Look Us in the Eye: Review by Carol Harada, Frameline

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Cynthia Rich, Mannie Garza and Janice Keaffaber, founders of the Old Women’s Project in San Diego, rage against ageism with creativity and wit. Jennifer Abod’s Look Us in the Eye: The Old Women’s Project offers an engaging look at these outspoken women who give voice to the voiceless.

“Old Women’s Project acts like an old woman. It’s funny. It’s wise. It’s got gravitas. But it’s also got levity,” beams one younger activist aspiring to be old and bold like the change-making trio. Rich, Garza and Keaffaber build on what they’ve learned from anti-ageism author and activist Barbara MacDonald to make visible the socioeconomic and political issues that touch the lives of old women – and us all. Old Women’s Project smartly allies itself with several single-issue movements, accompanied on their inventive actions by a giant old woman puppet named POWER (Pissed Old Woman Engaged in Revolution) and wearing t-shirts that declare, “Old Women Are Your Future.”

Only in the Castro celebrates local treasure Trevor Hailey, who has shared LGBT living history with thousands of people over the years through her Cruisin’ the Castro walking tours. She is a woman who literally walks her talk to demystify LGBT lives.

Starting the program on a musical note, Ma Rainey’s Lesbian Licks is a contemporary cover of a 1928 song written and performed by the early blues legend, with explicitly lesbian content.

Carol Harada, Frameline