All posts written by Stark Koenig

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• • Media Savvy
  • Race and Racism

  Moving Beyond To Kill a Mockingbird

  January 5, 2009 • Stark Koenig

  I don’t often watch a lot of TV directed toward youth, so I miss out on much of the advertising that is directed at young people. However, in recent months I caught an advertisement released by the Canadian Centre for Diversity.

  I feel a bit conflicted about bringing this up because clearly this is an organization that offers valuable resources, education and programs promoting equality, unity and confidence among diverse peoples, with special focus on empowering the youth of our country.

  However, I find the ad they have released a bit problematic. In it, a number of young adults claim each other’s identity in the name of promoting diversity.

  (more inside…)

• • Activist Report
  • Event Listings

  Fourteen Not Forgotten

  December 6, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  It’s been 19 years since a man walked into École Polytechnique and killed fourteen women, making a statement of hatred against women and against feminists. It’s easy to remember the name of someone who commits such an act, but not as easy always to remember the names of those who died.

  It’s also easy to forget that the attack was not just some crazy individual losing control, but a man acting in a context of institutionalized sexism. In his note, the gunman blamed feminists for ruining his life, and vowed to take them down with him. In the near twenty years that has passed since the Montreal Massacre, have Canadian society’s attitudes towards feminism and feminists changed for the better? Or the worse?

  (more inside…)

• • Playlist

  Invincible

  November 17, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  I know this is usually Anna‘s domain, but a few weeks ago some of the bloggers and readers here were having a conversation about women-friendly hip hop and I just wanted to add another name to the list of artists worth a listen.

  Based in New York and Detroit, MC Invincible drops some rhymes with some serious focus. In her work she talks about feminism, racism, social justice, homophobia, depression and more. And she puts her money where her mouth is, working with Detroit Summer, a collective directed towards transforming some of Detroit’s communities and neighborhoods through youth-led media projects, potlucks and actions.

  Check out her video for ‘Locusts’, which is equal parts music video and documentary film about the destruction of Detroit’s neighborhoods, and the communities that are fighting to put their city together again.

• • Race and Racism

  You know it’s bad when you can offend Fox News

  November 6, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  Ralph Nader said in a Fox News radio interview that Barack Obama has a choice, to be “Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or ‘Uncle Tom‘ for the giant corporations.”

  While I agree that along with our embrace of Obama as a force for change, we should remain, as always, critical and watchful of our leaders, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with the folks at Fox News that his choice of words is offensive and racist.

  Basically what it comes down to is this: US Presidents, governors, senators, and officials of all stripes have been at any number of times in league with corporations, for the good or the bad of the rest of the country. We should be aware of that sort of thing, even from the new hope. But no president before has been accused at those times of being an “Uncle Tom” or some other such racially charged term.

  I guess I expected better of the guy I was totally backing when he ran with Winona LaDuke against Bush the first time around.

• • Media Savvy
  • Queeriosities

  Anatomy’s grey area

  November 5, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  Anyone watching Grey’s Anatomy recently will have witnessed the budding romance between two of the female characters, Callie Torres (played by Sara Ramirez) and Erica Hahn (played by Brooke Smith). Beginning with some mild flirtation last season which culminated in a season-finale kiss that blew the lesbian fan base away (not to mention wooed back a few of those who had given up on the show after the whole Isaiah Washington F-word fiasco), the relationship between these two has begun to develop into something more akin to the other heterosexual relationships on the show: funny with a side of sexy.

  However, in a somewhat expected turn, things soon began to get questionable.

  (more inside…)

• • Media Savvy

  GASP! She has emotions!

  November 2, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  I have been an aficionado of crime procedurals on TV for at least a decade now, fed in recent years with a constant diet of CSI and Law & Order spinoffs, new young ensemble casts of model-icious criminal profilers, FBI missing persons investigators and cold case cops. What a smörgåsbord! I’m getting full.

  Thankfully, this season’s TV roster seems to have picked up on an emerging demand in the TV market for old school sci-fi/strange phenomenon dramas, à la The X-Files, perhaps due to the recent release of the second X-Files movie (so, it was a flop; they didn’t know that when they picked up the new shows!) or the recent seasons’, to my mind, inexplicable favouring of shows like The Ghost Whisperer. Whatever the reason, there are some new phenomenon shows that have piqued my interest, and one in particular: Fringe.

  (more inside…)

• • Media Savvy

  Don’t underestimate the hockey mom

  October 18, 2008 • Stark Koenig

  So now that the Canadian election has passed, I’m back to paying attention with a mixture of amusement and utter horror to the ongoing campaign trail south of the border. After the schmozzle that was the Primaries last year, the showdown between Obama and McCain seemed almost in the bag until the Republicans revealed their secret weapon in September: a 44-year-old former beauty queen and mayor and current hockey mom and governor.

  The entire continent laughed. Almost immediately the news and comedy media were enjoying a smörgåsbord of incredible material, from Palin’s inexperience to her belief that proximity to other countries constitutes intimate knowledge of foreign affairs. Parody shows such as Saturday Night Live didn’t even have to write their own jokes in; Palin herself provided enough ridiculous dialogue that, augmented by Tina Fey’s fortuitous similarity in looks to the governor, the sketches practically wrote themselves.

  (more inside…)

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