vagina, valentine, and victory :)

My senior year of high school, my friend Andrea and I dressed up in red and black for Valentine’s Day—or, I’m pretty sure we referred to it at “Singles Awareness Day.” But, for me at least, Valentine’s Day is not about whether or not one has a significant other. It’s about love—all kinds of love! Not just romantic love. I’m starting a revolution. A love revolution. We can’t fully appreciate love unless we value all of its manifestations. Love is bigger than we’re making it.

The Vagina Monologues 2010

I realized earlier this week, that while autumn may be my favorite season, right now is my favorite time of year. I, along with four other awesome women, are directing Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and our own The SLU Monologues, which began as a response to Ensler’s play being banned on campus. The monologues are put every year around Valentine’s Day—or V-Day. The V-Day campaign, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, began in 1998, inspired by The Vagina Monologues. The “V” stands for vagina, valentine, and victory.

Backstage of the VagMons

The V-Day season also marks my anniversary with feminism, which has guided me to people and ideas that have changed my worldview and perspective on myself drastically. Furthermore, Valentine’s Day marks the day that my baby brother, Tom, came home from the hospital after he was born. And finally, this year, my family will celebrate my mom’s twelfth year of being cancer-free! My birthday and Christmas may be in December, but this is definitely the most wonderful time of the year. Nowadays, I still wear red and black for Valentine's Day, but it's for my costume for the monologues, not a battle cry.

Hello from the Marchetti/Grand Forest Staff Meeting!

Love, Hilary & Andrew

Something I needed.

This morning, I was feeling a little lonely. It's amazing how we somtimes find just what we need.

I’m never gonna wait
that extra twenty minutes
to text you back,
and I’m never gonna play
hard to get
when I know your life
has been hard enough already.
When we all know everyone’s life
has been hard enough already
it’s hard to watch
the game we make of love,
like everyone’s playing checkers
with their scars,
saying checkmate
whenever they get out
without a broken heart.
Just to be clear
I don’t want to get out
without a broken heart.
I intend to leave this life
so shattered
there’s gonna have to be
a thousand separate heavens
for all of my flying parts.

--Andrea Gibson

chicagoland adventuretime.

At this time tomorrow, I'm expecting to be chatting, laughing, and inhaling lots of wine and chocolate. The best part, though? My soulmate in the form of a sweet but feisty redhead is coming into town! Victoria is my best friend from when I studied abroad in Galway, Ireland in Fall 2011, and I haven't seen her since we parted ways in Dublin last December, so I've been anticipating her arrival ever since she booked her flight.

I feel so old now that I have someone visiting ALL THE WAY FROM New Jersey, but I'm even more impressed that we've kept in touch as well as we have. I tend to get wrapped up in the life I'm living where I'm living it and have a hard time keeping in touch with people, but Victoria and I made it--and in a throwback to my letter-writing post, I will let you all know that sending letters and cards definitely made keeping in touch all the more fun.

So tomorrow night, I'll be laughing, but not too hard because my tummy will be stuffed with Chicago-style pizza. I'll be warm and fuzzy--and to be nice and cheesy here, I'll throw in a line about how it will be the friendship, in addition to the wine that will make me feel that way. It's so wonderful to have a friend whose visits are all the more special because she's coming from far away. I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend.



Victoria and me in County, Sligo Ireland--before our 3-hour walk around the bottom of the mountain we climbed

birthday cuteness.

I have to share this because it's just so very adorable and everyone needs to enjoy it. This was right after I turned 22 a few weeks ago, with my friend Hughes.

musings of a girl with so much time for life.

Happy New Year, friends!

I heard that New Year’s resolutions are so out, but since I never really regard the trends anyway, why would I now? Besides, my resolutions are more abstract than most—they’re general ways to make myself a better person, and I think that self-love and self-improvement is always in style.

Beautiful new stationery from my Uncle Marty

My number one resolution for this year is to slowww downnn. The culture in which I find myself is so fast-paced and I get wrapped up in it. It’s good to be speedy sometimes, but most of the time, I think the slower I go, the more time I have for the important things and the more I enjoy the things I do. An unknown author puts it ever so eloquently: “Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.” And it’s true. So my big goal for the year is to slow down, to enjoy myself, my company, my surroundings.

One of the concrete ways I plan on doing this is by… drum roll… reviving the lost art of letter writing. It’s absurd—though not surprising—that this beautiful form of communication has been left behind. For those of you who know me well, you’ll most likely be receiving some snail mail from me over the course of the year—especially now that my Godfather bought me some beautiful monogrammed stationery for Christmas. And, you know, I won’t complain if I get some snail mail back—who doesn’t like getting friendly mail?

Kind regards,
Hilary

P.S. Kind Regards is a book by Liz Williams on the "lost art of letter-writing." You should check it out!