Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Feminist publication slated for release in March


make/shift is about to launch in North America. "We know feminism isn’t dead, and we know it’s not all about 'women.'"

Issue one from the collective in LA wil feature articles and poetry, namely a piece called "Letters from beirut." They should totally talk to my friend Maria. Also: "Revolutionary housekeepers, the shape of water, bad dads, prime-time ugly..."

It's on bitches, it's on. (the revolution I mean, let me just go grab my Labrys).


They're also seeking submissions in:

—investigative journalism
—photojournalism
—critical essays
—personal essays
—profiles of feminists activists, artists, projects, and thinkers
—fiction and poetry
—art and photography
—book, music, film, art, and event reviews
—hybrid pieces

Send pitches or full-draft submissions to info@makeshiftmag.com. Email them.




Once upon a time, a long time ago, Jane Fonda was dispised by the media...

Jane Fonda

Hanoi Jane rallied some tens of thousands of peace demonstrators at National Mall in Washington this past Saturday, in support of the demand for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The media used to hate her. A lot of people still do because of a perceived betrayal in the Vietnam War in the '70s. Especially Danny Bonaduce.


Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. She is credited with publicly exposing Richard Nixon's potential strategy of bombing the dikes in Vietnam. At the time, she was called a liar by United Nations ambassador George H. W. Bush.

Monday, January 29, 2007

The word on the street is...

Um. In case you hadn't heard, Shane's back.



Saturday, January 27, 2007

Pinks unite

Pink is in Montreal on Jan 31 2007, opening for JT at the B-hell centre. Wonder where she's staying at... maybe her g-friend's pad?


Tuesday, January 23, 2007

New York Times tries to 'Desaint-ify' Angelina Jolie

This story is ludicrous. The tracking, hunting and breeding of celebrity bad girls continues. "Let this be a lesson to you Jezebels and Mary Magdalene's out there" they seem to be saying. Funnily enough, Courtney Love is becoming a real human again, getting her nose back to its original state and deflating her collegen-pumped lips. See, if you hawk her and taunt her enough, the celebrity bad girl repents!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Little Sisters Bookstore got served


In an article from the CBC today, Little Sisters Bookstore in Vancouver will not be able to bill the Government of Canada for its $2 million-dollar debt for discriminatory, homophobic bans on its incoming merchandise. Although the Supreme Court, in 2000, ruled the actions of the customs officers to be "oppressive and dismissive," it still upheld the rights of Customs Canada guards to ban material from entering the country. The decision comes on the not-so-surprising heels of a new Conservative decision to put the axe through a special fund Pierre Trudeau had put into motion to allow minorities and marginalized groups to pay for court fees and fight for their rights.

In the late 90s, the Little Sisters Bookstore had their merchandise (like the Advocate, Pat Califia's Public Sex) stopped and held at the Canadian-American border. A couple of customs officers, arbitrarily, deemed the material offensive. Full history available here.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Aishwarya Rai saved from spinsterhood



Rai, former Miss World and reportedly the "most beautiful woman in the world," has finally been "plucked from the shelf!"

Unfortunately, Rai is not only 33 years old (i.e. "it's not cold in here you're just dying") but she has the audacity of being born under inauspicious sun/moon arrangement. Shameful!

Good luck to her, having a successfull Bollywood career and being friends with Oprah isn't enough these days... the star alignment in her chart says she runs the risk of ruining her husband's career. And that my friends, is a career-killer. Just ask Cameron and Justin. It's OK to fuck with your own life, but don't go blowing out the candles on yer man's b-day/career cake.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

I majored in Cyberfeminism with a minor in American Myth

source

Photo Source

Young America's Foundation published a list of naughty courses taught at various universities and colleges in the States. Chiefly researched to chastise the underlying Liberal conspiracy they believe school are corrupted with, they pretty much did the dirty work of finding them so i didn't have to. On the offending syllabi were courses like:


11 - Duke University’s
American Dreams/American Realities course seeks to unearth “such myths as ‘rags to riches,’ ‘beacon to the world,’ and the ‘frontier,’ in defining the American character.”

13 - UC-Berkeley’s
Sex Change City: Theorizing History in Genderqueer San Francisco explores “implications of U.S. imperialism and colonization for the construction of gender in 19th-century San Francisco’s multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic” community. The course also covers “contemporary transgender, queer, genderqueer, and post-queer cultural production and politics” and “the regulation of gender-variant practices in public space by San Francisco’s Anglo-European elites.”

14 - Cornell University’s Sex, Rugs, Salt, & Coal asks students to ponder the questions: Why are “oriental” rugs collector’s items? How did we come to keep salt shakers on our dinner tables? When did coal start replacing wood as a fuel source?

15 - Hollins University’s
Drag: Theories of Transgenderism and Performance analyzes historical, theoretical, and autobiographical perspectives on drag, including transgenderism and performance in non-Western cultures.

Yes I think the Liberals do have an agenda. The kind of agenda that makes snotty white Republicans realize their privilege. The kind that expands minds and makes people become critically aware of their roles as actors on the social, political and economic scene.
The kind that accepts and embraces diversity, dudes.

Full list available
here.

Unmarried women under attack?


Feminism is now dead, (According to some dude at the Calgary Sun).

Friday, January 12, 2007

XFM DJ calls for more chicks on British radio


"[The radio industry] needs more of us. Get Chris Moyles a womb. And if we can't have more women then we need more sex changes, an obligatory sex swap. Transgender FM?"
—Lauren Laverne, to The Guardian UK.

The morning show host and ex-member of rock band Kenickie is calling on the radio industry to make changes so that sexism doesn't prevail in stations across the country. She says not only is there a dearth of women, she adds that she is constantly being called "darling," told she doing just a super job and isn't that remarkable?! She's asked if her "breast get in the way," or even about her clothes.

MORE LADIES!

Beefeater: now with a lady face to tickle


The Washington Times is reporting that a woman named Moira Cameron will soon be a beafeater. As well as guarding the Crown Jewels, the Beefeaters guard the Tower of London and any prisoners there. You must be a retired member of the British armed forces, and to be eligible, have been retired for 22 years. The Beefeaters started in 1485—It only took 522 years for the ladies to become makeshift tour guides!

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Myriam Bédard: Witchhunt?


Bédard and Mazhari leaving the Quebec City courthouse on Jan. 5 1007. Photo source

We finally have our own Canadian example! There was Martha Stewart, Courtney Love... all were very publically shamed for their "crimes." Why is Bédard getting in so much shit for taking her daughter a little bit longer than she was allowed to in her custody agreement? Is it that she testified against her bosses at Via Rail for the sponsorship scandal? Is it her husband Nima Mazhari's bizarre political affiliations? What about Michael Richards or Mel Gibson? Seems the public forgot about those guys' transgressions pretty fast...

What's more, shouldn't custody matters be private?! Thank God she's finally out. Her child abduction trial is set for this April 2.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

'Thanks Oprah:' Nelson Mandela and over a hundred South African girls


photo source: columbian.com

Oprah Winfrey continued with her humanitarian quest to change the world today, as she presented the new school she spent 40-million dollars USD to build for 152 lucky South African girls.

Winfrey said this wasn't a mere accidental donation--unlike her "everybody-in-the-audience-wins... " announcements during her daily talk show.

"This is the fulfilment of a lifetime destiny for me," Winfrey said during the opening gala.

The gala was attended by anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, Mary J. Blige and Sidney Poitier, among others. All the guests were asked to bring books to contribute to the library!

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, South Africa will eventually invite 450 students to join.

She also mentioned that it was important for the young women to be surrounded by beauty, reminding the audience that the public South African schools are surrounded by gang violence and its cities and towns plagued by HIV/AIDS.

It is therefore TOTALLY befiting to have 28 building filled with laboratories, computers, a library with fireplace, a 600-seat auditorium theatre, a wellness centre and a beauty salon.

"These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire," she told Newsweek.

Oprah for (U.S.) President!

Ruth Bernhard dies at age 101

Ruth Bernhard died this past December 18, 2006 at her home in San Francisco. She was 101.

Bernhard was known for her nudey photography/lesbianism. Oh Ruthy!


Classic Torso, 1952, and Two Forms, 1963 (left).


Monday, January 1, 2007

Dear old Dorthy Arzner

Today, film director Dorothy Arzner, would have been 107 years old. She was the Rose Troche of her time, the only openly lesbo director in the Hollywood of the 1930s-40s. It's playing with the big boys that impresses me, the 40s were a good time to be a lady if you were blonde, bouncy--usually women didn't get to have "real" professions.
Directing Kathleen Hepburn in Christopher Strong, her character started out as a self-assured single young lady pilot, but succumbed to suicide for the man she loved.

On a lighter note, this film was my favourite. Her real-life lover choreographed the dances.