are being accepted until Jan 25 and must be sent digitally.  For more information, please go to http://onebillionrisingrva.wix.com/onebillionrisingrva#!services2/c1a63

• CRANKSRISING by Women's Multisports of Richmond, Inc​, February 9, beginning at 10 AM
  The concept is simple: The riders get a manifest with lists of local store stops and needed items, then they head out to see how many items they can buy and carry back to the finish. The fastest riders to navigate the streets and checkout lines win prizes, although it is not all about speed. One of the options on the shopping list will be a perishable item which will take skill to deliver. The pile of items gathered will benefit Safe Harbor shelter for survivors of sexual and domestic violence.  For more information or to sign up, please go to http://www.womensmultisportsofrichmond.com/cranksrising.html

• Four new installments of Beyond Barbie: Four Fridays in February, the incredibly successful performance series launched by Susan Singer in Oct - Nov 2011 and produced by Dawn Flores this time around.  The segments will take place at Unity of Richmond, 800 Blanton Ave, Richmond at 7:30 PM, each Friday in February.  The four segments are as follows:

·         The Heart’s True Scale: An evening of storytelling with Denise Bennett, ​Friday, February 1, 7:30 pm

Lured on by a strange crow, a hapless Harper finds himself trapped in a deep dark cave . What he finds there will test the true scale of his heart (all puns intended). It's a story about the healing power of love even in the wake of violence and pain. The Heart's True Scale is an original fairy-tale for adults. Using voice and harp, humor and drama, Denise Bennett cleverly combines elements of traditional storytelling and theater to heal, captivate, and enthrall her audience.

·         Breaking Free: Transcending Barriers of Mind, Body and Circumstance, Friday, February 8, 7:30 pm

Each of us has barriers that we sometimes allow to hold us back, be they handicaps, mental illnesses, bad marriages, race, gender, prison or other circumstances. By witnessing the courage of others, we can increase our own courage and learn to break free. Produced by Dawn Flores with Susan Singer, and featuring Lisette Johnson, Jenny Warne, Jacqueline Jones and the work of Jess Lucia, this evening celebrates, through stories, song and dance, the lives of women who tapped into their own courage and resilience when confronted with life's extraordinary challenges.

·         Women in Power: Creating Roadmaps for Others, Friday, February 15, 7:30 pm
Produced by Dawn Flores with Susan Singer, this evening showcases women who have experienced, in profoundly personal ways, a need in their communities and have taken action to create or support programs that inspire, educate and empower others. Sylvia Clute shares insights into the inequalities within the criminal justice system and lays out an inspiring new vision of restorative justice. Kathleen MacDonald, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Gail R. Schoenbach FREED Foundation, powerfully and compassionately shares her knowledge and understanding about recovering from and eliminating eating disorders.

·         Sacred Circle Dance, Friday, February 22, 7:30 pm

Sacred Circle dance is an empowering way to reclaim wholeness by sinking into the body and building a sense of community through movement. In a safe and sacred space, Peggy O’Neill guides participants in simple steps in time to beautiful music from a variety of cultures. Peggy has been teaching dance since the 80’s and has lead local, national and international gatherings with grace and gentleness. This event is for women, men, and teens and no ability or previous dance experience is required. Proceeds will benefit One Billion Rising RVA.

*About V-Day

V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler's award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 14,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine's 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine's Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. V-Day's newest campaign is ONE BILLION RISING which will culminate on 021413 with a global action worldwide. www.vday.org

**About the Action Alliance

The Action Alliance’s mission is to ensure “that all Virginias live a life free of sexual and domestic violence.” The Action Alliance is Virginia’s is a 501(c3) and is the statewide coalition and leading organization for sexual and domestic violence services in Virginia. We are the umbrella organization for over 70 sexual and domestic violence nonprofit agencies in the commonwealth. The Action Alliance also operates a 24-hour hotline service for victims, provides training for professionals working in the sexual and domestic violence services, works with local government to improve response to victims, and launches public awareness campaigns about sexual and domestic violence, such as RVA’s ONE BILLION RISING to reduce sexual and domestic violence. http://www.vsdvalliance.org/secAbout/indexAbout.html

Make a Visual Journal to your Soul

For the last several months, since Beyond Barbie ended, I've been unclear about what my next step should/could be (as I've written about here several times already).  I haven't felt like creating large paintings, or, for that matter, any paintings at all.  It was a bit scary to go from a time period of such extreme creativity to this dearth of ideas.  Out of this time of "not knowing", I felt led to create a journal/sketchbook which I have been using almost daily.  I go into the studio where I have pulled out almost all of the art supplies I own (yes, what a mess!) and let the muse take me.  My mantra is "I wonder what would happen if..." then I allow myself to find out.  Sometimes I write inspirational quotes in calligraphy.  Sometimes I play with paint.  Sometimes I doodle with patterns.  Sometimes I paint flowers.  Every day it's something different, but it's always interesting to me, and, almost magically, it is lifting the fog I'd found myself in.  I'm finding it to be an incredible tool for self exploration.

Because it's been so powerful for me, I feel led to offer it to others.  The format I've come up with is a bit unorthodox - first we'll meet over a weekend, Oct 6th and 7th, to create the journals themselves - yes!  We will prepare the paper, make the cover, and bind the books ourselves!  Then we'll meet Monday evenings for six weeks to fill the journals.  The class will be skill-based in that you'll learn to make a book, and you may learn some skills in exploring different media, but it'll also be about personal exploration and opening to your creativity. This course will take you wherever you choose to go!

Three of the handmade journals I've created as part of this process.

Below I've pasted the blurb from my website so you can get the whole story.  Please contact me if you are interested, have questions, or would like to sign up.  I sense the class will fill quickly, so follow your urge, and sign up soon!

Happy creating!

Susan

Make a Visual Journal to Your Soul

Because our analytical brains (words and thoughts) sometimes get in the way of accessing insights, it can be helpful to take a visual approach to journaling to allow our more intuitive selves to emerge and teach us. 

In this class, we’ll spend a weekend creating a unique, personal 64-page bound journal, then we’ll spend the next six Monday evenings filling them with musings, experiments, drawings, paintings, collages, brainstorms, and whatever else we decide would be fun/enticing/creative/helpful/juicy and/or delicious to explore.  No art experience is needed whatsoever.  This is about play, experimentation, and exploration, a journey to your soul…

To sign up: Contact Susan Singer at SusanSingerArt@msn.com or 804-267-3455 to sign up or with questions. 

To see my own visual explorations in a previous post, you can go to http://susansingerart.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-meanderings-through-my-sketchbook.html

Dates:   Saturday, October 6, 10 AM – 4 PM

               Sunday, October 7, 1 PM – 5 PM

               Monday evenings, October 8 – November 12, 6:30 – 9:00 PM

Location: Susan Singer’s studio off Huguenot Rd. near Stony Point.

Cost: $250 plus materials fee of $25

Enrollment limited to six, so please sign up early to reserve your spot.  (As for 8/24, there are already four people signed up.)

Listening and Observing: The Power of Birth in Story

Listening and Observing: The Power of Birth in Story

Childbirth may be one of the most powerful events that women experience in life. The sharing of women's personal experiences of giving birth provides an opportunity for greater understanding about how birth shapes and is shaped by our self-perceptions, our culture, and the trajectory of our lives. This evening will provide a safe space to experience the art of listening as we share our personal stories of birth in a way that honors the unique experience of each storyteller.

A part of Beyond Barbie: Piecing Together Today’s Woman – a series of performances and talks about issues important to women today

and in conjunction with Susan Singer's Not Barbie: A Celebration of Real Women 

which opens Sept 16th at 6 PM at Crossroads Art Center.

Who: Women and the people that love them are all invited to participate and/or observe.

When: Thursday, October 27, 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Where: Crossroads Art Center: 2016 Staples Mill Road, Richmond, Virginia 23230

Cost: $10 or $50 for the entire 7 evening series.

Tickets may be purchased on-line at http://beyondbarbie.eventbrite.com, through Crossroads Art Center or at the door. For more information please call 804-278-8950 or email jennikirby@crossroadsartcenter.com

Further information:

Birth is a transformative event, an everyday act that marks one of life’s most sacred passages. Pregnancy, birth, and becoming a parent are experiences that can empower us to become more than we thought we could be. For many women, telling the story of their child’s birth is an important part of this transformation. In the last decade, birth stories have become an emerging cultural narrative form.

While birth stories can be windows into individual women’s souls, they also have the capacity to enlighten, educate, and entertain. Sharing our stories shines a light on the many ways birth takes place in our culture, helps us transcend fears and perceived limitations, and empowers us to learn from our collective experience. Telling our stories can also strengthen women’s trust in their ability to do the hard physical, emotional, and spiritual work of birth.

For this evening, women are invited to listen to, and participate in, the telling of stories of childbirth in a safe, respectful environment that allows each woman’s tale to unfold without interruption. Stories of home births, hospital births, cesarean births, water births, parking lot births, adoptive births, singleton, twin, and triplet births, births of healthy babies, births of challenged babies, and births of stillborn babies are all welcome. The audience will listen to a variety of birth stories in the first person, then break into small groups where stories may be shared and observed in an intimate setting. At the end of the evening, there will be time for reflection on the experience as a whole.

We are especially interested in the moments during your birth when you faced a fear or learned something significant about yourself or about life. What helped you move through the experience? What made you laugh, what made you cry? What did you learn that might help the next woman walking the path toward motherhood?

Facilitators:

Thérèse Hak-Kuhn is the mother of 6 and has been involved in birth both personally and professionally for over 30 years. The Executive Director of toLabor, an international birth doula training and certification program, an attendant at over five hundred births and a facilitator of a variety of birth circles, she understands the necessity for women to able to tell their birth stories and having them truly heard.

Leslie Lytle, MS, CMA, RYT500 is Director of OmMama, LLC which offers prenatal and postnatal yoga and evidence-based childbirth preparation in the Richmond area, and prenatal/postnatal yoga teacher training programs nationally. She has worked with expecting women and new families for over 19 years, and has witnessed firsthand the power of storytelling in transforming women’s experience of birth.