Vagina Warriors

How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Jim and I are pretty lovey all year round but none-the-less enjoy being even more sappy on V Day. Nobody ever died from receiving too many kisses, right? We're trying to save up for a few trips so we decided to make our Valentine's gifts for each other. I crafted a frame for him and he drew me a comic strip on "Why I love my Nessa." Does it get any better than that?

For a couple weeks we had been thinking about what to do on Valentine's Day. We had initially agreed upon a picnic at Hueco Tanks (rock formation right outside of El Paso) when I found out there was going to be a V Day march in protest of the hundreds of women slain in Juarez, Mexico (right across the border from El Paso). I mentioned it to Jim and without a hint of hesitation, he insisted we participate.

The V Day march was a fantastic experience. There was an energy that seemed to sweep everyone in a unified direction. The organizers passed out images of the women who were murdered while other groups held protest posters stating "Ni Una Mas (Not One More)" or "V-Day: Until the Violence Stops." We walked from downtown El Paso to the Benito Juarez park in Juarez, where the was a ecumenical service. We sat down with a group of musicians and ate Jicama with lime and salt.

All the protestors were then bussed to a club where Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Christine Lahti and three other novela stars put on special performance of The Vagina Monologues. When the performance ended (around 7:30) we were then bussed to the Mexican side of the bridge, walked back to El Paso, drove back home...and passed out. It was such a long, emotional 8 hours but I can't remember having had a better Valentine's Day.