DIY shoulder-pad hat over at The Coveted. (The Coveted)

Pop quiz!

You might be a shoulder pad feminist if:

a) your messenger bag sports a “Vote Clinton” pin
b) you “do it all”
c) you came of age in the era of shoulder pads and still see sexism everywhere.

But, if you’re like me and you don’t like to wear your shoulder pads in your thrifted blazers, cutting them out doesn’t have to mean more garbage: you can now wear those shoulder pads on your head!

Jennine over at The Coveted and the absolutely amazing Coveted Shoppe recycled her found shoulder pads and created beautiful hats! There’s no tutorial, but you could probably take some elastic, sew it on to wear under the back of your head, and glue on some tassle-y things. Sequins, those little fabric birds, sparkles, and trinkets can also be hot glued wherever needed.

So rock that shoulder pad in a way that makes you feel confident and thrifty: bringing the brawn of the shoulder pad back to your head.

Hello lovelies! I have had an oh so secret crush on Shameless for some time and it has been one of my personal goals to contribute to the incredible presence that it is.

For a while now I have been convinced that crafting, homework, and an overall sense of DIY has long been a place of feminist identity and resistance. Every week from now on I hope to present you with a crafty idea, a crafter, or a crafty place that is feminist! Feel free to knit along, sew along, or craft beside. Let the crafting begin!

Time for a little shameless (heh heh) self-promotion (sort of): if you like your media free from corporate manipulation, remember that even free media ain’t free to run, and support your local community media outlet. CKUT, Montreal’s community radio station, is holding its annual funding drive, where the station raises money to cover its operating costs. Because they’re not backed by either large corporations or advertising, grassroots media organizations (like Shameless!) need the support of the public to exist. So if you have any cash to spare after donating to your fave feminist publication, consider helping out CKUT or an independent media outlet in your neighborhood. We need these organizations to ensure we continue to have a diversity of voices in the media landscape. And honestly, where else are you going to hear MIA and Team Dresch back to back? Clear Channel? Methinks not.

portrait of the author as a budding radio enthusiast, circa 1988

For Venus’s annual funding show, we’re going to be doing live karaoke in studio, with special guests from some of our favorite local bands, like Thundrah, Kickers, 100 Common Disasters, and more. The more pledges we get, the more we’ll embarrass ourselves! Tune in this Thursday from noon to 2 PM. Everyone wins!

Shopping for a cause can be problematic; we’ve explored it here, here and here. But when I came across this fantastic fundraising campaign via myspace (no, not facebook,) I knew I had to share it with readers. This isn’t corporations selling pink iPods and red t-shirts. This is the kind of grassroots, DIY fundraising I can get behind:

Help a FtM get top surgery and get a rocking shirt at the same time!

Here’s the deal, via the awesome Riot Grrl Ink:

“Sam is FtM, who is in need of funds for his top surgery. His partner and him came up with the idea of the “No Titty Committee.” An online t-shirt store where all the profit would go towards the surgery. The surgery it self is $8,000. Like most Americans, Sam and his partner live a modest life style on a limited budget, with no access to the amount needed for surgery. The insurance companies don’t recognize top surgery as medically necessary, they see it as cosmetic. Sam needs the help of the queer community. Please go to www.goodstorm.com/stores/notittycommittee and check out the shirts!

The idea for the “No Titty Committee” is for ANY FtM in need of top surgery. The idea behind it is to create your own designs and raise much needed funds. By raising funds ourselves we DO NOT have to go into debt for something that should be recognized.”

By the way, here’s my t-shirt choice:

There are two crucial things every cyclist should know - how to change a flat, and when your bike is too messed up to fix yourself. In which case, it helps to know a good mechanic, and if you’re in Montreal then you’re in luck. Revolution Montreal (1757 Amherst, in the gay village) is our city’s new woman-owned bike shop, where Danielle Flowers will true your wheel and her partner jj levine will - wait for it - give you a lesbian haircut for $15. It’s kind of like “Shoes Shined While U Wait”, only queerer.

Flowers says she started the shop because she wanted a safe space for women and queer folk to get involved with their bikes, and goodness knows it will be a breath of fresh air.* And in levine’s experience, dykes and queer kids often have trouble getting the haircuts they want at conventional salons, so the two put their heads and their business sense together, and Revolution Montreal Bike Shop And Lesbian Haircuts For Everyone was born. I wonder if they’ll install my new spokey-dokes.

To read more, check out this article, and then get out there - the streets are waiting.

(photo by Meera Margaret Singh)

*a li’l sidenote: I have known many, many extremely lovely mechanics who are also menfolk. But I have also had male mechanics condescend to me, try to cheat me, and even get all sleezy-like - while signing up for the mailing list at my local drop-in bike workshop, the mechanic said “So, what’s your email? Hot-babe dot com?” At the community bike co-op, for crying out loud! Hence my perhaps poorly-thought-out kneejerk tendency to want to throw my arms around every lady mechanic I come across.

When the Community Bicycle Network‘s BikeShare program was forced to close this year due to lack of funding (though not a lack of enthusiasm or merit), I foolishly didn’t realize that was not the end for all of CBN’s programs, most particularly — Wenches with Wrenches. Wenches with Wrenches “is an ongoing program of CBN volunteers who host bicycle repair workshops run by and for women in downtown Toronto. The idea has been to make basic bicycle repair skills accessible to women in the hope that participants will then share their knowledge and their confidence with others in the community.”

You gotta go.

Fortunately, I am not too late to spread some word — there appears to still be room this year in both the June and September sessions. The sessions consist of four lessons, one a week, and the cost is $30 or pay-what-you-can. You can register at Urbane Cyclist.

Knowing your rear sprockets from your crank arms is some of that pretty pretty shiny practical knowledge that no one can take from you, and it is enormously empowering even to pick up a few basics (adjusting your seat height and tilt and cleaning your chain can add years both to your knees and your bike). Wenches with Wrenches delivers on these basics and goes beyond to give you a comprehensive understanding of how it all fits together, and how you can keep it that way. The sessions are hands-on, and you bring your own bike, so what you’re learning can be applied in real-time.

Bikes are one of those marvels of mechanics that we tend to get a bit blasé about. But they’re a straightforward sort of complicated and once you start fiddling with your bike, you may find it very hard to stop. So get down with your inner-mechanic and sign up for a Wenches with Wrenches session. You’ll be tweaking your brakes and patching your tires in no time.

Concordia University TeleVision (CUTV) in Montreal is offering a two-week summer day camp in July for youth ages 14 to 19 to learn filming techniques (shooting, editing, directing, etc). At the end of the camp, you’ll have made your own short film!

The fee is $150 or pay-what-you-can. The only criteria is enthusiasm, and preference will be given to youth who come from low-income situations.

If you’re interested contact Jason: jason at geek4hire dot ca.

Last week saw the unfortunate passing of Valentine’s Day. I hate Valentine’s Day. People I have dated will say it is because I have a penchant for unsentimentality, that I am unromantic, and that I am a bit of a love party pooper. (Well, the ones who are still bitter would likely say these things.) A few days before the “big” night of the 14th, I went to a yearly literary party (we usually get together at Christmas but the timing didn’t work out this year) and I went around to everyone saying “Happy Heartbreak!” in my most saccharine voice. I was hoping that the boorish literary crowd would indulge my hatred of cheap emotion and bad chocolate. I wanted to joke about heartbreak, loss, and Nina Simone. I was playing the role of V Day’s arch-nemesis.

Instead, everyone looked at me like I was pathetic. I got pep talks, blank looks, and requests for more martinis. (I was playing bartender.)

But I’m not particularly heartbroken at the moment. In fact, I am dating a few different people who rock my world. I have amazing friends. My life is overflowing with love of both the erotic and platonic sorts.

So please don’t attribute my blase attitude about Valentine’s Day to bitter unrequited love. It has more to do with hating throwaway objects and too shiny emotions. And I don’t like sugary treats. I prefer savoury!! In general I hate feeling “forced” to display emotions and depth of feeling. I never hug mascots. Clowns with painted smiles freak me out. (I do like the tragic ones.) I dislike buying gifts for people’s birthdays and/or anniversaries. I resent trotting out the (commercial) love as proof of… caring? commitment? friendship? But at the same time, I’m a deeply caring and sentimental person… I just don’t show it with stock phrases and Hallmark. When I am going to say something special to you, I really mean it. I don’t use words like love lightly. If people do so with me, I get suspicious. Wouldn’t you?

So I think I might have found the right V Day event in Toronto and you should come too! Apparently some local writers are going to read stories about love gone wrong, bad girls, sex soured, scorching heat and a new twist on lust that is guaranteed to leave marks. Sounds purrrrfect.

Not sure why it is happening more than a week after the yuck day, but I’m going to go check it out:

Get Your Lit Out - Heartbreaker
Thurs, Feb 22
Doors open at 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. (it says here “until hearts reach fever pitch”)
Edward Day Gallery
952 Queen St. West (just west of Shaw St., entrance through courtyard).

With cool queer writers Marusya Bociurkiw, Rose Cullis, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, Julia Gonsalves, Chanelle Gallant, and Lisa Foad.

The promo reads “Heartbreaker is also prepared to break the spell of your winter hibernation. So unwrap yourself from that blanket, roll out of bed, bring your soggy love letters and empty chocolate boxes, and be prepared to get read to!”

See ya there!

Nicole’s post below just reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to post about. A small British press called godhaven ink has reissued Hot Pantz, the DIY gynecology zine that’s been on the bookshelf of every savvy riot wiccan and herbal grrrl since it was first published in 1994. If there was one object I’d like to place lovingly in the hands of every woman I meet, it’s this guide to, as the authors put it, “knowing more about your cunt than your doctor does”. With herbal recipes for everything from treating STIs to brewing aphrodesiacs, it’s a well-researched, clearly-written, non-condescending booklet that has helped me, at least, feel like my “area” isn’t a foreign country that I have to learn a whole new language to visit.

I know it seems a bit funny to have to order it from overseas, but if you know a better way to get it please let me know. Ever since my local women’s resource centre got turned into a bougie clothing boutique (they have a few Keepers and Luna pads crammed in the back, just to twist the knife a bit), I’m at a bit of a loss. In conclusion, if there is a space near you where you can buy this kind of stuff, for heaven’s sake support it. And spread the word.