been on my mind...

hi everybody! sorry its been a few days since my last post but i was having too much fun hanging out with my mom, drinking coffee, and showing her around San Francisco. we had a blast! i also dropped off the work for Who's the fairest of Them All? at HANG and am so excited about my inclusion in this show. showing alongside artists Cheslyn Amato, Taraneh Hemami, Katie Lewis, KC Rosenberg, Hanna von Goeler, Adrianne Watson, Jan Wattenjan, and Kelli Yon is quite an honor. i'm anxious to see all our work in one place together.

i've been thinking a lot about politics the last few days. maybe because my mother was in town, maybe because my grandfather suffered a massive heart-attack monday, maybe because my sister is a single mother and doing an awesome job raising my nephew (while preparing to graduate from college in june)... whatever the reason, the fact remains that women's issues are very important to me and have been the heart of much of the work i've done. the timing of this show is pretty great, opening a few days before the polls do, and giving me the opportunity to voice some of my own concerns about the upcoming election.

i received the following email a few days ago, forwarded me to me by a friend and it speaks to many of the concerns i've had about the inclusion of Sarah Palin on the republican ticket:



The National Organization for Women has endorsed the Obamba-Biden ticket for just the reasons listed below. They usually do not endorse, but in this case believed it was absolutely necessary to take a stand. If you agree, please pass this on.


Subject: Women and Sarah Palin


Friends,


We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech, gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-(and possibly first)-most-powerful person on the planet.


We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and from which we've so demonstrably benefited.


First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.


If you agree that Palin is an irresponsible, even dangerous, choice for VP, please consider participating in this drive. Gentlemen, send this to the women you know and care for. I know it's tough to understand the way this choice is impacting women, but I have never seen so many women so outraged, angry and distraught in my entire life. We'd like our voices heard. If you agree, PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns seriously. Stranger things have happened.

i am not trying to add to the divide that exists within the American populace at this point, but rather i want to extend my concerns, as a woman AND as an artist, to those who might still be confused or conflicted. i also wanted to use this space to speak to those who, although they have made up their minds to vote for McCain, have the capacity to consider the other side of the debate and recognize the danger this poses to half of our nation's citizens. women's rights and issues need to be taken seriously. our bodies should not be cages. currently, i am happy to live in a country that respects this outlook and i want to protect this ideology. i am engaged to a man who feels just as offended as i do. he wants women to be treated as equals, to be respected as such, and is as adamant as i am that a woman's body is her own.

if you agree with the statements of the above email, please feel free to cut and paste it and send it to anyone you think might have even left the smallest window open for this discussion. if not for me, if not for yourself or your sister or your daughter, then for your grandmother. please do not forget the struggle and suffering SHE went through to give you freedoms that she did not have. remember the suffragettes... they are the people who fought for us to have the right to vote.