Arts4Choice and Canadians for Choice present:

The Choice Monologues (and BBQ)!

This performance of the Choice Monologues will benefit the Arts4Choice project.

The project involves taking documentary portraits of women who have had abortions, young and old, of different backgrounds, language groups, cultures and geographic locations. These portraits will become a traveling exhibit and a book that we hope to have in clinics and women’s centres across the country.

The Choice Monologues are a collection of true stories from women and men in Canada who have had their lives affected by an unwanted pregnancy.

Come to celebrate Morgentaler and reproductive freedom in Canada!

Date: Sunday, July 27th
Time: 3:30pm
Address: 76 Pauline Ave, Toronto

$10 for performances and BBQ
refreshments available

PLEASE RSVP to:
Jessica Yee, Canadians for Choice
jessica.j.yee@gmail.com
or
Kathryn Palmateer, Arts4Choice arts4choice@gmail.com

Mad Pride Week started yesterday and there are some fabulous events happening all over the country (and the world) to celebrate. The annual celebration seeks to reclaim the terms “mad,” “psycho,” “crazy,” etc. from the media, and through a series of campaigns and events re-educate the general public on issues like the causes of mental “illness”, the real victims of the mental health system, and the global suicide pandemic.

Toronto Psychiatric Survivors started holding a yearly event in Parkdale in 1993, and in 2000 it aligned with Global Mad Pride to create Mad Pride Toronto. From Inside Toronto:

“Mad Pride recognizes the strength and achievements of psychiatric survivors, consumer/survivors and mad people,” said Stackhouse, the director of Friendly Spike Theatre Band and a Mad Pride organizer. “It’s arts education and identity recognition and history.”

If you’re in Toronto, check out this web site for details on how you can participate - events continue until July 20th.

My pal (and Sumach Publicist) Dayle Furlong is launching her first collection of poetry, Open Slowly, in Toronto tonight at The Trane Studio. It’s part of the launch of Tightrope Books’ latest catalogue - doors at 6:30, readings at 7:00. Swing by and check it out!

“All these gung-ho third-wave feminists gladden the heart of an old second-waver like moi. That’s because, rather than run from the f-word while benefiting from the hard-won battles for equal rights, these women embrace it.”

-Antonia Zerbisias on Jessica Valenti, The Miss G Project for Equity in Education, Shameless magazine, and, well, you, in today’s Toronto Star.

Don’t forget to check out Jessica Valenti and the rest of the F-word panel tonight at Camera Gallery at 7:00!

Here’s the Facebook page for the event, and some more info. Our very own Jessica Yee will be taking part in the panel discussion, along with Sarah Wolf, Laurel Mitchell, and of course, Jessica Valenti.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Camera Gallery,
Queen and Ossington

More info from The Miss G Project after the jump.

(more inside…)

In celebration of Aboriginal People’s Day, and, you know, just because it’s awesome, the indigenous media production company Isuma will be hosting a live internet broadcast of the Alianait! Arts Festival in Iqaluit. That means that you can tune in from anywhere there’s an internet connection and check out music, storytelling, circus acts, and more from the northern community. Just go to the Isuma TV website starting tomorrow, June 21st - events run all the way to July. It’s a great opportunity to see what northern youth are up to, and to get acquainted (or more familiar) with an amazing Inuit-owned, Inuit-run film and video company. Full schedule of events here.

The Isuma team in Igloolik

The Scream Literary Festival is coming up again, and there are a few events that we at Shameless are particularly excited about.

First of all, Julie Wilson, who runs the delightful Seen Reading blog is going to be running a writing workshop for teens called Seen Writing. The workshop, which is free, will be followed by readings by young poets Rupi Natt and Aaryn Zhou. Check out the event on Saturday, July 5th at 4:30 at the Tinto Cafe, 89 Roncesvalles Ave.

On July 11, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore is going to be hosting poets Camille Martin, Harmony Rice and Monica Rosas.

Camille Martin, a poet and collage artist, works with both found and original materials; Harmony Rice is a reporter for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, publisher of SPIRIT Magazine and a burlesque dancer; Monica Rosas is an educator/agitator/artist whose work aims to challenge and provoke discussion on gender, the environment and the visible minority experience. Readings will touch on issues of language, authorship and power, space and place, land and its ownership, the body, and belonging.

And last but not least, on July 14, the Scream in High Park mainstage event has a terrific lineup this year including Dani Couture, rap-storytelling-poet Motion and Skim author Mariko Tamaki. Sigh.

Find out more about the Scream Literary Festival on the website.

Our apologies…there was a typo with the date on the post below - it should read June 25, 2008! That’s next week!

Shameless Magazine is proud to be a media sponsor of Jessica Valenti’s appearance in Toronto at the end of the month.

Wednesday June 25th, 7:00 p.m. at Camera Gallery (Queen and Ossington).

Valenti will be talking about her new book, followed by a panel discussion about choice, media, and sexuality.

Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: There was a typo with the date - it should read June 25, 2008! That’s next week!

Shameless Magazine is proud to be a media sponsor of Jessica Valenti’s appearance in Toronto at the end of the month.

Wednesday June 25th, 7:00 p.m. at Camera Gallery (Queen and Ossington).

Valenti will be talking about her new book, followed by a panel discussion about choice, media, and sexuality.

About Jessica Valenti:

Jessica Valenti is the Executive Editor of Feministing.com. She’s a feminist writer from New York who has a Masters degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and has worked with organizations such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), Planned Parenthood, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and Ms. magazine. She is a co-founder of the REAL hot 100, and a contributing author to We Don’t Need Another Wave and Single State of the Union (Seal Press). Her writing has appeared in Ms. magazine, Salon, The Guardian (UK), The Nation, Bitch, and Alternet. In April 2007, Jessica was named one of ELLE magazine’s IntELLEgentsia. Her first book, Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, was released in Spring 2007. Her most recent book, He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know was just released with Seal Press in May.

Martinis and feminist hilarity to follow!

This event is all ages and free.