This just in from The Miss G Project:

“On June 6th, you and yours are cordially invited to the very big, very bold “Feminist Read-In” at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Be there at 11 a.m. and head out whenever the music stops or the sun goes down.

What’s a Read-In you ask? Imagine your typical sit-in, but without the force-feeding and free love. Supporters of the project from everywhere and anywhere are invited to join us on the front lawn of Queen’s Park to demonstrate for change and to show the government what we want to see in education — feminist and queer-positive literature, and women’s histories.

Bring your books, your blankies, your friends and family. We want hundreds — nay, thousands there! The day will be complete with solidarity-enhancing entertainment to dazzle the eye and warm the heart, including musical performances (more details on that to come), poetry readings (such as from most fabulous up-and-comer Tanis Rideout), and book readings by some of the women authors who matter to us. It will be the fabulous, feminist, education-focused, all-ages, geek-chic, refined but riotous, irreverent-to-the-bone Woodstock of our times.”

Here’s something fun to do this weekend if you’re in Toronto: The Toronto Small Press Book fair, which features tons of books, zines and magazines made with love by small presses and individuals. Details are on their website. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 3. A list of vendors is also on the site.

Another first post by someone who’s very pleased to be part of the Shameless community:

Some of you may have heard about the $500 tax credit that Stephen Harpers Conservative government (yikes, theres a phrase I never imagined Id be writing) is offering to the parents of kids who participate in team sports. The credit is a pretty strong incentive for families to get their kids involved in physically challenging activity, which is great in many ways, especially for girls all sorts of young ladies have lots to gain from team sports, where they can learn to be comfortable and confident in their bodies, not to mention getting out some good old-fashioned aggression on the field. But Im rather disturbed that the tax credit doesnt extend to the families of kids who are engaged in other life-affirming, ego-enhancing after-school activities. Does the Harper government think things like dance, visual arts, music, and community involvement are less valuable than athletic ability? Because it sure seems that way.

Of course, the sports credit is only a band-aid solution to make up for cuts to schools athletic programs, and really we should all be flocking to the streets to demand the government give more funding to schools and community centres, instead of offering a wee carrot to parents whose kids get into sports on their own time.

For now, if you want to encourage the Conservatives to take artistic, intellectual, and community pursuits as seriously as sports, you can sign this petition. Okay, Im off to participate in my sport of choice: team napping. Catch you later.

My name is Allison, and this is also my first post - look for bios of all of us coming soon.

For me, the greatest tragedy in Harper’s election was the end of the daycare plan, a federally-funded childcare system that was literally years in negotiation. Clicking around Rabble today, I found a banner for this project… seems the Canadian Auto Workers is running a “Childcare 2006” campaign. Check out the website to write letters, download graphics, etc. It’s worth a try.

Theres been a lot of talk about the health implications of eating fast food lately, from Eric Schlossers Fast Food Nation (which has been made into a feature film by Richard Linklater) to Supersize Me where Morgan Spurlock goes on a steady diet of McDonalds for a month and gets very, very sick, to Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food, Schlossers book about fast food for kids.

Another thing to take fast food corps to task on is the way they treat their workers. Not only the behind-the-counter workers — usually youth or other marginalized workers who are treated like a temporary workforce undeserving of rights, benefits or respect but those farm workers who pick the vegetables that end up on Bic Macs and cheeseburgers.

According to the Voice at Work Network, farm workers who pick tomatoes for McDonalds and Chipotle (a US healthy burrito chain owned by McDonalds) earn only about 45 cents for every 32-pund container of tomatoes they pick. Workers cant live on these wages, and the rate of pay hasnt increased for almost 30 years.

The site reports that Taco Bell signed an agreement to raise its pay, but McDonalds and Chipotle refuse to sign on. With the click of a button you can send the companies an email here, an easy way to try make life a little easier for tomato pickers.

Hi everyone! This is my first post! So cool to be a part of Shameless. My name’s piKe. Nice to meet you.

OK, I just got blown away by a film last weekend showing at Toronto’s Inside Out Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival, which runs until this coming Sunday. For those folks who still think that hip hop is just about 50 Cent and Eminem, you gotta get underground. The genre lends itself to some pretty homophobic stuff but make no mistake: hip hop has ALWAYS been a medium for raw, unapologetic emotion and truth from all sorts of people. Including queers. The film Pick up the Mic follows the stories of about a dozen queer hip hop artists in the US, of many backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and cultural backgrounds.

These artists are truly revolutionary and inspiring. If you can’t manage to see the film you can check out Gay Hip Hop.com where there are links to many of their sites with lots of music clips.

If you love the rhythm and style of hip hop but cringe every time you hear homophobic and sexist language in the lyrics, check these artists out!!!

It’s that time again, Nathalie-Roze Fischer has put together a second Crafternoon Tea (CT2) - “A spunky craft & fashion market, how-to hive and charity tea-room all in one!”. The event will introduce you to over 40 craftista-designers, and provide you access to many one-of-a-kind pieces that will WOW your friends and family.

Admission is by minimum donation of $2 for targeted charities, and the tea room funds raised will go towards a very worthy cause, Scarborough Women’s Centre (www.scarboroughwomenscentre.ca).

When: Saturday, May 27th 11am-6pm

Where: Bellefair United Church, 2002 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON (Across from Kew Gardens)

For further information, please go to www.nathalie-roze.com and click on the Crafternoon Tea button.

Our lovely new art editor Ronit tipped us off to this awesome website, Holla Back New York City.

It’s a blog that lets women and girls DO SOMETHING after being leered at, groped, harassed or catcalled on the street. Instead of trying to find words to lob back at some creep or feeling hurt or violated, you can snap a pic with your camera phone and upload it onto the site, complete with a snarky blurb. It’s a brilliant way to empower women.

As the site explains, “Holla Back NYC empowers New Yorkers to Holla Back at street harassers. Whether you’re commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some turd’s fantasy. So stop walkin’ on and Holla Back: Send us pics of street harassers.”

The site is not limited to New Yorkers, either. And word has it that a Canadian version is in the works. Any truth to that rumour? Let us know!

Another Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan this week. The fact that Nichola Goddard was the first Canadian woman soldier to be killed in combat since World War II seemed to make the tragedy even more newsworthy. Unfortunately, none of the mainstream media outlets used this unfortunate occasion to ask important questions about why Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan in the first place (and why our prime minister wants them to stay for another two years).

Nor did anyone ask bigger questions about women and war — women are affected by war in very different ways than men, and their experiences are drastically underreported in the news media. Im not going to get into specifics, rather Ill point you to an online quiz at Amnesty International about women and war. Its eye-opening and very informative, and may make you angry about the silence around these issues in our newspapers (besides, who doesnt like tests that let you go back until you get the answer right?).