Fighting for Truth

Below is an article I wrote for the Women's Worldwide Initiative Website. Thought I'd post it here for others to read. Just a bit of what I'm doing and a revelation for me viewing an older documentary called "Berkeley in the Sixties"

UNKNOWN HEROES

I am knee deep into the Sixties era at this time, busy filming what we call in the biz a sizzle reel. It’s not exactly a trailer for a film because the film hasn’t been made, but it’s a preview of what the script/story is all about when trying to get backers interested in funding production for one’s screenplay. It has been an amazing journey which began when I finished writing a full-fledged feature film screenplay titled “How I Survived the Sixties.” It’s like having a fifth child since I have officially been done raising my own four kids about 3 years ago. I have nurtured and mothered this project and embraced how the process is a rewarding and demanding learning experience.

To be inspired and jog my memory, I have watched documentaries on Sixties icons, for example, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and have viewed a couple exclusively about hippies and what the decade produced in the way of historical value. I lived as a hippie myself in the Sixties, I was very young, and had encounters with quite a few of the iconic individuals like Timothy Leary, best remembered for their contribution to the hippie sub-culture. Fast forward to the present where I’m a student now working on a BA in Performance Arts through the LEAP(liberal education for arts professionals)program at St. Marys’ College, exclusively designed for ex- and current professional dancers. I hope to graduate next year and I am now in the midst of beginning my senior project. I’m required to make dance the focal point of the project so I decided to do a documentary on “Drums and Dancing: The Eternal Rhythm.” I have always been in love with dancing to drums, be it a samba beat, Tahitian dancing, or a drum circle at a sixties Love-In. I read a few books exploring similar ideas of the importance of moving to a beat in unison and how it can create community. I also find the idea of our heartbeat as something we move to everyday and a rhythm unto itself which is constant and a strong part of the equation.

The derivation of so many styles of dances with drumming has also fascinated me. From the clearly sensual style of the Tahitian dances and drums to the spiritually based American Indian ceremonies with the familiar drumming, dancing and vocal chanting, I would be moved by the various styles of drumming. But as I was looking more into the Hippie Sub-Culture and how the drums were always a part of any gathering, I fell upon a documentary, “Berkeley in the Sixties”, my eyes were opened to something I have always taken for granted. I lived in the Bay area two years ago and walked the campus of UC Berkeley and never gave it a thought that this is where so many of the demonstrations took place in the sixties that altered our government, society and how we interact with people today. This documentary had interviews with many of the people that were an integral part of these demonstrations. They gave the viewer a front row glimpse of what made them act as they did. We are talking about major topics such as freedom of speech, civil rights, anti-war(Viet Nam) movements and women’s liberation. These were monumental issues that had to be addressed and fought for by these young students.

More often than not, these brilliant and brave young men and women put their lives on the line to fight injustice when they were told they couldn’t speak out on current issues on campus. They were dragged away by policemen, the women as well as men, when they would have sit-ins opposing absurd policies forced upon them. They were sprayed with tear gas at peaceful assemblies. They walked the streets in Oakland to fight for equality with their black brothers and sisters, so they may have better jobs and equal pay. They demanded that the government stop the war in Viet-Nam that only produced coffins coming home with the fallen soldiers that cursed President Johnson for his ridiculous justification putting their country in a war that made no sense.

Towards the end of the sixties, the climax of a turbulent time, birth was given to one of the most important movements to us known as the women’s movement. Here were all the females of the species fighting along the men towards better human equality for the blacks so why shouldn’t they also have the same equality for themselves? It wasn’t long before feminism took off and there was no looking back with more women in positions of power now than ever before. It’s not over yet, our fight to gain the respect of our male counterparts still exists, but it’s getting better. I wanted to bring attention to these unsung heroes. These young students, well-educated men and women, who had to fight for rights we take for granted. There is no one famous or notorious that we could name right away who rose above the others, maybe Gloria Steinem or Huey P. Newton of the Black Panthers, but these people did make a better world for us all. Sometimes violently but most non-violently, trying to immolate Martin Luther King at the time. I was really touched by this documentary “Berkeley in the Sixties” and wanted to share what I gleaned from a historically rich time, even though I lived some of it myself ,up close and personal, in retrospect I have so much more admiration now for these unknown heroes.

Since I live in Hollywood now, or very close, I attend quite a few screenings of films that are still being made that put the female continually as a sex object, a mother who only has the title as so-and-so’s mother, or worse the aged grandmother that ends up some kind of cliché. Grandmothers have changed, big time. I have four grandchildren; I don’t look like a grandmother, at least not the Hollywood kind, so times they are a changing. And I want to be one of those that alters the perception older women aren’t interesting or have anything to offer. I think Betty White and Cloris Leachman are my heroes. But that’s another article all together.

The generation in college now will look back at what my generation had to endure and they won’t believe what they read or hear. I have such a strong belief that many of the young men and women today, who may not have to attend sit-ins or demonstrations to make things better, will know how to stand up against any tyranny and make policies that are meant for society to function with integrity, decency and a more humane way of treating one another.

I have a suggestion, that instead of paying money next time for some horror or violent movie, try seeing a documentary(Netflix,library, small theaters) that can educate and blow your mind in a way that no fictional feature film can. I get the sense sometimes people behave badly because some big movie star performs as a not so good character, it rationalizes the bad behavior and makes it okay. It’s not okay to kill, it’s not okay to demean one another and it’s not okay to sleep around. But then again, it sells tickets and that’s what Hollywood is all about. Money. That being the case, I am beginning to look at the art of film making as a business more and more. But I refuse to compromise my beliefs.

I wanted to give you a little taste of what I’m doing and now that you’ve had a small peak into what I’m about, I will attempt to write more of what you want to know about Hollywood. Questions anyone?

(Pilar Walsh is a student, actor, producer, writer, film-maker, singer and ex-dancer. She has four grown children who grew up with our fearless leader Uraidah in Texas. You can read about her current film project at her website www.soulucetfilms.vpweb.com. Or become a friend on Facebook. Email: pilarsings@yah