You can purchase tickets for the I Love Here Ball at http://ilovehereball.eventbrite.com/. I would love to attend the ball, but unfortunately won’t be able to. I would however love to hear about the experience those of you who are able to attend have, if you’d like to send in an email afterward.

June 22, 2010 | Categories: I Live Here, I Love Here Ball | 2 Comments | News Archive

The president of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, has issued an unconditional pardon for for Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33,

Both men had been sentenced to fourteen years in prison, the maximum penalty for their “marriage” ceremony.

The pardon is a step in the right direction toward equal rights for all men and women in Malawi, as dictated by their Constitution.

The President issued the following statement:

“These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws; however, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions… I have done this on humanitarian grounds but this does not mean that I support this.”

While the act of a pardon is invigorating, the president’s statement confuses and leaves many unanswered questions.
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May 31, 2010 | Categories: I Live Here | 0 Comments | News Archive

Steven Monjenza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga united their love and lives last December in a traditional Malawian engagement ceremony. Now, less than six months later, the two men are facing a possible 14-year sentence in prison doing hard labor. Gay marriage is illegal in Malawi and the two men have been charged under Malawi colonial-era sodomy laws. Their fate will be decided on Tuesday, May 18, 2010.

The L Word star Mia Kirshner was in Malawi when it all went down and took note firsthand at how inhumanely the situation played out in the media across the globe. Of that fateful day and the events following, she says. “I was in Malawi when they were married. Pretty wild, huh? So I was witness. We were getting tested for Malaria or something crazy like that and I could see the front pages of the nation’s and other newspapers – sort of reporting what had happened. It was almost like reading a comic book account of these two men being arrested because they were having a commitment ceremony according to Malawian custom. Two days later, they were arrested. ”
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May 18, 2010 | Categories: I Live Here, Interviews | 0 Comments | News Archive

My name is Mia Kirshner and I am the director of I Live Here Projects. The aim of our organization is to provide urgent care to communities that have slipped through the cracks. Our first project is in Kachere Juvenile Prison in Malawi, where we are forming a full-time school, permaculture garden project and legal rights. These children had slipped through the cracks when we first arrived in Kachere.

That is not what this piece is about.

I am writing about an issue that I can no longer keep quiet about.

While I was in Malawi in December, Malawi’s first gay couple got married in a public commitment ceremony. Their names are Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza. I read the headlines detailing their wedding and sardonic commentary of the journalists writing the pieces. Two days after they married, they were met with both public cheers and humiliation. They now face over a decade of hard labor in a Malawian prison for their actions.
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May 15, 2010 | Categories: I Live Here, Miscellaneous, News & Gossip | 0 Comments | News Archive

Many of us are familiar with Mia Kirshner from her roles in films such as Exotica, Not Another Teen Movie, and Black Dahlia, and TV series such as The L Word and Vampire Diaries.

But let’s take a second look at this actress and give her the praise she deserves as an activist and a writer. Kirshner recently completed a book called Intimacy. Each page is handmade and crafted, using photographs taken by the actress at an L Word Convention in Liverpool. A love story between two women, the limited edition book sold out surprisingly quickly.

Kirshner’s first book I Live Here (2008) left many enthralled by her artistically creative documentation of raw, unheard stories from around the world. By capturing these emotions with journal entries, comic strips, and drawings, Kirshner evoked a strong intimate connection between these women and children, and her readers. And this is not the end; I Live Here has become more than just a book, but an organization with plans to further extend and grow. For more information on this organization and how you can help, please check out the website.
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March 04, 2010 | Categories: I Live Here | 0 Comments | News Archive

I had the pleasure of meeting Mia Kirshner on Saturday, Aug 22. She was hosting a fundraiser for her charity, I-live-here.

It was a wonderful event for a great cause.

Mia Kirshner is an actress who starred in Showtime’s, “The L Word” for six years. She has been in numerous films and TV movies. Not only is she a brilliant actress, but a devoted humanitarian as well. She is very passionate about the work she is doing, which I find very admirable.

I-live-here is a book that she started about eight years ago. It’s a paper documentary about heart wrenching stories from four areas in the world that are having big problems. Chechnya, (is in midst of a war) Burma (ethnic cleansing), Mexico (globalization) and Malawi (AIDS). The book (which is four books inside a hard cover book that folds up) is told from the people in these countries. It’s their stories, and Mia and her team are bringing this to our attention. The things that are going on over there, shouldn’t be.

Right now there is a Humanitarian Emergency situation in Malawi. Conditions have worsened since Mia was last there a few years ago. Most people probably don’t even know this is going on…..
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August 28, 2009 | Categories: I Live Here, Public Appearances | 0 Comments | News Archive

Who killed Jenny Schecter? A mere five months ago, that was the burning question on lesbian lips in living rooms and local bars from Los Angeles to Little Falls, New Jersey.

Mia Kirshner (Miss Conception, The Black Dahlia, 24) — the astonishing actor who played Jenny, and managed to find the humanity in a character known for uttering, “Adele, the appliqué on the back of your jeans was declared an abomination by the Geneva Convention,” and other psychotic bon mots — is in fact a thoughtful woman who’d rather spend time with her friends than bask in the spotlight of Hollywood.

After a record six years as Showtime’s longest running original series, The L Word finally ended in March, putting our love-to-hate relationship with Jenny Schecter to rest, not to mention relieving us of those annoying alliterations.

What many people don’t know is, all that time, Mia was also focused on humanitarian issues, and in October, 2008, she published her first book, I Live Here, a collection of “visually stunning” narratives told through journals, stories and images, by refugees and displaced people from around the world.
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August 20, 2009 | Categories: I Live Here, Interviews, The L Word | 0 Comments | News Archive

Visit causecast.org for more information.

Thanks to Holly for the link.

August 18, 2009 | Categories: I Live Here, Interviews, Media Alerts | 0 Comments | News Archive

The Jewish people have a long history of persecution and victimization. Our sufferings as a people have undeniably shaped who we are as individuals and as a people today. Throughout the world, people are still being silenced and exterminated, just as millions of us were in Europe 65 years ago. Just as we begged the world to help, so are our brethren the world over. There is no better time to fulfill our promise of “never again” and our biblical duties as God’s caretakers of the world. Although there were those who came to our aid, it is acknowledged that not enough was done to save the 6 million Jews that perished in the Holocaust, just as we did not do enough in Rwanda when that genocide erupted.

Everyone now knows about the atrocities committed in the Holocaust, because Jews have dedicated themselves to educating others about the horrors of the concentration camps and sharing stories of our suffering. Other stories of atrocities and disasters affecting millions of impoverished people the world over are less frequently told, but those individuals are no less deserving of justice.
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June 03, 2009 | Categories: I Live Here | 0 Comments | News Archive

This event was originally scheduled for tomorrow (April 22), but it’s been postponed until June 11, so now there’s time for you guys to make some plans if you’d like to attend. Thanks to Susan for the info.

Press Release from opusa.org:

Actress/author Mia Kirshner (THE L WORD, THE BLACK DAHLIA) and author James MacKinnon have joined forces with international relief agency Operation USA to bring creative writing field projects inspired by their acclaimed book, I Live Here to communities in need around the world. The program will launch in Malawi, Africa, with Kirshner and MacKinnon returning to work in the Kachere Juvenile Centre in Lilongwe, the boys prison documented in the 2008 book.

Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an HIV/AIDS rate of nearly twenty percent. I LIVE HERE is a creative writing, literacy and livelihood program that will work inside the Kachere Juvenile Centre – working to bring hope to children that have little reason to think their lives can improve.

“When visiting the youth prison in Lilongwe, I saw the extreme conditions that these kids live in. I saw that they are rapidly slipping through the cracks. What I saw is a cruel reality and gruesome future. One inmate wrote, “My goodness is my wisdom, is my strength is my future.” The impact of this leaves me no option but to do everything I can to help change the extremities that these children live under,” said Mia Kirshner.
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April 21, 2009 | Categories: Gallery Updates, I Live Here, Public Appearances | 2 Comments | News Archive