Arkansas Diary #2

(Me on left, and Aphra)

Hey Diary,

I'm sitting at my post modern, neo-classical, hand carved, bio-degradable wooden desk. I am staring out the window. It is winter still in Hell's Kitchen New York City, but oh my diary, it was spring in Arkansas. Arkadelphia, Arkansas to be precise. What a beautiful place and what a glorious time I had!!!

It was national 'Hug a Lesbian Day!' Imagine a country as repressed as the United States of America having such a day. I was very patriotic. I hugged lesbians - liberal lesbians, conservative lesbians, smart lesbians, silly lesbians, short haired lesbians, long haired lesbians, blue haired lesbians, shy lesbians, outgoing lesbians, hot lesbians, mousy lesbians, Harry Potter loving lesbians, jean wearing lesbians, hip hop lesbians, classical lesbians, athletic lesbians, studious lesbians, southern lesbians, feminist lesbians, and there I stop. Who knew there could be so many lesbians on a campus of 3500!

I was also very honored that the Vice President of the school attended the performance and said afterwards he learned a lot from our show. I was very happy to hear that. Sometimes I look into my family heirloom-passed down from many generations-too big for my apartment-but too sentimental to throw away- mirror and say to myself "Edith, Why do you still go around making a spectacle of feminism? Everyone knows what equality means." But in reality, everyone does not. It is still a confusing concept for some.

Let me assure you there is enough space, homes, lovers, jobs, religions, politics, flowers, clouds, blue skies, shooting stars and dreams for everyone to live their lives without discrimination. There just is.

(me on right and Josephine)

Think of it this way. We learned on arriving at Henderson State University that there is now a Women's Study minor. Has anyone not been able to major or minor in their desired subject because a Women's Study minor now exists? Does anyone feel that his or her major has been sullied or devalued because a Women's Studies minor now exists? Does anyone feel they are becoming more liberal, more articulate, more fashionable, more worldly, have a larger vocabulary, more empowered, more likely to buy a ticket to a play written or directed by a woman, or more prone to fits of osteoporosis because a Women Studies minor now exists on the HSU campus? (careful, this may be a trick question.)

That's all for now. I love you Henderson! Good night, and good luck!

Xo Edith Evans

March 17, 2011

ARKANSAS DIARY #1

Dear GGOT Diary,

What a great tour! I have to admit I was a little nervous about this one. Touring to southern, red states always makes me nervous. I'm never sure how I (being a black Guerrilla Girl On Tour), or how we (being feminists), will be received. But I had no reason to be nervous because Aphra, Edith and I received the warmest welcome from one of the most diverse schools I have ever toured to.

The welcoming faculty was great. As we toured the theater and dance department we discussed the true meaning of feminism, and how some of the school's female students felt uncomfortable identifying as feminists, (despite the fact that they believe what feminism stands for). Ah it’s the same wherever we go and I immediately knew that everyone on the campus of Henderson U in Arkadelphia, Arkansas was on our side!

The performance went really well. We kept the energy up, the audience laughed where they were supposed to and they loved "Size Two Pants". When I picked a man from the audience to point out as a "true feminist" it just so happened that I chose the schools Vice President! He was perfect. Immediately, I could tell that he was a man of power and intelligence. He had a great sense of humor, and went with the joke. After the show he came over and told us how much he enjoyed it and how much he learned from “Feminists Are Funny”.

Here's a fun fact for ya: Did you know that March 15th, the day of our show, was National Hug a Lesbian day? We didn't. But, during "Announcements from the Audience" we learned that it was! At curtain call, Edith ran right up into the audience, and hugged herself a bunch of lesbians! I followed right behind Edith and so did Aphra, hugging until we were too tired to hug anyone else.

There's nothing better than taking an extra 45 minutes to leave the stage, because the audience is still loving you. We were signing t-shirts, and posters, and taking picture after picture after the show. It felt really great.

I learned something huge from this tour. There's no need to stress about any of our tour destinations. You never know how the audience is going to react. In blue states our feminist message may be taken for granted. But in red states they love us as soon as we step over the state line. Until we meet again you reddies!

Love,

Josephine Baker

March 16, 2011

New Hampshire Diary #3

Yo Diary!

We drove to Keene, NH, leaving a trail of banana peels in our midst. Our gorilla chatter went on for hours on the long drive, until we finally arrived. I had never seen so much snow before! After a delicious meal, we retired into our Bed and Breakfast... a bit tiny for a gorilla but comfortable none the less.

I roomed with Zora Neale Hurston, who not only enjoyed the room piping hot as I do, but enjoyed snoozing her alarm as many times as possible before getting up in the morning.

Day Two:

Arrived on campus and toured the wonderful facilities. We jumped around in our gorilla suits to warm up for the performance and rehearsed onstage.

During the show, the energy from the crowd was terrific. They seemed to enjoy our improv, especially my blues rhyme about eating cauliflower in the shower. I was quite embarrassed when I made a mistake during my big note on "Size 2 Pants." I suppose I should have agreed to the clause in the contract where Marni Nixon would dub me for that note... Maybe next time, Marni.

My favorite moment was my portrayal of Julia Child. I could feel the audience really enjoyed my performance. And when I got to pie Janis Joplin/Tammy the Tummy, I really gave it to her, which was tremendous fun. It was great to hear so much positive feedback from our viewers.

Afterwards, we had an intense meal at a Mexican restaurant in town. Our waiter, Steven, had a huge sexual energy and said "ohhhhh yeahhh" at everything we ordered and raised his eyebrows seductively when I ordered my second Margarita. Hey, I know gorillas are attractive but calm yourself!

The next day we all snored as Aphra drove us home. Somehow, we misplaced our large bag of bananas, a huge mistake when you have a car full of gorillas! We'll need extra reinforcements next time.

Until then I remain yours truly,

Audrey Hepburn

March 8, 2011

It's Anti-Street Harassment Day!

Oh! The Virtues of Public Harassment

Say goodbye to ironing! Receive instant pressings when creeps push their bodies against yours for the entire train ride home.

Increase your vocabulary! Use the dictionary to discover the new words you heard in the lewd comments called your way.

Get more miles per gallon! Being tailgated assures you will drive well within the speed limit.

Save money! Why pay for art classes when semi exposed men are right there in front of you?

Unwedge those wedgies! Unwelcome pinches and slaps to your rear end will take care of them.

Be happy forever! Your life is now filled with constant reminders to smile.

A public service message from:

http://www.ggontour.com

http://www.stopstreetharassment.com/

http://www.ihollaback.org/

New Hampshire Diary #2

Dearest Book,

Monday, March 7, 2011: The car ride to New Hampshire was pretty smooth. Audrey Hepburn, Azucena Viaflore, and I spoke quickly and frequently in the beginning. I guess the excitement of getting out of the city got to us, plus, it’s always great to be travelling with intriguing young women and engaging in “girl talk”. Then, in the midst of all the excitement, we all fell asleep as if a magician had placed a spell on us. It was really funny. I woke up to some pretty beautiful scenery. If someone dropped me off in New Hampshire and drove off, I wouldn’t mind. I’d have time to soak in the quiet and calm atmosphere, which would be fantastic for all of my creative thoughts and ideas.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011: Today was so tiring. I have to say though, it was all really rewarding because our show at Keene State was amazingly fun. I really did go over the top out when I portrayed the mad waitress in MFK Fisher’s “Define This Word”. A GGOT fan walked up to the stage after the show and told us that she had not only been a fan since she was 15, but also, that she had travelled 3 hours to see this particular show! At that moment, I was incredibly proud to be a Guerrilla Girl On Tour. It just proves that comedy and compassion go a long way, because this fan also said that she was crying by the end of it. Wow! And of course, that’s the reason why Guerrilla Girls On Tour step up to the plate to share this message…and pie people in the face (that was the first time I got pied in the face and it was a fantastic, yummy part of my day!). People really are listening. And feminism is NOT dead.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011: I couldn’t really get to sleep very well, which was strange, considering the fact that I usually dose off the moment I hit a pillow. Anyway, I woke up twice during the night; once when I had to go to the bathroom, and the other time when Audrey Hepburn performed a riveting, mysterious, very loud monologue in her sleep.

We had to wake up really early to get back to the hustle and bustle of NY, so I couldn’t snooze 8 times like I usually do. Bummer. I showered, tried to wash the pie cream out of my hair. After an English muffin and some weak coffee, I got into the car and immediately started snapping corny pictures to capture some memories of Keene, New Hampshire. Until we meet again.

Love,

Zora Neale Hurston

March 9, 2011

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

Ohio University Diary

Hey Diary!

'Seven Things' is an improv warm up. Some one gives you a topic and you list seven things in response to that topic, while those listening count them off for you. So here it is: the top seven things I took with me from Ohio University (with helpful links):

1) Know what you want:

http://www.guerrillagirlsontour.com/

http://ggbb.org/

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/05/30/050530ta_talk_toobin

2) Chaos is a part of life

https://www.library.ohiou.edu/newsblog/general/guerrilla-girls-and-more

3) Enjoy the little (and the big) things

http://www.ohio.edu/center/

(photos 6 and 7)

4) There are an equal number of views about feminism in the world as there are women.

http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question113116.html

5) Indulge in a purple sofa to bring out the best in you and others (I didn't get to see the sofa anywhere on the website) :(

http://www.ohio.edu/womenscenter/

6) Have a good meal

http://www.casanueva.com/

http://twitter.com/burritobuggy

7) Be heart healthy (thanks Lacey)

http://www.ghirardelli.com/products/squares_dark60.aspx

Thanks for a great time OU! xo

Edith Evans

February 24, 2011

Dear GGOT Diary,

It's been too long! This tour was my first in about 16 months. Not that I haven’t wanted to go on tour I’ve just been traveling the globe! Anyway, I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about getting back out there. This time we performed in Athens, Ohio. Weather-wise, I think we experienced everything that an Ohio winter has to offer. It rained, sleeted, snowed, and I think there was even a little hail!

Ohio University has a beautiful campus. At first glance, it's the kind of school that would immediately draw the assumption that it has a powerful football team. That assumption would be incorrect. In fact we learned later -- Ohio U. is better known for it's journalism department (shout out to Matt Lauer!).

The show went smashingly (picked that up on my solo travels) Alas, for some reason, during the "Size 2 Pants" number, I forgot some of the choreography, and almost missed bringing Aphra a set of pants! She was not very happy about that one!

After the show did our usual Q and A with the audience. Started off great. They loved the show, and enjoyed our message. Some even wanted the lyrics to "Size 2 Pants". Our student volunteer remarked that although her form of feminism is a little more extreme, she enjoyed the light and playful way that we delivered our message. Then came a comment that "Size 2 Pants" made one audience member think back (badly) to when she was naturally very under weight. It was a difficult time for her. She misunderstood that we were saying that a size 2 is a bad thing. We explained that that was not our intention, and that all we were trying to convey is that women should be comfortable in their natural bodies, no matter what size it comes in. After that all hell seemed to break loose with one journalism major after the other calling us female misogynists (how could we say things like: Think like a man… and laugh?). It was like a journalism 101 free for all mean girls exchange. We just stood there while the mud was flung. And in keeping with our policy of closing every Q and A with a positive note we stopped when an audience member stood up and accused all the journalism students of being white men in disguise. Touche!

After the show we went to dinner and the rain began. It was very dark out and the streets were almost impossible to see. We ended up driving on to a sidewalk, and almost into the Hocking river! When Aphra discovered this, she tried to reverse back onto the main road. We then got stuck in a ditch. Edith and I jumped out and tried to push the car, and were immediately covered in more mud ! OU was a real mud fest from beginning to end. We called a tow truck. The driver was very nice. He arrived in no time and pulled us out.

One has so much more adventure when traveling with a touring pack of gorillas. On to the next tour!

Love,

Josephine Baker

Athens, Ohio

Girls and Computers

“…females beginning before adolescence often prefer careers focusing on people, rather than things, aspiring to be physicians, biologists and veterinarians rather than physicists, engineers and computer scientists.” - Cornell Study.

“When I grow up I want to design Grand Theft Auto XXXIII.” - is a line you’ll never hear from little Sally or Suzie. They want to be marine biologists instead.

Is this really true? Or do girls just grow up to accept the myth that because of gender their math and science skills are not as good?

Girls are bombarded with images of perfection from and early age – they must be pretty, sexy and thin but must they also be dumb when they enter math class? Are we teaching girls that knowledge is power and power is unattractive? We have failed as a society if being a math geek (female or male) means you won’t have any friends. But it seems that’s where we are heading. Women now make up less than a quarter of degree holders and of employees, managers, engineers, technicians etc. in the high tech industry.

What’s to be done? Getting women into technology has to begin in early childhood and be supported through grade and high school. Teachers can become more aware of unconscious biases towards girls in their classrooms. They can engage all students equally. They can encourage girls and boys to work in cooperative teams.

OK so maybe Suzie doesn’t really want to design a version of Grand Theft Auto. But a “Feminists Are Funny” game would be awesome.

Here are some cool links to other solutions:

1) MIT’s Women’s Technology Program: To spark high school girls interest in the future study of Engineering and Computer Science.

http://wtp.mit.edu/

2) The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology:

Since 1997, ABI has developed tools and programs designed to help industry, academia and government recruit, retain and develop women technology leaders to ensure that women will assume their rightful place at the table creating the technology of the future.”

http://anitaborg.org/

3) National center for women in technology:

A coalition of over 250 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase the participation of girls and women in computing and IT.

http://www.ncwit.org/

4) Women in Technology Project

Our mission is to build and strengthen the education to workforce pipeline by encouraging girls, women and other underrepresented groups into science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

http://www.womenintech.com/

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: www.twitter.com/GuerrillaGsOT

On Another note: We are performing today at Keene State College, New Hampshire. Watch live stream at www.livestream.com on our channel: Guerrilla Girls On Tour

Mothers of Invention

In honor of International Women’s Day today, (Tuesday, March 8, 2011) and this year’s UN theme - “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.” - here is Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s! list of some of the most important inventions by women.

The hand-crank ice cream freezer - patented in 1843 by Nancy Johnson.

The commercial oven - Emeline Hart, a member of the Shaker community, 1876.

The vacuum canning process - Amanda Theodosia Jones.

The clothes wringer – Ellen Eglin who sold her patent rights for a pittance rather than market it herself because she thought that if people knew a black woman invented the wringer, white women would not use it.

The modern intravenous drip - Justine Wanger.

The trash can with a step-on lever to open the lid - Lillian Gilbreth (shown in photo), best known for designing a model kitchen for the handicapped and the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineers.

The dishwasher - Josephine Cochran, 1889.

The rotary washing machine - Margaret Plunkett Colvin, 1871.

The flat-bottomed paper bag - Martha Knight, 1870. She was also the

the first woman in the U.S. to fight and win a patent suit.

Liquid paper - Bette Nesmith Graham

You go girls!

5th annual NoPe Conference

Aphra Behn and Julia Child were panelists at the 5th annual NoPE Conference "Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance". The panel's theme was Activism and Performance and co-panelists Zak Berkman, Stephen Duncombe and Chiroi Miyagawa discussed using theatre to make political statements in ways beyond the convention of a traditional play. A dialogue focusing on how theatre is an oppressive space - and how it oppresses women and artists of color -- followed one about how to incorporate art into political protests to make them more effective. The panel was moderated by Kristin Horton of NYU. We really enjoyed it and it was great to be at the Nuyorican Cafe on the lower east side. Here's a shot of Julia waiting backstage. She was having a bad hair day.