Mother's Red Dress

I was recently contacted by independent filmmaker, John Paul Rice, who is also President of No Restrictions Entertainment. With a super busy schedule and heart and passion the size of Texas, Mr. Rice has chosen to use his professional talents to pursue quality movies with a social issue message.

Mr. Rice and writer/director, Edgar Michael Bravo are working on feature film, Mother's Red Dress. They describe it as, "A tragic love story, the film deals with the effects of domestic violence, abuse and mental illness. The message of the film is that the denial of trauma causes mental dysfunction. We created a film based on the hope that the main character would possibly begin his road to recovery once he faced the truth of his past.

The story is inspired by people we know and from our own personal experiences."

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Mother's Red Dress is in post production phase and requires community support to complete the process of visual effects, colorizing, sound, and other details needed for release to the public. This is your chance to do a small thing to make a big impact:

• Share the trailor with others.
• Make a donation. For every $3.00 donated in support of finishing the film, you can download the entire film before it's released to the public.
• See the movie.
• Talk to your friends and family.

I get emails from our blogs, asking how one can help reduce domestic violence. This is a prime example. Mr. Rice, Mr. Bravo and Bravery Project have the same vision to increase public awareness about abuse so that we are all empowered to create social change.  Furthermore, once the film is released to the public, they will donate portions of the proceeds to domestic violence organizations.  For less than the cost of a Vente Latte coffee, your $3 donation will allow this awareness to reach millons of people and support charities doing good work. Your $3 donation could literally save lives. 

Support Mother's Red Dress
More about John Paul Rice
More about Edgar Michael Bravo
No Restrictions Entertainment
Mother's Red Dress on Facebook

Desensitization

One of the portrait volunteers made a comment one day that there is a lack of concern about issues like domestic violence because of all the violent movies and video games that kids (all of us actually) are exposed to on a daily basis. People become desensitized to violence,and she may have a very good point.

Now,I will be the first to admit that I have always loved scary movies, even as a kid. As long as there is a good plot to the mayhem, what's a little blood and guts? I've seen a lot of zombie movies and have always liked the supernatural ones, thinking they are lots of fun only because it's FICTION. Plus there's nothing more cathartic that spending an hour with a girlfriend, playing doubles on House of Dead III, popping off a bunch of zombies and monsters, while working up adrenaline and sweat. My idea of a good time for sure. And yet...

One time, I parked my car at Home Depot, here in Ahwatukee, and saw a bunch of people gathered around someone. When I got out of my car, I could hear screaming. Freaking out, I went over to the collective and saw this large guy standing on the long hair of his girlfriend or wife while she is laying on the dirty, hot ground screaming for him to get off. No one moved a muscle. Boy, was I on fire! Seething with fury, I yelled out into the crowd, "Well is anyone going to do something or are you all just going to stand here and watch?!" I just didn't get it. Luckily for Mr. tough pants, I was a petite female, or I would have gone over and busted his chops. My voice broke the crowd out of a stupor (a few were eating popcorn with eyes the size of saucers)and three guys broke away toward the couple. I then ran into the store to make sure an employee called the police. Fortunately, someone had a working brain because he had already done it.

Now, I'm no psychologist, but I understand the brain itself can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy, which is why we become desensitized to things that we see over and over. Too bad this doesn't work for me when the kitties jump on the kitchen counters over and over. (I have to keep refilling the water spray bottle.) There is an element of truth that repetition creates pathways in the brain that help us get used to a new habit or learn a new language or whatever. Our emotions can follow suit with this repetition, for instance, when we fall back into defense mechanisms that we created as children to deal with uncomfortable situations or pain. Survivors tell me all the time how they didn't even realize how bad the situation was until they finally got away. Some of them, unfortunately, fall in the "learned helplessness" that can lead to dangerous and lethal consequences.

As a community, it may be true that we are less sensitive to violence, but I believe that ignorance is a lot more dangerous because people still know in their hearts what is right and wrong. They just don't see, hear, and feel until violence happens to them or someone they love. I suppose it's an unfortunately result of the human condition.

University of California: Experiments with violent films
Video Games and desensitization to violence

Flu and News bites

It's pretty rare that it happens, but this year was my turn to get hit with the nasty strain of flu virus. Normally, I feel bad for a day and then it's back on my feet after a dose of Airborne and early bedtime. Not this time! With a triple digit fever that dragged on for 8 days and the lovely voice of Tom Waits, I finally went to the doctor and had some blood work done. Fortunately, there was no secondary infection, just a very low white blood cell count indicating a viral infection. So, upon doctor's orders, I had to stay home and miss two of my Bravery promotions at the Vagina Monologues at ASU Polytech and CGCC this weekend. Actually, I had to cancel all my appointments for the past week and a half, and to those of you who were expecting me, I do apologize. The good news is that the fever hasn't returned and the cough is slowly going away and I will be back among the living next week. Appointments are really picking up for the project, so it's time to get the wheels rolling again.

I am always looking to improve the blog, so I've added a news feature that gets updated in real time. This is quite interesting because there are two topics: domestic violence and art updates. These are news stories from across the nation and around the world. If you are interested in learning about latest stats on domestic violence of changes in the law, the articles will pull the latest information. If you want to know what is going in the art world, click on the word "art" and read the newest updates in the art industry. This news feature brings updates everyday, so if you are interested, visit the blog frequently.

I have also added some movies that might be of interest. Tim and I enjoy movies that are unusual and thought provoking, so I will keep an updated link list to share.

I am welcome to suggestions on making this blog useful, so feel free to offer feedback on what you would like to see here.