The MENding receives honor by The Feminist Press.

Uma Thurman with Derek Dujardin at The Feminist Press Gala, Oct. 19, 2010

Last Monday night, I received an award from The Feminist Press for my work with the MENidng Monologues. Along with one other man and 38 women, we were selected from more than 400 nominations to represent the future of feminism of the Fortieth Anniversary of The Feminist Press. The ceremony took place at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, with Elaine May and Uma Thurman in attendance.

I don’t know who originally nominated me for this award, but I want to say thank you, whomever you are. It’s been a rough year for me personally and professionally, and I was beginning to lose my enthusiasm for this project, wondering if I just should stay on my side of the gender line. Receiving this award is an excellent validation of the my writing and it has reinvigorated my efforts

One of the highlights for me was spending about 10 minutes talking about the MENding Monologues and The MENding Dialogues with Uma Thurman and filmmaker Nira Mira. Uma loved the idea of the project. She was so warm, passionate and encouraging. She gave me this little bit of advice that I would like to pass on to other writers, artists and activisits. She said: “Let rejection fuel your resolve.”

Yep. Good advice.  Not exactly sure how to do that, but it’s lot better than letting rejection beat you down.

While there was no time given to the 40 honorees for acceptance speeches, if I had been given my 30 seconds, I probably would have said something like this:

“Thank you Bonnie Green for your loving support, organizational skills and spirited encouragement for keeping this vision alive when the disappointments seemed to pile up. Thank you to The San Diego MENding Monologues crew (Kim Pappas, Carla Nell,  Christopher Burger, Brendan Cavalier, Rod Rodegez, and many others for continuing to create their unique flavor of this project). Thank you Brad Luky, Tom Puetz and Tyrus Watson for your support for helping bring this show to life. Thank you Eve Ensler and to the Mark Matusack of V-Day’s V-Men for supporting us.  And, finally, a big, big thank you to all the men (and women) of the MENding who have the courage to break the silence and tell their stories, naked, vulnerable and on-stage, healing for all to see.

Check out the Gala and what it was all about…

https://www.feministpress.org/news-events/its-our-40th-birthday

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