The Toronto Women’s Bookstore needs your help! The 36-year-old non-profit, feminist bookstore, which is committed to anti-oppression, risks having to close its doors if it doesn’t raise $40,000 by January. The store has issued a letter to the community asking for donations so that it can remain afloat while the current managers and staff take time to devise strategies to make the store more sustainable.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, it’s more than just a bookstore. The TWB offers workshops, courses, readings, and other events that foster a sense of community. It is an organization that offers a safe space where women of colour, aboriginals, queer people, transgendered individuals and many others can find books and community resources. Interested in how privilege operates within our society? The TWB has offered a course called “Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Community: Unpacking and Unlearning Privilege.” Ever wanted to learn some hot burlesque moves? The bookstore has a course in that, too.
And, in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s been a serious decline in women’s bookstores (and independent bookstores) worldwide over the past 15 years. In 1994, 125 women’s bookstores existed across the globe. Wanna know how many there are now? A meagre 21.
So, please, pretty please, if you’ve got a few extra dollars in your wallet, make a donation to the Toronto Women’s Bookstore. You can do it in person at the store, or visit their website and make a donation via PayPal. And, if you need some more convincing, you can find interesting facts, details, history and information here, here, and here.
Tagged as:
books,
women
Remember what it was like being a teenager? If you’re like me, you’re probably shuddering just a little bit. Being a teenage girl is hard–especially for girls who don’t fit into the mainstream. Fortunately, the fabulous people at Shameless magazine have created She’s Shameless: Women Write About Growing Up, Rocking Out and Fighting Back, published by Tightrope Books. Edited by Stacey May Fowles and Megan Griffith-Greene, this anthology, which was launched last night in Toronto at the Gladstone Hotel, features non-fiction writing by women who share their teen experiences (with all the gory details). The writing is intended to appeal to “freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, and activists.” Sounds like good reading to me.
While I haven’t had a chance to sink my teeth into the book yet (just picked up my copy last night), based on the sample performances I heard last night plus the crowd’s enthusiasm, I expect I’m in for some entertaining stuff. So pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore or online. Give one to your daughter, your niece, or the teenage girl who lives next door. I have a feeling she’ll appreciate it.
Tagged as:
books,
teens,
women
Shannon the Movie Moxie has alerted me to Entertainment Weekly’s list of the “20 All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.” Five female characters make the list, and five out of the 20 ain’t bad–but it ain’t great, either. On the chart are Sidney Bristow (Jennifer Garner’s character on Alias), Foxy Brown (Pam Grier of the eponymous film), Nancy Drew, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, of course, of the Alien films). These are all superlative choices, and it’s great to see these women up there with Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Jack Bauer and Dirty Harry.
Is there a shortage of cool women in popular culture (and by “popular culture,” the editors seem to mean “fictional characters primarily from film and television, plus Atticus Finch and Nancy Drew”), so much so that they only represent 25% of the people on EW’s list? Or did the list fail to acknowledge some of the coolest women?
I would have liked to have seen Marge Gunderson, Frances McDormand’s character from Fargo on the list. I never tire of watching the visibly pregnant Marge solve crimes while keeping her cool. Marge Gunderson is arguably one of the great cinematic heroes of all time. And it goes without saying that Grace Park, Katee Sackhoff and Mary McDonnell’s Boomer, Starbuck and Laura Roslyn from BSG deserve serious consideration (I am blind with bias here, I am sure).
Who do you think deserves to be on the list of coolest heroes in pop culture?
Tagged as:
books,
film,
Heroines,
pop culture,
television
Confabulous badges!
