More Reports from the SPRING TOUR

March 3rd, 2010

Dear Diary,

Well, we have arrived safe and sound in Greater Licking County, Ohio. I have to say the open roads and clear sky are an incredibly refreshing break from the beautiful but incessant city chaos. I am lovin’ our company meals at Applebees and The Olive Garden – we feel like a real company. This just happens to by my maiden Guerrilla Girls On Tour voyage – (I was inducted into the group via a banana eating contest last fall!) Eating and drinking as a Guerrilla Girl On Tour feels very cool and fun and new.

We had a smashing workshop this evening with twenty or so students from Denison University. Julia Child did a rockin’ job introducing us and working with students. People are definitely jolted by our masks and wigs but once they talk to us and see that we are normal (though anonymous) human beings, they open up and feel more at ease. I love working in this medium. It really forced me to focus on the students and the issues they needed to discuss.

I think the moment I graduated from my alma mater I felt I knew more than all under-graduates. Making posters with these young adults reminded me how smart college kids are. College is this beautiful time in your life when you can focus on your brain and sort out your points of view on life and politics. Not that these POVs won’t change, but for many of us it’s the first time in our lives we develop ourselves as separate entities from our home-life and family roots. I was particularly touched by a poster series on sexual assault which addressed both men and women: it challenged men to listen and women to speak up. How great!
Ta for now, xo
MFK Fisher

March 4th, 2010

Dear Diary,

Day 2! Woke up at 8 to eat free hotel breakfast which lasted until 9. I now know that it is only food that will get me out of bed at 8 in the morning when I have time to sleep in until 11. I avoided eating bananas as we scarf several of these on stage during our performance.

After a full productive day of strong techs (and a couple of line flubs), we meet our “Tammy the Tummy” a.k.a. our student volunteer who interacts with us in the show. “Tammy The Tummy” is the name we used in rehearsal back home, before we knew who our volunteer would be. Our volunteer’s name is Tara. Which is very close to Tammy. Now Tara /Tammy The Tummy gets a pie in the face in our show. A surprise pie in the face. I was privately worried that poor Tammy might be affronted by this unsolicited pie. But on meeting Tara, who was lovely, enthusiastic and up for anything, I am confident that we can pie her without hurting her feelings or bruising her ego. Or setting off her deadly dairy allergy – (she doesn’t have one. We checked). Her hair got messed up, but that was the worst of it.

Our show goes well with a minimal amount of snafus - a great start when you consider this is the world premiere and the first time we are putting up our multi-media piece “If You Can Stand the Heat: The History of Women and Food”. The audience seemed a little shy and got a bit quiet whenever we asked for audience participation; but they laughed with us and were engaged throughout the show. I remember our audience members leaning forward in their seats with mingled interest/discomfort when we were outlining the procedure of a gastric bypass procedure (which Julia narrates in our “fat bias” section of the show). They were into it, if a little private.

After the show Aphra kindly bought us drinks, toasted to the GGOT’s (new and returning), and then drove us all back to the hotel where we collapsed our potassium rich bodies on our hotel beds.

The show was a success! Now time for rest and the plane ride back home tomorrow.
Xo
MFK Fisher

March 5th, 2010
Day 3 – a quickie. Entry. That is. A quick entry.
Today is all about travel. Our workshops and shows are complete. Aphra left for home ahead of us; Edna Julia and I share a cab to the airport. Our driver is great; she hands us all bite-size snickers and pulls over to “Caribou Café” where we pick up our respective caffeine beverages. Somehow I think she would appreciate “The Herstory of Women and Food.”

Edna, Julia and I groggily argue over Lady GaGa’s aesthetics before boarding our plane and heading back to the city. I greatly enjoy this time spent after the show. Without lines to run or pie to clean out of our Guerrilla masks, we talk about our lives outside of Guerrilla Girls On Tour and our weekend plans. A good end to a good journey.

Cheers to my Guerrilla Girl On Tour gals and the Dennison student collective.

Au revoir, xo
MFK Fisher