Having been an ’80s pop culture idol and a lesbian icon, Jennifer Beals can now add historian to her résumé with the release of The L Word Book, a collection of photos and memories she says she made for her L Word "family." by Tracy E. Gilchrist
For six seasons on the benchmark series The L Word, Jennifer Beals was virtually synonymous with her character — the erudite power lesbian and aesthete Bette Porter. Now the touchstone of ’80s pop culture and international icon for lesbians can add accidental historian to her résumé with The L Word Book, a photographic journal by Beals that takes you behind the scenes of the groundbreaking Showtime series and acts as a vibrant document of the show that forever changed lesbian representation in Hollywood.
A photographer with a knack for capturing actors in private moments between takes, Beals saw her work featured prominently in the 2001 insiders’ glimpse into Hollywood, The Anniversary Party. And while she’s photographically chronicled other film-set experiences, including 1994’s Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, shooting the actresses on the L Word became a six-year-plus passion project, originally intended for her cast mates but then also for the audience that ardently supported the show throughout its run.
Beyond the by turns jubilant and arresting photos of L Word favorites including Leisha Hailey, Laurel Holloman, Mia Kirshner, and Kate Moennig, Beals’s book includes transcripts of interviews with the actresses conducted as she took each one on a photographic trip down L Word memory lane. The book, destined to become a collectors’ bonanza and an integral piece of L Word ephemera, can be ordered online with the option of personalizing a dedication page, with proceeds going to charities dear to Beals, including the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Kirshner’s I Live Here Projects, and the Pablove Foundation.
The Advocate caught up with Beals to discuss her inspiration for creating the book, her editing process, her predilection for holding on to memorabilia, and exactly just what happened to that Flashdance sweatshirt.
The Advocate: Congratulations on The L Word Book. I can’t wait to get my hands on one. I’ve only been privy to looking online.
Jennifer Beals: Thanks. I'm so thrilled to be done with it. You have no idea. It was really such a long process. You know, you’re sitting around and you think, Oh, yeah, I'll make a little book and make it available to the fans, and you know ... a year later.
Why was the process so arduous?
In retrospect, it wasn't that arduous. I didn’t count all the steps it took to get from A to Z. I didn’t even count the ones in between. And also, it's been an interesting process not doing it working with a traditional publisher and using an online publishing house, which I think is the way of the future, frankly. It’s a new modality. It’s interesting; I don't even know how to think of it because it's so new.
I think that’s a common response to new modes of communication ... What aspects of publishing the book in this manner, as opposed to traditionally, are different?
People can type in a dedication page if they want to give it as a gift to a friend. They don’t have to have it sent to their house and write in the front and then send it out again. They can have it put in the very front of the book, and then in a couple of weeks, hopefully, upload their own images into the book so they can have their own version of it. People can feel that, and rightly so, this is also part of their story in many ways, because the fans were so important to our journey.
I love the dedication page piece of it. Is that something you realized needed to happen from the onset of the project?
Someone had introduced me to this company called ColorCentric, someone who made an inaugural book for the Obama campaign. In the back of that book you were able to upload your own images, because so many people worked so hard for the campaign and really felt that it was theirs. So instead of just having all sorts of presidential pictures and people in presidential clothes and first lady clothes, you could also have pictures of yourself or family or friends or people you campaigned with. I thought, That’s interesting, and that it was something that should be part of my book because it’s a similar notion. The show was so much about not just storytelling but about representation, and it should be reflected some way in the book.
You wrote on the L Word Book site that this was an era of your life you wanted to preserve. How did you know that going in to working on the show?
You've got a show with all women, first of all. And you've got a show, the likes of which has never happened before. Also, with all those young women who were just starting out in their careers, there was part of me that wanted to preserve that time for them because I know how delicious that beginning time is, and they wouldn’t necessarily recognize it as being so precious. So there was part of me that wanted to archive that history for them. I have a tendency to do that. I save so much stuff. My storage room is a joke.
Will we see you on the next episode of Hoarders?
I didn’t know there was such a thing, but no. I’m not quite that bad. I do have some ability to discern things. I don’t save every tiny little thing, but I do save a lot of memos that resonate for me. That sounds crazy — a memo that would resonate with you. Like — a call sheet, to me, is just kind of amazing. This group of people on this day are being called to work these scenes and this is what transpires.
And so the call sheet is, to me, a spectacular, historical document. It may not be particularly interesting to anybody else, but to the people on that call sheet, in 10 years it’ll be fascinating. Even as just a remembrance of "Oh, yes, I did this at that time and this is what I was doing. There is no unwasted effort, and all those things we did at that time have now led me to where I am right now at age 75." So it's sort of archived.
Did you realize what a part of history The L Word would become when you began? It sounds like you look at your life as though all of the pieces are a part of your personal history.
Well, I don't know if I look at my whole life that way. I know that going to the grocery store isn’t history ... but certain things. I really believe that there is no unwasted effort, and when a group of people comes together to work on a project, regardless of the project, something good can come of it. There’s something you can learn from it, something you can learn from one another. I really believe that, and sometimes it’s difficult to have that learning experience when you’re with people you don’t necessarily want to be with all day on certain projects.
And on this one, we became a family. We became friends and then we became family to one another, so I don’t know if I look at my whole life that way but I do treasure certain moments. And I treasure, not as an attempt to go back in time, but in appreciation of how that time led me to where I am now.
Years from now The L Word will be in the annals of pop culture history, right up there with Ellen coming out. Your book is a piece of that lesbian history. Had you thought of it that way?
Uh, no. That’s terrifying! Hey, no pressure! Really, the book was originally just for the cast. There will probably be things in there that only the cast will understand, but I tried to make everything available to the fans as well because there might be some fans who understand it on another level, or it may resonate with them.
I had the photographs, and at first it was going to just be a book of photography ... Then I thought it would be fun while I was showing the cast the photographs ... I wanted them to be happy with the photos I chose. I wanted it to be a positive experience for everybody. I thought, Wouldn’t it be fun to tape-record the conversations? because years later things come up, memories come up. I thought that might be fun to put in the book for people to remember, and for fans if it’s at all interesting to them. I don’t know if they want to hear about Frye boots, but you know, for us it was fascinating.
What girl doesn’t want to hear about Frye boots?
We talked about everything from mundane things like Frye boots and fashion to what the sixth season felt like to how grateful we were to be on the show and to be able to represent in the way that we did — to have come to know one another. It was all these things that came up.
This is not the first time you created a cast book for your projects. What was the genesis of the Jennifer Beals’s cast photo essay?
After Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, because it was one of those experiences where you have all the cast members together and it’s just such a fascinating experience — to have that many people interacting. Teaching one another, laughing, telling jokes, irritating one another. It was a real learning experience for me because I was so shy, it was difficult at times to integrate myself into the group.
And that was a pretty heavy-hitting cast with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lili Taylor, Campbell Scott ...
Definitely. And they were all really lovely. Also, part of making a book is for me to organize the experience for myself. I made another one for The Anniversary Party.
Your photos were actually used in The Anniversary Party. That was a large part of the film.
That was an interesting project just because I had so much material. Jennifer Jason Leigh just kept giving me film and asking me to shoot all the time. So they just kept giving me film and giving me film. It was nice, but in some ways it was more challenging to put the book together because it was more editing, but really satisfying because I had several images that I actually really liked.
You’ve done these books before for films, but you began this latest project at the start of a series that ended up running six seasons. Did cast members start to hide after a while, saying, "Oh, no, here comes Jennifer with a camera again"?
[Laughs] I don’t know. When I was working on The L Word I had no intention of making a book. It didn’t occur to me ... I think because I had just had my daughter, so all my energy had gone toward my family. If it wasn’t at work, it was going to my family, and it takes a tremendous amount of energy to make a book. So it didn’t really occur to me. Certainly my sleep cycle was saying, "Don’t do the book, don’t do the book."
But then I realized I had to do it. I thought I kind of have to, and then I told myself it wouldn’t be bad, it would all be online. I won’t even have to go to the darkroom. It won’t take that long ... one year later So, I didn’t shoot as much. Maybe if Jennifer Jason Leigh had been around shoving film at me, I would have taken a lot more pictures. There were some times I took more than others. But there were a couple of seasons really clearly I didn’t because I was pregnant, or my daughter was just born and all I wanted to do was stare at her and take pictures of her.
Were you surprised by any memories evoked when editing the book?
That surprised me? Hmm.
A memory of your time on the show that came back or was particularly resonant ...
Well, you know what was really sweet actually was, I showed Mia [Kirshner] a picture of her and Rose Rollins, and Mia started talking about, by her definition, her unlikely friendship with Rose Rollins and how much Rose meant to her. And it was so sweet and so heartfelt that it was very moving to me to hear somebody talk about their friend in that way ... so openly, and wanting to share that with other people, because she signed off on it and it’s in the book.
What was interesting too was, as difficult the six seasons was, every single cast member realized how amazing the experience was and how amazing [creator] Ilene [Chaiken] had been with all of us and how lucky we were to have this on Showtime as opposed to a network. Not that it would have been possible with a network, but you know, in the fantasy land. And people were immensely grateful for their time on the show.
We’ve talked about all these things that are of particular interest to the lesbian audience, but I do need to get a question in for the gay men.
For the boys ...
Yes! Were you aware when you made Flashdance that you were inspiring a generation of gay boys to sport an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt?
[Laughs] No, not at all. You are the first person to bring that up.
I’m sure there’s Flashdance drag out there. I just haven’t seen it.
I’m honored.
Do you still have the sweatshirt? Where do you keep it?
It’s in storage with the rest of the stuff. And the red band jacket too.
Friday, March 26, 2010
What Jennifer Sees
Monday, March 8, 2010
Jennifer Beals Shoots L Word Book, Is Perfect: The Autostraddle Interview
As you already know, Jennifer Beals is a supreme being. She’s beautiful, talented and her body is a temple of organic vegetables, yoga and marathon endorphins. When not running impossibly long distances in tight spandex, being a Mom or acting (most recently in the film Book of Eli, and on the TV in Lie to Me and The L Word), Beals has been honing her photography skills. An avid photographer since high school, J-Beals has developed a tradition when she’s working on a film or TV project especially close to her heart — she takes her camera on set and ultimately uses the pictures to make a gift book for the cast & crew at the project’s end.
Because of the intense fanbase spawned by Showtime’s The L Word, Beals decided she’d make her L Word photo journal available to fans, too. The book provides a deeper look into the daily life of the show with 400 never-before-seen photos, commentary from her castmates, script bits, call-sheets and production memos.
All of the proceeds from the book sale will be donated to three charities: the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Mia Kirshner’s organization I Live Here Projects, and The Pablove Foundation.
The hard cover book is available for order at lwordbook.com.
After my six years of obsessing and deconstructing The L Word, I had a TON of questions for Jennifer [that's Dean Porter to you]. We spoke about her disappointment in Obama, the Johnny Weir controversy, the possibility of an L Word movie, the TiBette phenomenon, closeted Hollywood actors, and just what makes her so goddamn perfect.
Jess: What was the cast reaction when they found out you were putting together the L Word photography book?
J. Beals: Oh, they were excited! I went to all of them and I showed everybody their pictures and let them edit their pictures and their text and let them know if there’s anything they wanted to say to send it to me and I’ll put it in the book. I gave people a list of questions to get started but it seemed like the photographs themselves were the biggest prompt for the cast to remember specifics.
Jess: Was there anyone in particular who was excited about it?
J. Beals: Everyone was, really… Mia was, Kate was, Leisha was…and Laurel just wrote me cause she was very excited, especially now that it’s finished and they get to see it. But everyone was excited cause it’s all their history, ya know? It’s a family photo album.
Jess: Do you have a favorite photo from the book?
J. Beals: I have a couple favorites. One of the ones I really love is the one of Laurel very, very pregnant in my trailer, I think it was just a couple days before she gave birth, and that to me is very meaningful and it was such a lovely time in the show and for her, and for me – for all of us. We were all on the cusp of everything. I also love the ones from the Vanity Fair shoot of Kate and Leisha. I like the ones where we’re all together. It’s also cumulative sometimes. Sometimes there are pictures that don’t mean much as a photo, but as a cumulative document in a way it adds to the story.
Jess: Who do you speak to regularly from the cast?
J. Beals: I talk to pretty much everybody, really. Rachel [Shelley] and I email each other a lot, and Pam [Grier] and Alex Hedison. And, I hear from Laurel [Holloman] every now and again. I was so out of the loop on her paintings! [Laurel has been auctioning off several of her paintings for charity]. Like, my god, look at these paintings that she’s done! They’re amazing! And Mia [Kirshner] I talk to all the time, and Kate [Moennig] I just heard from. It’s everybody kind of in a cycle.
Jess: Any update on an L Word movie, if that’s happening?
J. Beals: You’d have to call Ilene on that one, I don’t know…
Jess: If a movie should happen, where would you want the story to pick up on?
J. Beals: I think Bette and Tina should get outta dodge. I think it should be in New York.
Jess: Have the other cast members expressed interest in a movie?
J. Beals: Yea, everybody’s interested, but we have other stuff that we’re doing so to make this happen is really gonna require quite a bit of effort in terms of scheduling, so it will be interesting to see if and how that happens.
Jess: In the L Word book you and Kate Moennig talk about the Six Feet Under series finale. Would you have wanted the L Word characters lives and stories to be finite in the way that Six Feet Under ended?
J. Beals: Well, I loved the way Six Feet Under had ended. I have never seen anything like that on TV. It was phenomenal. Because what it did was, you were appreciative of these people’s lives as individuals and then you all of a sudden became aware of a trajectory of an entire life. Not only an individual life, but how those lives are woven around family and friends and it became about the sum of all the parts, and that’s profound and incredibly moving.
Jess: Would you watch the new reality show on Showtime produced by Ilene?
J. Beals: I want to go to Ilene’s house and watch it! I’d love to go watch it with the cast; I think that would be really fun!
Jess: If you had the opportunity would you have wanted to write an episode?
J. Beals: No… [laughs] No one would’ve wanted me to write an episode, that wouldn’t have been a good idea!
Jess: Did you have a favorite episode or storyline?
J. Beals: For me, it was really all about 607 [Last Couple Standing, the dance marathon]. Like, in terms of celebration, to have the cast together in that dance episode that Rose Troche directed, it was really about having everybody together and celebrating and watching people do their work and watching them do things that were sort of our of their purvue, and it was exciting. It was my favorite episode to shoot.
Jess: Did you ever bring anything to the table with ideas for storylines or plot points? [aside from making Bette biracial]
J. Beals: Well, I just brought ideas in as far as tweaking things. I liked being surprised by Ilene and rather than dictate to her from my imagination I liked seeing what she would bring and then tweaking things, not huge plot points. After seeing Marlee [Matlin] on Dancing with the Stars I joked that we should have a dance episode at The Planet and …. [607].
Jess: You mentioned in an old interview that you stood up for Bette refusing to kiss the Dana Delaney Senator character so you did influence the story in that way. Were there any other instances like that where you put in your two cents for Bette’s choices?
J. Beals: It’s funny, there were so many that I don’t even think I can name them. There were so many times that the baby isn’t even present and Laurel and I would look at each other [laughing]… You never see our child! How is this possible?! [laughing] And behold, Angelica would be part of the scene.
On the Tibette Phenom…
Jess: Any insight as to why Bette and Tina inspired the largest fan base in comparison to the other couples on the show?
J. Beals: Gosh, I don’t know… Why do you think?
Jess: Well, I think they had the emotional connection for people to relate to. And they were also the least threatening characters, compared to someone like Shane, who might make some people uncomfortable because her sexuality is right out there and in your face.
J. Beals: Right, see, but I think that would draw me in and be alluring… It’s a true mystery, one of the myths of the universe. I don’t know… but I’m grateful for it!
Jess: Were you satisfied with how the show dealt with Bette being biracial?
J. Beals: I think we could’ve done more things but I’m glad that we dealt with some of it anyway. Obviously there’s a lot more that we could’ve touched on but there were a lot of characters on the show and a lot of stories that needed to be told so you do what you can…. But, I’m glad that we did do something with it.
Jess: How are you feeling about Obama so far?
J. Beals: I have to say, as far as the LGBT community goes, I’m really frustrated. I’m really frustrated, frankly. I don’t know what he’s done. And I campaigned really hard for him and people who I know keep saying “be patient…be patient…” so, I’m hoping that good things will come. At a certain point I believe you just have to wait and I know that there are many things on his plate, and I get that – but, that doesn’t stop me from being incredibly frustrated.
Jess: Living in Vancouver, I’m sure you were following the Winter Olympics. Do you have any thoughts on the Johnny Weir controversy? [The 2010 Olympic figure skater widely believed to have been underscored because he’s flamboyant. Broadcast commentators were also called out for their thinly veiled homophobic comments.]
J. Beals: I think it’s absolutely appalling. You know, I saw him skate for the first time this year, I didn’t know of him before that, and I watched him skate and he was so fantastic and so accomplished and I really don’t think his scores were commensurate with his ability. And I feel in some ways he’s penalized for his presentation, and I feel he continues to present himself as authentically as possible, and frankly I believe he’s unbelievably fabulous and I would love to meet him one day! The way he was treated was appalling and almost from another era. They should really be ashamed of themselves.
Jess: The best was when he skated to Poker Face.
J. Beals: I love it. He’s amazing… I have a little crush on him.
Jess: Why do you think so many actors and actresses are still closeted in Hollywood?
J. Beals: Fear. I think they’re afraid.
Jess: Do you think it’s important for actors and actresses to come out publicly?
J. Beals: I think it’s important to make the decision that’s best for them… But I think they stay closeted probably out of fear, and I hope that one day they won’t be fearful.
Jess: Had you been gay, do you think you’d choose to come out publicly?
J. Beals: It would be that or perish, honestly. I mean, I think I would have to but I can’t possibly presume what that would be like for me… And it also depends on so many things, not only your sexual orientation but it also depends on your class, like how much money do you have? Because some actors may not even feel like they can afford to do it. And they go to that place where they go “oh, I need this job…” – and they get into that mindset. If you’re independently wealthy you can be independently everything.
Jess: How has becoming a parent in your 40s changed your outlook on life?
J. Beals: Everything feels very new, and I appreciate sleep so much more.
Jess: Did your family ever watch the show?
J. Beals: My mom did sometimes… my mom’s not a big TV watcher either but she did sometimes…
Jess: You always come across very ethereal and Zen-like. Were you always this centered and together?
J. Beals: I do meditate and I also do yoga, which helps. But I was actually more grounded when I was younger in a way. I was much calmer when I was younger. I mean, I lose it upon occasion, that’s for sure and I certainly did with the end of the 6th season which I talk about in the book a little bit. Everybody talks about how they processed the 6th season. As much as everybody was so grateful to be on the show, like deeply, hugely, immensely grateful to be on the show, everybody had an issue with the 6th season and that may have happened for a lot of reasons. Maybe it happened because people knew that the show was gonna end and they’re processing ending this thing that meant so much to them. And then there’s the issue of storylines that you may disagree with and how they’re represented. I’m not always really calm, but I try not to get taken away by things that are incredibly transitory.
Jess: Let’s talk about your workout routine.
J. Beals: Well, it depends on the day, but lately I’ll go swim for 30 minutes and then I’ll go run or do yoga or work out with lots of light weights afterwards.
Jess: What are you reading or some of your favorite authors?
J. Beals: I just read – and this is gonna sound so “deep” [laughs] – it’s this really great Viktor Frankl book called Man’s Search for Meaning which a friend of mine gave me while I was shooting this movie called A Night for Dying Tigers [also starring Lauren Lee Smith aka Lara Perkins the Soup Chef], it’s an independent film and it’s about this incredibly dysfunctional family, like extraordinarily dysfunctional family and I was talking to one of my friends on the set and he had recommended this book so I went out and bought it and it was really interesting. I keep re-reading parts of it, it’s a very engaging book.
One of my favorite authors is Walt Whitman, for sure. I’ve read Leaves of Grass over and over and over again.
Jess: What are you listening to right now?
J. Beals: I tend to play the Dixie Chicks ad nauseam. [I mention they need to come out with a new album cause it’s been so long] I know, my husband is really getting tired of the same rotation. I’ve also been listening to a lot of David Gray, and I’m a huge Joni Mitchell fan.
Jess: I read that you prefer to shoot with film rather than digital, why is that?
J. Beals: Film surprises you in a way that digital can’t… Film is this unknown thing that happens where you just don’t know, even just in terms of the age of the film, the particular chemicals on that particular roll of film. I like being surprised in that way. And, I’m sure that somebody somewhere has a digital camera that they know how to make all of those certain effects happen, and I kind of secretly like the waiting [for film to develop].
Jess: Do you use a particular kind of camera?
J. Beals: Oh, I have several! I use a Mamiya 67 which is nice, a Rolleiflex 2.25, a Leica M8.2. I know I should probably stick to one and learn that one really well but I get a kick out of using different kinds.
Jess: You mentioned you just finished shooting A Night for Dying Tigers. Do you have any other projects lined up after that?
J. Beals: Not really, I mean I’m developing a couple things, but there’s nothing imminent. I really, truly need a break after that [A Night for Dying Tigers.] That was a roller-coaster ride so I need a little bit of a break now.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Mia Kirshner On I Live Here, Intimacy
Many of us are familiar with Mia Kirshner from her roles in films such as Exotica, Not Another Teen Movie, and Black Dahlia, and TV series such as The L Word and Vampire Diaries.
But let’s take a second look at this actress and give her the praise she deserves as an activist and a writer. Kirshner recently completed a book called Intimacy. Each page is handmade and crafted, using photographs taken by the actress at an L Word Convention in Liverpool. A love story between two women, the limited edition book sold out surprisingly quickly.
Kirshner’s first book I Live Here (2008) left many enthralled by her artistically creative documentation of raw, unheard stories from around the world. By capturing these emotions with journal entries, comic strips, and drawings, Kirshner evoked a strong intimate connection between these women and children, and her readers. And this is not the end; I Live Here has become more than just a book, but an organization with plans to further extend and grow. For more information on this organization and how you can help, please check out the website.
Monet Lucki: What was your inspiration for writing this book?
Mia Kirshner: Intimacy? Well I was really antsy after I Live Here came out to do something else that was much smaller in scope. And when I was at the L Word convention, which will be my last convention that I go to, I was really struck by the fact that it was so not about the show. But it was really about the community of women coming together and sort of various women coming to these things to meet each other and to just have a safe place to be together. So I began to take pictures while I was there and then I began to ask the women to write about their lives, like how they came to be here, where they come from, their first kiss, sort of in the same style as in I Live Here. And then from there myself and this woman Mia B out of New York, a designer, put together Intimacy, which is basically inspired by the writing of the women. And it’s a love story between two women I guess with a bit of erotica in it.
ML: How did you get everything together to make this possible?
MK: The process of putting a book together is never easy in the sense that you can’t just make something in a day then expect it to be right. It’s taken months and months and months to just really make sure that each page reflects what the story is saying. We drew a lot, we re-photographed the images that I took.
ML: Are you doing any book tours to help promote this book at all?
MK: No this really is a tiny limited edition book and it was really done specifically for the group of women who attended the convention. And because it’s in such a small print run we sold a couple, then we sold more and now we’re sold out.
ML: Wow
MK: Yeah, it’s exciting. We’re looking at offering some of the prints that we made because each page really looks like a sort of old French new wave poster.
ML: So you weren’t expecting it to sell out that quick?
MK: No. It’s great, because I Live Here I think has really become this movement. And I think a lot of people support the work we’re doing and really like our approach to design and that’s sort of where the emphasis came from. It just takes a long time to do these things. With each project I always forget it doesn’t take a day or a month. I mean I could easily just keep on working on this book for years but that’s not possible.
ML: What was your inspiration for I Live Here?
MK: Well I think that stories can change the world, and I just feel like especially with the way our media is right now, you really have to search for individual stores from people in isolated communities, and how they live, what they’re going through. And really I felt that I had a lot to learn so the book really started out months ago, with just wanting to pick four different countries and focus on getting people to write about their lives so we could learn about them, and to make a book that was accessible and really used art as the medium to express the story, something that I thought my friends might want to read.
ML: It’s a lot more personal that way because it evokes more emotions because you can see their feelings through their artwork and from their writing.
MK: That’s what we tried. Mike Simons and Paul Shoebridge did the book we did it together and with James MacKinnon who all live in Vancouver. They worked so hard on this book. The book is what it is because of them and our collaboration.
ML: Did you have any fears when starting this project?
MK: I mean I thought that it would take a year. I had no idea that it would take this long. I had no idea how much money it would cost. At the time, I didn’t apply for grants because I just felt like, I don’t know what this book is going to be when I’m finished with it because I’ve never done one of these things before, so I spent all my money on it. Which is a good thing to do in life because you get time in what you’re trying to produce. But yeah I guess I was, when you’re working on it at the time I wasn’t even thinking about it getting published. That was a big scare, if people would actually like it or read it.
ML: How would you describe your overall experience doing this project and visiting these four countries?
MK: I mean it was really a life changing experience. Once you start that kind of stuff, it’s kind of in your blood. It’s definitely not easy and it definitely eclipsed my whole life, in the sense that it really became clear to me that in order to do this, I had to make a hundred percent commitment. Because I went to the places and collected the material, but after that the process of putting the material together is the most labor intensive part. It’s definitely a challenge and it also is a challenge being able to let go of a page when you are finally thinking it’s done. Because it never feels done. You’re never quite sure when it’s ready to be sent off. It definitely took a lot of patience and it taught me a lot about working with people.
ML: Seeing it finished and as a whole, and how successful it’s been so far, must feel really good.
MK: You know what feels good, is when I made the decision in Malawi, in Kachere Juvenile Prison, to start the I Live Here Projects. We [Kirshner and James MacKinnon] worked hand in hand on that chapter. James and I talked about the fact that no body was in that prison helping those kids at the time, and nobody was advocating for their rights. It was really a very quick decision. I was like, I don’t think the book is enough, so I think we need to start the I Live Here Projects, which is going back to the places that we worked in, and setting up programs that really seek help for the communities. That really helped us.
So again these decisions are really made quickly but we’ve grown a program in that prison which I’m really proud of. I think because of the book, the prison is has more visibility, which is great. These kids can’t slip through the cracks anymore because I wrote about it once a month for The Huffington Post. There are a lot of people that know about this prison now.
We put composting toilets into each cell, and we set up a school. And something that I’m really proud of is, the kids weren’t getting enough food, and their nutrition was totally off. And because of that, the kids were getting sicker and sicker. So we started a garden around the prison walls, based on the concept of permaculture, which is basically only using what’s available from the area you’re working in; no chemical fertilizers, learning how to save your seeds. So it really saves the farmers a lot more money in the long run, and gives them healthier food. Because they don’t have to rely on the big seed companies.
So yeah, we also look after legal rights in the prison. We’ve been able to get a lot of kids released who shouldn’t have been there. We’ve been able to help this kid with a tumor on his head now who I met with when I last was there in January, who’s being released and getting medical care. So I’m really proud of what we’ve done.
ML: That’s amazing.
MK: What’s cool about it is our team. Because we are all volunteers, the only people that are paid are the staff in Malawi. Finally, we just hired somebody to work full time with us on the administration of this stuff, because if you can imagine it’s a lot of work. You know, we really have a team; if you can include their names because they’ll read this, and I think it would make them feel really good to be recognized because they worked so hard. Erica Solomon, who’s a teacher in LA. Judy Battaglia who’s a professor at LMU. They really came forward and helped develop the I Live Here Projects to be what it is today. And James, Mike, and Paul just because I want to make sure they get the credit, because they deserve a lot of it.
ML: It sounds also like it would be a very emotional experience. Did you ever feel overwhelmed with what you were seeing that was going on there?
MK: Actually, you know, yes. Definitely in Malawi. I think it’s a couple things that are overwhelming at first because of the magnitude of people’s problems when you’re looking at poverty. It is so overwhelming because you don’t know where to start. Like, do you give somebody a net for malaria, do you look after their nutrition, do you look after their legal rights? It’s hard to choose just one, whereas most major organizations just choose one thing to look after. And I wasn’t able to choose so we decided to do as much as we could.
I think that the thing that’s the most disturbing to me at this juncture is the larger organizations that we have tried to deal with in the past. I feel as organizations we should all work together to help each other with the common goal of helping these kids. We approached UNICEF because the government won’t supply cleaning supplies to the kids in the prisons. And we asked UNICEF if they could, and we got a letter back saying we don’t think the kids should be in prison, so we can’t, and we’ll work on the justice side of things. But they’re not, because we work on the justice side of things. So I know for a fact that nothing is going to be done.
ML: So you asked them to help with supplies and they said no?
MK: Yep. Because they said they believe that kids shouldn’t be in prison. And I was like, but they are. It’s sort of like, what are you going to do with those kids that are in there now? I believe kids shouldn’t be in prison either, but that is the reality, so how can you not help them. And the kids in there are really sick. I mean we can do as much as we can, but after a certain point larger organizations must come in and do more, and help. And that’s been sort of difficult. We are doing more than any other organization working in the prison, and I think that rocks for a group of girls who are just volunteers, and just working our butts off to do the best we can.
ML: So ideally, what would you like the results of the project to be?
MK: I Live Here is a multi-faceted thing, one facet of which is continuing the series of anthologies. The second part is our projects. Now, in terms on where we are going next, we are going to create an online community for people whose stories go unheard, for example people who have been affected by the recession, newly homeless people who can’t afford health care, things that affect us in North America. They will have a place to put their stories online with video, sound, and photographs and then we’ll make a book from that in addition to keep on running the Malawi program.
ML: When are you planning on starting your second project?
MK: I think post-July.
ML: Is there anything else that you want people to know about this project, the book, or anything that you’ve been doing?
MK: We always want to hear people’s stories, and that is something we’re collecting now. People send us videos all the time. This is a random example: “I am a teenager who’s struggling with depression and I don’t know what to do.” Or, “I am a gay woman and I was just discharged from the military.” So I hope people will send us their stories because this is something that we’re really able to curate once we build our site.
ML: There are a lot of unheard stories, and people don’t feel comfortable talking about them, or they don’t know where to go.
MK: Yeah. When you’re in it, certainly nobody’s life is easy.Sometimes when we’re going though a problem or an issue we feel like our problems aren’t important enough to voice. And to have a safe place to go for people to do this, and to be able to be heard, if we feel valued maybe it’ll make our community stronger, because we will feel better about ourselves and our lives.
ML: And to know other people out there are going through the same exact thing.
MK: Yeah. Exactly, exactly.
