Arts4Choice and Canadians for Choice present:

The Choice Monologues (and BBQ)!

This performance of the Choice Monologues will benefit the Arts4Choice project.

The project involves taking documentary portraits of women who have had abortions, young and old, of different backgrounds, language groups, cultures and geographic locations. These portraits will become a traveling exhibit and a book that we hope to have in clinics and women’s centres across the country.

The Choice Monologues are a collection of true stories from women and men in Canada who have had their lives affected by an unwanted pregnancy.

Come to celebrate Morgentaler and reproductive freedom in Canada!

Date: Sunday, July 27th
Time: 3:30pm
Address: 76 Pauline Ave, Toronto

$10 for performances and BBQ
refreshments available

PLEASE RSVP to:
Jessica Yee, Canadians for Choice
jessica.j.yee@gmail.com
or
Kathryn Palmateer, Arts4Choice arts4choice@gmail.com

I’m a low-level typography geek. I love reading the “About this Typeface” description at the back of a book*, and a manuscript or website using the default font just isn’t finished yet.

“Typography is what language looks like.”

Cameron Adams gets meta on type with his recent post on the handwriting of type designers (via Slashdot, via Google Reader Rec). And I love a bit of meta me.

“Hit pause for a moment and consider how greatly we – people in the digital age – are indebted to typographers. Almost all of our visual communication is delivered using the products of their craft: newspapers, SMSes, instant messages, emails, web pages, signs, posters, billboards; the list of purposes is endless.

In these days where looping strokes have been replaced by keyboard clickety-clack, typographers define the style and tone of our missives. Would you like to be elegant, modern, childish or … disturbed? Then you can choose between Garamond, Montag, Comic Sans, Zebraflesh, and a thousand more.
…
The handwriting of typographers intrigues me because it raises so many questions, big and small: Do typographers exert some extraordinary control of the pen that laypersons don’t? Does a typographer’s handwriting influence the typefaces they produce? Has the rise of digital communications made handwriting redundant? Do modern typographers, born of digital tools, lack the finesse of their more wizened counterparts? If so, does that change the way their type is designed?”

Personally, I’m a fan of Garamond. Palatino and Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold are elegant. And I think if you’re using Comic Sans in anything other than a comic, it’s a cry for help.
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The famous Wonder Woman jumper created by Practical Polly.

As far as empowered and hip feminist idols go, Wonder Woman is hands-down the favourite of many third-wavers, comic lovers, epherma junkies, and crafters. While her outfit can be seen as another reason to wear very few clothes on Hallowe’en, as a costume it has a sense of ownership and agency that a Playboy Bunny costume or a Swedish Bar Maid costume can’t afford you.

Often crafters take on the Wonder Woman motif in surprising and inspiring ways. At Instructables there is a tutorial on how to subvert “the man” by turning that Barbie-doll-of-oppression into a feministy-Wonder Woman (you could probably add some clay or duct tape to give her a more realistic shape!). And Craftster user chris_wass created a knitted Wonder Woman costume! But, my favourite is the Wonder Woman Jumper. Created by Practical Polly, the jumper has gained notoriety for the wonderful pattern and for being a garment you can wear more often than a tights-required costume.

If you don’t have the crafty bug in you there are also a handful of Wonder Woman themed handmade items available on Etsy, likr this intricate Wonder Woman charm bracelet, this duct tape wallet, or this votive candle.

We’ll always be safe (and crafty) as long as Wonder Woman is around.

How can one person draw so many perfect pictures? Every one of them beautiful, silly, sexy and adorable! And, many of them are pornographic.

Colleen Coover, a Portland, Oregon based artist is best known for her series Small Favors, which is porn. But it’s the kind of porn anyone can get behind (pun intended?), because it’s hot, but also super cute and funny. Coover designed the book to “celebrate sex and the pretty girls who enjoy sex,” so many women enjoy it. But this is no toned down erotica. There are some seriously sexy happenings in these books.

Small Favors follows the story of Annie, and her magical friend, Nibbil, who is a part of Annie’s subconscious that’s gone wild. Sort of an id she can make out with. Nibbil can shrink until she fits into Annie’s palm and grow back to regular size at will. Annie and Nibbil get into all sort of sexy adventures involving kitchens, doctors’ offices, picnics and parties. The fantastical elements of Small Favors remind us that porn is fantasy. Anything can happen because it’s not real.

Coover also does some mainstream comic work, and she draws her superheros like she draws her sexy ladies: cute as all heck. Check out this awesome Mary Marvel.

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This is just the latest from the crazed online materialistic, superficial, and stereotypical world.

The BeautifulPeople Network is an online dating service that has just come to Canada for “beautiful people” only.

Huh?

If you want to join the service, you must submit a picture and profile, and other members of the opposite sex rate you over a 72-hour period, deciding whether you’re worthy of joining their club.

Now I’m not about to lie and say that looks don’t matter at all, but geez, who really gets to have the final say on that?

Thanks to Julia for the link!

Mad Pride Week started yesterday and there are some fabulous events happening all over the country (and the world) to celebrate. The annual celebration seeks to reclaim the terms “mad,” “psycho,” “crazy,” etc. from the media, and through a series of campaigns and events re-educate the general public on issues like the causes of mental “illness”, the real victims of the mental health system, and the global suicide pandemic.

Toronto Psychiatric Survivors started holding a yearly event in Parkdale in 1993, and in 2000 it aligned with Global Mad Pride to create Mad Pride Toronto. From Inside Toronto:

“Mad Pride recognizes the strength and achievements of psychiatric survivors, consumer/survivors and mad people,” said Stackhouse, the director of Friendly Spike Theatre Band and a Mad Pride organizer. “It’s arts education and identity recognition and history.”

If you’re in Toronto, check out this web site for details on how you can participate - events continue until July 20th.

I wanted to share this with the Shameless world since I’m a little baffled by the occurence.

Recently I wrote a piece for a place that shall remain nameless. In it I recounted my recent trip to the United States and all the great Native youth engagement work, which happened to include the cultural and spiritual journey my partner and I have decided to embark on.

The comment I received back went something like this “You need to refocus your writing since you seem to dwell too much on your boyfriend and that’s nobody’s business”.

Not once did I even say anything REMOTELY romantic. Not once did I refer to my own feelings about him. I didn’t even say his name. I like to keep it real so if he happened to be there while community work was going on and positively contribute to it, I’m going to say it. Just like I referenced what everybody else did.

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Happy Monday folks!

(Hat tip to Torontoist)

Kudos to this strong female in Chile for taking a stand against patriarchy and conservatism.

Monserrat Morilles who is a 26 year old professional pole dancer took her protest to the subways of Santiago where for one week, she would get on at one station, find a subway car with no children on it, and strip in time to exit at the next station. She refused to take tips to make a point, and was arrested during one of her performances.

Chile has a long history of widespread sexual repression, not to mention the fact that abortion is still illegal and supposed public awareness campaigns remain overtly moralisitc.

But it’s not like Chile stands alone on these issues.