Librarians at Night

A final farewell post for my defunct blog. This funked short features Candace, the Director of the library I worked at for the past year. It all came together when she received her Fluevog leather boots in the mail: time to break it down in the stacks. Shot with one light, one camera. I used a Sony PMW-EX1 HD cam with a fig rig for a hand-held long take.

Enjoy! Librarians really do have the most fun.

Librarians at Night from Michelle Lovegrove Thomson on Vimeo.

Feminist Film & Video Art Resources

(Cindy Sherman)


Online Resources:

Video Data Bank features clips from Martha Rosler, Sadie Benning, Lynda Benglis, Peggy Ahwesh, and more.
UBU web film page full length film and video uploads from classic 20th century experiemtnal filmmakers, including Maya Deren, Lynda Benglis, Agnes Varda, Su Friedrich
Elizabeth Sackler Centre for Feminist Art in Brooklyn

Canadian Resources:

Fringe Online Canadian Experimental Filmmakers
CFMDC distributor of Canadian short film
Pleasure Dome film and video exhibition group dedicated to the presentation of experimental film and video, located in Toronto.
V tape distribtion of media works by independant Canadian Artists
Trinity Square Video An artist-run centre that continues to train and help develop many emerging artists. Several noted Canadian artists including John Greyson, Lisa Steele, Ed Sinclair, Michael Balser, Kim Tomczak, Vera Frenkel and Barbara Sternberg have created video at TSV.

Artists:

Allyson Mitchell a maximalist artist working predominantly in sculpture, installation and film. Since 1997, Mitchell has been melding feminism and pop culture to play with contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography, and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft.

INAuntINA video "Lynda Barry" video featuring art by Allyson Mitchell

Barbara Sternberg Barbara Sternberg has been making (experimental) films since the mid-seventies; co-founder of Struts gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick, was a founding member of Pleasure Dome: Film Artists Exhibition Group in Toronto, and taught in Film and Visual Arts at York University.

Midi Onodera recent works feature a collage of formats and mediums -ranging from 16mm film to Hi8 video to digital video and “low end” digital toy formats such as a modified Nintendo Game Boy Camera, the Intel Mattel computer microscope, the Tyco and Trendmasters video cameras.

Midi Onodera film "I have no Memory"

Cindy Sherman creator of "untitled film still" photographs

Beginnings:
Maya Deren
Sadie Benning clips on VDB
Martha Rosler
Peggy Ahwesh
Joyce Wieland
Joan Jonas
Lynda Benglis
Cindy Sherman

Some Canadian Filmmakers and Media Artists:
Barbara Sternberg
Joyce Wieland
Allyson Mitchell
Midi Onodera
Deirdre Logue
Aleesa Cohen
Patricia Rozema
Mary Harron
Andrea Dorfman
Garine Torrosian
Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof
Janet Cardiff

Mainstream Feminist Feature Filmmakers:
Sally Potter(Orlando, Yes)
Jane Campion (The Piano, In the Cut, Bright Star)
Patricia Rozema (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night Falls, Mansfield Park)
Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) excerpt from I Shot...

Recommended Texts:

Helen Cixous “The Laugh of the Medusa” (Essay), “Portrait of Dora” (Theatre)
Sigmund Freud “Femininity” from New Lectures on Psychoanalysis and Studies on Hysteria
Luce Irigaray “The Blind Spot of an Old Dream of Symmetry” in Speculum of the Other Woman
Teresa de Lauretis Alice Doesn’t: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema
Linda Williams “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre and Excess”
Laura Mulvey “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
Donna Haraway “Cyborg Manifesto”
Chris Kraus I Love Dick; Aliens and Anorexia

Judy Rebick Book Launch at UNB: March 27!

Journalist, Writer, and Activist Judy Rebick will be at UNB on the afternoon of Friday, March 27th, at 4:00 pm as a guest of Women's Studies and Political Science. She is touring Canada to launch her new book, published this week, called Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political".

Location: Chancellor's Room, Wu Centre, UNB, Fredericton
Time: 4:00 pm
Date: Friday, March 27th
There will be a short reception after her talk. Her book will be for sale.
The event is free and open to the public.



Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, educator , writer, and speaker. She currently holds the Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University.

Judy is founder of rabble.ca, Canada’s most popular independent online news and discussion site and the author of several books and articles, most recently Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution (Penguin 2005). Her other books are Imagine Democracy (Stoddard 2000) and Politically Speaking (Douglas & McIntyre 1996).


In her new book, "Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political", veteran activist Judy Rebick explains how globalization and mass communication technology are revolutionizing our understanding of power and producing profound new ideas about social and political life. Whether it’s the election of President Obama, the rise of democracy in Bolivia, or the success of Wikipedia, it’s the process that’s key: bringing communities of people together to produce something new; building a movement from the bottom up; sharing experience, knowledge and wisdom; emphasizing co-operation and consensus over confrontation and political partisanship.

Meaningful response to the environmental crisis and social injustice requires substantial, sustainable change at every level, which can only come through building power from the grass roots, from the people most impacted. In Transforming Power we discover the ideas, the people and the practices that can provide the paths to the change we need.

Visit her website: Transforming Power for more info on the book and Judy herself.

Las Vegas Vice Squad publishes photos of "50 most prolific prostitutes"

THIS is outrageous.

Where's the top grossing pimp list? A roll call of the most frequent Johns? This stunt is not about keeping prostitution off the streets and out of the public eye, the usual goal of most criminalizing gestures like this. It is about thievery, of all things; about sex workers stealing from clients. Give me a break.

The majority of women on the list have multiple arrests in relation to exchanging sex for money, or prostitution-related theft charges, inside several Strip hotels, NOT for street prostitution. Making a photo-roster which encourages the public to look, to attempt to control these women through collective judgement, provides no real i.e. measurable outcome. It is simply a new way to brand a scarlet P on their fetishized bosoms.


Excerpt:

'...it is time to stop the revolving door of prostitution-related arrests, especially when those arrests involve "trick rolls," in which prostitutes steal from men.

"We're talking about girls who have been arrested repeatedly over the years, ones that we all know by face and by name," said Hughes, citing one woman who was arrested 18 times in a single year.

"If they get the message that Las Vegas is not going to ignore their subsequent arrests, then maybe they'll take their lifestyle to a different city."

Call for proposals: "Capturing our History: Feminisms in Canada and Quebec 1960-2010"

Capturing our History: Feminisms in Canada and Quebec, 1960-2010 /
Retracer notre histoire : le mouvement féministe au Canada et au Québec, 1960 à 2010

The project:
To publish a series of books - one per year beginning in 2010 - that depict the richness and diversity of feminist activity in Canada and Quebec between 1960 and 2010. They will be written by different authors and may include autobiographies, biographies, single- and multi-themed volumes, edited collections, plays, novels, etc.

The complexities of gender, race, class, geography, culture, dis/ability, language, sexual identity and age are central to the project. The topics may include:
· history of feminist groups (local, regional, national, service, topical etc.),
· autobiographies/ memoirs/ biographies of individuals involved in the movement,
· feminism in politics and the public service,
· feminists in business, the professions, the workplace, unions,
· feminism in art and sports,
· feminism in social and human sciences,
· feminism in reproductive issues and health,
· feminism in education, religion, science, international affairs,
· feminism and the media, etc.

We expect that all books will be published in both hardcover and paperback and intend to make some or all of the books available in digital format on the internet. The hardcover “collection” will be marketed as a series, like a “book of the year club.” We hope to sign up thousands as members of "Our Feminist History Book Society", a built-in purchasing group for the books, who for an annual fee of $75-100, would receive the “book of the year.” The paperback books will be sold separately in bookstores and outlets.


How to Participate:
Comment on how the project should be developed; propose writing a book, or part of one: M. Elizabeth Atcheson meatcheson@sympatico.ca
or Constance Backhouse backhous@uottawa.ca
or you can contact the NB Advisory Council on Status of Women for more info at acswcccf@gnb.ca

Who Is Involved:
The project is in formation and has benefited from the assistance of: Marguerite Andersen, M. Elizabeth Atcheson (Co-Editor), Constance Backhouse (Co-Editor), Monique Bégin, Mary Breen, Susan G. Cole, Margaret Conrad, Shelagh Day, Francine Descarries, Margrit Eichler, Ursula Franklin, Lorraine Greaves, Sylvia D. Hamilton, Danielle Juteau, Linda Kealey, Michele Landsberg, Tracey Lindberg, Meg Luxton, Diana Majury, Lorna Marsden, Maureen O’Neil, Francine Pelletier and Judy Steed.


hahaa

Bjork releases new single: Nattura

Bjork's new single, featuring Thom Yorke, supports the Nattura iniative and can be purchased online here or at iTunes (search 'Nattura').

The official statement about the purpose of Nattura, and the song:

"The single was composed specifically to encourage active support for the Náttúra campaign, which aims at collating and providing sustainable and eco-friendly options suitable for Iceland, and generating alternative ways to utilize it’s natural resources. People will be able to submit their ideas on the website for sustainable green workplaces for Icelanders.

According to Björk, “It is now more important than ever before to emphasize a respect for nature… I believe that profits, technological advances and working together with nature can all go hand in hand. None need to be sacrificed at the expense of the others.”

The new single is written and produced by Björk and features Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on backing vocals, Brian Chippendale (Lighting Bolt) on drums, Matthew Herbert on synth/bass, and Mark Bell on additional electronic beats. Opening with a huge elemental swirl, “Náttúra” then fires up an incendiary and fierce tribal rhythm. The song sees Björk firmly on the march in celebration of her homeland, in hopes that Icelanders harness its energy in a sustainable way."

ENJOY!...

Something from Nothing: from Republican Barracudas to God Particles

When bad news abounds, I like to find solace in particle physics (no, not quantum of solace—blech).

First the bad news: North America enjoys paternalizing, destroying, saving, and sexualizing women politicians (watch out, this Globe article is accompanied by an image of the front page that refers to Sarah Palin as a "Republican Barracuda”--Wow).

Also, apparently the province of NB has decided to appeal the ruling made in August allowing Morgentaler “standing” to launch a court battle to force NB Dept of Health do its job—provide free and accessible abortions to women who need them. Morgentaler hasn’t actually sued the province yet, because first he must prove his right, as a man, to represent the women of NB. The Province will apparently stop at nothing to prevent proper access, and continues to insult the women of this province.

With Palin, no matter how much I abhor her politics, it still infuriates me to see the simultaneous demonization and sexualization of her by so many media outlets; the media spin on her ultra-conservative anti-feminist
politics as being feminist; the assumption that women can be duped by a skirt; and the focus on her appearance. My quick google search of her name says it all:


The Good news: we’re close to discovering how to go from nothing to something.

Higgs boson (otherwise known as the “God particle”) is a hypothetical “massive scalar elementary particle” predicted to exist by particle physics (first theorized in 1964). Hypothetical as in, it has yet to be observed. This is where the Large Hadron Collider at CERN comes in. Basically, observing the Higgs boson particle would help explain how massless elementary particles somehow construct mass in matter—the difference between the massless photon and bosons with mass.
To be clear: How did the big bang happen? How do you go from nothing to something, from zero mass to particles/matter with mass. These are the thoughts that used to keep me up at night, clutching the bedcovers to keep from spilling out into space.

This brings us to CERN, where the Large Hadron Collider is housed. The LHC is in a circular tunnel 27 km in circumference. The tunnel is buried about 100 metres underground between the Swiss and French borders on the outskirts of Geneva.

According to the official Large Hadron Collider website, the goal of the experiment is “to smash protons moving at 99.999999% of the speed of light into each other and so recreate conditions a fraction of a second after the big bang”. Based on the results, the LHC experiments will try and map out what happened.
Though some people believe that colliding high speed protons in an underground circle of life will spark the bang to end all bangs, CERN continues to issue press releases to allay all fears.

The researchers at CERN (the birthplace of the WorldWideWeb (though not the Internet per se) thanks to Tim Berners-Lee) will be flipping the “switch” on the LHC tomorrow September 10th, circulating the first high energy beams, after months of preparatory actions. The first collisions at high energy are expected to happen about a month from tomorrow.

So, tomorrow the countdown is on to discovering how it all began on a micro and macro level simultaneously.

In case my explanation is too banal (or just plain wrong), here’s a thorough rap explaining all.

Large Hadron Collider:



Sweet Dreams!

season of glass

Spring passes
and one remembers one's innocence
Summer passes
and one remembers one's exuberance
Autumn passes
and one remembers one's reverence
Winter passes
and one remembers one's perseverance.

There is the season that never passes,
And that is the season of glass.

- Yoko Ono, Season of Glass 1981

On time, memory, and technology: La Jetee and a bag of tapes.

From a used ghetto blaster* to French avant-garde film in four moves.

As a result of buying a wicked Philips boombox--complete with strap--at a yardsale on Saturday (in support of the NB Rebelles and their cause), I ran home and dug out my shoeboxes of tapes. Crammed in between Dee-Lite's "World Clique" and Much Dance '93 was a tape labelled "All About Me 1991".

Popping it in, I was immediately treated to a recorder solo, a 5 minute atonal rendition of "We are the World," and a song I wrote "with my friend Martha, she's REALLY into Peace" called Firebomb ("about a little war that just happened, not like, the Second World War, a small one that happened last year between Iraq and Saudi Arabia..."). The format is me talking to my future self, or rather, admonishing my future self on all the plans I've already made, via a genius future-telling game called "M.A.S.H.".

Apart from being side-splittingly amazing and teeth-gnashingly horrendous (I use the word fag in a song I wrote about wishing someone a happy birthday...?!), the tape is a time-travelling gem. I am reminded of my old constant fascination with time and communicating with my future self. Everyone did this I suppose, it's just amazing to have such a concrete example. And, task fulfilled as planned, here I sit 17 years later, imagined self and past self united in an onanistic continuum.

Thoughts of dialogue between selves made me think of French filmmmaker Chris Marker's 1962 film "La Jetee". It is a beautiful, clever, sci-fi short film that later became the basis for Terry Gilliam's feature Twelve Monkeys (His version is a great film, but try watching the trailer after watching Marker's film... yikes.)

Told through a succession of still black and white images and narration, the film follows a man in a post-apocalyptic world, who can move through time. He falls in love with a woman in the past, and her presence provides one of the most beautiful moments in cinema. Watch and see.

Now the tape recorder has been replaced by new technology, and the dialogue/monologue continues. Thank goodness blogging and youtube didn't exist when I was 9.

The film is 26 minutes, and can also be found here



*That's what I grew up calling a portable stereo not realizing the meaning, and feel no need to white-wash with new terminology. Acknowledge the origin and remember.

Excerpts from PM's Apology to First Nations People

See also:
Video of PM Apology
Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Indian and Northern Affairs info on resolutions.


Excerpts from Harpers' Apology:
(More on what this means later)


Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools. The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history.

In the 1870's, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools.

Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.

These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal.

Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child."

Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.

Most schools were operated as "joint ventures" with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United churches.

The government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities.

Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed.

All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools.

Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home.

The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language.

While some former students have spoken positively about their experiences at residential schools, these stories are far overshadowed by tragic accounts of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect of helpless children, and their separation from powerless families and communities.

The legacy of Indian residential schools has contributed to social problems that continue to exist in many communities today. It has taken extraordinary courage for the thousands of survivors that have come forward to speak publicly about the abuse they suffered.

It is a testament to their resilience as individuals and to the strength of their cultures.

Regrettably, many former students are not with us today and died never having received a full apology from the government of Canada.

The government recognizes that the absence of an apology has been an impediment to healing and reconciliation.

Therefore, on behalf of the government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you, in this chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian residential schools system.

To the approximately 80,000 living former students, and all family members and communities, the government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this.

We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions, that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this.

We now recognize that, in separating children from their families, we undermined the ability of many to adequately parent their own children and sowed the seeds for generations to follow, and we apologize for having done this.

We now recognize that, far too often, these institutions gave rise to abuse or neglect and were inadequately controlled, and we apologize for failing to protect you.

Not only did you suffer these abuses as children, but as you became parents, you were powerless to protect your own children from suffering the same experience, and for this we are sorry.

The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for far too long.

The burden is properly ours as a government, and as a country.

There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian residential schools system to ever again prevail.

You have been working on recovering from this experience for a long time and in a very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey.

The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.

We are sorry.

In moving towards healing, reconciliation and resolution of the sad legacy of Indian residential schools, implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement agreement began on September 19, 2007.

Years of work by survivors, communities, and aboriginal organizations culminated in an agreement that gives us a new beginning and an opportunity to move forward together in partnership.

A cornerstone of the settlement agreement is the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This commission presents a unique opportunity to educate all Canadians on the Indian residential schools system.

It will be a positive step in forging a new relationship between aboriginal peoples and other Canadians, a relationship based on the knowledge of our shared history, a respect for each other and a desire to move forward together with a renewed understanding that strong families, strong communities and vibrant cultures and traditions will contribute to a stronger Canada for all of us.

Film nostalgia: vampires, breakdance, androids, doll-women, and lusty femicide.

During the summer of '94, I covertly watched B-films served up nightly by ASN at midnight. These films were pretty cheesy and bad by most standards, but transgressive to a 12 year old. Now everyone finds fringe and cult films online, or stumbles upon them, but I must thank ASN (a usually family-friendly channel) for bringing the films that taught me about technology run amok, taboo sexuality, vampire love, and of course, the dance battle:

Amantes (Dir. Vicente Aranda)

Have been haunted by this film since this one viewing. Follows a young man as he abandons his virginal fiance to be sexually educated by his Widowed landlord, with inevitable murderous ending. Innovative uses for a hanky are discovered en route.
Seeing Woody Allen's Match Point a few years ago reminded me of the film, though I had no idea what it was called or who made it. Today I tried many googling techniques, all which yielded nothing, and I finally typed in "spanish film about murder" and found this title halfway down the page. Bingo! Weird.
Levity aside, the final scene of this film has floated back to me many times in the 14 years since I first saw it. The emotional impact of understanding the intersection of sexual violence with domestic violence still resonates. This film was the first to give me that unsettled, morosely creeped-out feeling that comes from mixing death, sexuality, and trust, which I would later experience with films like Olivier Olivier!, A Ma Soeur (Fat Girl), My Summer Of Love, and more recently Red Road.

Full Amantes synopsis.


Beat Street (Dir. Stan Lathan, with Guy Davis, Rae Dawn Chong)

Stars a young Guy Davis (son of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee) in his first and only movie role. I loved the film then, and it has since taken on new meaning, as Frederictonians now know Guy as a guitar-strumming storyteller who used to make frequent visits to Harvest and to Salty Towers to trade notes with Hot Toddy.





Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo(Dir. Sam Firstenberg)

A developer tries to bulldoze a community recreation center. The local breakdancers try to stop it by putting on a dance spectacular. Obviously they succeed, as the coffeegrinder overcomes all obstacles.
I believe in the beat.


The Hunger (Dir. Tony Scott with David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon)

Saw it once and never forgot it.

The Bauhaus over opening titles, the David Bowie, the lesbian love, the loneliness of the undead, the mutating hemoglobin, the Flower Duet, the eighties eye-makeup, the billowing gauzy curtains, the Ankh-necklace dagger, the crumbling flesh... Too much to unpack here, I suggest watching it as soon as possible.
Online.


Making Mr. Right (Dir. Susan Seidelman, with John Malkovich)
Woman falls in love with an android that looks like John Malkovich. Yeah, right.
Most memorable moment is when android Malkovich goes through his human lover's purse and finds her diaphragm. He pings it around wondering what it is, and my young self wondered the same thing.


Weird Science (Dir. John Hughes, with Anthony Michael Hall)

My parents are away for the weekend. Party? No. Initiate woman-making software.
Two nerds design a woman using their geeked-out custom IBM attached to a Barbie, and through the magic of a freak lightening storm, the doll turns into Kelly "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" LeBrock. Anatomically correct or plastic panties? We never find out, because a gang of punk biker aliens break up the party (Time travellers from Tupac's "California" video, who found themselves in the wrong 80s movie. Sorry dudes, Mad Max is in the other studio.)

Cinema's proto-nerd Anthony Michael Hall begins to lose his way after this film, never truly resurfacing until taking on the role he was born to play, pre-humanitarian Ur-geek Bill Gates in Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Murderous Merritt Father is NOT the Boogeyman. Really.

The BC man suspected of murdering his three children has been caught by a local hunter.

The vigilante hunter's (brief) statements are great ("He's Got"). He tied the man to a tree....(his possible reasons for hunting him down are another column altogether).

What I'm interested in is how all the news items I've read focus on the community keeping their children indoors, checking under beds, and the like.

Excuse me, this man is not the Boogeyman!
He is not here to eat your children.

Schoenborn is an enraged, abusive, (reportedly mentally ill) murderous partner/father who carried out a targeted plan of violence against his own family. No one else is at risk, unless they are valuable to the mother.

How can the public STILL be so unfamiliar with domestic violence, when we have several cases a year in Canada of a man killing his children to punish his partner (not to mention the number of men who murder their wives/GFs). Schoenborn is not a monster in your closet or under your bed, he is a statistically re-ocurring type of person. Men like him will carry out these acts of violence again and again, unless restraining orders, peace bonds, and jail terms are taken seriously.

Come on. Get your heads up from under the beds, and into reality.

See GnM article here

Oulipian Horoscopes.... keep your brain limber

An acquaintance of mine started a Facebook group called "Echo Spoor," an online workshop for literature in the style of the oulipians (those who've read Christian Bok will be familiar). They imposed strict rules on their writing, "believing that formal constraints were liberatory".

People can create "echo spoors" - poetry derived from horoscopes.

The rules: use only the letters, words and punctuation in your daily, weekly, or monthly horoscopes to write "your" poems. you may not repeat words or punctuation.

My poem is derived from Rob Brezny's Scorpio horoscope for this week. I had thought with all the talk of "workmen", "entering the body", etc this would be a bit more risque.... turns out Weil infuses all with her love of the Godhead ...


When waiting for passage,
Keep in mind the mystic and political activist,
Entering our tired world of
Order and beauty,
Suffering and hurt,
Redemptive pain.
His coming is the expression of love.


(Horoscope):
In her book Waiting for God, French mystic and political activist Simone Weil (1909-1943) wrote a passage I'd love for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks: "When an apprentice gets hurt, or complains of being tired, the workmen have this fine expression: 'It is the trade entering his body.' Each time that we have some pain to go through, we can say to ourselves quite truly that it is the order and beauty of the world that are entering our body." I encourage you, Scorpio, to adopt this redemptive attitude about the suffering you have been experiencing.

Arthur C. Clarke Joins the Cosmic Dust

Arthur C. Clarke, writer of the classics 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, and dozens of novels and short stories, passed away today. It's too bad that during his lifetime he didn't get to experience contact with another alien civilization, as he so desired.

Here are some excerpts from his 2008 "Egogram", reflections on his 90 years, and plans for the future. I love the Rudyard Kipling quotation. Prescient.


EGOGRAM 2008 - Sir Arthur C Clarke

Friends, Earthlings, ETs -- lend me your sensory organs!

I send you greetings and good wishes at the beginning of another year – and we’re getting closer to 2010, 'the year we make contact' (according to the movie 2010: Odyssey Two).

Making contact, or at least receiving some evidence of extra-terrestrial life, was one of three wishes I included in a short video released online in December reflecting on my 90th birthday. I said: “I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe. But we are still waiting for ETs to call us – or give us some kind of a sign. We have no way of guessing when this might happen – I hope sooner rather than later!”

Completing 90 orbits around the sun is a suitable occasion to reflect on how I would like to be remembered. As I said in my birthday reflections video:
“I’ve had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer – one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.

I find that another English writer has expressed it very well.

So let me end with these words of Rudyard Kipling:

"If I have given you delight
by aught that I have done.
Let me lie quiet in that night
which shall be yours anon;

And for the little, little span
the dead are borne in mind,
seek not to question other than,
the books I leave behind."



Arthur C. Clarke
Childhood's End One of my favourite stories.
Arthur C. Clarke Foundation His projects, philanthropic endeavours, and bio.

"newseason" net art by Kristy O'Leary

newseason is Kristy O'Leary's latest art piece, located on the web.

The piece is an online environment, based on deconstructed topographic maps, where one can listen to elders from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia reveal their memories of weather and their observations of climate change.

The site itself is a simple, one page affair. Hover your mouse over different parts of the map to activate the voices.


Kristy O'Leary (b. 1977, Perth Ontario, Canada) works in installation, audio, web design and single-channel video. Her work has been exhibited at The Kyber Centre, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery and The Anna Leonowens Gallery. In 2003 Kristy received a degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario) in Political Science. She then went on to complete her BFA, Media Arts from NSCAD University in April 2006.

Kristy will be at the Eastern Edge Gallery in NFLD
Saturday March 8th
2-3pm IWD panel
Kristy O'Leary and Kristin Ivey discuss feminist, environmental and new media issues and thematics.

Second Wave Archives Project: call for items

Second Wave Archives Project, Nancy's Very Own Foundation

Where are the stories, minutes, photos, briefs and buttons that tell the story of the women's movement in Canada since 1960?

Few such records are on deposit in public archives. This project aims to direct valuable materials into repositories where future researchers can find them, helping them to create an accurate and complete portrayal of this important period in Canada's history.

The project has four main objectives:
1. To locate second wave records and find them a home in a suitable public archives
2. To collect stories that are not on paper, through a pilot oral history project, starting in Ontario
3. To share information about second wave history with feminist activists, academics, archivists and researchers
4. To create an online resource that makes it easier to donate second wave records to an archives, and to locate and access these archival collections

We are looking for archival materials from individual feminists and from organizations that worked for women's equality. We want them to reflect the character of the movement - in all its diversity, drama, distinctiveness, influence and consequences.

Do you have records related to second wave feminism in Canada?
Have you already sent documents to an archives?
Do you know any second wavers who might be holding onto archival treasures?

Please contact Project Coordinator Mary Breen at 416-604-4620, archivesproject@sympatico.ca.

ho no mo: NYC councillors propose ban on degrading words

The Following is a document submitted by New York City Councillors, it has not yet been approved. Symbolic, un-enforcable... but still worth proposing?

Resolution calling for a symbolic moratorium on pejorative use of the “b” word and the word “ho.”

By Council Members Mealy, Avella, Comrie, Dickens, Fidler, Foster, Jackson, Gentile, James, Liu, Mendez, Monserrate, Nelson, Reyna, Sanders Jr., Stewart, Vann and Vacca



Whereas, The Council of the City of New York strongly believes in promoting the equality of all of City residents and strives to foster an environment free from discrimination; and

Whereas, Acknowledging the great power of the spoken and written word, a power both immediate in its ability to inspire action and subtle in its far-reaching repercussions, the Council of the City of New York, responding to the concerns of constituent groups and the calls of civic leaders, seeks to join the national conversation about the appropriateness of pejorative use of terms like “bitch” and “ho;” and

Whereas, The Council believes that the repercussions of words can be constructive or can be insidious, and that words, when misused, can lay foundations to legitimize the illegitimate and codify the unthinkable, including, for example, the concept that it is acceptable to refer to women as animals or, worse, that women are these words used to describe them; and

Whereas, The Council recognizes that the word “bitch,” primarily defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “female canine animal, especially a dog,” carries a legitimately non-pejorative definition, but the Council further recognizes that in 1811, Francis Grose, in his “Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” described “bitch” as “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore,” thus documenting a long-standing tradition of the word’s use for purposes of degradation; and

Whereas, The word “ho” is commonly used to refer to a whore or woman of loose sexual reputation; and

Whereas, The Council feels grave concern at the derogatory use of the words “bitch” and “ho” in popular music, and wishes to express particular interest in working together with music industry executives to promote an atmosphere of professional responsibility and public accountability; and

Whereas, While some artists such as Queen Latifah make use of words like “bitch” and “ho” in contexts of strength and power, arguing “Everytime I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or a ho/Trying to make a sister feel low/You know all of that gots to go,” even such reference is an incommensurate response to the verbal assaults of the words employed by artists such as 50-Cent, Eminem, R. Kelly, Snoop Dogg, Juvenile, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, and Bow Wow, as well as the late Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.; and

Whereas, Calling “bitch,” “ho,” and the N-word “extreme curse words,” Hip-Hop mogul and Def Jam label co-founder Russell Simmons has called upon record executives to eradicate those words from their industry; and

Whereas, Simmons, joining together with fellow Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Co-Chair Dr. Benjamin Chavis, issued a statement reading, “Our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African-Americans and other people of color, African-American women and to all women in lyrics and images;” and

Whereas, The words “bitch” and “ho” are used in popular media other than Hip-Hop music in contexts just as insulting and cruel; and

Whereas, The Council believes that the use of this hateful language creates for all women a paradigm of shame and indignity, a paradigm equally applicable to every woman regardless of whether she is the direct target of such attacks or a tangential but equally impacted victim; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, The Council of the City of New York calls for a symbolic moratorium on pejorative use of the “b” word and the word “ho.”

BRS
LS# 3000
5.29.07

Original Document can be found here

Talk about Smart Mobs: Free Tibet activists use online technology to ensure message gets out

Howard Reingold talks about Smart Mobs in current activism: the use of cell phones and the internet to organize actions, communicate with group members, and to disseminate info to the media. smart mobs, smart mobiles.

I am sooo impressed by the techno-savvy group of activists that unfurled a banner at the Great Wall of China this week, and who were subsequently arrested.

Some background first:
Today a third Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, has been arrested, along with her colleague Paul Golding. Six activists were arrested on Tuesday, including two Canadians: Sam Price and Melanie Raoul from Vancouver.

It was Sam and Melanie who rapelled down the Great Wall to hang a large banner that read, in English and Mandarin, "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008". Tuesday marked the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, and the group used the Olympic slogan to draw attention to China's occupation of Tibet.

What is so amazing about this action is the use of the internet to achieve global coverage, and as a means of keeping in touch while waiting to be detained by Chinese authorities.

An activist recorded the hanging of the banner on their cell phone and e-mailed the file to New York, where it was immediately uploaded to Youtube, and soon after was reported on in print and television media.

Since Tuesday, Lhadon Tethong (who was not present at the Great Wall action) has been travelling in Beijing where she has been a one-woman techno-firestorm:
- she has been blogging about the action at Beijing Wide Open
- To try and reach International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge, she posted a letter to him on her blog, then made a video of her talking about the letter while standing under a statue of Mao Tse-Tung. She then called the IOC to tell them about the video on her blog, then made a video of the call and added that to the blog. An IOC staffer agreed to meet with her.
- She talked with CTV news about the action via satellite, and posted this video on the blog as well

I just visited the blog, where a video has been posted of a Skype video-call Lhadon and Paul made at an internet cafe yesterday, before their imminent arrest. [Skype is a free web-based phone service].

What excellent use of these resources, these web-based technologies, for social action! I think today I'll be able to work on my thesis after all.


CBC article

"Belle" Statue Honours Sex Workers

[Text from International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe ICRSE]
"There is a new girl in the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Her name is "Belle", and she stands proudly and strong in a window. She, however, is not a real sex worker, it is a statue there to honor sex workers. The statue was an initiative of Mariska Majoor, founder of the Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam and herself a long standing activist for sex workers' rights. "Belle" is there to remind the world that all sex workers, men, women, transgender or not alike, have a right to respect, dignity, livelyhood and agency.

The statue was unveiled 31st of March, during the open day held in the Red Light District where she now stands. During the open day 20 businesses, ranging from brothels and sex theaters to flowershops and churches, opened their doors for the public. It was a unique chance to take a look behind the scenes. Visitors could take a look inside the windows and were given explainations about how the women work, they could take a free coffee in one of the caffees, they got a free 5 minute show (with clothes) in the Cassa Rossa, the biggest live sex theater in Amsterdam.

Of Course the main event that day was the presentation of "Belle". At 5 pm, Mariska and several other sex workers ceremonially unveiled her in front of a croud of several hundreds. She was received with much applause, the sense of the day was a positive one. While not forgetting that still there is a lot to be done in the Netherlands to improve the working conditions and specially the regulations, the Netherlands is one of those places where working at least is legal. "Belle" now stands among the real women in the windows in one of the most famous Red Light Districts in the world, to tell everyone that we deserve respect!"

Fetal Consent for Abortions...

New Abortion Bill To Require Fetal Consent

From The Onion.