Cramps

I'm making a short film called Cramps, about a woman who has to sell tampons to women in a world where men can menstruate.

Funny things that happened on the first day on set:

Both the cinematographer, Elizabeth Kim, and Kate Jones, who plays Alexia, were on their periods today and had cramps. Thanks to my IUD I also have constant cramps. Hilarious, right?

We shot our first scene in the men's bathroom today. A man came by and very grumpily looked at the sign I had put on the door ("Closed") and asked "Why is it closed?"
I shrugged and told him he could probably still go in there- I didn't tell him I was filming -but he walked away. LOL.

The women in this short film have to wear jock straps stuffed with socks under their pants.

February is going to be better

Let's face it: January sucked. With Donald Trump sitting in the oval office, a cabinet full of vice, threats to women's access to safe and affordable health care, a ban on refugees and green-card-holders from from Middle Eastern, North African, and some Southwest Asian countries, not to mention my own personal depression and existential dread...January was terrible. There were good things and a lot of people came together in opposition of all this terrible shit, but January was a net negative.

February is going to be better. February is going to be a net positive.
 
Why? Well, first of all, February is Black History Month. It's a celebration of hundreds of years' worth of black and African-American culture, history, and activism. People of color have been (by necessity) the foremost advocates of social and economic justice in this country and they deserve to be both recognized for their leadership. Plus, there will be ample opportunity to join in on protests and writing to your representatives in favor of the rights of people of color.

Girl Scout cookies. They're on sale right now. I know it seems superficial in comparison to Black History Month, but buying cookies helps girl scouts fund their community service projects. 100% of the money that girl scouts earn from selling cookies goes toward their troop and their local council. Although cookies and capitalism aren't good for your health, especially not in excess, according to their website, "the Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world" and the fundraiser helps girls learn sales and interpersonal communication skills that are important to getting a job later on.

February is going to be a net positive because more and more of the inhabitants of the United States are going to actively, publicly express their dissent. There is a march, rally, protest, community meeting, and social justice education session set to occur nearly every day this month in just the local area that I live in. So many Facebook events. So many letter-writing campaigns and phone-a-thons. People care, and it's encouraging to see them taking action. I'm going to try to take more action, too. And that will make me feel better about my life.