A room full of powerful women

As I write this, it's 2:45 a.m. on Sunday night/Monday morning, and I have had the most amazing, wonderful, fabulous day imaginable.

These two women are to me so beautiful that they burn my eyes. They are Jane and Jessi, the daughter-in-law and granddaughter of my friend Sue. Sue, Jane, and Jessi were among the thirty-five women who rehearsed today for the flash mob dance that will take place on February 14, as part of Portland's One Billion Rising. It was my joy to watch a room full of powerful women working to embody a dance in celebration of the strength and beauty of women of all ages and kinds, and to demand an end to violence against women and girls. It matters to see the young women take up this issue and begin to run with it. They are doing that, and dancing along with us old gals, and that's good because there is still a very long way to go.  More rehearsal pictures, including an array of portraits of the participants which I've been processing for the last few hours, are here.

But that's not all. Before that, Richard Cahan and Jeffrey Goldstein were in town to talk about Vivian Maier. The place was so packed that I found myself sitting on the floor at the front of the room, right under the projection screen, and opposite me was none other than Pedro Farias-Nardi, whose work I just saw for the first time on Thursday (and blipped). He just happened to be in town and wanted to hear more about Maier. I took a picture of him, he took a picture of me, and we both were moved to tears looking at Maier's work and hearing more of her story.

What a day.