A year and half ago during a distinctly cold Philly night, you know the kind when your malt liquer freezes in it’s paper bag, I experienced one of the greatest nights of live entertainment/theatre ever (which really isn’t saying much when you consider my favorite play is West Side Story; the movie). First Person Story Slam is simply a night of very funny people sharing their ‘true’ stories with complete strangers. Like improve, the unrehearsed nature of Story Slam can be both a blessing and a curse. Some stories are painfully bad, but anything is worth enduring for the true gems (like the one above) that surface at every event.
If you ever go to the story Slam at Letage, I hope you have the good fortune of witnessing a Story Slam legend Kevin Lee in action. He’ll be there for sure but get their soon, rumor has it he’s thinking about moving to Boston. To Boston? WTF Kev? Do people line up to hear your awkward pauses and painfully embarassing stories in Boston?
Story Slam takes place every 4th Thursday of the month at my favorite club, Letage, 7:30pm sharp.
Upcoming Story Slam themes:
July 22nd: Caught August 26th: Worst Ever September 23rd: Belonging October 28th: Strange Coincidenc
“Thousands of women have been victims of violent gang rapes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since Hutu rebels, known as the Interahamwe, fled Rwanda after the genocide in 1994. The DRC was officially at war from 1998-2003, with seven neighboring countries invading the vast nation at one point. As many as 20 rebel military factions remain, preying upon poor villagers, especially women, for their survival. The rebels pillage, rape women, steal harvests and burn villages periodically to maintain their own supplies. This collection of photographs addresses the impact of that violence and the ways women are coping to rebuild their lives”
It was once explained to me that great art is simultanously a mirror for what is most beautiful and most contemptible in humanity. An elequont adage that was mostly lost on me, that is until my friends Brad Labriola and Scott Blanding showed me their passionate documentary Women In War Zones and the amazing photographs by Melanie Blanding (above) that acompany the project. Women In Warzone follows two young women, Helene and Bijoux, on the long road to taking back their lives after the brutal sexual violence and mutilation of the five year civil war in the D.R. Congo. To put it mildly, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Both WIWZ and Melanie’s images are simultanously a celebrition of Helene and Bijoux’s quiet victories and an unflinching indictment of their barbaric tormentors. What’s refreshing about this film is that where most would focus on the specific and sensational details of sexual and mental torture, WIWZ explores the mental, physical and spiritual recovery of the traumatized girls and the few supporters who help them along thier journey.
The Beauty: Doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers all work tirelessly to heal these broken women. Hundrededs of fellow victims banding together to survive and protect each other, walking miles to fill heavy water jugs to bring to their bed ridden friends. Eyes filled with understanding that only adersity and pain can breed. Friends comforting and encouraging each other in overwhelming hopelessness.
The Contemptable: Rejection from their society and their own families. Enduring humiliation of incontinence and subsequent odors. Ruined dowry potential as unmarried women. Married women divorced and abandoned by husbands who fear disease or cannot bear the emotional damage. Interahamwe rebels pillaging, raping women, stealing harvests and burning villages to maintain their own supplies and assuage their own inferiority.
If great art is what I’ve heard, a singular reflection of what is good and reprehensible in us, then both Women In Warzones and Melanies images are some of the greatest art to come out of Philly in recent history.
Please think about supporting the artists and the women of Congo by…
… coming out to a gallery showing of Melanies photography on Saturday June 14th to raise awareness and funds for the Women In Warzones documentary.
… staying tuned to the Women In Warzones website (and this blog) for the announcement of the premiere later this summer.
Strong thunderstorms likely. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds. High 83F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Chance of Death 64% - weather.com forecast for the party
Trying again on the 21st of June. Oh well, see everyone at Letage on 6th and Bainbridge no matter what (get there before 10 and there’s no cover).
1. Last year the cops came and shut us down at 1am, a badge of honor for any block party planner. This year we’re looking for a repeat.
2. This year we invited twice as many people and purchased three times the food. You do the math.
3. My really creepy neighbor moved so we don’t have to worry about shiver inducing eyes pearing from behind blinds. SCORE
4. We co-ordinated with Art Bazaar so that you can spend the afternoon buying hand made crafts and your evening on Orkney St eating our free food and drinking our free beer.
5. Spontanous dance parties featuring artists like the Go-Team and Kanye with a little Justin mixed in to keep the girls happy.
How Not to be a Fool:
Show up to 1016 N. Orkney Street in Northern Liberties between 4 and 11pm this Saturday May 31st. Bring friends and whatever particulars you would like to share. Guests are encouraged. Parking on 5th and on Girard.
I’m the type who’d be happy not going anywhere as long as I was sure I knew exactly what was happening at the places I wasn’t going to. I’m the type who’d like to sit home and watch every party that I’m invited to on a monitor in my bedroom
— Andy Warhol prophesying of the coming of Twitter 20+ years before the first tweet was sent. Which begs the question, what was the the first tweet sent? Mmmmmm … I’ll have to look into this.
There are other variations of this acronym that use words that rhyme with duck but I thought it would be best to keep it PG.
“Most reference works, including the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940-1944, generally attributing it to the U.S. Army. Rick Atkinson, in The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy) ascribes the origin of SNAFU, FUBAR and a bevy of others to cynical GI’s ridiculing the Army’s penchant for acronyms.” - Wikipedia
