One Billion Rising

How can any of us not want to make the world safer for all the children?

Eve Ensler does and says exactly what I would do and say if I were smarter, faster, more energetic, and put more of my dreams into action. She's in theatre, she writes and directs plays, she helps other writers to find their power, she works with prisoners, and she cares about making the world a place where violence against women is totally unacceptable.

On her new website, Ensler asks us to join her in raising the whole world's awareness of what violence against women is, how it affects us and all our children, and how totally unacceptable it is that right now, one in every three women around the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime. Specifically Ensler asks us to dance with her on February 14, 2013. Women and men, she asks each of us, wherever in the world we live, to join the Rising. (There is a three-minute film about it here. This film ends joyfully, but it can trigger PTSD in women who have been raped or beaten, so if that's you, please don't watch it alone; let it go, or wait and watch it with a supportive friend.)

I'd like to propose that as photographers and writers, we plan to photograph and document the Rising as people in our communities plan for it, rehearse for it, and make it happen. We have time to get our cameras charged, find out where an event is taking place, encourage the creation of an event if none is planned, and get ourselves to it. I'm willing to commit to it. Who'd like to join in?

P.S. Technical note: the picture was made at a street festival today. Bella had just donned a red feather boa. I processed the picture with Aperture using a red filter pre-set which turned the red feathers white.