Posts by Michelle Schwartz
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In the Blog
Review: Just Pervs by Jess Taylor
When I was a teenager, I was introduced to the books of Charles Bukowski. I had spotted a shelf-full of them at the East Village apartment of someone whose taste and lifestyle I admired. The first Bukowski novel I sought out was Women. Out of all the titles I’d seen on the shelf, this one stood out and seemed the most attractive. I assumed that a book with “women” for a title would offer, at its core, a nuanced study of, well, women. I assumed women would figure prominently in Women, in a way that would appeal to me, a young woman reader. I took Women out of the central library in Mississauga and took it to my bedroom to read READ MORE
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Blog Series
Shameless ILU
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In the tenth post in the series, musician Lido Pimienta has shared an original piece of art in celebration. READ MORE
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Blog Series
small breaks are big breaks too
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In the eighth post in the series, Shameless contributor Frizz Kid has shared some of her poetry and art. READ MORE
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Blog Series
We have always remained connected to one another in small and big ways
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In the seventh post in the series, past Shameless Front of Book editor CJ Blennerhassett writes about the relationships she formed during her time at Shameless. READ MORE
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Blog Series
Shameless reminded me that another world was possible
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In the fourth post in the series, Shameless reader Kaleigh Trace describes how she found solace in Shameless. READ MORE
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Blog Series
Shameless came into my life when I was looking for community
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In the third post in the series, former arts editor, Manisha Claire, describes how Shameless came to be her “creative outlet, classroom and community centre.” READ MORE
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Blog Series
“I recall, with zero shame, how Shameless’s logo drew me toward its booth”
For our fifteenth anniversary we’ve reached out to the Shameless community and asked what the magazine has meant to them. In our second post in the series, long-time contributor Marta Balcewicz writes about discovering Shameless for the first time. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Marlene Dietrich: Insolent Enigma
Before trailblazers like Janelle Monae played with ideas of fluid sexuality and gender, there was a woman who pushed all those boundaries with a demur little smile and a throaty growl of a singing voice. That woman was actress and singer Marlene Dietrich. READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Price of Fast Money: The Dark Side of Bars and Restaurants
There’s fast money to be made in bars and restaurants, but it can come at a price. When I was eighteen and getting paid about $13 an hour as a swim instructor, I heard through friends how lucrative serving and bartending could be. I was determined to get into the industry, and it didn’t take long before I found an entry-level host job at a well-known, upscale restaurant in midtown Toronto READ MORE
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In the Blog
Competitive Debate: Still a Man’s World?
November 2018. I was fidgeting with my folder, my head crammed full of facts about pharmaceutical price controls. My opponents walked into the room. Two teenage boys, both in suits. We exchanged awkward pre-round introductions, and took our seats before the judge came in the room. I overheard an unfortunately audible exchange between them, “Can you see her bra through her shirt?” “Kind of. Does she think she’ll win because she’s flashing the judge?” READ MORE
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In the Blog
My Ancestors’ Dirty Thoughts: The Art of Sarah Creagen
I love Sarah because her effortless witty comebacks make me laugh until my face hurts, because she used to play violin in a crotch-pop band, screaming like a rock star about gender confusion, because she is an unstoppable visionary and a recent graduate from New York’s prestigious Hunter College Masters of Fine Arts program, and because no amount of parents’ skepticism or staggering student fees will stop her from following her dreams and creating the kind of artwork she wants to see in the world. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Chipping Away: Intersessions works to fix the gender imbalance in dance music
Sometimes you can change the game by chipping away at the old rules. That seems to be the ammo of Chhavi Nanda, a rapper, DJ and promoter turned music scene activist better known as Chippy Nonstop. READ MORE
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Blog Series
Your Voice Matters and You’re Not Allowed to Go Away: Advice from the Creators of Super Zee
Nathalie Younglai, Farah Merani and Gillian Müller are multi-talented media makers committed to changing the industry. Together, they are three-fourths of the producing team behind the queer Black superhero comedy Super Zee (The fourth, Jay Vaidya, was out making the next ground-breaking project at the time of our interview). In the first part of our conversation, we talked about the making of Super Zee and its all-POC crew. Here, they share insight about their careers, self-doubt and why you should ignore what people say about how to make it in showbiz. READ MORE
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Blog Series
Meet the Super Women Behind Super Zee!
Super Zee is an action comedy about a queer Black superhero saving the world from microaggressions. The crew behind it is made up entirely of People of Colour. I had the privilege of talking about the show, the biz, and challenging what’s possible, with three of Super Zee’s four creators. (The fourth, writer-producer Jay Vaidya, was out working on the next ground-breaking project at the time of our interview.) READ MORE
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In the Blog
Review: Game Changers - Inspiring Women Documentary Series
Today’s political climate is hardly encouraging. With daily news headlines detailing further and further encroachments on fundamental human rights, with the kindling of rhetoric and aggression against disenfranchised groups, it’s easy to feel defeated, angry, or hopeless. It might sound trite, or just overly optimistic, but exposing myself to a documentary series on powerful, revolutionary women had an incredibly lifting effect. I recommend it as a form of self-care, a 70-minute to two-hour respite, and a boost for your own political capacity. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Review: Motherhood by Sheila Heti
Early in the novel Motherhood (published this May by Knopf Canada), Sheila Heti’s narrator provides a summary of the Biblical story of Jacob wresting the angel. In this story, a creature appears to Jacob, proceeds to wrestle with him overnight, and, come morning, spares Jacob and renames him “Israel.” Jacob calls the wrestling place “Peniel,” and refers to it as the spot where he came face to face with God, and made it out alive. Heti’s novel ends with the story of Jacob and the angel as well, except now it is a reference to the book the narrator has just finished writing. The narrator—a woman close to 40 years of age, living in Toronto, a fairly successful writer—comes to see her book as the wrestling ring where she faced God and made it out alive. She names this place Motherhood. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Review: Hard To Do - The Surprising Feminist History of Breaking Up
The idea of containing the whole history of the breakup in a short book—everything that has led us to a moment when women (at least some women, in certain parts of the world) are able to freely leave relationships, all in 120 pages—is daunting to say the least. The study of how relationships have evolved, and how the historically socially-condoned male-female romantic relationship developed and came to dominate in Western culture—is gargantuan in scope. Yet it is one that Kelli María Korducki has pulled off, in a format that could easily be read in one sitting. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Fun Home: A Conversation with Sara Farb
Fun Home, the musical based on the graphic memoir by Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist, Alison Bechdel, is on stage now in Toronto. The show features three actresses playing the role of Alison Bechdel – as a young girl (Small Alison), as a university student (Medium Alison), and as a forty-something woman (Alison). We spoke with Sara Farb, who plays Medium Alison. READ MORE
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Blog Series
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Hot Docs 2018, Reviews Part 1
Featuring documentaries from across the world, the Hot Docs festival in Toronto runs from April 26 to May 6, 2018. Check out part one of our reviews series, featuring the films People’s Republic of Desire, Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution, and Netizens. Hot Docs offers free same-day tickets for all screenings before 5:00 p.m. to students with valid photo I.D. at the venue box offices (subject to availability). READ MORE
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In the Blog
Go Make Your Web Series!
“Go make your movie. We need your movie. I need your movie. So go make it.” -Greta Gerwig, The Oscars – Represent Montage, 2018 READ MORE
