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The Contemporary Urgencies of Audre Lorde’s Legacy

March 3, 2013 • Ronak Ghorbani

This coming Thursday will launch a two-week long celebration of poet and activist Audre Lorde. There are free events happening across Toronto and at both York University and The University of Toronto. Check out the list of events below.

Community Arts Practice, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University in association with Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto Invite you to

THE CONTEMPORARY URGENCIES OF AUDRE LORDE’S LEGACY, MARCH 7-21, 2013

1) Medicines for Survival: Indigenous Knowledge and the Sacred: a lecture by M. Jacqui Alexander

DATE: Thursday March 7th

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 6 p.m.

http://www.utoronto.ca/ethnicstudies/fac_wgsi.html

2) Litanies for our Survival: Visual and Performative Conversations with Audre Lorde and inaugural exhibition in new Community Arts Practice Space

DATE: Thursday March 7th

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 283 and throughout the building, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 7:30 p.m.

3) Film screening, Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992 (directed by Dagmar Schultz)

Followed by panel discussion with Dagmar Schultz, Marion Kraft, Gloria Wekker, M. Jacqui Alexander, Carol Allain, Farrah Khan, Bonita Lawrence

DATE: Friday March 15th

PLACE: William Doo Auditorium, University of Toronto, 45 Willcocks Street

TIME: 6:30 p.m.

http://www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com/emails/orgs_english_short.html

4) What’s (Homo)Sexuality got to do with it? Lecture by Gloria Wekker, with responses from Anna Agathangelou and Jin Haritaworn, chaired by Ena Dua

DATE: Tuesday March 19th,

PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

TIME: 1 p.m.

5) “After the 9-5 in Audre’s Livingroom”

(An intimate, collaborative poetry marathon recite &r espond multidisciplinary hangout!)

presented by backforward collective

DATE: Thursday March 21st

PLACE: Whippersnapper Gallery, 594b Dundas St. West

TIME: 6 - 11 pm

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PLEASE ADVERTISE WIDELY.

CHECK OUT: https://www.facebook.com/events/563445090342037/

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: #audrelordeslegacy2013

YORK UNIVERSITY SPONSORS: Community Arts Practice, Office of the Dean; ACE and the Seminar Series in Equity and Diversity at FES; Faculty of Health; Centre for Feminist Research at York University and Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

YORK UNIVERSITY DIGITAL MAP: http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/KeeleMap.pdf

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SPONSORS: Women and Gender Studies; Principal’s Initiatives Fund at New College; Equity Studies; Caribbean Studies; Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education, OISE; Centre for the Study of the United States; Sexual Diversity Studies; Anti-Racism and Diversity; Status of Women; Cinema Studies; Canadian Studies

CONTACT:
anique.j.jordan@gmail.com
or
Honor Ford-Smith, PhD.
Associate Professor
Community and Environmental Arts
Faculty of Environmental Studies
280, HNES Bldg
York University
4700 Keele St,
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

phone: 416-736-2100 X22629
fax: 416-736-5679
LOL: Humour and Feminism

March 1, 2013 • deb singh

My acupuncturist said I needed to laugh a lot this past week, and I made a funny face at her—not funny-haha, but funny-“What the??” I made this face because I work at a rape crisis centre and it certainly has proved a challenge to laugh a lot there. Further, as an activist, most people have deemed me as too serious, over-political and of course, “can’t take a joke.” I love jokes. And I, myself, am a riot! But yes, I believe there is humour out there that doesn’t require putting certain folks down to be funny.

Even though my “funny” face was enough of an inspiration, I was also inspired to write a post this month about feminist humour because of a local comedy night called the Humourless Feminist Comedy Night. They put this night on for a few reasons, including:

Because humour can exist without rape jokes and some of Toronto’s best comedic talent is going to prove it! We know many people involved in feminism and fighting oppression are told that we take things ‘too seriously’, and often have our perspectives minimized with stereotypes, like that of the ‘Humourless Feminist’. We also know the value of creating alternative, safer spaces where communities can connect by challenging labels and gathering together.
(more inside…)
- Arts
- Film Reel
Hit So Hard

February 26, 2013 • Nish Israni

“Hit So Hard” is a compelling tale about Patty Schemel’s life and near death experience with substance abuse. Patty, the original drummer for the band Hole, gives us a personal recounting of her time in the spotlight, as well as what it was like for her coming out as a gay rockstar. The camera follows Patty and her band from modest beginnings to international fame. In the male-dominated, sexist music industry with the rock gods of the 1990s, Hole climbs the charts with a huge following of mostly young women, gay men and other queer folks.

(http://grungereport.net/?p=11412)

Hole’s rise to stardom leads them onto a path of the rock and roll lifestyle of so many of their generation. Fueled by addictions to drugs and booze, the members of the band lose themselves to many a lurid exchange yet try not to lose sight of the common goal, their music. Patty shares her experiences of being part of the legacy that Hole carved in music herstory. The documentary contains a montage of interviews and never-before-seen footage with lead singer Courtney Love, other members of the band, and other famous musicians of the time. In one conversation, Courtney explains the reasoning behind calling her band Hole. She refers to the phallic nature and imagery of the band Nine Inch Nails and exclaims how as a woman, she has a right to be cheeky and empowered enough to name her band “Hole.”

Patty expresses many frustrations around not being taken seriously as a musician. She experiences a lot of flak for being a woman and a drummer because those two identities apparently can’t co-exist. Patty’s talent as a drummer is constantly questioned due to gender stereotypes that depict women as delicate flowers, unable to keep up the strenuous duty of a drummer. Patty uses that same line of reasoning to challenge that idea, stating that some women have the stamina to give birth! (more inside…)
- Arts
- Event Listings
Centre for the Arts’ Film Camp for Teens Offers Comprehensive Training for Toronto Youth

February 21, 2013 • Julia Horel

For one productive and inspiring week this March Break in Toronto, Centre for the Arts will offer teens the opportunity to gain a firsthand look into the world of professional filmmaking through the Film Camp for Teens. Young filmmakers will train with some of Canada’s most respected talent during this 5-day intensive. Teens will participate in all aspects of filmmaking as they conceptualize, write, direct, act, light, shoot and edit their own short films. This March, Film Camp for Teens is celebrating its 21st camp.

With the rise and development of Canada’s film industry, and the recognition of its international success, filmmaking has become an increasingly popular and enticing option for students when exploring future career paths, both in front of the camera and behind. The unfortunate reality is that often they are unable to cultivate their skills or foster their talent because of a lack of financial resources. The Film Camp for Teens offers a training opportunity to all youth, regardless of income, though their Pay-What-You-Can and Sponsorship Programs. The camp also welcomes all young aspiring filmmakers regardless of experience.

Throughout the week, accomplished film professionals lead daily workshops in the various disciplines of filmmaking. Over the years an assortment of Genie, Gemini, DGC, ACTRA, and TIFF Award Recipients have participated, including; Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo), Saul Rubinek (Frasier), Judith Thompson (Lost and Delirious), Joan Hutton (President, CSC), Nicholas Campbell (DaVinci’s Inquest), George Bloomfield (Due South), Bill While (3DCC, WFW), TW Peacock (Heartland), Eleanore Lindo (Degrassi), Cal Coons (Murdoch Mysteries), Jerry Ciccoritti (King), Sudz Sutherland (Guns), Michael Grassi (Degrassi), Maury Chaykin (Less Than Kind), Duana Taha (Degrassi), Chris Fisher (Warehouse 13), Aaron Ashmore (Smallville) and many more.

These workshops are immediately followed by film shoots where the teens put learned creative and technical ideas into practical use. This hands-on training builds towards the successful completion of the teens’ final short films. On Friday afternoon, the films are showcased during a celebration and screening with family and friends. Each teen will take home a DVD copy of their films.

Film Camp for Teens operates with the assistance of individuals and companies such as William F. White, Trew Audio, Panavision, Stephenson’s Rental, Grace Foods, Sick Kids, Ghost FX, Pendulum Entertainment, Lee Weston Photography and many more.

The camp is produced by Sarain Boylan, Ashleigh Rains and Troy Miller.

Film Camp for Teens runs Monday, March 11th – Friday, March 15th from 10:00am - 5:30 pm at 918 Bathurst: Culture, Arts, Media and Education Centre (918 Bathurst St.)

Centre for the Arts also offers an August Film Camp for Teens.

The camp fee is $425 + HST, with Pay-What-You-Can and Sponsorship Spots available.

For more information, including pictures and videos from previous camps, please visit http://centreforthearts.com/film-camp-for-teens/

To either enroll or sponsor a teen, please email: info@centreforthearts.com
That’s Rockist! A racialized experience of listening to western rock music Part I

January 28, 2013 • Raisa Bhuiyan

flash photography (http://senkrada999.tumblr.com/)

Worn out leather jackets.

Black skinny pants.

Studded accessories.

Groupies. Lots of groupies.

Cowboy boots.

Unkempt hair.

Glamourous makeup.

Despair.

Joy.

Smashing guitars in hotel rooms and getting caught in Tokyo for trying to smuggle marijuana into Japan.

These terms and phrases reflect only some of the things that have come to inform the public imagination about what makes up the image of a rock star.

its not only rock and roll! (toxicomano @ flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/toxicomano666/)

While a careful and thoughtful analysis of pinpointing the precise social, economic and cultural factors for why rock music in the West suddenly became so pretentious deserves a completely different blog post altogether, I believe it can arguably be said that there are indeed certain elitist values, beliefs and stories that contemporary western rock music romanticizes and perpetuates.

Some of these stories include believing that western rock music is the only “pure” form of music out there since it doesn’t involve the use of manufactured, artificial, lip-synched or auto-tuned sounds like all the other music of today.

In this kind of story, there is the assumption that western rock music is far more superior in form and content because it is “more raw.” After all, the singers sing and write their own songs and heck, these artists must have toured dive bars for years, so they must be good because the people of dive bars really know good music!

Another story told about western rock music is that it is THE MUSIC of youth rebellion, despair and sadness.

You can’t really be as sad as you say you are if you haven’t listened to that infinite Cure playlist I made for you last week.

In my opinion, the most frustrating story told about western rock music is that if you don’t know and internalize everything there is to know about a particular band that you like (how they formed, what went into making each album, where they are now), then you’re not really a “good” or “true” fan. (more inside…)
- Arts
- Body Politics
Fatphobia For Art-Lovers

January 18, 2013 • Anne Thériault

I love Frida Kahlo. Love her. Love her artwork, love her story, love her general sassy bad-assery. To say that she inspires me would be a major understatement. I’ve learned scads of life lessons from her, useful things that run the gamut from realizing what a powerful role art can play in the social justice movement to learning that it’s possible to give zero fucks about what anyone else thinks of you and your appearance. If I could sum Frida Kahlo up in two words, they would be: The. Best.

Frida Kahlo is, as the kids these days say, my homegirl.

You can imagine, then, how thrilled I was when the Art Gallery of Ontario announced a major Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit for the fall of 2012. I tweeted at them that I was going to express my excitement by lighting something on fire; they, in turn, re-tweeted me, which I took as a silent endorsement of my arsonist tendencies. Leading up to the October 20th opening date of the show, I obnoxiously reminded my friends on a regular basis how many days were left until all my dreams would come true.

We have a family membership at the AGO, which means that my husband and I were able to see Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting at a special members-only preview, a few days before the show opened to the general public. That night was the first time I’d ever seen Kahlo’s paintings in person. To say that I was excited would be like saying that the Pope is Catholic, by which I mean, HELL YEAH I WAS.

I have to admit, though, that I did have a few concerns when entering the gallery that first time. Like fellow Shameless writer Sarah Mortimer, I worried that people would use this exhibit as an opportunity to mock Frida for her appearance - specifically, for her iconic unibrow. Would the rest of the crowd understand why she refrained from waxing or plucking the hair on her face? Would they notice and appreciate the fact that Frida actually emphasized her unibrow and mustache in her paintings, making them thicker and darker than they were in real life? Would they realize how radically subversive she was?

Would they see how beautiful she was?

I was thankful to discover that the answer to those questions was a resounding yes. All around me, I heard people muttering about how lovely she was, how graceful and strong. Not one single person made a remark critical of her appearance. For once, I was happy to be proven wrong.

Unfortunately, I did not hear the same type of comments about Frida’s husband, Diego Rivera.

I’ve been to the Frida & Diego exhibit seven or eight times now, and on every single visit I’ve heard almost exactly the same thing from many, many people:

“God, look at how fat he is. He’s so ugly. What did she ever see in him?” (more inside…)
- Arts
- Gender
- Playlist
- Queeriosities
- Trans-
Coming Out Wrong with Jesse Dangerously

December 5, 2012 • Anne Thériault

Halifax rap legend Jesse Dangerously is known for using his music to combat sexism, racism, fat-phobia, homophobia, and a whole lot of other toxic stuff that we encounter in our day to day lives. Dangerously, who is now based out of Ottawa, recently released a song called Coming Out Wrong on the Fun Razor Mix Tape (a collaborative album put together by artists participating in and raising funds for the NOFRIENDS tour).

Coming Out Wrong, which was made over the beat from Tribe One’s Different, totally blew me away; it was so unlike any other hip hop song I’d ever heard. In Coming Out Wrong, Dangerously talks about his struggles with gender identity, and the effect those struggles had on him as he made his way through school and out into the hip hop world. These were all issues that I’d never even heard mentioned in a rap song before, let alone discussed in such detail, and listening to this track gave me a lot of FEELINGS.

[YouTube video of Jesse Dangerously singing “Coming Out Wrong.” Transcription at the end of this post.]

I recently had the chance to talk to Jesse Dangerously about this song, and he had some incredibly personal, informative and fascinating things to say – check out our Q&A below!

Q: So this is a really amazing and intense song! Can you talk a bit about what it was like to release a song like this in the hip hop community, which tends to be pretty dominated by heterosexual men?(more inside…)
- Arts
- Event Listings
Toronto workshop: ROOM: a poetry workshop for consumer-survivors

December 4, 2012 • Julia Horel

Room is a consumer-survivor initiative welcome 16- to 30-year-old women and trans folks who identify as and are marginalized by their history of mental illness and/or addiction.

Our focus is on the inspiring and self-soothing qualities of art and the hoped-for experience of discovering, capturing and regaining the powerful concept of beauty in both the simple and awesome in the everyday life of a woman.

Wednesdays - 2:00 to 4:00pm
December 5th to January 30th
Fort York Food Bank
797 Dundas Street West (Dundas/Bathurst)

Do you like to write? Have a poem to share? Come hang out with like-minded (probably awesome) young women your age and learn how!

Join us this winter for an amazing 8 weeks of unadulterated poetry and limitless support, with or without the Kumbaya circle. You choose!

Register now or contact us for more information:

Room.In.Toronto@gmail.com
647-708-1112

Or leave your name and contact information with FY Food Bank - 416-203-3011

[ed. note: though the graphic below is not explicit, the organizers have confirmed this workshop is trans-inclusive.]
- Arts
- Event Listings
Launch of the Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project Comic Book

December 2, 2012 • Ronak Ghorbani

Launch of the Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project Comic Book
Presented in partnership with the AGO Youth Council

Join us in celebrating the launch of Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project on Dec 4th. It is comic book written by young South Asian women in Toronto about resiliency in the face of violence. The event will include theatre, music, visual art and dance performances by South Asian women as well as a hands on illustration/comic creation class.

Date: Dec 4th, 2012 4:00 – 7:00

Cost: FREE

Venue: Art Gallery of Ontario 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/381141298637777/?fref=ts

Schedule:

4:00–5:30 Hands on Illustration/comic creation workshop with Selena Wong & IZZAT Collective

5:30–7:00 Launch and Performances

Showcasing visual art, dance, theatre, and poetry by South Asian women including:

- The IZZAT Collective “An Open Letter” (theatre)
- Kumari (dance)
- Aisha & Fatima (spoken word)
- N. Gitanjali Lena (poetry)
- Rosina Kazi http://lalforest.bandcamp.com/ (music)
- Somya Sigh visual art www.somyasingh.ca (visual art)
- Subtle Vigilance Collective - The Besetting of Reena Virk, a theatrical exploration of the murder of 14 year-old Reena Virk and this crime’s haunting implications about life in our peaceable land. https://www.facebook.com/SubtleVigilance (theatre)

About Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project: The comic is a love letter to our communities. We came together as a group of young South Asian women to challenge how “izzat” or “honour” has been used to rationalize violence against us. Our bodies belong to us, not to patriarchs, media or governments. Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project affirms our right to safety. Throughout 2012, we collectively wrote six stories which were illustrated by artist Somya Singh and Selena Wong into a graphic novella, Heartbeats: the IZZAT project.
- Arts
- Bibliothèque
Rookie Yearbook One and Book launch review

November 29, 2012 • Guest Blogger

by Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite and Michelle Kay

In late October this year, teen blogger and editor of Rookie magazine , Tavi Gevinson arrived in Toronto to celebrate the release of Rookie’s first print volume, Rookie Yearbook One. Gevinson was in town for two events: one a more traditional book reading and signing at Indigo Yorkdale, the second a book signing and masquerade ball at Magic Pony , an art gallery and store on Queen Street West.

(http://rookiemag.com)

The lineup for the dance party at Magic Pony featured girls of all ages and women. In line, you could hear teens oohing and aahing over the window display. They gushed over the little nook by the window filled with sparkles, pink items, cupcakes, strange dolls and other shiny things designed to draw in a teenaged girl’s eye.

Some people arrived in costumes, excited, wondering what it would be like to meet Gevinson, the teen wonder of the fashion world. Rookie, a kind of new millenium XOJane, has a monthly theme and its bloggers write about it, including personal essays and photospreads.

The book is a densely packed collection of favourite essays and interviews from the year, including many from Gevinson’s friends. She has no shortage of famous ones including Joss Whedon, Lena Dunham, Paul Feig, Miranda July, Jack Black and Aubrey Plaza, just to name a few. These celebrities offer advice to readers on navigating high school, blossoming romances, and indulging in your own uniqueness. The essays range from funny and silly to honest and candid, many of them reassuring readers and advising them to simply embrace who they are. (more inside…)