The Vagina Monologues at Boston University

V-day: Valentine's Day?

Hallmark holiday.

V-day: Stop the Violence?

The Vagina Monologues.

Eve Ensler wrote The Vagina Monologues as the crutch of her international campaign to stop violence against women. V-day has inspired millions of women around the world to perform and produce Ensler's play, a series of monologues that represent women's stories in a strikingly honest way.

Boston University and its female theatre group, Athena's Players, celebrated the 11th Annual V-day with three performances at the Tsai Performance Center on Commonwealth Avenue on Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14, 2009. Each year, the V-day campaign spotlights a particular international community; 2009 spotlights the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with proceeds from the show going to the V-day charity for the DRC and to a local women's shelter in Boston.

Last year, for V to the 10, I put on my spunky old-lady face to perform "Flood," an elderly woman's story of her first sexual encounter with a boy: a harmless teenage kiss that proved to be the one and only sexual encounter of her life. After participating in the V-day celebration and the play performance, I opted to instead offer my program design and photographic skills to the production.

For a recapitulation of the girls' Saturday matinee, watch the performance slideshow.

Grammys packed with performances

The one night of the year that (almost) every outstanding musician and/or band gather under one roof occurred last night. The 51st Grammy Awards included the best of the best, especially them British folk.

Coldplay, Adele, Duffy, Kings of Leon, Daft Punk, and Radiohead all took home several awards. And the performances were AWESOME. THe show proved quite enjoyable over that long span of almost four hours.

Adele's voice could have been stronger last night, but Coldplay did not disappoint, and nor, of course, did Radiohead. Taking home Alternative Album of the Year, Radiohead only played one song from their highly acclaimed and extremely revolutionary (in its distribution and concepting) In Rainbows. It was awesome, yes, but when one has seen a mutliple-hour Radiohead show in support of their most recent album, one song leaves an empty feelings of wanting moooooore.

Throw in a couple performances by Al Green, the Four Tops (with the help of Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo), and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - and hell, that's a show!

There seemed little time dedicated to awards: about 10 were awarded during the broadcast on CBS. But the producers allowed ample time to showcase the true meaning of music - LIVE PERFORMANCES - and many of the winning artists had the chance to strut their stuff on stage last night before their fellow acclaimed musicians.

Radiohead broke through a mold that people didn't even realized existed when they released In Rainbows, but the categories were tough. Coldplay has matured greatly as a group, and well, what can you say about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss? He's from Led Zeppelin, man. Can't hate. But we all should have given Radiohead a little bit more... if not for their album (which we should), for their willingness and daring to bring the music industry where it needs to be.

à Paris!

From September to December 2008, I lived in Paris with a French family while taking classes and interning at a French theater. Check out the map of Paris that I customized with some of my favorite locales throughout the city, including some personal photos.

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