Fake Out: Played the role of Vinnie the Tampon Case distributor for the final semester of his senior year in high school in NYC. Handed out FREE tampon cases every Friday around the city with his VTC CREW.
I had recently completed my five year commitment of wearing my uniform every day and handing cases out for free on the streets and subways of NYC, but the fan mail kept pouring in, so it was a shame that ‘Vinnie’ no longer had a public presence. When I explained this to Nora she said without hesitation that she could get a replacement Vinnie. Not a week later she walked into my office with a tall, strapping, long haired high school senior who was excited to be ‘Vinnie’. Enter V2 (Lucas).
We did a few test videos with Lucas dressed as Vinnie handing out cases in Union Square and it was immediately clear that he had the chops. He had a perfect balance of confidence and a wacky sense of humor. He’d fearlessly approach everyone and anyone with his entertaining patter about Vinnie’s Tampon Cases, including cops, always respectful of the project and of the people he encountered.
Nora agreed to be in charge of Lucas (renamed V2 around the office) as well as the VTC project for the second semester of her senior year, when her school offers students the chance to work full time for a project outside of the school. Nora organized all of V2’s activities, including book signings, answering fan mail, and tampon case give-aways around the city. Before long Nora and V2 had a VTC crew that ‘rolled’ together around the city giving out cases and stickers. V2 played the role of Vinnie into the summer, until he and Nora went off to college.
One of his students, a senior named Nora was already a fan of Vinnie’s Tampon Cases ever since her older sister gave her one when she was 14, and once she found out that her science teacher was the brother of ‘Vinnie’ she got in touch with me asking to volunteer for the VTC project. (Nora in action, right)
