Volunteering helps fight for women’s rights worldwide

November 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By: Jessica Lockhart

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YCI volunteer with a Boys’ Club in Ethiopia

Since moving onwards from my former position of co-editor McClung’s and graduating from Ryerson, I’ve continued to find ways to integrate the issue of women’s rights into my every day life. The way I do this is through my organization, Youth Challenge International (YCI).

I first got involved with YCI during my second year at Ryerson—I wanted to do something different during my summer break, so chose to volunteer with YCI in Vanuatu, where I was involved in constructing a school and facilitating environmental awareness workshops.

Returning to work for YCI after graduating from j-school seemed like a natural progression. (After all, it was my experience with YCI in Vanuatu that really made me want to get involved with McClung’s. I felt like I had the potential to harness the energy and enthusiasm that I had for my project in Vanuatu and transform it into positive civic action here in Canada. Immediately after returning from my overseas project, I started volunteering for McClung’s.)  Although I’d have to lay my pen to rest for now, I’d have the opportunity to work in two focus areas that I identified as being important to my career goals: youth and gender equality.
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Dred Gerestant is a drag king miracle

November 8, 2009 · 1 Comment

By Samantha Anderson

milDRED courtesy of www.dredlove.comWhy does gender matter? And what is gender anyway? Are our desires and identities based on it? What if on some days I feel masculine even though I am biologically female? What if I could just be and that was all that mattered?

These are the questions Haitian-American milDRED Dred Gerestant’s one woman show bring to mind.

We’ve all heard the expression “Drag Queen,” but milDRED is transformative. milDRED is a Drag King and she is proud of it.

The show, part of the annual women’s theatre festival, Hysteria, is called “When She Was King,” and showcases milDRED, the artist formally known as DRED.

She stands, an average height, in a spotlight on the stage at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, three stools set up around her, each one piled with a different garment, material things that remind and inform us of gender; trousers, a jacket, a skirt, and eventually a gold tooth. milDRED tells the crowd that they are in for a different experience: the milDRED love experience. She tells the crowd she began Drag King shows in 1995.

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Stimulate business with a “creative picnic”

November 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By: Otiena Ellwand

Women-In-Business

Image from lansbridge.edu

Talking business over scissors, collage paper and glue isn’t the traditional way to go about things. But that’s exactly why these five women started what they call, “creative picnics”.

Every two weeks for a year now, they’ve spread their art supplies out on a table at the The One in The Only Espresso Bar (966 Danforth Ave.) and let things flow.

“It changes the way you talk [about business]. It’s more casual, more intimate and much less intimidating to throw something out on the table,” says Jamie Ridler, a creative self-development coach.

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The born again vegan: weekly tips and reviews of vegan recipes

November 2, 2009 · 2 Comments

By: Colleen Kirley

I have recently become a reluctant carnivore. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the taste of chicken as much as the next person. But after a traumatizing trip to a seedy butcher shop, I decided that it was time for me to start eating more ethically.

This weeks recipe is chocolate cupcakes! Make sure to try it out at home and leave comments to tell us how it worked out.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES:

A step-by-step recipe:

Total Time: One hour(Makes 12 cupcakes).

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Canadian feminist, Marie Lacoste still leaves her mark

November 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By: Nicole Siena

marie_gerin-lajoie_1920

courtesy of treefrogsoaps.ca

There are many ways one can classify feminism, but  by definition it is, “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Thus, without brave women taking a stand throughout history advocating for rights, women in the 21st century would be living a life without many of the opportunities we have today. Imagine not being able to vote, or not have the right to own property, or not be considered a “person”.  Things we overlook in daily life now, were constant struggles for women not too long ago.

There are a great deal of highly influential feminists in Canada who changed our lives, but their contribution to women’s rights are often overlooked. I’m sure that as Canadians we have heard about the Famous Five, who are the feminists- one of which McClungs was named after – that helped to get women represented in all levels of Canadian politics, and advocated that women are “persons” in 1929.

But who else has helped to shape Canada and its relationship with women?

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Sexting: two sides to the story

October 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By: Marlee Kostiner

teen_sexting
I first heard about sexting while flipping through the channels and stumbling upon Dr. Phil ranting about it last year.

In case you are unfamiliar with this wombo (word combo), sexting is a combination of sex and texting, indicating that it refers to the act of sending sexually explicit photographs by cell phone.
Besides the fact that sexting is all over the news, the main reason I know that the phenomena is making it’s way North is because Degrassi just aired an episode solely dedicated to the issues that can come out of sexting. But still, the major surge of sexting has been seen in the U.S.
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She’s so Boobalicious

October 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By: Adriana Rolston

Courtesy of Blog TO

Naked nymphs spray painted silver are for posing for photographers, white bras and panties hang from clothes lines above, in the corner there is a bra toss and every once in a while a woman dressed in a sparkling silver bikini and red feathered headdress walks by  in stilettos.

It’s without a doubt the strangest tit-themed party I have ever been to. On second thought, it’s the only one I’ve ever attended. It’s Boobalicious.

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