What I wanted to blog about months ago back in February when my computer flipped about was The Barley Sheaf’s V-Day 2010 event. Those shows were rescheduled so many times due to the snow. Yeah, that’s how long it has been. With this heat, my fan blasted in my direction as I write this very moment, I cannot believe the last time I have blogged it was snowing. A wonderful cast of talented woman and my friends preformed The Vagina Monologues. If you know nothing about The Vagina Monologues, it is not as silly as it sounds. Well, kind of. We did have vagina shaped lollipops…but hear me out!!! They are all for a GREAT cause! For a brief history, The Vagina Monologues is a play written by award winning playwright and activist Eve Ensler. Since its first performance in 1996, and in collaboration with V-Day, a global non-profit movement to raise awareness for violence against women and girls, it has since raised over 60 million dollars. It also has been translated into 45 different languages and preformed in over 120 different countries. A-list celebrities over the years have lent their names to various performances of this show Including Whoopi Goldberg, Selma Hayek, Faith Hill and Oprah Winfrey.
{I am going to list as many people as I can from who I see in picture and using the program to help. There is Rose-Marie, Lindsay Franklin, Jo-Oliver Yeager, Deb Sulenski, Allie Greet, Carolyn Salerno, Aimee Kerr, Christine Robinson, Jill Slater, Tessa Raum, Cindy Schneider, Laurie Burke, Tia Allen, Danielle Celli, and Lisa Puy. I really hope I did not miss anyone. I'm sorry if I did. Some may not be pictured but still in the show.} 
{Aimee grabbing her boob cracks me up every time!!!! haha!!!}
{Me in the matching theme of black and red}
There were two performances both of which I was able to volunteer at, February 13th and February 19th. I did not read any of the monologues. It looked liked the director, Rose-Marie and Jill, had people already in mind. I helped my friend Tony sell raffle tickets. By the way, kind of side bar, but I won a raffle basket at the second performance. I was happy to see a bigger turnout for the second performance and invited one of my best friends, Kayla. I remember another Katie in the room, a friend of mine performing, so I put my name “Katie Jo” in the basket. It’s become my nickname around there. A stage name you might say? ;) Just kidding. But I was really surprised. That’s the second time I won a raffle basket there. I won a basket for “The Homecoming” too. People are going to start thinking I’m fixing those things. But it was the biggest baskets. The “Comfort Basket” it was called. It had sparkling cider, wine glasses, sea salt soak, lotion, a reiki massage gift certificate, and a cute little bear with the event printed on her little t-shirt.
{Cute right? I would have been happy just win her!}
The first performance was very special as I invited my Mom to watch to the first show. My mom is my hero, my rock, and my best friend. She also herself is a victim of sexual assault and child abuse. She is so incredibly strong and the reason why I want to be such a strong and fearless woman as well. We were equally moved and I enjoyed being able to share that experience with her. She knows how much the theater means to me and how much my heart just swells when I can help others and be able to advocate for victims, which is how I came to find The Crime Victim Center of Chester County.
{Printed on the back of "The Vagina Monologues" program.}
10% of the proceeds from the shows went to the women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the remaining 90% of the proceeds went to the Crime Victim Center of Chester County Inc, which provides services to victims of all types of crimes and violence. Unfortunately, a majority of the cases that they deal with are rape and sexual assault cases. Next to my mom, Mariska Hargitay ranks right up next to her in the category of what a role model and a hero is. Mariska Hargitay plays Special Victims Cop Olivia Benson on NBC’s long running series, Law and Order: SVU. The show is fiction but based on real facts and heart retching true stories. It’s the true stories that certain episodes can give new light to issues and a voice to someone who may have never had one before. The heart of the show comes from real emotion. So through the Vagina Monologues I found that The Crime Victim Center was holding a free eight week sexual assault counselor training program. Through the training, I can become a volunteer and advocate on behalf of the victim center. There is a range of volunteer work one can do for the center from answering hotline calls to being an on call volunteer and physically go out on a case. An on call volunteer gives the hours on certain days that they will be available to be called so that say when a rape victim is brought to the hospital, the hospital calls the victim center, and the center finds who is on call at that time to send over to help that victim. What we do as an advocate is basically all we can. We support them, believe them, answer any of their questions, hold their hand if they want, give them a simple glass of water if they need it. If a case even goes through the criminal process, we will even go to court with them. In one of our classes we visited the Phoenixville Hospital, and we spoke to a SANE nurse (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) and talked to her about her experiences and she answered our questions. She said that we are her saviors! She said that we make her job so much easier because we distract the victim and allow her to focus on her work. She said focusing on what swab goes into what sterilized bag is very precarious and critically important.
Around week six of our classes, there is an annual Homicide Candlelight Vigil/ Memorial Service that is held in Downingtown each year sponsored by The Crime Victim Center of Chester County (CVC). There was a service held in the Central Presbyterian Church. During the service, a list of 300 names were read aloud of the people who were the murdered victims of homicide in our area over a number of years. We then walked to the memorial in Kardon Park with our candles led by our police car escorts and a few marching police officers. That was a sight! A whole road blocked off and led in front of the pack was a police officer playing the bag pipe as the sun was setting and blue and red lights were flashing. In the middle of Kardon Park, across the street from Planet Fitness, is a memorial dedicated to those victims erected by the CVC back in 2000. Little prayers were said and tiny message to loved one were written on the rocks that surround the memorial’s base. What an emotional night. And to have lived in Downingtown my whole life and to have never known that memorial was there. Not knowing my life’s direction was all going to change because of that place.
{I took the last two photos.}
Now I missed a few classes due to the fact that I was sick but there are a few classes this summer and another eight week program where it starts all over again in the fall. I don’t mind taking that class all over again if that’s what it takes, especially it being free. I wish to always be a perpetual student. Especially if it is subjects I am so passionate to learn about such as this. Plus, I made such great friends there. The first day I met with the event coordinator, Asha. We became fast friends and found that we also shared the same birthday. She asked about my necklace which ironically pertains strongly to the class. On my 20th birthday last year, my parents bought me the fearlessness necklace from Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation collection. The symbol, written in Sanskrit, means fearlessness and the proceeds to purchasing that necklace goes to her foundation which helps victims of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. (That symbol will probably be my first tattoo). I have barely taken the necklace off since and it has almost been a year. By the way, If you have ever watched Law and Order: SVU. It is the necklace that Mariska Hargitay wears on the show.
{It would just be dream come true to meet her and tell her how inspiring she. How much she makes a difference and hows she changed my life. Just stunning!}The last night of the training was the dreaded and much stressed about role play night. Everyone was just so nervous about saying the right thing in the scenarios that the staff was going to give us. I thought of each scenario as an acting challenge and that made it a little easier. Especially since one staff member really went all out with it, sniffles and fake sobs and all. I was really taken back but it helped to keep it real. That situation was consoling a victim over a hotline and that one I think I did the best. That night felt like graduation. We ate pizza and talked about what we were doing with our summer and where we were going in our lives. I was complimented by the fact that I have good networking skills because I was the one who had made the facebook site for the Candlelight Vigil. Because of that, before we went our separate ways, Asha told me that she did not want to lose me and what I could do for the Center. I told her that she would be lucky to get rid of me. She’s a sweetheart. It made me feel really great that I was valued at a place that gave me so much worth in my own life. I know that whatever career I have in the future, where ever I go in life, that I'm so honored to be affiliated with such a foundation full of the most wonderful, supportive, and kind people.
I feel like I am my own little Olivia Benson sometimes, without the gun. The things that make me the happiest are singing and helping people. If I could make that my life’s work I would, actress and activist. Just like my idols. If only I could be the perfect love child of my two favorite idols, Kristin Chenoweth and Mariska Hargitay. And I could move to New York City, and star in Law and Order: SVU …THE MUSICAL! By the way, that season 11 finale was insane, no?! Wow!!!! Loved it!!!! I thought Melinda was going to die like O’Halloran did last year…
Oh! But Sorry, back to advocating! I have learned so much and hope to continue to learn a lot more so that I can officially become on call volunteer sometime soon and volunteer more of my time at CVC. For instance, like one of the things I mentioned earlier, a rape kit, or evidence collection kit, is extremely essential in convicting a rapist if a case ever makes it to a criminal trial. It’s an extremely emotional process as the victim’s body’s becomes a living and feeling crime scene of their rape. Of course, as you know, being an obsessed fan of Mariska Hargitay, (If you have not picked up on that yet) and twitter friends with one of her official fan made twitter accounts (www.twitter.com/mariska_online), I came across this news clip. Below I posted two videos that can be found on this twitter account's adjoining official website http://mariska-online.com. The first video is the the full testimonial that Mariska Hargitay gave at Capitol Hill speaking in front of the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. The second clip is the feature story of the backlog of rape kits on CBS Evening News.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
It’s unbelievable that there are over 20,000 untested rape kits nationwide and another 6,000 waiting in crime lab warehouses for months and even years to be tested. Whether it is lack of funding, the understaffed employees at crime labs, undeveloped technology, or the criminal justice system, it is a tragedy and if anything, thankfully some light is being shed on this issue now. I had never known about this problem before and now I have spent my whole Friday night and entire Saturday doing all the research I can to wrap my head around this matter and see what I can do to support this cause that I have had close to my heart for years. And if it is me someday speaking in front of a board of committee members on Capitol Hill, so be it. I wish it be. I have a voice to be used and spoken for those who cannot. A heart of my own that bleeds in grief, empathy, and compassion for my mom and for other victims. Lifting up fellow victims and advocates who have seen and heard too much and whose hearts are broken. Keeping my love and faith in God and knowing for sure that my pain and the pain of others cannot last forever. Fighting for what I believe in and staying fearless all the way.
Again, I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post another blog submission. It has been a crazy few months. I’m just so happy that I am writing again and I have said my say and have finally shared something again that means so much to me. I’m also overjoyed that I have a new job that I just love and my weekends to relax and spend time with my family. I just hope that I will be able to find a suitable schedule because whether it is time with my friends from Barley Sheaf, The Crime Victim Center, High School friends, and just friends, I miss you all very much and love you with all of my heart.
