Herizons articles from September 2006

Herizons archives from September 2006

Horacek.(Cartoon)
September 22, 2006... C'mon Jill The women's movement has completely passed you by hasn't it Jack? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Pink to green.(risk factors of breast cancer)
September 22, 2006... They're everywhere--on bread wrappers, cosmetics, golf balls, cereal packages, bank ads and even a $60 silver coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. Increasingly, I get the feeling that, as a woman, I should buy in to the idea that a cure...

Rape victim wins reprieve.(Maoua Diomande)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A woman who was reportedly gang-raped by government soldiers in the Ivory Coast and lived in sanctuary in an Ottawa church to avoid deportation has been given a minister's permit to stay in Canada. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Maoua...

Ring up pay equity.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Five thousand current and former employees at Bell Canada voted overwhelmingly to accept a $100-million pay equity settlement in June. The settlement to the 14-year-old dispute covers Bell Canada employees who worked in jobs occupied...

Swiss say no to GMO.(genetically modified plants and animals)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Switzerland has taken the toughest stand in Europe against genetically modified plants and animals. A majority of voters supported a five-year ban on GM farming. The campaign, supported by farmers, ecologists and consumer groups, compels the...

Daughters make dads liberal.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... According to Ebonya Washington of Yale University, members of the U.S. Congress who have a daughter vote more liberally on women's issues, notably abortion. Washington analyzed the family composition of Congress, as well as how the liberal...

In cahoots.(new womens' magazine launched)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A new quarterly women's magazine, cahoots, launched in Saskatoon last spring, cahoots features creative nonfiction, personal essays and columns on healthy living, women's businesses and women artists. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Managing...

Father jailed for FGM.(Ali Elmi Hayow, female genital mutilation )(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A Swedish court jailed a Somali-born father for four years after he forced his 13-year-old daughter to undergo female circumcision, a procedure opponents refer to as female genital mutilation (FGM). Ali Elmi Hayow held his daughter down...

End the war in Iraq.(MADRE- international women's human rights organization)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... MADRE, an international women's human rights organization, is calling for an immediate end to the U.S. occupation in Iraq and for the deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force in place of U.S.-led occupation forces. Arguing that the U.S. has...

Female pres passes Finnish line.(Tarja Holonen)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Tarja Holonen, Finland's first female president, won reelection in January for six more years. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The left-leaning Halonen, the country's first woman leader, finished with 51.8 percent of the votes, compared with...

Dream, dream, dream.(dream loss)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Significant consequences of dream loss include depression and cancer among women, according to a new book. Many medications--especially antidepressants and sleeping pills--as well as evening alcohol consumption, constrain normal dreaming....

N.B. hospital stops abortions.(New Brunswick )(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... The one remaining hospital in New Brunswick that offered abortion services stopped providing the procedure on June 30,2006. Pro--choice activists maintain that denying women access to publicly funded abortions is a violation of the Canada...

Pharma influence unhealthy.(health advocacy groups receive funding from drug companies )(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... According to Women and Health Protection, a Health Canada--funded working group, the practice of health advocacy groups accepting funding from drug companies often leads to conflicts of interest. Health researcher Sharon Batt says there...

Sekhar charts path to renewal.(Kripa Sekhar, women's equality)
September 22, 2006... (EDMONTON) Upon learning that his obituary had been published, Mark Twain sent the news service a cable which read: "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." A feminist version of the same message was delivered by Kripa Sekhar at...

Childbirth improved with doulas.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A recent study found that women who received continuous support in labour by a doula had significantly shorter labours, lower cesarean rates and higher APGAR scores for their newborns. While professional doulas are trained and certified to...

Reading, writing and revolution on Miss G lesson plan.(womens' studies)
September 22, 2006... (LONDON, ONT.) Like many university students, Sarah Ghabrial and her friends were amazed when they took their first women's studies courses. They asked one another: "Why didn't we learn about this stuff earlier?" The answer became...

The courage of conviction.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... (TORONTO) A Pakistani-Canadian Muslim who broke with tradition and led a congregation of 40 Muslim men and women in prayer has a simple goal. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "My intention was to achieve spiritual equality between men and...

Keep your Hands Off Our Ovaries!(usage of frozen human embryos for stem cell research)
September 22, 2006... The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has approved the first stem cell research project in Canada to use fresh human embryos, a move not envisioned when Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act was passed in 2004, according to one of the...

Leaders skirt HIV at G-8 summit.(news)
September 22, 2006... (ST. PETERSBURG) With her arrival at the St. Petersburg Summit in July, German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the second female chief of a G8 nation to attend the G-8 Summit. Not since Margaret Thatcher's presence at the G7 has a leader in a...

Storm of discontent.(social change)
September 22, 2006... As I write, there's a whomping, scary, glorious summer-afternoon thunderstorm going on around me. The light seeping into the house is dim and eerie, the neighbourhood cats are hiding wherever there's shelter, plant life is being pummelled...

Pledge violates first amendment.(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A federal judge in New York ruled that a sweeping restriction on the speech of groups participating in the U.S. federal government's international HIV/AIDS program violates the U.S. Constitution. At issue was a requirement that public...

Pain policy questioned.(pain in fetuses)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... Three U.S. states--Arkansas, Georgia and Minnesota--mandate health-care providers to tell women that fetuses may be able to feel pain by 20 weeks of gestational age, an assertion that is not supported by medical evidence, according to a...

Indecency revisited.(bathhouses)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... A recent Supreme Court ruling means that quasi-public spaces like bathhouses will not likely face police raids or be charged with prostitution-related or indecency offences. The case involved charges of keeping a common bawdy house against...

Coming of age.('A Fertile Imagination')
September 22, 2006... A small miracle occurred pre-Pride this year when a collection of Canadian lesbian plays was launched. Lesbian Plays: Coming Of Age In Canada (Playwrights Canada) includes my own play A Fertile Imagination, a comedy about two lesbians trying...

Reach for the stars.(Kinnie Starr)
September 22, 2006... "I like writing rhymes but I'm not supposed to / writing rhymes is not what fair-skinned girls do" --Kinnie Starr, Anything Fair-skinned girls who want mainstream acceptance aren't singing about gender politics or First Nations'...

Too Close for Comfort: Maude Barlow documents how Canada is losing control over the protection of natural resources and local industries.(Interview)
September 22, 2006... Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. administration under George Bush has defined security in the narrowest of possible terms. In her provocative book, Too Close for Comfort: Canada's Future within Fortress North America, Council of Canadians...

Cross purposes: a short history of cross-dressing women.
September 22, 2006... Dr. James Barry was a notable medical reformer of the 19th century with an international medical career that included a Canadian practice. Biographer Merna Forster wrote, in 100 Canadian Heroines, that he championed "improvements that would...

Dancing through depression.
September 22, 2006... From the age of 17, Linda knew that she was particularly susceptible to the emotional ups and downs of life. Five years ago, her depression became a permanent stay in the house of blues. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A combination of stress...

Shower me (sorry, us).(weddings)
September 22, 2006... If you had told me 10 years ago I would be standing in a room full of my mother's friends, drinking tea and eating scones with clotted cream, I probably would have laughed in your face. At 20, the very thought that I would be doing this,...

Anything.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... ANYTHING Kinnie Starr MAPLEMUSIC, 2006 On first listen, Anything comes across like anything being made by American male hip hop stars. Well, almost. Kinnie Starr has a sweet alto that I defy Wyclef Jean to reproduce. As a hip...

Firecracker.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... FIRECRACKER The Wailin' Jennys JERICHO BEACH MUSIC, 2006 Firecracker, the follow-up to The Wailin' Jennys 2004 debut album, 40 Days, builds on the group's strengths and takes them in new, improved directions. Things get to a...

Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... STONE + SAND + SEA + SKY Penny Lang BOREALIS RECORDS, 2006 Folk icon Penny Lang's latest album is as elemental as the title Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky suggests. Spare, clean production creates the perfect backdrop for Lang's pure...

Impeach My Bush.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... IMPEACH MY BUSH Peaches XL, 2006 Just because she's Canadian, electro-punker Peaches sees no reason why she shouldn't wade into Bush-bashing. The first song on Impeach My Bush, "Fuck or Kill," contains the lyrics from which the...

Springtime Can Kill You.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... SPRINGTIME CAN KILL YOU Jolie Holland ANTI, 2006 Jolie Holland has one of those haunting voices you're not likely to forget. Born in Texas, she spent time in San Francisco before heading to Vancouver, where she co-founded the...

Piece by Piece.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... PIECE BY PIECE Kathy Melua DRAMATICO, 2005 Kathy Melua's brand of sophisticated jazz is reminiscent of 1960s swinging London production. Piece by Piece is an album designed to be accompany by cocktails, preferably being enjoyed...

Above the Madding Crowd.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... ABOVE THE MADDING CROWD Lee Lindsay TALL POPPY RECORDS, 2006 A kind-hearted producer, friend or family member should take Lee Lindsay aside and suggest a shift in genre. Marketing Lindsay as another folkie in the tradition of...

Eye to the Telescope.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... EYE TO THE TELESCOPE KT Tunstall EMI, 2005 With her debut album, Eye to the Telescope, Scottish singer KT (like Katie) Tunstall is taking the British music scene by storm. She scored a Brit award for female solo artist and her...

Brahma's Dream.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 22, 2006... BRAHMA'S DREAM Shree Ghatage ANCHOR CANADA, 2005 "On a clear ochre morning, standing in the front verandah of Koleshwar Nivas and watching a rain tree release into the sky a flurry of parrots, Mohani noticed that the outer...

He Drown She in the Sea.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... HE DROWN SHE IN THE SEA Shani Mootoo MCCLELLAND AND STEWART, 2005 Guanagaspar is the imaginary Caribbean homeland of Harry St. George and Rose Sangha, a man and a woman who were meant to be together, but whose insecurities...

Gotta Find Me An Angel.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... GOTTA FIND ME AN ANGEL Brenda Brooks RAINCOAST BOOKS, 2005 This first novel by B.C. author Brenda Brooks is so palatable that a couple of things I found hard to swallow just slipped down easy in the end. [ILLUSTRATION...

Smoke.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... SMOKE Elizabeth Ruth PENGUIN, 2006 If I didn't already admire the writing of Elizabeth Ruth, her second novel, Smoke, may have passed under my radar with its calm blue front cover and historical small-town Ontario setting. ...

Berth.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... BERTH Carol Bruneau CORMORANT BOOKS, 2005 A military wife as protagonist is a rare occurrence in Canadian fiction. For this reason, and because I am a military spouse myself, I was immediately interested in this novel. ...

Beyond Recall.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... BEYOND RECALL by Mary Meigs (edited by Lise Weil) TALONBOOKS, 2005 "What sticks in the mind and why?" asks Mary Meigs [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Meigs wrote her last entry in the journal that became Beyond Recall on...

Doing IT: Women Working in Information Technology.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... DOING IT: WOMEN WORKING IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Krista Scott-Dixon SUMACH PRESS, 2004 Being the sole computer geek in my crowd, you can imagine how fun parties are for me. Eyes glaze over at the slightest acronym (even HTML...

Battle Cries: Justice for Kids with Special Needs.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... BATTLE CRIES: JUSTICE FOR KIDS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Miriam Edelson SUMACH PRESS, 2005 Battle Cries: Justice for Kids with Special Needs is an ambitious project that combines detailed portraits of eight families, a summary of...

Que(e)rying Evangelism: growing a community from the outside in.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... QUE(E)RYING EVANGELISM: GROWING A COMMUNITY FROM THE OUTSIDE IN Cheri DiNovo PILGRIM PRESS, 2005 Fortunately, there's no trace of New Age in DiNovo's book, no can-we-all-get-along Christianity of the amorphous blob-God--the...

Feminist Politics, Activism and Vision.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... FEMINIST POLITICS, ACTIVISM AND VISION Edited by: L. Ricciutelli, A. Miles and M.H. McFadden INANNA PUBLICATIONS AND EDUCATION, 2004 Claims of feminism's demise have been greatly exaggerated, as readers of Herizons know. Just how...

Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... GROWING UP DEGRASSI: TELEVISION, IDENTITY AND YOUTH CULTURES Edited by Michele Byers SUMACH PRESS, 2005 Like many of the authors in Growing Up Degrassi, there's a tender spot in my heart for the Degrassi classic series (Degrassi...

In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... IN PLAIN SIGHT: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE VANCOUVER Edited by Leslie Robertson and Dara Culhane TALONBOOKS, 2005 The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver is one of the roughest places in Canada to call home. These are...

The Hanging of Angelique.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... THE HANGING OF ANGELIQUE Afua Cooper HARPER COLLINS, 2006 In 1734, Marie-Joseph Angelique, a rebellious slave of prominent merchants in the French colony of Montreal, was hanged for allegedly burning down a substantial portion...

Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 22, 2006... RED LIGHT: SUPERHEROES, SAINTS AND SLUTS Edited by Anna Camilleri ARSENAL PULP PRESS, 2005 Female icons abound in mainstream culture: the goddess/saint, the mother (preferably virginal), and the bad girl/slut (most congenial, and...

Their Eyes Were Watching God.(Book review)
September 22, 2006... THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD Zora Neale Hurston FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1937 In a period when black authors wrote about political issues and slavery, Zora Neale Hurston gave voice to the experiences of African Americans using...

Sarah Waters.
September 22, 2006... Sarah Waters is much smaller and more composed than I'd imagined--from her epic novels I expected her to be wild-eyed, full of non sequitors and dramatic hair tosses. But, alas, Waters is sweetly poised and welcoming as I greet her in the...

Innocence.(Movie review)
September 22, 2006... INNOCENCE Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic MARS DISTRIBUTION, 2005 Some experiences in life aren't best explained through linear storytelling, such as the experience of finding one's way through the wild thicket of childhood....

Board with sexism.(Interview)
September 22, 2006... Not long after The Da Vinci Code opened in theatres, Monsignor Frederick Dolan, the vicar of Opus Dei (means Work of God) in Canada, was interviewed on national TV. I was fascinated--nay, enraptured. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The...