More Monkey Business at ODU!

Azucena Villaflot comin at ya!

Darling Journal,

Yee haw!  What an action packed pair of days!  I met up with the girls in the wee hours of the morn, ready to jet-set down south.  Well, we may have been ready but the jet had a bit of trouble getting started.  Not to worry – all it needed to do was “power down”!  Apparently, planes function similarly to laptops these days.  Who knew?  After only a brief moment of feeling the need to call my mother and tell her I loved her, all was well and we were taxing down the runway.  Of course I did what I always do on airplanes.  Sleep with my mouth open.  Before I knew it we were in Norfolk (which I still can’t pronounce without making it sound like a dirty word).

Isadora Duncan, Me, Bea Arthur 

Virginia is very green – a lovely change from New York City grey. We made our way from the airport and checked into the hotel where everyone felt compelled to say “Hello, how are you?”  Fascinating.  Next, we skipped over to Old Dominion University!  Whoo hoo!  Rehearsals went smoothly, especially after Josh showed up to save us when our student volunteer suddenly remembered she had a class!  Now I’ve heard ‘em all.  But we lucked out with Josh -- one of the most enthusiastic volunteers I have ever seen.  Thank you Josh!  You rock (and are now a permanent Baboon Boy member of the GGOT’s. 

BABOON BOY BEATS CHEST - JOSH!

The show (Silence is Violence) was a blast!  Even though the audience numbers may have been small, they were fierce.  Just another example of how size doesn’t mean a darn thing!

The girls had a delicious post-show outing where I was able to try my first “Norfolk Nojito”!  Similar to a Mojito except you get to put some muscle into it and mull your own mint right at the table!  After this long day, we all did like trees and slept like logs (mouth closed this time).  The following morning was spent at the beautiful Norfolk Botanical Gardens.  Here we witnessed turtles, butterflies, trams full of children, and more trees!  What a lovely way to say goodbye to this fair state. 

Can’t wait for the next Guerrilla Girls On Tour Adventure!

Hugs and kisses,

Azucena Villaflor

New Hampshire Diary #1

Journal Dearest–

The last few days have been such a frenzy of food and frolicking through the town of Keene in New Hampshire. With each mile away from the polluted New York, I gained a greater understanding of what living in the country means. It was a fairly brief ride up through Conn. and Mass. in our comfy guerrilla girl-mobile – fully equipped with show-tunes and enough sugar snacks to feed a group of baby elephants. The snow kissed trees amid the grounds of the Keene Bed and Breakfast greeted us with silvery smiles. I was promptly offered the Mommy Dearest room, adored with Joan Crawford’s original furniture (who knew she once lived in New Hampshire). I’m still trying to decide if this was meant to serve as a compliment or an insult. But, I must say, I slept like a baby. So, maybe Mommy Dearest was sending me her blessings.

Despite some preliminary technical glitches, the show was a great success! Women and men of all ages seemed happy to be there and ready to participate. With a full belly, my neon yellow guerrilla-fied body was ready to move, talk, dance, and sing about the substances that nourish us all – FOOD! At moments we really seemed to surprise and delight the audience. For example, they definitely got kick out of our Lady Gaga parody of “Size 2 Pants”. Also, the Tammy the Tummy Pie-in-the-Face moment seemed to surprise us all. She never saw it coming! Unfortunately, she didn’t see the floor coming either when she had a tiny slip to the ground during the closing Traditional Feminist Dance. Don’t worry, she was A-OK. Thank you Tammy for being such a great sport! We couldn’t have done it without you!

When performing a show about food, one must eat good food (and drink)! Fortunately for us, the town of Keene had delectable treats that filled out tummies with joy! While the veggie pizza and “layer cake” wine indulged both our savory and sweet sides, the fries at Fritz made me want to dance around like a school girl. The whole process of dipping these darling little fried delights into several different types of sauces was both delicious and fun! However, our dining experiences where definitely brought to a pinnacle during our post show meal at the local Mexican joint. At first, I thought perhaps our server, Steven, had been shipped in from some tropical island because his surfer style of speaking and wave-like liquid motions made me feel as though he were still rocking on some ship. Looking at him and listening to his vaguely sexual tone of speaking, it seemed almost impossible not to giggle at points. But the trusty Sam Adams Winter Ale and black bean taquitos set it all straight.

All in all, the trip was an enjoyable and scrumptious success!

Hasta Luego,

Azucena Villaflor

March 9, 2011