Herizons articles from March 2005

Herizons archives from March 2005

Scariness of things with no names.(first word)(Editorial)
March 22, 2005... As I sat listening to a violinist during a performance at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, I found myself crying. "Is it the beauty of this composition making me cry," I wondered, or is it knowing that the relief it brings from the troubles...

The chosen family.(Cartoon)
March 22, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Radical uppity women: read on.(body politic)(Excerpt)
March 22, 2005... When I graduated from McGill University in 1967, I wanted to be a journalist. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Along with my male colleagues at the McGill Daily. I applied to a local radio station. "We don't hire girls in the newsroom,"...

Chile warms to divorce.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... While gay Canadians are still celebrating the right to enter into marriage, Chilean women are celebrating the right to divorce. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In November, Chile became one of the last countries to legalize divorce. Until the...

Feminist eyes look upon hill.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Feminist Eyes on Ottawa, a brief scan of Parliament Hill through feminist eyes, will be brought to you by the Coalition for Women's Equality (CWE) on the 15th of every month from now until the next federal election. The CWE hopes that this...

Fourth World Breast Cancer Conference in Halifax.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The World Breast Cancer Organization is holding its fourth World Conference in Halifax from Wednesday, June 8 to Sunday, June 12, 2005. Workshops include community and communication networks, support services, advocacy and more. ...

Drug warning for pregnant women.(nelliegrams)
March 22, 2005... Nearly five percent of pregnant women are prescribed drugs that are known to pose a risk to fetuses and more than one-third of pregnant women are prescribed drugs that have not been proven to be safe for use during pregnancy, according to a...

Refusal to pay for abortions violates rights.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The Manitoba government committed a "gross violation" of women's rights when it refused to fund private abortions, a Queen's Bench judge ruled in a class-action case that could set a precedent for all private health delivery in Canada. ...

Holistic Health Research Foundation opens.(nelliegrams)
March 22, 2005... A majority of the founding directors of the new Holistic Health Research Foundation of Canada are women. This volunteer-based registered charity is dedicated to improving health, wellness and quality of life by advancing the understanding of...

Heart symptoms diffeer for women.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... A study of 515 women by Dr. Jean McSweeney at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences found that women who had heart attacks had symptoms unlike men's. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About a month before their heart attacks, women's...

Susan Sontag dies.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
March 22, 2005... Susan Sontag, the author, activist and a leading intellectual of the past half century, died this past winter. Sontag, 71, had been treated for breast cancer in the 1970s. She called herself an "obsessed moralist" and a "zealot of...

I Laughed So Hard I Peed My Pants!(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... This familiar phrase is the title of a new book by Kelli Berzuk, a physiotherapist and the director of Incontinence and Pelvic Pain Clinic in Winnipeg. Despite the title, the topic is no laughing matter. This education and exercise resource...

Amnesty campaign.(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... In most of today's wars, civilian casualties far outnumber those of armed combatants. Although both unarmed women and men are killed and tortured, women and girls are more likely to be the target of sexual violence, especially rape. ...

The best in the west!(nelliegrams)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund and the National Association of Women and the Law are hosting a national conference in Vancouver from April 28 to May 1, 2005. The focus will be the 20th anniversary of the equality requirements...

Wood fuels abuse of women in Chad.(news)
March 22, 2005... (BREIJING REFUGEE CAMP, CHAD) When Daune Deng finished her long march into Chad after escaping a massacre in her Sudanese village, she thought she was finally out of harm's way. Instead, this soft-spoken 35-year-old mother of four now faces...

Israeli Godiva mounts protest.(news)
March 22, 2005... (ISRAEL) In July 2003, Viki Knafo mounted a 200-km march to protest a government decision to cut single mothers' welfare benefits from $US 450 to $US 200 a month. The divorced single mother of three left her home in Mizpe-Ramon--a small...

Sippin' on fair trade coffee.(news)
March 22, 2005... Fair trade practices are based on an understanding that much international trade is unjust and serves to reinforce inequalities of power and wealth. Today, in place of the imperial colonialism of the past, Southern countries face a deepening...

Tsunami aftermath threatens women.(news)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... When the deadly tsunami stole the lives of 150,000 people, it also swept away the structures of established communities and left female survivors newly vulnerable. Reports of rape and violence against women and children in the affected areas...

Iraqi women risk lives for change.(news)
March 22, 2005... The fate of Iraqi women's rights rests significantly on the results of January's election, say two female leaders. Zainab Al-Suwaij and Ala Talabani say the direction of the new government will decide whether women will really become equal...

She needs your help.(news)(Women 4 Women Afghanistan)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... As a special service to Herizons subscribers, you have received an edition of Afghanistan Today, an annual newspaper published by Women 4 Women Afghanistan, a national organization that helps women in Afghanistan protect and establish their...

Pouring drugs down the drain.(news)
March 22, 2005... Our rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater contain trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs that can enter our drinking water and the water we shower in. That list includes hormones in birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy,...

Up front on Sideways.(cole's notes)(Movie Review)
March 22, 2005... Put two women together on the road on film, and for sure you'll get a few dead bodies. Put two loser guys on the road, especially in wine country, and you get the happy ending in Sideways, the critical darling of 2004, Alexander Payne's buddy...

Drama queers: who knew that the hot new drama the L-Word featured a slew of Canadian actors, directors and crew members? And that the cafe where much of the drama unfolds. Is located in Vancouver, not LA?(Television Program Review)
March 22, 2005... Ever since Ellen was cancelled, we have been starving for a TV show featuring a loud, proud, leaping lesbian. While Ellen Morgan the character didn't survive, Ellen Degeneres has. "Less evil and more glamour for daytime," is what she...

The vagina dialogues: one woman copes with chronic pain and a medical profession not prepared to respond.
March 22, 2005... Our bodies are beautiful. Our bodies are to be celebrated. Having grown up in the 90s as a self-identified feminist, I've heard and repeated all of the current feminist discourse on women's bodies and sexuality. In high school, I volunteered...

In our own image: talking back to feminine icons of culture.(feminist artists)(Interview)(Critical Essay)
March 22, 2005... It is not unusual for artists and their works to run afoul of public morality. After all, contemporary art should challenge the status quo. While confrontations between art, public morality and the law are most notorious when art approaches...

Will Mothers Are Women survive?(feminist organization)
March 22, 2005... It's a Wednesday evening in April and Lisa Taylor has offered up her living room for tonight's meeting. The tricycles and hula hoops scattered on the sidewalk assure her guests they've found the right address. Taylor puts out a pot of tea and...

Subversive stitchery.(out of bounds)
March 22, 2005... It started because of a word: thrum. Say it out loud. Thrum. Nice, huh? I had stopped into the Knit Cafe, which, just as you'd expect, serves tea and espresso drinks and sells beautiful wool and the loveliest wooden knitting needles you've...

Getting at things under the surface: poet Rachel Zolf's new book Masque (insomniac press, 2004) delves confidently into complex topics such as family dynamics, and sexual and ethnic identity.(IN FOCUS)(Interview)
March 22, 2005... "Feminism informs everything that I do," says poet Rachel Zolf simply, glancing up at me. I asked her about the impact of feminism on her writing when we sat down to talk about her recently released book Masque after her reading in Winnipeg...

Runaway.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... RUNAWAY Alice Munro MCCLELLAND & STEWART, 2004 The name Alice Munro conjures up an array of delectable superlatives; reviewers scramble to invent new words to do justice to her flawless, deeply insightful, engaging stories....

Love.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... LOVE Toni Morrison KNOPF, 2003 Toni Morrison produces the most meaningful novels you'll ever read. Her ability to blend horrific acts with beautiful gestures is incomparable. As is the real thing, the novel Love is accompanied...

Mosh Pit.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... MOSH PIT Kristyn Dunnion RED DEER PRESS, 2004 Cherry is dropping out of high school, determined to lead a flamboyant and fantastic life. She wants her best friend Simone to ride shotgun on a journey through drink, drugs,...

Be Quiet.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... BE QUIET Margaret Hollingsworth BLUE LAKE BOOKS, 2004 As someone familiar with Emily Carr--I walk to work past her house most mornings--I came to this novel looking for new insights. While I was not disappointed in the end, I...

Suicidegirls.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... SUICIDEGIRLS Edited by Missy Suicide FERAL HOUSE, 2004 The story of the Suicide Girls is one of ingenious marketing. Inspired by Portland, Oregon's creative post-punk scene a few years ago, Missy Suicide decided to make a few...

Vaginas: An Owner's Manual.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... VAGINAS: AN OWNER'S MANUAL Dr. Carol Livoti and Elizabeth Topp THUNDER MOUTH PRESS, 2004 The quick facts scattered throughout Vaginas: An Owner's Manual are sometimes as hilarious as the conversations between the mother-daughter...

Masculinities Without Men? Female Masculinity in Twentieth-Century Fictions.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... MASCULINITIES WITHOUT MEN? FEMALE MASCULINITY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY FICTIONS Jean Bobby Noble UBC PRESS, 2004 In Masculinities Without Men? Female Masculinity in Twentieth-Century Fictions Jean Bobby Noble looks at how and...

Inside Corporate U: Women in the Academy Speak Out.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... INSIDE CORPORATE U: WOMEN IN THE ACADEMY SPEAK OUT Edited by Marilee Reimer SUMACH PRESS, 2004 A funny thing happened on the way to gender equity at Canadian universities. Just as more women gained faculty positions, as women's...

Rent Girl.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... RENT GIRL Written by Michelle Tea Illustrated by Laurenn McCubbin LAST GASP, 2004 "I am trying to give you a landscape, a crumpled map. I am trying to extract, thread by thread, the causes and preoccupations that provided me...

Fuelling Body, Mind and Spirit: A Balanced Approach to Healthy Eating.(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... FUELLING BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT: A BALANCED APPROACH TO HEALTHY EATING Miriam Hoffer SUMACH PRESS, 2003 "Ultimately my role is to give my patients permission to relinquish the idea of a perfect diet," writes Miriam Hoffer, a...

Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... INSPIRING WOMEN: A CELEBRATION OF HERSTORY Mona Holmlund and Gail Youngberg COTEAU BOOKS, 2003 One way to visualize social change is to imagine a spark igniting. Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory sets the stage before...

Strong Women Stories: Native Vision and Community Survival.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... STRONG WOMEN STORIES: NATIVE VISION AND COMMUNITY SURVIVAL Edited by Kim Anderson and Bonita Lawrence SUMACH PRESS, 2003 Strong Women Stories is a collection of essays that highlights the activism and community development of...

The Edible Woman.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... THE EDIBLE WOMAN Margaret Atwood Dealing with a wide range of themes--including consumption, the glass ceiling, marriage and children--The Edible Woman is indisputably Margaret Atwood's most feminist-minded book. Published in 1969...

Kinsey.(Movie Review)
March 22, 2005... KINSEY Directed by Bill Condon FOX SEARCHLIGHT FILMS, 2004 In post-war USA, homosexuality was an unfortunate phenomenon, masturbation made you insane and cunnilingus made women infertile. People lived in isolation, fear and...

Magneta Lane.(The Constant Lover)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... MAGNETA LANE The Constant Lover PAPER BAG RECORDS, 2004 There are few really talented all-female rock bands making music these days--even fewer if you're looking for one that's Canadian. But with the release of their debut EP...

Patti Scialfa.(23rd Street Lullaby)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... PATTI SCIALFA 23rd Street Lullaby SONY, 2004 Eleven years ago, Patti Scialfa released her debut album Rumble Doll. The recording was widely and unfairly ignored. It was as if the fact that she had recently become Mrs. Bruce...

Sarah Slean.(Day One)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... SARAH SLEAN Day One WARNER, 2004 Sarah Slean's Day One is an exercise in advanced soul-searching. After experiencing a self-described "20s explosion" that saw her metaphorical house burn down, the singer-songwriter took to the...

A Girl Called Eddy.(A Girl Called Eddy)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... A GIRL CALLED EDDY A Girl Called Eddy ANTI, 2004 You might not think the offshoot of a punk rock label would be home to some of the most interesting artists working today, but the Anti label certainly is. Tom Waits, Elliott...

Melissa Ferrick.(The Other Side)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... MELISSA FERRICK The Other Side RIGHT ON RECORDS, 2004 Coming from a talented guitarist with a prodigious catalogue, Melissa Ferrick's studio efforts have consistently fallen short of her live performances--until now. ...

Po' Girl.(Vagabond Lullabies)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2005... PO' GIRL Vagabond Lullabies NETTWERK, 2004 Vancouver recording artists Po' Girl have followed up their self-titled debut with an exciting, well-produced and substantially more upbeat second CD. Vagabond Lullabies is the perfect...

You break it, you pay for it.(global warning)
March 22, 2005... So it turns out Pottery Barn doesn't even have a rule that says, "You break it, you own it." According to a company spokesperson, "in the rare instance that something is broken in the store, it's written off as a loss." As Bob Woodward has...

Scientific sexism.(on the edge)(Lawrence Summers)(Column)
March 22, 2005... It's not often the Encyclopedia Britannica is wrong. In fact, I may have caught them in their first error ever--but a mistake, any mistake by this prestigious institution constitutes a circumstance so dire I feel it necessary to inform the...

Help secure her future.(Afghanistan Today: Canadians as Global Citizens)
March 22, 2005... Afghanistan was once a land described as a trekkers' paradise, world-renowned for its residents' hospitality and its rich culture and history. In urban centres, more than 70% of teachers, 40% of doctors and 50% of government workers were...

Your Support Does Make A Difference!(Afghanistan Today: Canadians as Global Citizens)
March 22, 2005... Your Support Does Make A Difference! By Sally Armstrong (human rights advocate, award-winning journalist and author) Calgary, Alberta -- Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan), in partnership with the Canadian Council...

Peacebuilding and security.(What's Happening Now in Afghanistan?)
March 22, 2005... Peace and security are important issues in Afghanistan. Reconstruction and the advancement of women's rights, education and health care will depend on the establishment of broad-based security and the rule of law. One of the great questions...

Health care in Afghanistan.
March 22, 2005... Health care needs in Afghanistan span a wide spectrum. They range from basic, preventative health education, training for nurses and doctors, basic and state of the art facilities, to complex issues of mental health and cultural influences....

The Women's Domestic Violence Health policy Project (WDVHP).(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... Calgarians Dr. Wilfreda (Billie) Thurston and Dr. Jennifer Hatfield are part of an international team studying how domestic violence policy is developed and how women's concerns are being incorporated into government health policies and...

Working in partnership with Afghan women.
March 22, 2005... Afghan women are advocating for full, equal and active participation in all levels of peacebuilding and reconstruction in their country. They continue to be the best possible source of knowledge, experience and expertise on the issues that...

Rights & Democracy, Montreal.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)(Ariane Burnet, women's rights in Afghanistan)
March 22, 2005... Ariane Brunet is the Coordinator of the Women's Rights Programme for Rights & Democracy in Montreal. She has dedicated her life to making significant contributions at the national and international levels in advancing the rights of women...

Afghan Women's Organization, Toronto.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... Adeena Niazi, Executive Director of the Afghan Women's Organization, founded the Omid-e-Mirimun (woman's hope) Orphanage in Kabul in the spring of 2003. This supervised children's centre provides a safe and nurturing home for 22 young orphan...

IMPACS, Vancouver.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS) is a Canadian not-for-profit organization committed to the protection and expansion of democracy and the strengthening of civil society. IMPACS' international initiatives seek to...

CW4WAfghan postcard campaign 2005, Calgary.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... CW4WAfghan has prepared an advocacy postcard for you to sign and mail to Ottawa expressing your support for our federal government in its efforts to ensure the security of women and girls in Afghanistan. Contact a chapter in your area for a...

Afghanistan today: Canadians as global citizens--National Conference held in Calgary, Alberta on October 7-9, 2004.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... CW4WAfghan's first National Conference was highly successful! Many informative and entertaining events took place over the three days and were very well attended by chapter and affiliate members of CW4WAfghan from all across Canada. These...

Awaiting a safe return.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... "While in Herat, I was exhausted from the seemingly insurmountable challenges of my daily work. My life was in danger to the extent that I was being 'smuggled' by Afghan friends to the airport in a burka. Still, I was very sorry to leave...

Sustainable rural communities with Hon. Flora MacDonald.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... During the Conference, Delegates were treated to an extraordinary visual journey to Afghanistan. The Hon. Flora MacDonald has worked in rural Afghan communities as the Chairperson of Future Generations, a teaching institute in sustainable...

What can I do?
March 22, 2005... Learn about your rights; speak out to secure and protect human rights for Afghan women; raise funds; join in solidarity with social justice groups; write letters; or send our advocacy postcard to the Canadian government. Let our government...

Catalyst for change: Jamila Afghani.
March 22, 2005... I first met Jamila Afghani in Kabul in December 2003. Times were tense, as the much anticipated Constitutional Loya Jirga was fast approaching and everyone in Afghanistan was concerned about the security situation, especially women. But...

What are Canadians doing?
March 22, 2005... Canadian Jen McCarthy worked in Kabul for the Afghan Centre, a not-for-profit organization that provides educational and vocational courses to women who may be widows, refugees, internally displaced persons, disabled or otherwise very...

Education in Afghanistan.
March 22, 2005... Education, particularly of women and girls, has proven again and again in developing countries to be a decisively positive factor for the entire community. Educating boys and girls results in many benefits to any society, such as: greater...

The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Ellis, award-winning Canadian author and human rights advocate.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... Supporting women and girls everywhere through her inspiring stories, Deborah Ellis shares the realities of life for children in war-tom, poor regions of the world. After travelling to Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, Deborah wrote The...

Canadian Students as Global Citizens--a teacher's resource.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... "This resource allows the high school teacher to develop students' critical thinking skills by analyzing and synthesizing the events in Afghanistan in a global context. There is a lot of flexibility for the teachers to use the resource...

Afghanistan today: Canadians as global citizens statement by Dr. Sima Samar.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... Working under life-threatening conditions for the past two decades to advance the lives of women and children in Afghanistan, Dr. Sima Samar is internationally recognized as an outstanding advocate for education and human rights. She is the...

Breaking Bread for Afghan Women.(WHAT ARE CANADIANS DOING?)
March 22, 2005... What are Canadians Doing? Across the country, Canadians from all walks of life--men, women, students, children, grandparents, teachers, members of community groups or churches--have been actively involved in projects helping Afghan women and...