I attended their first festival in Hollywood in 2003 and had a great time! Morgan Spurlock’s “Supersize Me” was the headliner that year.
This year, the festival opens with Zeitgeist Addendum @ 8PM on Thursday, October 2. Buy your tickets now and check out the complete program of 40 films from 40 different countries.
“Three weeks after the Republican National Convention came to St. Paul, Mayor Chris Coleman announced that the city will drop charges of unlawful assembly against journalists stemming from protests outside of the Xcel Energy Center. The Associated Press quoted Coleman’s prepared statement: “This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press.”
In the weeks leading to this decision, journalists across the country have shared outrage, disappointment, and anger at the sheer number of their own arrested throughout the four-day event. And yet, in decrying the treatment of their credentialed peers, journalists fail to recognize that every citizen has a First Amendment right to record events taking place on a public street, including police actions…
…Notably absent from the panel was a representative of alternative media, although as the conversation ensued, concerned citizens and journalists from alternative media outlets took their turn at the microphone. Charlie Underwood, who was a street medic during the protests, disputed the focus on journalists. “Are you trying to reserve a special category of citizen that does not get pepper sprayed, that does not get arrested, that does not have the same punitive things happen to them under these situations of police brutality that the rest of us do?” he asked…
…“All of us have a right to be on the streets. Journalism has gone through a tremendous revolution in the last 10 years. It’s no longer the two or three corporations that control the television networks or the newspapers. There’s no longer this concentration of power that has a monopoly on all the news. There’s a lot of stuff happening on the Internet, there’s a lot of stuff happening on YouTube and so on, that has much more validity for people than whatever Rupert Murdoch thinks is news. I think Charlie’s point is absolutely to the point. I’m not a member of that media, I’m a member of a different, alternative media, and I have absolute rights to witness what’s happening and a responsibility to communicate that.”..
…When Tompkins confronted panelists with the question of how to define a journalist, they displayed clear reluctance to give a definition. Gottfried seemed the least willing to answer the question, simply responding with, “I don’t know.” Deputy Mayor Mulholland said that she believed the mayor was referring to anyone who was there to tell a story and called themselves a journalist, but went on to say, “I have no idea how to define a journalist, and I don’t know that all of us in the room really know how to define journalist. I therefore ask the question, how are law enforcement officials supposed to answer that question while in the midst of a public safety scene?”
I just watched Senator Chris Dodd’s interview with Wolfe Blitzer on CNN. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate a clip at this time. In essence, he rebuked Senator McCain’s lack of clarity and inisght on the situation while using this financial crisis as a moment for photo ops.
“…The developments came on a day of political theater at the Capitol and at the White House where President Bush met with Congressional leaders and the presidential candidates, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois…
…Mr. McCain was seated at one end of a long conference table, Mr. Obama at the other, with the president and congressional leaders between them. Neither spoke, though Mr. McCain smiled broadly as reporters shouted questions that went unanswered by President Bush.”
This piece by Marianne Schnall is moving, inspirational and a powerful example of the collective spirit of women.
Marianne Schall’s intention in writing this piece is as follows:
“As a woman, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed and shaken by this election season, the highs and lows of it all. On the one hand, I have been feeling powerful — everyone is talking about women and our decisive influence in this election. Even the cover of the September 22nd issue of Newsweek is asking, “What do women want?” It’s a good question. So many important themes and dialogues have been raised during this election season — about identity politics, what we expect from a woman leader, sexism in the media, diversity in the feminist movement, what masculine and feminine values are, and about Sarah Palin and the “Palin effect.” It all made me want to talk to other women, to get clarity, to gain insight. I tried to think about what I, personally, could do to contribute to this dialogue.
I realized that, through my many years as a writer and as founder of the women’s website and non-profit organization, Feminist.com, I possessed extensive contacts with a diverse cross-section of well-known and respected women. So, I decided to pose identical questions by e-mail to some of these dynamic women and just see what came in. Some of the responses I got were by e-mail, some by impromptu phone interviews, but, it was clear that people felt the urge to talk and vent their thoughts.”
One of my favorite (of many) quotes:
Isabel Allende:
“Sisters, look at the issues, not color, gender or age of the candidates. Obama represents hope and change, he has ideals, he brings light and intelligence to a stagnant political situation that has lasted too long and has left the country economically bankrupt, trapped in a never ending war and divided. Sisters, be informed, work for the best candidate, vote and make sure that everybody around you votes too. Show up or we will all regret it. Obama is the girls in the race.”
I just spent a weekend in the glorious land of Big Sur with 14 phenomenal women from a broad array of backgrounds. Heterosexual. Lesbian. Bi. Mothers. Daughters. Sisters. Lovers. Single. Married. Formally educated. Educated by personal experience. Comfortable. Working class. Extroverted. Shy and introspective. Young. Mature. Timeless.
I’ve been a member of this particular community for three years and a consciously identified feminist for 17 years. I am still confronted by my own internalized sexism and suspicion when I circle or gather with women. I am still prone to judgment and competition. As a young girls, we are socialized to see other girls as a source of competition. Very often, our best friends are our most intense rivals. As an educator, I constantly hear young women referring to other women as “skinny bitches,” “sluts,” “bitches” and “hos.”
Who’s surprised? Growing up in a patriarchal culture, girls/women understand from an early age that we will be measured according to the patriarchal standard. We are measured by the male gaze. We vie for attention and resources are limited.
In the vein of consciousness-raising groups of second wave feminism, these communities are invaluable to me, specifically, because they bring these deeply entrenched feelings to the surface and allow them to evaporate in an environment of support. Something remarkably different emerges when women gather with intention and purpose.
As I gathered with these beautiful women over the course of three days last weekend, I was given the incredible gift of insight, wisdom and solidarity. I can not deny the power of this kind of company or the inspiration this type of community provides.
When I read the piece by Marianne Schnall, I was given pause to reflect and cherish the multiple communities of women I am bound to. I was and am in deep gratitude. When I read the voices of the remarkable women Schnall featured in her article, I was and am in deep gratitude for their ability to reach thousands of other women. Each of these women weave in and out of their own communities and collectively we embody a solid mass of women.
We are all remarkable and we all have the power to use our voice. I am in deep gratitide for women all across the globe that, seen or unseen, commune and strive for social and political change that is equitable and just.
Gender socialization is not a recent phenomenon. From color codes to silly head bands on bald baby girl heads, parents and society expect that clues about the infant’s anatomy will be provided through the use of various sign systems. Right or wrong, this has been around for quite some time and certainly lends itself to lengthy conversations and analysis.
What is more recent and more disturbing, in my opinion, is the blatant sexual socialization of younger and younger members of our society in line with the sexual expectations society dictates of heterosexual men and women.
Girls/women are sexy. Boys/men are sexual.
I’m almost 6 months pregnant and I am having a son. As a budding feminist in my early twenties, I imagined myself raising an empowered daughter. My best friend and I used to joke about the inevitable likelihood of giving birth to a son. As expected, 15 years later, I have been given the task of raising a conscious feminist boy.
I spend a lot of time browsing the internet for baby gear. In doing so, I am sick and tired of running across crass sexual messages for infant boys proclaiming their sexual prowess long before they can hold up their own head. I mean, seriously? Boob man? Lock up your daughters? You’d be hard to press to ever find a onesie for a girl reading: Penis gal! Lock up your sons!
In either case, do we need to thrust these sexual/sexy messages on newborns? I can’t help but recall a scene in The 40 Year-Old Virgin where one of the main characters puts his unborn son’s sonogram on a big screen TV and points out the large penis his boy is packing in utero.
“…Joining hands with the wicked one/Revelation has come to pass/ New world order, will hold the mass/A book written by man/Used to control and command/All rights will be denied/Without the mark you shall die/No confession, all is know/New world order, you shall be shown/New world order comes in stages/Currency is obsolete/Feel the agony of defeat/Symbol of society today/A must have or you shall pay/As human flesh leads the mind/Just as a pawn the last martyr dies…”
I couldn’t help think of my angst filled youth draped in black and discussing various conspiracy theories with my teen cohort when I read the recent article by Naomi Wolfe on the Huffington Post warning of the impending police state with Sarah Palin riding at the helm. Click here to read the complete article.
The New York Times reported on the newly emerging phenomenon of young women seeking preventative measures for the inevitable impact of the aging process in 2005.
“Did you hear about the 19-year-old girl who had botox injections to stop the crinkling around the eyes when she smiled? Or the 26-year-old beauty editor with a porcelain complexion who went for laser treatments to prevent sagging skin and sun spots from appearing in the future? Or the woman in her 20′s who, alarmed at the incipient folds forming at the sides of her mouth, made the rounds of top Manhattan plastic surgeons until she found someone willing to give her a face-lift?
Welcome to the Freeze-Face generation. Its members may grow up, but they won’t grow old. These cryonic enthusiasts aim to put themselves on ice while they are still smooth, not when they are as creased as Walt Disney. Many of these cryon babies have boomer moms who sunned and smoked with abandon, who, if they thought at all about living past 30, imagined themselves looking gorgeously weather-beaten like Georgia O’Keeffe. For their daughters’ obsession, you can credit or blame those same boomer moms who ran screaming to the plastic surgeon when their faces turned out more Keith Richards than O’Keeffe.
You can also credit, or blame, the face doctors who lure women in with an ever-changing menu of sexy rejuvenating treatments. But whatever the reason, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, last year people from ages 19 to 34 had 427,368 botox procedures; 100,793 laser resurfacing treatments; 128,779 injections of hyaluronic acid (Restylane or Hylaform); 29,160 eyelid surgeries; and 1,094 face-lifts.”
Recently, Viktoria, turned my attention to the recent article in Marie Claire entitled, “Beginners Botox.”
“On the eve of my 29th birthday, I got Botox. Let’s just call it a present to myself ($250 is a lot cheaper than the latest Louboutins anyway), a sanity-saving panacea for the panic of seeing a new decade so close on the horizon. Wanting to stop time, I found myself on a recent morning sitting on the edge of a paper-covered examination chair (the business-class version of what you’d find at the dentist’s office), with dermatologist Dr. Francesca Fusco scrutinizing my forehead while she asked me questions about my job and family and told jokes to make me laugh – all so she could watch how my face naturally moved. Then, four quick pricks later, I was done…
“If you ask a 13-year-old when people get old, they’ll say 30,” says Pennsylvania psychologist and dermatologist Dr. Richard Fried. “We’re bombarded with unbelievably unattainable images of airbrushed models and celebrities, so we all look into a circus fun-house mirror whenever we see ourselves. The human tendency is to accentuate the negative and minimize the positive. We’ve been sold a very destructive philosophy that somehow when you’re past 30, you start deteriorating. Any thrill, passion, or excitement has fizzled, and you’re just biding time until you croak. Doing something as simple as Botox can be enormously liberating and help fight the negative messages.”
It’s no surprise I’m not alone in my quest for eternal youth. In 2007 almost 400,000 Botox procedures were done on patients ages 19 to 34, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Chapas estimates that 15 percent of her Botox patients are in their mid- to-late 20s. And Liz alone has convinced at least four other 20-somethings (not counting me) to submit to the needle.”
The author clearly acknowledges the impact of our cultural environment that designates 30 as “old” and cherishes youth at all costs. So much so that younger and younger women decide to inject, pluck, pull and go under the knife earlier and earlier to avoid aging all together.
This trend of targeting younger and younger women and “educating” and training them to abide by the unrealistic and increasingly difficult measures outlined by the beauty ideal is evident in the trend of “virgin” waxing and other professional beauty services for prepubescent girls.
“1. An eight-year-old receives a bikini wax.
2. A ten-year-old gets microdermabrasion.
3. Numerous children under ten get highlights.
Funny you should ask! This is not dystopian work of satirical science fiction. (Though there is a stylist who finds himself in a sort of Guy Montag type of role when a woman asks him to relax her 12-year-old’s “beautiful, wavy hair.”) (He now “hawks an all-natural product to moms who want to lighten their five-year-olds’ locks; applied daily, it brings out subtle highlights.”) No, this is a story in Philadelphia magazine, a place I used to work in a city I used to live, a city that always seemed disarmingly normal and unmaterialistic relative to my current place of business. So reading it was kind of personal for me, especially since I know its writer, Carrie Denny, and I have to say, it was weird reading sentiments of such earnest dismay as “Without the ugly years, when do you learn to accept yourself?” coming from her.”
Simply scan the internet and you will come across advertisements that provide services for pre-teens. Browse the themes for children’s birthday parties and you will come across numerous sites offering make-over and fashion parties.
Don’t get me wrong, I painted my nails and put on make-up as a young girl but the final product was much less serious. I remember peeling the polish off the skin surrounding my nail bed. It was role playing in good fun. The stakes have dramatically increased and should not be taken lightly.
In the end, the only ones benefiting are the purveyors cashing in on the insecurities of younger and younger women.
I will be facilitating these round table discussions in Sierra Hall 184 from 1:15-2:30PM on October 6, 13, 20 and 26. We encourage participants to bring a lunch, a friend, and their opinions.
Olivia Ortiz of the Feminist Majority Foundation will be at California State Univeristy, Northridge on October 9 in the Whitsett Room in Sierra Hall (451) from 11-12:15 to discuss the salient issues at stake for women in the upcoming election.
