Thanks to Liz, our lovely ad sales manager, for spying a mention of “Making The Cut” in the March/April issue of Utne magazine (page 14).

“Making The Cut” was Zoe Cormier‘s excellent feature about labia surgery that ran in our Fall 2005 issue. She took a look at the disturbing new trend in plastic surgery and the women who feel pressured to have their labia trimmed. It’s a fascinating read, even Utne thought so!

If you missed it, you only have a few weeks to run to your nearest indie bookstore to pick up a copy. In March our Spring issue hits a newsstand near you.

This just in from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha:

Sick of the same-old same-old for IWD? Brownstargirl Productions and Toronto Womens Bookstore are bringing Mango Tribe to Toronto for International Womens Day 2006!

On International Womens Day, women and trans people have historically come together to celebrate more than nine decades of struggle for freedom, justice and peace. Browngirlworld 5 will feature performances by the exciting pan-Asian womens spoken word collective, Mango Tribe, in their first ever Toronto appearance, and Torontos own all-womens Taiko drumming group, Raging Asian Women.

Mango Tribe is an acclaimed 22-member pan-Asian/Pacific Islander womens spoken word, hiphop and theatre group. On Saturday March 4, 2006, theyll be performing in their first Toronto appearance as part of an expanded version of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinhas Browngirlworld women of color spoken word shows.

In 2003, Toronto-based spoken word artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha saw a gap in spoken word venues that were both queer/trans-friendly and welcoming to artists of color. Her Browngirlworld spoken word shows drew increasing crowds and media attention over the past two years. In 2006, Piepzna-Samarasinha and Toronto Womens Bookstore have joined forces to take the Browngirlworld shows to the next level, producing two large-scale queer of color spoken word events a year.

Founded in 2000 by artistic directors Anida Yoeu Esguerra and Emily Chang of I Was Born With Two Tongues, Mango Tribe is an Asian/Pacific Islander American (APIA) womens performance collective that voices the vibrant and multifaceted stories of APIA women. Fusing elements of poetry, hip-hop, theater, dance, video, and music, Mango Tribe uses performance to educate about violence in the lives of women of colour and to celebrate our fierce lives of struggle and resistance. Raging Asian Women, Torontos all-female taiko drumming group, will wake you up with their pounding beats.

The details:

Time: Saturday, March 4, 2006, doors 7:30 PM, show 8:00 PM
Location: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave, Toronto.
Price: $8-$20. Advance tickets are available at Toronto Womens Bookstore.
Fully wheelchair accessible and all-ages space; free childcare available.

Ever consider you might not be able to pick up that book that all your friends are raving about? Ever shake your head at the book burnings of the past? These things are still happening today, even in our own backyards.

The Book and Periodical Council’s Freedom of Expression Committee organizes Freedom to Read Week, “an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day. Free speech on the Internet is under attack. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read.”

You can get involved! There are numerous events taking place throughout the country, as well as opportunities for you to make a difference. Set up a local event, contact your local government, make people aware by speaking out loud about what isn’t being said!

Go to www.freedomtoread.ca to get more information on what’s happening and where. If you don’t speak out, who will?

Rebecca Traister has a great little report about Seventeen magazine Editor-In-Chief Atoosa Rubenstein on Broadsheet, Salon.com’s blog geared to women (in a feminist sort of way).

Apparently Rubenstein told Fashion Week Daily that she loves designer Bryan Bradley so much that “I feel like I want to start starving myself so I can wear those clothes now.”

I don’t think you can even pretend that editors of mainstream teen magazines have teenage girls’ best interests in mind when you read something like that.

After you pick your jaw up from the floor, head over to Broadsheet to read Traister’s story. Then write a letter to Seventeen, or something.

Seventeen
1440 Broadway, 13th floor
New York, NY 10018 USA

If you’re on the fence about whether or not Valentine’s Day is a corporate shill or a good excuse to tell the people in your life how you feel about them, here’s something that you can unequivocally endorse:

POWER Camp National, a Montreal based charity that works to make the world a better place for girls and young women, is selling e-cards for Valentine’s Day. For a minimum of $5, you can send someone special an empowering e-card and support an organization that works to empower Canadian girls. Cards are for sale here. You can learn about the good work POWER Camp National does here.