Then it must be May Day!

Hazel Dickens is a longtime union supporter and feminist folksinger. She comes from a family of miners in West Virginia, and has lent her voice to the cause of workers’ rights - especially women workers - countless times. She appears in Barbara Kopple’s incredible documentary Harlan Country USA, about a miners’ strike that ended in tragedy, and some of her most powerful songs are collected on the amazing album Coal Mining Women, and are a potent reminder that women have ALWAYS been part of the fight for safe working conditions, shorter hours and decent pay. She also, I should mention, has a voice that could raise the dead (and invariably makes me cry like a babe). Plus, in an industry (the music one, I mean) where youth is god and death may as well occur at 30, it’s really important to remember that there are people out there who have been doing it and doing it well since before you were born, you little pischer. So, as she says in Woman Coal Miner Blues, if you can’t stand by her, don’t stand in her way.

A mystery person (thank you, whoever you are!) has created this fan video featuring Dickens singing union organizer Joe Hill’s song Rebel Girl. It opens with a speech by feminist labour leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and the images are all of women involved with the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies). It’s really worth checking out the video’s original source for brief bios of all the women pictured. Powerful stuff. What? No no, I just have something in my eye, that’s all.

I’ve also posted the first half of a video biography of Hazel Dickens after the cut. Happy May Day!
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This week Torontoist is running a three-part feature on female Firefighters, by Cate Simpson:

…Torontoist has been talking to Toronto Firefighters Julie Petruzzellis and Stacey Hannah about what it’s like to be a woman in a dangerous and demanding occupation—one where they are outnumbered 20-to-1 by men.

The piece is worth a look for John Beebe’s photos alone, but it’s also interesting to hear women in such a male dominated field speak about what drew them to it and why they enjoy it so much.

On Monday, May 5, a bilingual panel discussion called “Women and Radio in Canada”/ « Les femmes et la radio au Canada » will be held at McGill University in Montreal, featuring a range of women from academia and the world of radio, Shameless favourite Patti Schmidt (CBC Radio 2).

The panel with explore the challenges of radio in the 21st century, the differences between working in French or English in this milieu, historical contributions of women to radio, the role of women in the industry, and the contributions of minorities. They will also share a few trade secrets of the trade and anecdotes.

A complete program can be found here.

Participants: Colette Brin (Laval University), Kristiana Clemens (CKUT, 90.3 FM), Annie Lessard (RockDétente, 107,3 FM), Christine Maki (McGill University), Andra McCartney (Concordia University), Lise Millette (103.3 FM), Thomasina Phillips (The Monster, K103.7 FM), Gertrude Robinson (McGill University), Kim Rossi (CHOM, 97.7 FM), Patti Schmidt (CBC Radio 2, 93.5 FM), Gregory Taylor (McGill University).

Presented by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
Monday, May 2, 2008
Thomson House Ballroom, 2nd Floor, 3650 McTavish, 1 p.m.

RSVP to genevieve.bonin at mail dot mcgill dot ca

Ok, so some might claim I’m just fishing for excuses to post this ridiculous video, but I swear, there’s something feminist about this one.

On a Cincinnati news show the weather reporter Bob Herzog throws a dance party every Friday morning that there are no traffic accidents. From the Globe and Mail:

The concept is simple: When there’s no traffic news on Friday morning – which happens regularly in Cincinnati, population 332,000 – it’s dance-party time in front of the traffic map…The phenomenon started last year when a friend showed Mr. Herzog a funny YouTube clip of high-school kids celebrating a “Dance Party Friday.”

“I thought, ‘I should do that once,’” Mr. Herzog said, quickly adding, “Don’t get me wrong – I can’t dance. At all. I’m bad – I’m really bad.”

…And thus, Dance Party Friday was born. There are ground rules, which Mr. Herzog discussed with his boss at the start: He dances only when there are no tragic stories in the news and no accidents on the road.

If you’re having trouble picturing this:

For me, a big part of why this video is funny is because it’s grown men in suits dancing badly. They’re so cheerfully making fools of themselves and in a sense, rejecting the expectations of seriousness, and taciturn professionalism, that we normally associate with grown men in suits.

And to me this video isn’t just funny, it’s also kind of exhilarating. Because who hasn’t wanted to shake their booty (or scream, or throw something heavy and possibly flaming…) in the face of workplace demands - demands which often include dehumanising ourselves, and following stringent gender guidelines on how to behave.

Do you hear distant cries of revolution? No? Ok, well at least enjoy the video. And if you want more, go here.

Miranda July teaches you how to make buttons.

Try it the next time you’re at a button factory.

Like seemingly everyone I know, I watch House MD. I love House – both the show and the character – for their wit and intelligence. So when I heard that David Shore, the show’s Canadian creator, was going to be interviewed on CBC’s Q, I stuck around on my couch to listen. Then Shore started talking about Cutthroat Bitch.

Okay, so maybe this requires a little background. One of this season’s new characters is a young doctor named Amber. She is competitive, ruthless even – she works very hard, but she also misses no opportunity to mess with her coworkers to get the job. Other characters on the show often refer to her as Cutthroat Bitch, as if it’s her name. So does David Shore, with a self-satisfied smirk on his voice.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out whether sexist comments in a script reflect the opinions of the show’s creators, or are just there to develop an unlikable character – House is every sort of misogynist, and I think we’re usually supposed to laugh at him. But my perception of this show is changing.

Let’s talk about women in House. The other new female character is emotionally stunted and nameless – they just call her “13.” Cuddy, the Chief of Medicine, is both unable to control House, and usually in the wrong, frequently slowing down the real doctors’ lifesaving work. Because Cuddy has so much power, she is also unable to get so much as a boyfriend, let alone a partner. Her attempts to start a family are ridiculed and then forgotten. Cameron is probably the best developed female character, but then she was pathetically in love with her unavailable boss.

Coming from a supposedly boundary-smashing show, this is really tired stuff. Women on television who get ahead almost always do it at the expense of family or morals. Sure, go to medical school – you might be good at what you do, but you’ll die sad and lonely.

The Guerrilla Girls take on the problems of Hollywood. (gurerrillagirls.com)

A few weeks ago, filmmaker Erin Laing sent me an e-mail about the lack of attention female directors have been getting by mainstream bloggers. What pissed her off, specifically, was Filmshowing’s list Why 2008 Will be an Awesome Year for Movies. Fifty-four films, and not a one made by a woman. (You can read Erin’s own blog about the list here).

Other most-anticipated lists are not very different. Slash Film’s list of 55 must-see films does include one woman: Mira Nair’s film Shantaram, set for release this fall. At least The Times’ list of 50 biggest movies of 2008 includes a whopping three pictures: Persepolis, 27 Dresses and Mamma Mia!)

Clearly, the criteria used to make these lists are, well, pretty subjective. (I know I can’t wait until the April release of Repo! The Genetic Opera!, a paranoid apocalypic musical starring Paris Hilton [no, not really].)

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It’s 7am. You wake up with chills, body aches and a crazy sinus headache. You’ve been sweating and snotting all over your pillow. Burning sandpaper scrapes down your throat. Meetings are set. Deadlines loom.

Delirious with fever, you see an angel and a devil sitting on your shoulders. One tells you to call in sick and sleep it off. The other tells you to suck it up and go to work.

Which piece of advice did your devil give?

Whether we see calling in sick as smart or slack says a lot about how we value work vs. health. Two competing TV ads for cold and flu medication have me thinking about how illness fits, or doesn’t fit, into the workplace.

First there is the “Take a Benylin Day” ad, in which a woman debates “should I stay or should I go now” after waking up sick. No outfit can sass up how miserable she feels, and she ends up flopping in bed with a book.

Then there is an Advil Cold and Sinus commercial, in which a woman pops pills to clog up her schnoz so she can swim like a prostar and “go go go!” on with her high-impact lifestyle.

Benylin wants you to chillax; Advil wants you to suck it up. (Both of them want you to use drugs.)

Calling in sick is tough. In a culture where work is valued above all else, the stress of asking for a day off can outweigh the symptoms we seek to heal.

(more inside…)

Are you a Feminist struggling to make sense of domestic life?

I recently stumbled across a great online community called Feminist Housewives, a site dedicated to feminists who have chosen “to forgo a high-powered career or intense education (at least for a while) to raise our children instead of placing them in daycare.” On the site you can “create a profile, check out the forums, and make some new friends.”

I personally love the idea because of the many assumptions and stigmas around women who make the choice to stay home. This community solidifies the notion that being a housewife (much like various marital traditions and taking your husband’s name) can be an empowered, feminist choice. It also offers links and resources, and an area where visitors can create a network and participate:

“If you’re here, I bet you decided to stay at home, either to support your partner in a domestic fashion and/or to raise your kids. This isn’t backsliding - we’re socially conscious and making our own decisions.”