One Billion Rising in Portland

I’m rising on 2/14/13 because I’m one of the One Billion. I’m rising to end the silence, to end the violence. I’m rising with a billion others around the globe to shake up the status quo and shift the energy of the planet — letting everyone know that violence is not OK, should not be tolerated or accepted in any form.
Forty years ago I took the first women’s studies class given at my community college. I was 19. With other students, we started a Consciousness Raising Group — then we started a rape crisis center – then we learned and taught self-defense. All the while, I was using pot to dull my pain of being an incest and date rape survivor. After years of recovery, I returned to college to finish my bachelor’s degree (why aren’t they bachelorettes?). Though I never stopped being a feminist, I hadn’t been politically active for a number of years, and found it intolerably horrible that date rape on college campuses is worse than ever! Domestic violence is worse than ever. Rape everywhere is worse than ever. All the work we did…and things have not significantly changed. Yes, we have supports for survivors – that’s huge, but how about no more rape!
Eve Ensler is my heroine. She wrote Vagina Monologues, and the income from 15 years of productions has financed all kinds of violence relief — but still no end to the violence. So now Eve is inviting all of us to rise — to join together on a massive global scale, with voices, with dancing, with joy.
If you haven’t been to the website yet, I hope you’ll visit http://www.onebillionrising.org. Watch the “Break the Chains” video – and get inspired! Watch the “One Billion Rising” YouTube. Sign up to rise with us on 2/14/13.
I believe that together we can make a difference.