AnarchaFeminism

xposted

Be Your Own Hero Festival 2008
Now Accepting Submissions

The 2nd Annual Be Your Own Hero (BYOH) Festival will be taking place in Wilmington, North Carolina September 2008. The locations and exact dates will be announced at a later time. Submissions for workshops, info sessions, skill shares, and musicians are currently being accepted until July 31, 2008. Volunteers are also needed to help out on the day(s) of the event and/or to join the BYOH Fest Planning Squad.

Please send workshop submissions to herofest@gmail.com with your name, email, phone, organization/collective (if applicable), proposed workshop title & short description, materials needed, and time needed. All other ideas, volunteer availability, and inquiries may also be sent to herofest@gmail.com. We welcome all subjects and we encourage all people to apply, especially those who do not fit neatly into the status quo!

In 2007, Wilmington NC was home to the first Be Your Own Hero Festival, an all day radical Do It Yourself (DIY) Festival held at the Soapbox Laundro Lounge. The Festival included a Really Really Free Market, potluck, workshops, info sessions and live music. 2007’s workshops included: DIY parenting (a radical concept), Basic Bicycle Repair, Truth in Recruiting / Promoting Peace, Social Activism & the Info-Radical Menstruation, Food Politics, Trans 101: Becoming an ally to transgender people, Unconventional Action: Organizing against the DNC/RNC, and DIY DJ Workshop. Bands included: The Brothels, The Nothing Noise, Gator Country, Prize Winners Collective, NED, and Ghost Mice.

For more information on the Be Your Own Hero Festival and Collective, visit www.beyrownhero.com or contact herofest@gmail.com.
_______________________

( Submission Form )

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is pleased to announce the release of its 2008 GENIUS Survey in partnership with Ernst & Young. GenderPAC works to ensure that classrooms, communities and workplaces are safe for everyone to learn, grow and succeed.

The Gender Equality National Index for Universities & Schools (GENIUS), GenderPAC’s most recent effort to end discrimination and promote awareness, encourages colleges and universities to recognize the benefits of a GenderSAFE campus - supportive equitable and protective for all students. Choosing to participate in GENUIS sends a strong public statement that bullying or discriminating based on the race, sex or gender of a student, faculty, or staff member is not tolerated at your institution

Fill out the survey at: www.gpac.org/GENIUS2008survey, and make sure that we have data for as many schools as possible. Your voice will help us continue to work towards a safe and welcoming environment for every student

The third annual Great Lakes Anarchist Gathering is taking place June 7 and 8 in Toledo, OH!  

If you will be attending and need housing, please email Grace ASAP at sang_so_loud(at)yahoo(dot)com, with the number of nights you will need housing and the number of people coming.  If you have any other specific needs, please let us know.

SCHEDULE:

 
** Friday night:

Party

** Saturday:

11am: parade through Toledo's Old West End.
(Every year, the historic Old West End holds a huge festival complete with music, food, lots of garage sales, and a parade.  We will be joining the parade, so feel free to bring your banners, noise makers, and other fun stuff.)

12pm: intro to anarchism/intro to Toledo

1pm: M.A.N. caucus regarding networking

2pm: RNC discussion

3pm: self defence/street tactics workshop

4pm: free style walking workshop

5pm: gardening workshop

6pm: dinner/hang out

8pm: show

** Sunday:

10am: breakfast

11am: the basics of collective housing

12pm: women's health workshop

1pm: history of North American anarchism

2pm: Wayne Price (NEFAC) will be holding a discussion on a variety of topics, including anarchist-communism and green anarchism

4pm: video editing for activists and a screening of the "We Need Food not Bombs" documentary

 

Once again, if you will be attending and need housing, please email Grace at sang_so_loud(at(yahoo(dot)com

Also, some tables are still available for anyone who wants to sell anything.  We will have a free table for any lit or zines you want to give away.

 

october15ac(at)hotmail(dot)com
http://www.midwest.azone.org
http://www.myspace.com/octoberfifteenth

The Great Lakes Anarchist Gathering is going to be an important event due to its proximity, both geographically and chronologically, to the Republican National Convention in September. With the GLAG taking place in June and the RNC in September, it will provide three month window for those in attendance to take advantage of the skills learned and share any plans made with those unable to attend.
We'll be building on the progress made over the last year and a half in bringing the Midwest/Great Lakes region anarchist communities together and strengthening the Midwest Action Network. 

Once in awhile you have the privledge of stumbling into something so bizarre that it makes you wonder what in the fuck is going on. My friends, meet The Open-Source Boob Project.

The Open-Source Boob Project.

At Penguicon, we had buttons to give away. There were two small buttons, one for each camp: A green button that said, "YES, you may" and a red button that said "NO, you may not." And anyone who had those buttons on, whether you knew them or not, was someone you could approach and ask:

"Excuse me, but may I touch your breasts?"

And if you weren't a total lout - the women retained their right to say no, of course - they would push their chests out, and you would be allowed into the sanctity of it. That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.

For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon. It never got old, surprisingly.

Some women didn't want to. That was fine. We never demanded anything of anyone. And if you didn't want to put yours up for the Project but you wanted to touch, well, that was fine, too. It was simply for folks who felt like being open.

It was a raging success at Penguicon.... And there haven't been any hookups that I know of thanks to the Open-Source Boob Project. It is, as I said, a very special thing. (Though I wouldn't rule it out if two single people exchanged a moment.) And we'll probably do it at other cons, because it's strangely wholesome and sexual at the same time.

I've left off the names, because frankly, people should reveal for themselves whether they're Open-Sourcers or not. Not everyone wants to go public with it, and what happens at the con stays at the con. But trust me. If you are, and I meet you, I will ask. And you'll understand the beauty and simplicity of the Open-Source Boob Project for yourself.

Touch the magic, my friends. Touch the magic.

(NOTE: I should add that my memory of details is fuzzy at best under the best of circumstances, particularly when I drank a lot of very good Scotch later that night. I wouldn't trust any specifics here, and others have already informed me that the Princess happened first and then the other touching occurred. But the spirit of the Open-Source gestation is very much correct here.)

I'm assuming that you can all see the irony of this, correct? You need only to think of the demographic of those attending the event.

You are invited to:

Mountain Justice Summer Camp
May 17 - 23
Harlan County, Kentucky

Our 2008 Mountain Justice Summer camp will be at the base of beautiful
Pine Mountain, with an old-growth forest and incredible hiking just
above the camp - plus live mountain music, great food, films, workshops
on coal mining and Appalachian culture, skills training, and plenty of
time for fun and relaxing.

Best of all, the camp is extremely low-cost, only $20 plus $10 per
night. There are
cabins with bunk beds, plus tent spaces, a beautiful
lake, awesome mountain views, and some of the best people you will ever
meet anywhere (sorry - no dogs this year).

Register now at

http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org

Go to the website to see pictures of the camp and some photos of our
camp last year in Tennessee. This is our 4th annual camp, and we think
this is going to be the biggest and best camp we have ever had, with
well-known speakers like Kentucky author Silas House, Kayford Mountain
Keeper Larry Gibson, Teri Blanton of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth,
Ed Wiley from Rock Creek, West Virginia, plus many local Harlan County
residents and coal miners who are concerned about mountaintop removal
mining.

Music includes: Nashville's Jake Leg Stompers, folksingers Micheal and
Carrie Kline, Here's to the Long Haul, Jeremy Dotson, CD Collins, Danny
Dollinger from Austin Texas, and much more!

During the week we will have community service projects, including
innoculating Hemlock trees at Camp Blanton against Hemlock Wooly
Adelgid, plus forest ecology and plant identification hikes, tree
climbing, The Maze, Sand Cave, Knobby Rock - this is going to be an
awesome week so we hope to see you there!

Please note: Sorry, no dogs at MJS Camp this year. There are plenty of
camp dogs around, so you will have canine company even if you have to
leave your best friend at home.

Here is our current schedule (subject to changes)

Concurrent workshops are designated by
a slash

*** Sat May 17

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Morning Circle & Welcome to Mountain Justice Summer!

10:30 Mountaintop Removal with Vernon Haltom, Coal River Mountain
Watch, Whitesville WV / Conflict Resolution /Legal Workshop- Chris
Irwin, United Mountain Defense

12:00 Lunch

1:00 MTR 101 - Vernon Haltom (repeat) / Community Organizing

2:30 Appalshop's "Coal Bucket Outlaw" with Roy Crawford / Appalachian
Regional Reforestation Initiative - Sadie Heck

4:00 Free time / Shadow Theater - Georgia Matt

6:00 Dinner - Speaker: Dr. Tom Barnes slide show "Pine Mountain"
(tent.)

7:00 Live Music

9:00 Film "Harlan County USA" (Academy Award winning documentary)
introduced by Dr. Lynda Ann Ewen, author of "Which Side Are You On? The
Brookside Mine Strike in Harlan County KY"

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Sunday May 18

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Morning Circle - Welcome to Harlan
County - Teri Blanton,
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

10:30 Dayhoit walking tour w/Teri Blanton/ Church Service - Sage Russo,
Christians for the Mountains / Appalachian Cultural Sensitivity - Dr.
Lynda Ann Ewen

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Working with the Media - Viv Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition, Dana Kuhnline of SEAC, Vernon Haltom CRMW/ Art & Activism -
Sarah Haltom, Coal River Mountain Watch

2:30 Deep Ecology & Bioregionalism - john johnson/ Water Testing/
Climate Justice

4:00 Free Time / Making Kim Che - Patty D and Erin M. / Theater
Performances - Steph Pistello

6:00 Dinner - Coalfield Citizens Panel with Harlan and Letcher County
residents

7:00 Live Music

9:00 Film "Coal Miners Daughter"

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Monday May 19

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Morning Circle

10:30 Coal Mining 101 - with Harlan County miners / Active Listening
- Georgia
Matt

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Hiking Blanton Forest - Kyle Napier, Ky State Nature Preserves
Commission / Beehive Collective presentation / Tree Climbing - Hilary
Hosta

2:30 Listening Projects / Field Water testing / MTR site tour

4:00 Free Time

6:00 Dinner - Speaker: Larry Gibson, Kayford Mountain Keeper

7:00 Live Music

9:00 Film Kentucky Premiere! "Burning the Future: Coal in America" with
filmmaker David Novack from New York City

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Tuesday May 20

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Morning Circle

10:30 Non Violent Direct Action - Hilary Hosta, Matt Leonard, James
Brady / Anti-Oppression

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Kentucky author Silas
House ("Clays Quilt", "The Coal Tattoo")/
Butch Turk skills training / Tree Climbing - Hilary Hosta

2:30 History of Opposition to Surface Mining - Chad Montrie, Univ.
of Mass-Lowell ("To Save the Land and People") / Beehive Collective
workshop

4:00 Free Time

6:00 Dinner - Speaker: Ed Wiley (invited)

7:00 Live Music - Public Outcry (hopefully)

9:00 Film "Mountaintop Removal" w/ filmmaker Mike O' Connell (winner of
Reel Current Award, Nashville Film Festival awarded by Vice President
Al Gore)

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Wednesday May 21

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Benham, KY Coal Mining Museum field trip / Making Art with Sarah
Haltom, Coal River Mountain
Watch

10:30 Composting toilets/ "Listening for a Change - Oral Histoy and
Appalachian Heritage" w/ folksingers Michael and Carrie Kline/ Archery
/ DIY workshops

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Water testing - Dick Shore/ De-escalation Techniques - Doc /
Primitive Skills - Kris D. / Tree Climbing - Hilary and Chris Irwin/
Other DIY workshops

2:30 SMCRA and Citizens Rights - Gerogia Matt / Appalachian Community
Economics - Randal / Belly Dancing - Sarah Haltom / DIY workshops

4:00 Free Time

6:00 Dinner - Dick Shore as John Muir

7:00 Live Music - Folksingers Michael and Carrie Kline

9:00 Films Appalshops' "Stranger With a Camera" and "Thoughts in the
Presence of Fear" w/ Herb E. Smith

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Thursday May 22

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Morning Circle & State
Breakouts

10:30 Nukes Are Not the Answer - Mary Olson, NIRS / Environmental
Philosophy - Charlee Tidrick

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Bank of America/Citi Campaign - Scott Parkin, Matt Leonard
Rainforest Action Network and Hilary Hosta / Legal Workshop (repeat)-
Chris Irwin, United Mountain Defense / Hiking/ Forest Ecology and Plant
Identification - john johnson

2:30 Campus Organizing

4:00 Free Time

6:00 Dinner - Speaker: Kentucky Author Bruce Hopkins "Sacred Ground"

7:00 Music - Poetry night - Talent Show

9:00 Films Appalshops "Its Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song"
(Hazel Dickens) and "Dreadful Memories" (Sara Ogan Gunning)

11:00 Quiet Time

*** Friday May 23

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Closing Circle

10:30 MJS Meeting

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Take down and head to Heartwood Forest Council in Ohio!

Please register now at

http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org

Hope to see you all there!

[this is the event my partner is DJing at, for those who may be interested!]

AWCCA 20th Anniversary Party
The big 20hhhhhhh
When: Sunday, April 27th
Where: 519 Community Centre - 519 Church Street

Doors at 7pm
Show at 8pm
Dancing at 10pm

$10 or sliding scale admission
All ages (bring ID if you want to buy beer)

Music, video, comedy, burlesque, spoken word, dancing, prizes and more.
Celebrating 20 years of feminist, anti-violence education and activism in the Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor Advocate Program and George Brown College (www.awcca.ca).

anyone know where i can get a copy of the movie, "sex workers of the world unite" ? i cant find it anywhere at all...only showings of it. any downloadable versions? there's gotta be somethin SOMEWHERE.

crossposted

thanks

My apologies if this isn't allowed, but my partner is DJing at her college program's fundraising party this weekend. It's a feminist program, and it will be a very radical feminist party. Last year, the main complaint was that the DJs played too much rock, and people wanted to hear more hip-hop, latin rhythms, basically good music to dance to. Any recommendations of empowering, woman-focused music that's great for dancing? Stuff that came out within the past few years especially.

The SL Infoshop is looking for folks to do teach ins or led discussions. Discussions or teach ins should be about 1 hour in length and generally timing should be sometime after 6pm but before 11pm PST. If you are available for more than an hour it would be great if you could stay longer and help out with an Q and A session. You can feel free to suggest some kind of homework or reading that folks would want to do before coming in, and I'll make sure that they know about it preferably at least a week in advance. (please be aware that homework that is abelist will not be passed on, for example, "watch this movie on goggle video that has no subtitles").

We are very interested in talks on gender, anti-racism, anti-fascism, political activism, environmentalism, non-oppressive parenting, sexuality, polyamory, feminism, anti-ableism, intersex, organizing, labor rights, war, poverty, globalization, sex work, alternative media, or well just about anything interesting and political you can think of, hit me up and let me know about something you want to talk about and we can work it out from there.

Second Life is a free, 3 dimensional, fully interactive, social and chat space. If your computer is not compatible with second life but you would still like to do a talk I'm pretty sure I can work something out by copy and pasting into and out of AIM, Jabber, MSN, etc. Basically this is an opportunity to get to talk to folks about things that you are passionate about who don't get to come out to more standard teach ins, consultas, etc.

X-posted about

May be of interest to some....



1) Open Meeting

We are having an open meeting on April 16th at 7pm. The meeting will be held in Room 23 at the 519 Community Centre (519 Church Street). The main purpose of this meeting is for past, present and future volunteers to get updated on the 2008 festival. We will also be forming some important committees, and getting feedback and ideas on how to make this year's festival awesome. If you are interested in volunteering this year, or just want to hear what we are all about, please join us at this meeting! If you want to be involved but can't make it to this meeting, please email us at ladyfesttoronto@gmail.com (if you've already sent in your volunteer application, then don't worry about letting us know if you can't make the meeting - but do join our yahoo group for volunteers here if you have not done so already!).

2) Gentleman Fest

We are thrilled to announce that our first fundraiser of 2008 is happening on May 8th at Tiger Bar. More details will be coming very soon!

3) Knitivism

LFTO Knitivism will be collecting donations of handmade, knitted items for Jessie's Centre for Teenagers and Anduhyaun Emergency Women's Shelter. Jessie's is a resource centre for pregnant teens and teen mothers, and was founded by June Callwood. They offer lots of amazing programs, including a Swap Shop that allows the women to pick up baby and household items for free. Anduhyaun is a shelter for First Nations women and their children, and it's the second oldest shelter in Canada.

We'll make sure any and all donations find a good home, but there are some things that the two locations have told us are most needed. They are:

-Hats, mitts and scarves
-Slippers
-Children's toys
-Baby clothes, hats and other baby items
-Blankets

Donations can be dropped off at one of three lovely locations:
-West Side Stories (1499 Dundas West), a great new video store specializing in women in film and LGBT films
-Red Tent Sisters (810 Danforth Ave), an awesome store and workshop space that is focussed on women's health and sexuality
-Ryerson Women's Centre. They suggest you contact them ahead of time to make sure someone will be in the office when you stop by. Their phone number is 416 979 5255 ext.2350.
-Or, bring your knitted goods to the open meeting or gentleman fest!

I'm not very good at making things look good, so I need a little help.

Anyone know where I can find cut-and-spray-things on the net? And, what is the real proper English word for it? In my primary language it is sjablong.

What I am looking for is the good old feminist fist, but anything related to feminism is good.

Ladyfest Toronto 2008
Call out for volunteers

Ladyfest Toronto is a four-day arts, culture and music festival. We are a non-profit, grassroots, do-it-yourself collective who seek to promote urban feminism. We work from a framework that is pro-feminist, trans-inclusive, pro-diversity and anti-oppressive. We seek to build community among Toronto's feminist businesses, artists, activists and academic community. We believe that art is a powerful form of resistance and hope to incite dialogue about contemporary feminist issues in our city. We will be providing a venue for women to express themselves and showcase their work free of sexism, classism, racism, and homophobia; as well as other forms of oppression.

We believe that politics can be fun and hope to facilitate political action and create tools for feminist networking at our annual event. We will proudly showcase the talent and actions of both local and international women. Ultimately, we hope Ladyfest Toronoto inspires women everywhere to organize themselves and create similar spaces that allow women's creative works to be seen and heard, as other Ladyfest's have for us.

Ladyfest Toronto offers something for everyone, whether you are identify as a feminist or are curious about the ideas of it.

This year’s festival will be taking place Thursday, September 18th to Sunday, September 21st 2008.

( more information )

Hey everyone, (I hope this is okay to post here!)

Power for Women is a new non-profit website and community aimed at bringing information on domestic violence, sexual assault, and mental and physical health to all women. Additionally, we go over dating tips and relationship advice, or how to survive as a single woman in this world. PLEASE go visit and register at http://www.powerforwomen.net/forums/  in order to meet people with the same goal as you: to help others. There are discussion boards of all types currently open.

The forums contain discussions on family and parenting, sexual health and discussion, advice, a bitchfest, and other types of forums. It is an open community with the single goal of connecting women worldwide as the Power for Women website grows more and more.

I really appreciate it! Any and all help is welcome. I hope to see you over there :)

X-posted for more involvement.

I am proud to announce that the machineKUNT website has now been remodeled with a brand new artists page announcing the lineup of our "Extreme Women in the Dark Future" compilation.

http://machinekunt.com
http://machinekunt.com/artists

Several more artists shall be added when their tracks have been received. We are looking forward to the release of this album in May!

Cheers to all.

Hi all,
This is an election statement by Activate: Grand Rapids SDS.  enjoy

anyone have any hints for some awesome feminist events happening in the US or Canada this may?

hello,

i'm looking for personal experiences regarding herbs used for abortions/inducing menstruation. good or bad information on specific herbs. could be anything from "it made me bleed in 2 hours" to "it made me nauseous". i also just want non-abortion related info. so if you take theses herbs for other issues please tell me about your personal interactions with them. please tell me atleast approx. dosage, too.



this information will be used for a presentation i'm doing at a local univ about alternative birth control.

$pread Magazine Reading Event

February 6, 7-9pm, at Bluestockings, NYC, NY

On Wednesday February 6th, join $pread staff and contributors for a reading event at Bluestockings bookstore to celebrate the launch of issue 3.4.

Featured readers include $pread contributors Gerry Visco, Chelsea O'Neill, and $pread 2006 cover boy Rich Merritt, author of Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star and Code of Conduct.

Wednesday February 6th 7-9pm Bluestockings bookstore (bluestockings.com)

172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington, New York, NY

$pread Magazine - Illuminating the Sex Industry