The Fairy Princess has been closely watching election coverage – and who has not?
She is firmly Team Biden, and she does not believe the charges launched by Tara Reade. There are many, many holes in the story and, it keeps changing daily. Having been the victim of sexual assault herself, which thank goodness, did not extend to rape, but was assault, and having known, very sadly, many women and men who have been raped and who have shared with TFP, she does not find Tara Reade credible.
TFP does not blanket #BelieveEveryone – that is just not feasible.
People lie.
The current resident of the White House lies. People lie – and those of us who need to make a judgment call, need to do just that – sift though the information and come to a decision they can live with.
You are free to believe what you like – although we have a guy in charge of the country that only believes what he likes, and guess what? We also have over 90K dead in the United States.
Again, you are free to believe as you like, but TFP is a huge fan of learning and science and doctors and nurses – so she will be over here with the experts in the field, and you can be over THERE, possibly on a ventilator, choosing to not believe science.
It is a relatively free country – if only in thought.
Next up, she looked across the pond, as it were, and she noticed her now “Brother from Another Mother“, Daniel F. York Loh is running for Actors Equity UK.
While she has no ‘vested interest’ in Equity UK, let TFP remind the British East Asians and others, that the concept of British East Asians has broadened under Daniel’s watch. In point of fact – the reason the Royal Shakespeare Company was so notably trounced by yours truly is because of Daniel F. York Loh.
If Daniel had not contacted TFP asking for help from the States, TFP would likely not have heard in time to help. That she was able to write something that sparked some movement, and then some more – is due to Daniel F. York Loh, Playwright, Actor, Activist.
He has been a leader in so many ways, and also, a coalition builder. He is always first into the fight, and he brings pragmatism as well as knowledge.
If TFP were in Equity UK, she would vote for Daniel F. York Loh.
He has integrity, and follow through – and that is what is called for when change needs to happen.
Speaking of change needing to happen, Actors Equity Association USA, has mailed out the ballots for their Council Elections and TFP is staring at it right now, next to her.
This is not a post to tell you how TO vote – this is a post to tell you WHY TFP is voting for the people she is voting for. She has gotten text messages and emails that have been private queries, and she sees no reason to not share the whys and wherefores of her voting.
First up, she is going to vote for Kate Shindle to continue as President of AEA.
Ms. Shindle, for full disclosure, is someone TFP personally knows, however, that is not enough to get TFP‘s vote.
Ms. Shindle has been an active and vocal advocate for Actor’s Equity and it’s members pre-dating her Presidency. She served for three years as the Eastern VP of AEA, and has worked a variety of contracts – as well as having served as a negotiating member for the Production Contract three different times, in addition to being a Board Member for The Actors Fund and BC/EFA.
More to the point – Ms. Shindle has thrown the full weight of her office behind things that matter to Actors and Stage Managers – safety, job security, wage increase, more minority representation, caregiver support systems, and has worked for the implementation of those factors when dealing with contract re-negotiation with The Broadway League and the Off Broadway League.
TFP has watched her since she was the Eastern VP, constantly advocating for all of us within the Union – even as she was, for example, on the road in a National Tour.
As the Pandemic continues to decimate Broadway, Ms. Shindle has shown no fear and a cool head reassuring members, as well as taking Governor Cuomo to task for not including Broadway and the Arts when coming up with a plan to re-open the City.
She is fearless, and we need that – because the truth of the matter is – we do not know what we are coming back to.
Social distancing does not a theater experience make.
Drones to clean the theater are one way to do it, the other is – make sure that the woman who was in charge when the Union hired a health advocate to advise AEA Members and Theater Producers as to a post-Covid 19 existence because that is what Leaders do, gets to follow through on initiatives started on her watch.
Women who Lead have handled this pandemic the best across the world, we have one right here, running our Union, we need to support her and let her do her job – a job she has performed excellently at thus far.
Futhermore, the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL), agrees with TFP as to the need to see Ms. Shindle re-elected, as does the #FairWageOnCouncil candidates – these are all people actively working towards equality and representation for all AEA members.
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Remember if you in any way feel ‘betrayed’ by this, or push back against it – talking to you, “Robe” folks who protested the name change – just remember – if you have always had privilege, then equality feels like oppression.
If Women being in charge and People of Color having representation ‘scare you’ or make you feel like, “Just there is something I don’t trust….” or “but her emails…”
It is happening.
In Addition, TFP wants you to note, she is not blindly voting for someone else’s created platform, she is a firm believer in the need for Rashaan James II to be re-elected to his seat on the Council repping the Eastern division.
For Kim Huber in the Western Division and Wydetta Carter in the Central to be in their Councilor Seats.
TFP is hoping to see more POC and more Women run this Union.
TFP is being honest.
TFP is also going to support the #FairWageOnCouncil group because –
1. They helped get AEA Off Broadway Members a raise! A living wage!
2. They worked to get a broader sense of what America looks like and what the Acting/SM World looks like, and make sure to advocate for those voices to be represented and present.
3. They are always available when TFP has a question about their platform or their ongoing plan, and they hold weekly Friday zoom hang outs so they can hear from members and come up, Elizabeth Warren style, with ‘a plan for that’.
The Union is changing.
The World is Changing.
TFP wants people who do not fear change, but embrace it and make it their own.
If we want to see this Creative World where Actors and Stage Managers get to speak their truths without fear of Producer wrath, and where contract negotiations are of paramount importance, where annual wage increases are accepted, a place where more tours do not go Non-Union, which serves only the Producers, and not at all the Performers – then TFP really feels she has no other alternative, than to vote with the #FairWageOnCouncil.
This is the way TFP is voting.
This is not the way you have to vote.
It IS the way Spider-Man’s Aunt is voting…
Just sayin’…
Ok, ok, TFP actually apologies to this Oscar Winner, Marisa Tomei is brilliant on the stage and on the big screen.
If you want to know why TFP is a Union Person as well as a Union Member, well – she is a third generation Union Family.
Her Cousin, Mike Quill, founded the Transit Workers Union.
Her father, Kevin P. Quill, was a Labor Lawyer,
and finally…she is an… Actor with a Blog…
(her ancestors are particularly thrilled at this she imagines)
However, in the Unions she is a member of, she has served.
TFP has served as an AEA Deputy repeatedly, she was Vice Chair of the SAG AAPI SubCommittee and a member of the SAG EEOC Board for a number of years, and she helped renegotiate the Foreign Language Contract with SAG to be more inclusive of Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander languages.
But…again, what does she know?
You vote your way, just letting you know mine.
TFP out.
