Multo.com :: Visual Magic

March is Women’s History Month

Famous Firsts by American Women
1896— Alice Guy Blaché, the first American woman film director, shoots the first of her more than 300 films, a short feature called La Fee aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy).

I’ve finally finished editing The Art of Love & Struggle. The director, Jessica Habie, and I will be screening it March 28 at the Two Boots Theater. Check out the full invitation here!

I’m starting work on a new film and then considering a move, perhaps north or west. NYC just isn’t fun any more. Its too much work with very little return these days. Too expensive, Soho has become an outdoor mall, rents in Manhattan are beyond prohibitive, the boroughs don’t do it for me. Its a lovely place to have grown, explored, hidden in and emerged from. And it will be a great place to visit, in the future, with my family. I can’t see having a family in NYC – it would be too expensive, too complicated and I’m not too impressed with an education system based on class, not equal opportunity.

I also see women’s rights erroding away. The Supreme Court has changed its members enough to send chills of real fear up my spine. What will happen to Roe vs. Wade? I used to have faith in the weight of history to keep that law alive. Certain states are now suggesting there be an approval law by the husband for any abortions. Women’s bodies again put under the control of men. How does that help the woman raped by her husband, or in an abusive relationship, or separated? I truly think the men who make laws don’t understand how painful and traumatizing an abortion is. Women don’t undertake the procedure casually; it leaves scars on the uterus, and the hormonal/emotional rollercoaster after is depressing, confusing and painful.

Even the morning after pill, RU486, is no picnic. I took RU486 a couple of years ago, when a condom broke during sex. I didn’t want to have any worry that I’d get pregnant, especially in the middle of a divorce. I was separated and dating other people. It wasn’t my ex-husband’s child, but what if I had required his signature, just because on paper we were still married?

RU486 physically was much more harsh than I had anticipated. And it took a while to recover. I don’t think I’d do it again, unless it was absolutely necessary. But I need the ability to choose, to have options, to choose my path, as a human being, not just a woman. And how did a health issue become a political issue?

Women need to stand up and stop taking the little they are offered as the best they can get. We deserve to be leaders, to be decision makers, to bring our voices and our perspectives into the political arena. What is going on now with women in politics is bullshit. I do not trust Hillary Clinton and my vote won’t cast for her in any race. Most women in politics got there by towing the party line. They are practiced at selling their gender out. I want to see a bitch in heels, with a brain, verbal bite and incredible wit, who can snap to order some of the politicians and pundits that seem to dominate news broadcasts. Someone to bitchslap Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly, verbally of course. Someone with heart, soul, drive and light in them. Someone who can’t be bought by special interests or lobbyists. Someone who will do the right thing, even when it hurts. Someone who is not blinded by their own pain, but understands the bigger picture, of all human suffering, and has a driving desire to alleviate as much suffering as possible.

Is she out there?

I don’t know, but the women in The Art of Love & Struggle are a good start. Their voices represent a spectrum of experience you don’t hear about in the news, or on sitcoms. They are leaders, singers, MCs, poets, believers and dreamers.

Come join us at the March 28 Two Boots Pioneer Theater Screening!

Peace,
Melissa