SOLDIERS PERIOD, a short by Patricia Lee Stotter and Marcia Rock, is a response by women veterans to the claim that they can’t serve in elite combat forces because of PMS. The comments to which the women responded were quoted in a report, “Considerations for Integrating Women into Closed Occupations in the U.S. Special Operations,” written by the Rand National Defense Research Institute and included extensive interviews with Special Operations men on this topic.

From athletes at the Olympics to these women warriors, women are going public about menstruation. The rawness of the women’s responses reveals the misogynist nonsense they confronted while serving. Their responses were not scripted.

Rock’s earlier work includes Her other credits include, Village Writers: the Bohemian Legacy (1990), Reynolds Price: a Writer’s Inheritance (1989) and The Singing Angels in China (1983) that won a Cleveland Emmy.

Today is publication day for a wonderful new book, STEPDOG, by Nicole Galland.  And here’s the trailer I did for her:

What’s the difference between puppy love and dogged devotion? Sara and Rory are the happiest of newlyweds – except for Sara’s over-attachment to (and perhaps Rory’s jealousy of) her dog from a previous relationship. This “blended family” story takes off – literally – when Sara’s ex kidnaps the dog and Rory embarks on a cross-country odyssey to save it for Sara.

http://nicolegalland.net/

http://www.harpercollins.com/9780062369482/stepdog

From the deserts of Afghanistan to rural Tennessee, from Iraq to New York City, we watch these women wrestle with prosthetics, homelessness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Military Sexual Trauma. The documentary is told through their voices as they speak from their kitchens, bedrooms, grocery stores and therapy sessions.

Screening for House Veterans Affairs’ Committee

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM on Nov. 19, 2015

in the Cannon House Office Bldg, Room 334.

Please attend.  Open to the public

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Navajo warriors have served proudly and bravely, from the Code talkers in WWII, to the rangers in Viet Nam, to the many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Their dedication and courage in battle does not protect them from Post Traumatic Stress when they return home. Strong women, traditional healing combined with western therapy has brought many back to a new normal.

 

NOVEMBER 2015 Warriors Return will be carried by World Channel on NOVEMBER 9th at 8pm.  Check your local schedule for channel #

http://worldchannel.org/programs/collection/ov-native-american-nations/

and http://worldchannel.org/schedule/windowed/2015-11-09/

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November 2014: warriorsreturnthefilm.com.

COMMENTS FROM CHINLE, AZ AFTER NOV 6 AIRDATE:

Very moving and touching.
Is the leak in the ceiling of your mom’s house still there? (Yes. The whole top roof has to be replaced. No funds to accomplish that. VA is very aware of it and no one seems to really want to deal with it.)
Love the scenery.
Cannot believe it’s being televised throughout the country. How did a professor, Director, from NYU find you?
Can other Native tribes get involve in documentary similar to this?
Special attention on our young men/women veterans needs to happen soon before something bad happens to them.
Vets don’t need money; they need professional psychological help.
Can the documentary be purchased?
More focus needs to be on young war vets from Iraq and Afghanistan conflict.

 

The natural forming salt lagoon in has provided income for the local women for over three hundred years.  A sound track by Patty Stotter, traditional work songs and a song written by Ghanaian musicians, join with the vivid imagery by Marcia Rock.  The result is a glimpse into the heart of the women’s daily lives revealing their dignity and determination.

An intimate view of marriage, divorce, and how adult love is shaped by what a child learns at home.  Rock combines self-analysis and dynastic saga as she traces her family demons from a tiny Jewish community in Slovakia, to the immigrant neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio during the early 20th Century. In the process she finally learns to dance with her father and not around him.