2008 Woodie Awards
That Takes Ovaries
Jennifer Cox
Issue date: 3/16/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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On National Women's Day, Rivka Solomon stood confidently in front of a small sea of pink shirts and papers and dared the Colby community to be, "bold, gutsy, brazen, audacious, outrageous, and courageous." The event, which was organized by Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of Education, Patrick Sanders '08, and Kate Biddiscombe '07, was held in the coffee house and was alive and bustling with people. Solomon, an author and organizer of events and speak outs for women's rights, is an individual who knows all about taking risks and pushing limits. Solomon edited the book, [That Takes Ovaries], a collection of stories of women from all over the world who have done things and continue to do things that require the innate courage and strength every woman possesses. 10% of the proceeds of the book go to Hardy Girls Healthy Women of Waterville, and Madre, an international women's rights organization that is fighting sex trafficking and female genitalia mutilation.
What's more, however, is that she fights her own battle against chronic fatigue disorder, an emotionally and physically taxing disorder that has been one of the biggest challenges she has had to face. She has worked incredibly hard to overcome this obstacle and to help others, especially women, overcome the obstacles they may have face and to eliminate violent and cruel hardships they should not ever need to deal with. Colby students eloquently shared stories from [That Takes Ovaries] and acted them out as monologues. They were inspiring stories of women who were doing daring things. Stories were told about a Columbian women who had to jump from a train in order to see the Alps, a rape victim who painted the word "Stop," in pink paint across stop signs in her Canadian town, a women who opened a store that sold vibrators, an Indian journalist who risked her life to expose the horrors of the brothels and the sex trade in her country, and a group of "Lesbian Avengers," in the Midwest United States who brought Valentine's day gifts to a homophobic organization while clad only in combat boots in tutus.
What's more, however, is that she fights her own battle against chronic fatigue disorder, an emotionally and physically taxing disorder that has been one of the biggest challenges she has had to face. She has worked incredibly hard to overcome this obstacle and to help others, especially women, overcome the obstacles they may have face and to eliminate violent and cruel hardships they should not ever need to deal with. Colby students eloquently shared stories from [That Takes Ovaries] and acted them out as monologues. They were inspiring stories of women who were doing daring things. Stories were told about a Columbian women who had to jump from a train in order to see the Alps, a rape victim who painted the word "Stop," in pink paint across stop signs in her Canadian town, a women who opened a store that sold vibrators, an Indian journalist who risked her life to expose the horrors of the brothels and the sex trade in her country, and a group of "Lesbian Avengers," in the Midwest United States who brought Valentine's day gifts to a homophobic organization while clad only in combat boots in tutus.
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