All posts in Miscellaneous

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• • In My Opinion...
  • Miscellaneous

  Things to do to Take Care of Ourselves During the Holidays, AKA ♫ These are a few of my favourite things ♫

  November 30, 2012 • deb singh

  Holiday time can have so many pressures and financial triggers associated with it. Just after Halloween, dollar stores, malls and all the places within them start putting up their Xmas decorations before we can even say “ho ho ho.” For me, it is an obvious push for us to get our “consumer” on. It’s a time to celebrate the North American version of Christianity’s Christmas, while pretty much ignoring every other celebration that happen in December.

  At the same time, we are invited to holiday parties, asked to buy gifts we can’t afford and spend our time worrying about money and saving face on giving and receiving gifts (did I get the right one? Will they like it? Is it at the same level as the gift I was given?!). While I love to celebrate, period, holiday time in North America seems to be about consumerism and our (financial and social) ability to do it. It’s also about spending time with family members, whether we want to or not.

  So I wrote a list of things (I love) to do. This is a list of things I will be doing all month to take care of myself in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, when I feel obligated to spend more money than I really have and spend time doing things I’d just rather not do! I invite you to create your own list of ways to take care of yourself during the holiday season (and of course for the winter months to come!).

  Things to do to Take Care of Ourselves During the Holidays
  AKA ♫ These are a few of my favourite things ♫

  1. Create your own Celebration-By-Choice - Often this time of year means that we have to spend time with family, whether we like it or not. A celebration of your own creation can be great when everyone pitches in and shares the responsibilities of gathering food and drink. It can also be a great time to celebrate all the holiday-time religions and traditions your friends and you have, and discuss how you feel about them. And you can also make agreements on how to get gifts (or not) for each other.

  2. Create a plan – When you are faced with your family asking about your vegetarianism or who you are dating, have something ready to say back to them. It may feel better than thinking of something on the spot.

  3. Saying no – When it just doesn’t work, or you are just feeling down, put up your boundaries and say no. You don’t have to go to that party and you can cry if you want to. (more inside…)

• • DIY
  • Miscellaneous

  Summer Fun While Thinking Big in Toronto

  July 9, 2012 • deb singh

  Summer in the city is a great idea. It can yield heat waves, festivals, and lots of social moments. It can also be smelly with garbage and overrun raccoons, boring if you don’t have money, and full of drama.

  I love summer in the city. As a city kid, I have tons of ideas to keep the sweat off your brow and have a great time (with cash or none at all) and still figure out how to stay engaged with what’s going on with your city!

  25 things to do this summer in Toronto! (And a few to do anywhere)

  1. Go to a MAD Pride event – MAD Pride week is happening from July 10th-15th with all free events.

  2. Check out Taylor Creek, Seaton Park or the Don Valley – this is a huge park that goes across Broadview & Danforth over to Main St. There’s the river and creek and you could even fish if you want to. Connect with nature!

  3. Try acupuncture – my recommended spot is Six Degrees Community Acupuncture, sliding scale starts at $25.

  4. Go to all the shops in your local community and buy stuff if you have money – I find that when there’s an H&M around the corner, I ignore my local clothing shops, so check out food and other items in your local neighbourhood. You will be surprised and you’ll be supporting your own community!

  5. Go to the Harbourfront – there’s a pile of festivals every week and it’s free to get in and free to window shop.

  6. Check out the 401 Richmond Building (at Spadina) – This artists’ building is full of galleries and studios, openings and contemporary art and free!

  7. Visit the Native Canadian Centre and their awesome gift shop – Most of the gifts in the gift shops are affordable and most of the monies go to Indigenous people who make the art and their communities.

  8. Volunteer for Take Back the Night’s Planning Committee – Meetings start July 18th at 6pm, 17 Phoebe St.

  9. Choreograph a dance routine – my select songs are: “Part of Me” by Katy Perry, “Red Girl” by a Tribe Called Red, “Wasteland” by LAL and “Starships” by Nicki Minaj.

  10. Call a crisis line – even when we are feeling great, we can always use the support. TRCC/MWAR’s crisis line 416-597-8808.

  11. Eat ice cream and/or freezies – need I say more to feed the soul?

  12. Learn about Pride this year – including Queers for Social Justice (they created a night march, and die-in demonstrations) and the Trans march.

  13. Learn a new recipe and practice.

  14. Try swimming or running – Very cheap ways of exercise and varies in high and low impacts to the body.

  15. Wear a tiara – if you don’t have one, you can always get them from the dollar store!

  16. Download music – my faves right now are “Alors On Dance” by Stromae feat Kanye West, Whitney Houston dance remixes, and covers by Lucas Silveira

  17. Check out Caribana on Aug. 4th long weekend!

  18. Watch cool movies – A Dolphin Tale (a film about a dolphin and kids with dis/different abilities), Pariah (a film about a young Black lesbian coming into her youth).

  19. Talk to your parents about something you wouldn’t normally talk to them about – Freak them out and surprise them at the same time!

  20. Make a gift for your best friend with stuff you find around the house – old jewelery, paper, markers, whatever.

  21. Make dinner for your family with all cold food!

  22. Have a nail polish party – include all genders!

  23. Read some graphic novels – I’m into Life with Archie by Michael Uslan and Paul Kupperberg, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

  24. Take lots of pictures of yourself and other beautiful things and write captions under them like: “I love myself.”

  25. Tell the folks who you spend the summer with that you love them.

• • Arts
  • Miscellaneous

  Kickaction’s Blogging Carnival is Back for a Fourth Edition

  March 2, 2011 • Julia Horel

  Starting Tuesday, March 8th, Kickaction.ca is inviting young women to connect, speak out and blog on issues they care about during a month-long blogging carnival!
  
  For four weeks during the month of March, starting on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day – more than 6,000 young women share stories and opinions about weekly themes such as immigration, sexual identity, gender, art and cyberspace and much more! For its fourth edition, the Kickaction Blogging Carnival welcomes Erika Jahn from Breast Cancer Action Montreal who will blog about the practice of consumption as activism for the new generations, Meghan Murphy from the F-Word Collective will write about mainstream media and consent and young women from across Canada will share their experience as an immigrant young woman.
  
  The Kickaction Blogging Carnival’s objective is to provide an activity that is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, as well as create a space for young women to address the issues they face and to exchange comments and thoughts. Despite popular belief, young women are not victims of the media, but actively use media and the internet to their own advantage. They are organizing, mobilizing, expressing themselves, building communities, critiquing and creating something new.
  
  The Blogging Carnival is part of the Girls Action Foundation National Day of Action, an annual event to raise awareness of the challenges faced by girls, specifically marginalized ones, and provide resources and opportunities that empower girls and young women to institute change in their lives, their communities and in the wider society.
  
  To get in on the action you can:
  - Read the blogs;
  - Join the discussion by commenting;
  - Share with your friends, write about the Carnival and cross-post online!
  
  To see the full schedule with the list of guest bloggers, visit Kickaction.ca.
  
  Kickaction.ca
  An initiative of Girls Action Foundation / Fondation filles d’action, Kickaction.ca is a bilingual online community space for young women who think for themselves, take a stand, and act creatively to bring positive change to their communities and across the globe. Take a look at discussions already underway at kickaction.ca, add us to your blog roll and find us on Facebook for a chance to win a fabulous prize.
  
  To learn more about Girls Action Foundation / Fondation filles d’action, visit our site at girlsactionfoundation.ca

• • DIY
  • Miscellaneous

  !! Rebel, REBEL !!

  January 4, 2011 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

  Prince George, BC-based derby girl, social justice activist, youth counsellor, and DIY’r Laura Burkholder is putting together her first zine as a challenge to herself (and to get it off her bucket list).

  Her zine will be called “Rebel, REBEL: A collective experience” and will focus on rebelling against the dominant paradigms of consumerism and patriarchy. She would like the zine to look at how there are a million different ways, large and small, that we all rebel. She would also like to make space to promote the idea that you don’t need to be completely radical in your lifestyle to be a rebel. Because often in small towns and northern climes doing anything radical or questioning marks you as othered.

  That’s where you come in!!! Laura would love it if you would submit a paragraph/essay/poem/photo/doodle/painting that talks about how you are a rebel…. It can be as simple as a series of sentences like “I am part of a group to raise awareness about recycling in my community”, “I use a diva cup”, “I go to my local farmer’s market”,”I attended a gay wedding”, “I compost”, “I knit my own underwear”, “I don’t buy Cosmo Magazines”, “I graffiti trains”, etc.

  She would love for you to be as creative as possible at thinking of ways that you challenge patriarchy/consumerism and a way to voice how you do this…. Please contact her (laura.burkholder@gmail.com) if you need ideas, or clarifications. With your submission please include a few simple details about yourself. She will not be posting people’s names with their submissions in an attempt to promote a collective voice, but would like to include a few details, along the lines of age, gender (or preferred pronoun), location, to promote the idea that you don’t have to be a certain demographic to be a rebel.

  Text(s) and images can be e-mailed to this laura.burkholder@gmail.com, and pictures can be scanned and e-mailed, or mailed to #101, Juniper Street, Prince George BC, V2L 1N5 (she promised to mail you back the originals).

  She is looking at trying to pull together all the submissions around February 1 2011, so she can begin to form the zine. Once it has been formed, she will mail you your very own copy! She will also be dispersing it at the 3rd Avenue Collective in Prince George, and other various locations around the city (and hopefully other cities) for public reading.
  

• • Media Savvy
  • Miscellaneous
  • On The Job

  rabble.ca Internships!

  October 18, 2010 • Julia Horel

  Interested in interning at Canada’s awesome, progressive news website, rabble.ca? They’re hiring!

  rabble.ca is one of the success stories of Canadian independent journalism, publishing news and columns by some of the best writers of the left, and providing exposure to new writers. rabble.ca hosts one of the most dynamic discussion boards in the country: babble (www.rabble.ca/babble).

  Five years ago, rabble.ca launched the ever-expanding rabble podcast network (www.rabble.ca/rpn) as well as the rabble book lounge complete with reviews, an online book store, book events listings and more (www.rabble.ca/lounge), and in 2008 we launched rabbletv!

  Since its inception in 2001, rabble’s readership has grown by leaps and bounds while maintaining a loyal core readership: we have 130,000 monthly visitors who read more than eight million pages each month. rabble.ca is an incorporated not-for-profit organization.

  rabble.ca is currently seeking volunteer editorial interns — please see descriptions of each below. Applications are limited to one per candidate.
  Applications are due Thursday, October 21, 2010.
  (more inside…)

• • Miscellaneous

  Women as Leaders in Education

  August 11, 2010 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

  Are you a leader in your school? Or have you taken your leadership skills back to your school or other community schools? Jennifer Martin works at a public alternative school in Michigan and is conducting research on feminism and leadership in public schools and needs your help!

  What’s even cooler is that she’s set up the research on her blog: http://womenasleadersineducation2010.blogspot.com/

  To submit your feedback and contribute to her project and thus forwarding the field of feminist public education just check out her message below. She’s even throwing in an iPod as a prize to one lucky winning contributor!

  Study information:

  I am conducting a qualitative study on women leaders in education for the purpose of gaining insight into women’s unique experiences as educators (in K-12 and higher education). I am looking for women who work as leaders in education—either in higher education or in PK-12 education (and adult education). “Leaders in education” can mean formal leadership: administrators, deans, principals, department heads, or informal leaders (those who work within their systems for social change, for example).

  I have created a web blog where participants can respond to a variety of questions. Participants will also be able to engage with one another in an online dialogue about a variety of issues women in education face.

  I ask that participants create an account in Google blogger using information that will protect their anonymity (for instance, do not use your name as your username). Participants may respond to any or all of the questions listed. I have created separate posts for each individual question (which are listed below). You can respond to questions by clicking on their links either on the blog home page, or on the menu on the right. Participants are not required to answer all questions, and can return to the site, answer additional questions, and repost. Participants can choose whether or not to interact with others in online dialogues.

  After making your decision to participate, please email me at jlmarti2@oakland.edu. I will then email you a consent form for you to sign which will indicate your agreement to participate in this study. After signing, please scan the document, or create a PDF, and email it back to me at the same email address. If you do not have access to these technologies, you may mail the consent form to me. Postage will be provided. I will provide you with the information for mailing upon your email contact.

  As an incentive to gain participants in this study, I will conduct a drawing for an 8 GB iPod Nano based upon posted responses. Drawing will be done on December 31, 2010.

• • Miscellaneous

  Call for submissions for book: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism

  August 11, 2010 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

  Check out this call for submissions for a book the wonderful Jessica Yee is putting together! If you’ve ever gone to “university” or “post-secondary education” or didn’t go but had your own brush with it and have something to say check this out! The deadline is September 10th, 2010 so time is short. But, in my experience passionate tales of feministy academy often ramble off our tongues.
  

  
  Call for submissions for book: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism - Feminist education now: youth, activism, and intersectionality (working title – tentatively to be changed) edited by Jessica Yee
  
  To be published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Winter 2011

  Why the new title? Because I was getting A LOT of “I just want my name to be published” submissions that weren’t really dealing with the question of where is feminist education today? So I decided to be more in your face and say that this is about “deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism” meaning this is about where feminism exists OUTSIDE the university/school walls - or why so much of the so-called “recognizable” feminism is just within academia.

  Where is feminist education today? This is a question many people are asking, and I’d like to answer them in a book I’m putting together. Where do young people get to learn about feminism? And what the heck does feminism even mean to young people today? (and I’m talking about young, young people, not you 3rd year women’s studies person who might roll your eyes at my next set of questions. Maybe think of yourself before you got into women’s studies. Or if you ARE/WERE in women’s studies and think it’s kinda messed up, I’d like to hear about that too.) How come as a “theory” we don’t really hear about it unless we get to go to post-secondary type schooling, but in practice lots of us have been feminists of sorts throughout our entire lives. Why does it still look like a white-woman’s thing? Or not entirely sex-positive? What do young men have to say about it? Has there really been any intergenerational information sharing between those who might have “paved the way” and those who are thinking about identifying as feminists now?

  With the working title of “Feminist education now: youth, activism, and intersectionality” I’d like to talk about all these issues and everything in between. Don’t like the word feminism? Please be my guest and talk about that – or if it helps to use words like “womanist” or “humanist” instead, or working for women’s rights, women’s empowerment, girls stuff, etc. then go that direction. I’m really interested in talking about the intersectionality of feminist education and breaking down the barriers of what constitutes “education”, where that might be, and according to whom. Education does not have to solely be within a school or school-type setting – if it happened on the street, in your kitchen, if it’s not happening at all, if you want it to happen some particular place – I want to hear about it.

  What do I mean by feminism? No I don’t mean that it’s just about women, I mean all identities/definitions/euphemisms/pseudonyms than the English language of the colonizer can do justice to. Expand your mind.

  What do I mean by intersectionality? Think of a street intersection and put yourself in the middle. There are lots of things that intersect the way people identify – for example I identify as a woman, as Indigenous, as bisexual, as multiracial and all of those things and way more come into play when I think about the way I want to learn things, i.e. feminist education. For me, I don’t exist as just one thing or another. In this book - I’d like to know about how feminism intersects (or doesn’t intersect) who you are.

  Why is the word activism in the title? Because I think a lot of us are activists and even feminists and do education about the things we believe in without necessarily being sign-waving, chanting, picket-lining groups en-masse. I’ve often said some of the best activists I know are the ones who do it at home, wherever “home” might be – since that can sometimes be the hardest place to be passionate and true to the things you are fighting for.

  What are we looking for in this book? Written, artistic, and otherwise creative submissions between 700 to 3000 words length if it’s an article. You are also very welcome to submit a photograph, an art piece, a poem, spoken word, etc. as well.
  
  Can only “youth” submit something? Yes and no – preference will be given to young people under the age of 30 to be published in this book, however if you are over the age of 30 and would really like to say something – please submit and we’ll try and find a place for it, especially if you talk about young people in your piece.

  Why would I want to write/create something for this book? Some folks like to have their name and stuff published, others just want their voices and ideas out there. You decide!
  
  When do we want submissions by? Submission deadline is Friday September 10 2010.
  
  What if I don’t really understand what you are asking for or want help putting something together? Please feel free to get in touch with me and let’s chat! E-mail me directly at jessica.j.yee@gmail.com

  All written, artistic, and creative submissions should be e-mailed with a Word doc. attachment and a 3 line author bio to Jessica Yee at jessica.j.yee@gmail.com no later than Friday September 10th 2010. If you would like to mail yours to a physical address instead, please let me know.

• • In My Opinion...
  • Miscellaneous

  How we choose the words we use

  February 3, 2010 • Julia Horel

  Being a word/books person, I do a lot of thinking about the power of language. The more progressive blogs and new sources I read, and the more I talk and think about feminist and progressive issues on a daily basis, the more I notice the words people drop into casual conversation that make me pause.

  Language is more powerful than we realize. At its best, it can facilitate communication, bridge huge distances and build communities. But as we’ve heard, with great power comes great responsibility, and I believe that as feminists, it’s important for us to be conscious of the words we choose when communicating and to avoid problematic and alienating language as much as possible – not only to avoid offending or alienating others, but to hold ourselves to the highest standards and set a positive example.

  Problematic or triggering language is all around us: everything from “that’s so gay” to “what a pussy” to “that exam totally raped me.” Examples like these are obvious, but some that are more often overlooked include “that’s so lame” and “you’re insane” (ableist, physically and mentally, respectively). Personally, expressions that are dismissive of mental/emotional differing abilities (“insane,” “crazy,” “stupid”) are ones I’m currently working on eliminating from my vocabulary.

  I’m not necessarily advocating becoming the language police, and I know that different social situations have different standards of communication. It’s just something to think about.

  I’ve only given a few examples in this post. What are some of your personal language peeves, and are you working on being more conscious of your words? Do you call out others who use problematic language?

• • Miscellaneous

  Who Do We Look Up To? (Is 3rd Wave Feminism Lost Without Leaders?)

  January 28, 2010 • Desirée O

  

  Do you have role-models? Mentors? A woman you look up to for some reason or other?

  Every other week I profile “positive female role models for young women” in my Shameless Women column. They are amazing ladies that I hope inspire the women who read each interview. However, the women I interview tend to be “regular” people.

  Back in December, columnist Kate Carraway wrote in her article, “What’s next for sex? Feminism didn’t really work. Oopsie!” that the reason for the lack of motivation and accomplishment (and in her opinion, the failure) of the “third-wave” of feminism is because we have no visible leaders:
  (more inside…)

• • Miscellaneous
  • Playlist

  A Holiday Gift List for girls who ROCK!

  December 3, 2009 • Desirée O

  

  The holidays are approaching and if you celebrate by exchanging gifts, some of you might be wondering what to ask for.

  In my never-ending quest to see more women significantly recognized in the music world, I’ve put together a little gift guide for all you awesome girls who rock.

  (more inside…)

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