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Show i 12 LIFE Sundance Continued from page FE1V10CRACY We're still here 1 Americas most renowned film festivals. According to Utah, com, the number one event to experience in Utah is, in fact, the festival. So grab you camera, put on your most stylish winter boots and lets Sundance. Sundance was once a humble Utah festival, however, it has far outgrown that title. Because of the high numbers of people flowing in from around the world and the big name stars who have been showing up in the independent films present at the festival, locals can often get pushed aside in the Sundance frenzy. Amy Forker, a junior who has spent the last three winters in Utah, has never experienced Sundance. I would like to go, said Forker, but Ive never been too sure about ticket pricing LOCALS TICKETS: All tickets can only be purchased with Utah ID Checkwww.sundance.orgfestivaltickets for specifics on registering or how to deal with the long lines. This is the cry of many locals throughout the valley. Pricing and crowds have always been a hindrance from their own local experience. But fear no longer, we have included a How to Sundance chart to help you finally break out and into the Sundance world. member can Any student, faculty, staff or community contribute to this gender issues column. Send your contribution to forumeditorSwestminstercollege.edu with the subject line Gender Issues Column. Laura Ward Co-Ch- air V-D- ay When The Forum started this gender issues column, I started wracking my brain on what I could write about. There really is no shortage of topics, but The Vagina Monologues has had a huge impact on my identity as a woman and feminist. And know what? At first, I didnt even like them. I read The Vagina Monologues for the first time when I was a sophomore in high school Not going to lie, I was scandalized. Im pretty sure I blushed through most of the pieces, but I made myself keep reading. It was still a good two years before I made myself read the monologues through again. I was a senior this time, and I was writing a research paper on female genital mutilation. I wanted to include information movement to end violence against about the V-Da- ys women and girls, so while I was researching, I figured the script Id This time, I loved it. I started to connect with a few of the monologues and couldnt get enough of the core ideas behind the show. I decided it was one of my college goals to be in the production. Soon after, I took my first tour of Westminster. It was February, and one of the first things I saw on campus was a poster for the monologues. I cant say I ended up here because of that poster, but it definitely didnt hurt. Im always interested to hear what other people think of The Vagina Monologues. People either love them or hate them. Theres really not much in between. And even the people who love them dont love all of them. Seriously, most of the people I know cringe through at least a few of the pieces. I hear it over and over again; The Vagina Monologues make a lot of people uncomfortable. I can definitely see why, but I also think thats part of the point. It brings up topics that we, as a society, dont like to talk about. I always worry that if we dont talk about something, people will forget its an issue. I know it seems like you hear about womens issues all the time, but it seems to me that we hear more about people under reporting the facts. is a movement toward education and ensuring people talk about womens issues even if its only for a week or two in February. I see The Vagina Monologues as a chronicle of what it means to be a woman from the good to the bad to the terribly re-re- ad V-D- ay INDIVIDUALS TICKET: A flexible and easy way to attend the festival Checkwww.sundance.orgfestivalticketsindividual for more details "tr gruesome. There are pieces that make the audience roll with laughter and others that make our audience tear up. It covers the whole gamut, from rape and brutality to love and birth. Ive grown to realize that The Vagina Mono- -' logues isnt so much a play as a mass evolving story. Some of the monologues are the same year after year, but every now and then, we mix it up a bit. Westminster alum Jonathon Logan Ford will forever be my hero after his performance last year, and junior Whitley Palmer gets a chance to share her original monologue this year. In a few short weeks, red paper hearts will be covering the campus and women in red shorts will be banding together to present The Vagina Monologues. Theyll be people from our community our neighbors, our professors, our friends. And to top it off, theyll be rocking a production that has been performed at Westminster for 10 years. Come join the tradition. |