Herizons articles from June 2003

Herizons archives from June 2003

We Goofed.(Correction Notice)
June 22, 2003... Our book review of Women in the Office by Ann Eyerman in the Spring issue attributed the wrong publisher to the book. Women in the Office was published by Sumach Press. We apologize to Sumach Press for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We must not be deterred. (First World).(Rosemary Brown)(Obituary)
June 22, 2003... Rosemary Brown, anti-racism trailblazer, feminist and political leader, passed away at her home in Vancouver on April 26 after an apparent heart attack. Brown was 72. The first black woman elected to a legislature in Canada, Brown served...

How to have a civil debate. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Download this great tool. Produced by the Newfoundland and Labrador Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Feminism: Our Basis of Unity is online at www.pacsw.com under What's New. Basis of Unity can help you facilitate workshops so that...

Bi Bi binaries. (Nelliegrams).
June 22, 2003... According to The Fence editor Cheryl Dobinson, "Calling bisexuals fence sitters has been a way of marginalizing us, of placing us outside gay/lesbian and straight cultures by saying that we haven't made a decision about our sexuality. The...

Pom-Poms, not bombs. (News).(Radical Cheerleaders)
June 22, 2003... (VANCOUVER.) They're angry, they're tough and they have had enough. They engage (and enrage!) passersby as they shake garbage-bag pom-poms and their rear ends. They're the Radical Cheerleaders, and they're making a racket on streets near you....

Quote unquote.
June 22, 2003... Confessions, Obsessions & Answers to Questions "Potential het allies can start by recognizing their sexuality as a construct, meaning that it is invented and maintained by them, their friends, their families, the media, religion and the...

Engendered justice. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Seven of the t8 judges elected to the newly-established International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague are women. The female judges, who make up 38 percent of the court, include: Maureen Harding Clark (Ireland); Fatoumata Dembele Diarra...

Stereotype on thin ice. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The first Miss Canada was crowned in 922 as a winter sports ambassador. Who knew? It was during the Jazz Age, and Montreal was promoting itself as the winter sports capital. Organizers decided that a winter queen would be chosen from...

Planning for peace in Iraq: women wanted. (News).
June 22, 2003... An international lobby effort is underway to make sure that the needs of Iraqi women and girls are not forgotten in the rebuilding of their country. The time to act is now. According to the Netherlands-based Women Peacemakers Program of...

Canada's Slave Trade uprooted. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Slavery was practiced for more than 150 years in Canada, something that's news to many Canadians! Canada's first known black slave was a 16-year-old boy from Madagascar, given the name Olivier Le Jeune by his master, David Kirke, an...

A Wales of a time. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Wales now has the highest degree of gender parity of any legislature in the world, following May's proportional election. Thirty women were elected to the 60-seat assembly on May 2 in the second election for the assembly that was created...

Equality in degrees. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... According to Dr. Mary Lou Stirling, Chairperson of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women, women in the NB labour force are making small but significant gains. According to The 2003 Report Card on the Status of Women in...

Mommy track leaves daddies in the dust. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Female corporate managers don't sacrifice their careers to raise families after all, according to a large-scale US study of more than 26,000 managers at a large financial services company. The number of managers who permanently left work...

Profits to flow for period-stopping drug. (News).
June 22, 2003... The first continuous-use oral contraceptive to be marketed specifically as a method to drastically reduce women's menstrual cycles is expected to be on the North American market as early as this Summer. Currently under review by the US...

Jewish women watching. (Sites we Like).
June 22, 2003... www.jewishwomenwatching.com Think Guerrilla Girls that keep kosher. This legendary New York-based band of anonymous activists challenges sexist and other discriminatory practices in the American Jewish community. Using biting satire and...

Revolutionary knitting circle. (Sites we Like).
June 22, 2003... Knit one, fight capitalism two? This loosely knit circle of revolutionaries seeks to revive and expand the social traditions around textiles and other handicraft works. Hosting knit-ins at government offices, banks and malls, members aim to...

Mommy queerest. (Sites we Like).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... www.mommyqueerest.com Thinking about artificial insemination or same-sex couple adoption? Or, looking for a "dykes and tykes" class in your Toronto neighbourhood? This on-line magazine is a safe place for female-identified,...

Quality of wedding decor to rise. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A BC Court of Appeal ruled in May that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry. The appeal court gave the provincial and federal governments until July 2, 2004 to change existing marriage laws. It said that regardless of whether...

Where do we protest this? (Nelliegrams).(menstrual pain)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that menstrual cramps are painful. Or do you? Neuro--scientists at the University of Michigan have just discovered that endorphins, which suppress pain by binding to receptors in brain cells and...

A hunger for justice. (News).
June 22, 2003... At midnight on February 23, three Aboriginal female prisoners being held at the Springhill men's penitentiary in Nova Scotia began a hunger strike. Although it ended after just three days, the hunger strike pushed the conditions in the...

This makes up for it. (Nelliegrams).(alcohol and heart disease)
June 22, 2003... Moderate alcohol intake helps reduce the risk of heart disease among women 40 and over, but not among men in the same age group. A Canadian study followed 3,379 women and 2,635 men aged 40 and over who had not been diagnosed with heart...

Women clean up at film awards. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Quebec independent filmmaker Eve Lamont took top honours at Toronto's Hot Docs international documentary film festival in May. Lamont received the Best Direction Award--Feature for Squat!, a gripping day-by-day account of the Summer 2001...

Have an avocado with that martini. (Nelliegrams).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Sure they're expensive, but if you eat them, you can expect fewer joint problems, less body odour, improved mental function and--are you ready for this--improved sex drive. Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids the body needs,...

Conferences and covens.
June 22, 2003... Find out who's conspiring to make the world more woman-friendly by attending these events. MICHIGAN WOMYN'S FESTIVAL DATE: August 12-17, 2003 THEME: Music, workshops, fun! WHO: Catie Curtis, Bitch & Animal, Isle of Klezbos,...

My romp with a porn star. (Cole's Notes).(anti-pornography debate)
June 22, 2003... At first it looked like a lose-lose situation. Me and America's favourite male porn star, Ron Jeremy. on a stage together, in something loosely called 'a debate.' In its favour, the event was to take place at a university, but that university...

Safety warning for Diane 35. (Body Wise).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Health Canada has issued a drug safety warning concerning Diane 35, a hormone-based prescription medication approved in Canada to treat severe acne. It seems this drug, which also offers effective birth control, and is taken daily for a...

Keeping tabs on drug reactions. (Body Wise).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... PharmaWatch and Women and Health Protection, two of Canada's top advocacy groups to keep pharmaceutical companies in check, are pressuring Health Canada to establish a more effective system for reporting and monitoring adverse drug reactions....

Records need a boost. (Body Wise).(breast implant records)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Researchers with the BC Centre of Excellence in Women's Health are calling on Health Canada to improve their record keeping for breast implants. Currently, there are no mechanisms in Canada to track the health outcomes from plastic surgery,...

A peri important debate.(perimenopause)
June 22, 2003... WOMENS'S HEALTH ADVOCATES ANNE ROCHON FORD AND BARBARA MAINS DEBATE THE PROS AND CONS OF THE TERM 'PERIMENOPAUSE.' WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH? ANNE ROCHON FORD: It's everywhere! You'd think that perimenopause--the time...

Dearth of a nation.(poet Afua Cooper)(Interview)
June 22, 2003... Afua Cooper is a poet and writer whose work includes Memories Have Tongue, Utterances and Incantations: Women, Poetry and Dub, and (with co-editors Peggy Bristow and Dionne Brand) We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up: Essays in African...

Weighting for equality: former professional Bodybuilder lisa bavington says the time to let go of sexism in her sport is long overdue.
June 22, 2003... Lisa Bavington is a former member of the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB). Recently, she quit the professional bodybuilding circuit to continue her education in women's studies at York University in Toronto. HERIZONS: Tell...

Hockey night in Canada, klezmer music, shopping is good and all that jazz.
June 22, 2003... She bops! She grooves! She swings! She also does a dozen other things to ensure that the bills get paid on time. She's the Canadian female jazz singer, and while her survival may seem precarious at times, she's a tenacious creature. After...

Summer in the city. (Out of Bounds).(sexism)
June 22, 2003... Ah summer. We've waited so long for the wee buds to burst open and announce full-blown summer, to peel off the layers of wool and flannel and slip into something a little more comfortable. If only it were that simple. In my experience,...

Straying from the gender pack. (Arts & Lit: Artist Profile).
June 22, 2003... Ivan E. Coyote is doing what she does best. She's telling a story and this one is about her experiences in public washrooms, the place where her gender is most often questioned. "I've frightened women, I've been screamed at, I've been...

Open. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Lisa Moore HOUSE OF ANANSI PRESS, 2002 No wonder this book was nominated for a Gifier Prize, even if it was the dark horse. These ten short stories are deliriously rich, visceral and sexy. Tenuously balanced on spare dialogue...

Daughters are Forever. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Lee Maracle POLESTAR BOOKS 2002 Lee Maracle is a social activist, the current holder of the Canadian Culture Chair at Western Washington University, and an internationally acclaimed author. She has deftly woven a complex...

The Unpossessed. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Tess Slesinger NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS, 2002 Reading this book not only takes you back to New York in the Dirty Thirties, but you are struck by how timely it is, with its cast of characters and their deeply held convictions about...

Tiger Dreams. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Almeda Glenn Miller One of the recurring themes in Canadian literature is the search for roots. When Claire Spencer's father dies, she realizes she knows nothing about her forebears. William Spencer had come from India to Canada via...

River Child. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Eleanor Millard The Yukon River takes Eliza south by paddle-wheeler to Indian residential school and the highway returns her to Dawson City years later, confused and afraid in ways from which she may never recover. Yet the river...

The Falling Woman. (Arts Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Shaena Lambert The Falling Woman is Vancouver writer Shaena Lambert's first collection of short stories, Lambert's narratives are windows into her characters' lives in the middle of a crucial juncture where they are forced to endure a...

The Good Women of China. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reaching).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Xinran RANDOM HOUSE, 2002 Xinran has crafted a range of stories based on her work and travel experiences within China. That Xinran was the popular host of a radio program for women gave her access to women and regions an outsider...

Promised the Moon. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Stephanie Nolen PENGUIN CANADA, 2002 This book, about 13 sublimely capable pilots who in the early 1960s believed they'd be NASA's first female astronauts, should be exhilarating. It is interesting. I've admired Stephanie...

This bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Gloria Anzaldua, Analouise Keating, eds. ROUTLEDGE, 2002 "Twenty years ago we struggled with the recognition of difference within the context of commonality. Today we grapple with the recognition of commonality within the context of...

Widening Circles. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Joanna Macy RAINCOAST BOOKS, 2002 When I was asked to review Joanna Macy's 2000 memoir, Widening Circles, I feigned delight-and accepted immediately. I love free books (the best perequisite of a reviewer), but a little question...

Labyrinth of Desire: women, passion and romantic obsession. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Rosemary Sullivan HARPER COLLINS, 2001 In her latest work, literary biographer Rosemary Sullivan addresses the notion of romantic obsession, a subject that has captured the imaginations of women According to her, when such an...

Gender, Race, & Nation: A Global Perspective. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Vanaja Dhruvarajan & Jill Vickers UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS, 2002 This is an academic book and so will not be every reader's cup of tea. For an academic tome, however, it is accessibly written and knowledgeable within its discipline...

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club . (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Laurie Notaro RANDOM HOUSE, 2002 We all have a friend like Laurie Notaro. She is the friend who, even if a situation involves dentist drills or rabid dogs, can always find humour--and turn a potentially disastrous event into a...

Anorexia's Fallen Angel. (Arts & Lit: Summer Reading).(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... by Barbara McLintock HARPER COLLINS 2002 When award-winning investigative journalist Barbara McLintock set out to write a book about the controversial Montreaux Clinic in British Columbia, she did so with four years of research...

The weather. (Well-Versed).(by Lisa Robertson)(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... "Give me hackneyed words because they are good," says Lisa Robertson in her recent book. The Weather. Good to screw around with--and to challenge our complacency as readers. Both Robertson and Margaret Christakos, whose newest book is...

Chinatown. (Arts & Lit: Music).(The Be Good Tanyas)(Sound Recording Review)
June 22, 2003... The Be Good Tanyas NETTWERK PRODUCTIONS, 2003 After the bluegrass resurgence that followed the success of 0 Brother! Where Art Thou, it was only a matter of time before a band capable of taking influences from country to gospel would...

Small Fires. (Arts & Lit: Music).(Adrienne Pierce)(Sound Recording Review)
June 22, 2003... Adrienne Pierce INSECT GIRL RECORDS, 2002 The resume of Vancouver singer Adrienne Pierce reads like someone who has either been in the business for years or is unusually adept at being in the right place at the right time. In...

Evolve. (Arts & Lit: Music).(Ani DiFranco)(Sound Recording Review)
June 22, 2003... ANI DIFRANCO RIGHTEOUS BABE, 2003 Since releasing her self-titled debut in 1989, Ani DiFranco has become a force to be reckoned with on the independent music scene. With 16 domestic releases over the last 14 years, she should win an...

Manly yes, but i like her too. (On the Edge).(woman politician Sheila Copps)(Editorial)
June 22, 2003... I was pissed in my last column-at almost everything. Well, I'm still pissed. When do I get to be ecstatic about the progress of women? Well okay, enthusiastic would do. Hell, pushed, desperate and painted into a corner, I'll accept...

Staying true to resistance. (Intersections).(Iraq war protests)
June 22, 2003... "What good did all those protests do?" one of my relatives wants to know, referring to the millions of people around the world who demonstrated against the recent US-led invasion of Iraq. "The US did exactly what they set out to do anyway."...