for our daughters

Yesterday I was interviewed for an upcoming film, For Our Daughters.  When the producer, Eric McKay, asked me to participate—I tried to get out of it!  I’ve never been in a film, and after watching the above clip with its reference to the matriarchy MYTH, I was pretty sure my opinion as a black feminist wouldn’t really be valued.  But Eric persisted, and I finally agreed, and the lovely Deloris McCullough offered us some space in the beautiful youth wing of the BPL’s central branch.  I seem to have this problem whenever the camera starts rolling—as soon as something leaves my mouth, I forget just what it is I’ve said!  This happened on the C-Span panel, and it has happened on other panels—either I blank out right in the middle of answering a question, or I answer it, leave the stage, and have no recollection of what I said.  Is it nerves?  Just another reason to stick to my notes!  I know Eric asked me to talk about colorism among teens, and somehow I started out talking about Genna and Wish, but wound up talking about my grandmother who could pass for white…I was all over the place, and we talked for more than an hour but only about 5 minutes will be used in the film!  I’m glad he’s going to be editing all that footage and not me!  I did talk about my wall of ancestor photos, and he asked me to send him a photograph for use in the film, along with photos of the places I’ve visited in my travels.  Should I include a shot of me pony-trekking in Wales?  Maybe not…