Praise from That Takes Ovaries event participants
Bismarck, ND “North Dakota enjoyed its first That Takes Ovaries open mike this past Friday. You laughed, you cried, you admired all those strong, vivacious women who boldly spoke about their life stories. Impressively enough, a few brave gents also got up to speak about their mothers. Thank you for creating such an awesome empowering program. I love your vision!”
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Gilroy, CA (farm belt) “I attended this event which was organized and run by a restaurant owner and held in her restaurant. About fifty women came, most Latina farm workers. In Spanish, Chicana women came up to the front to tell their stories of courage: raising kids on their own, staying with and then leaving abusive fathers, the hardship of coming to the U.S. from their homelands. Women laughed and several had red-stained eyes from crying. It went on one hour longer than it was supposed to. Women just kept coming up and coming up to share their stories.”
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Ankeny, IA “At our open mike, we had a woman who came who stopped a moving car that her kids were inside, and a woman who at age nine not only outwitted a rapist, but designed a plot so that the police could catch him! It was a great evening, and we awarded each other a Golden Ovaries award – round gold-wrapped Rocher candies.”
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Washington DC “A local environmental conservation leader MC-ed and sixty-eight women and men shared stories that celebrated Jewish women’s chutzpah. Two actresses from the Jewish theater read stories. A younger woman talked about stopping homophobia in her Jewish summer camp. A wildlife biologist unexpectedly met up with the most poisonous snake in the region she was visiting. Her first thought? Cooooooool!”
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Kolkata, India “The Ovaries event finally happened tonight in Calcutta, India. As people walked in they saw on the walls the colorful banners with the ovaries adjectives that I had made: ‘gutsy,’ ‘brazen,’ ‘outrageous,’ ‘unstoppable.’ Our next open mike, next week, will be part of the annual Fortnight Protesting Violence Against Women and Girls. It is a public event and sponsored/hosted by some key organizations in Calcutta that work to empower women. Good news! Calcutta’s leading confectioner agreed to make, even donate, twenty special Golden Ovaries – large, chocolate eggs covered with golden foil. We shall present all those who share stories with one Golden Ovary award.”
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Seattle, WA “One Lebanese women told how she left Lebanon when she was fourteen, sneaking out all alone, leaving her mother a letter under her bed, and going off to England where she got a job. A man said it was so encouraging and inspiring to know what wonderful, brave things these women had done. He shared that he was a victim of sexual abuse as a young child: ‘I was obligated to get up there and share and let all these women know how much their stories and courage meant to me.'”
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San Francisco, CA “A sixteen year old shared a story about talking back to catcallers. Another told one of thwarting a robbery! Someone told how she sprayed paint over swastikas in Assisi, Italy after several requests asking the town to remove them did not materialize. A crowd of men watched her and clapped when she finished spray painting.”
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Kolkata, India “Courage, guts and strength, that’s what girls are made of. Forget sugar and spice and all that’s nice.”
