Posts by Nicole Cohen
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In the Blog
She’s in
So, Hillary Clinton (finally) officially announced that she’s taking the preliminary steps to make a bid for the US Presidency in 2008. This lady doesn’t mince words: “I’m in. And I’m in to win.” However you feel about Clinton and her politics, it’s going to be fascinating to watch the way she will be portrayed by the media during the lead up to the big race. Although the international climate for female heads of states is … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Social Justice Forum
Start the new year on the right foot by attending a forum hosted by the Centre for Social Justice next week, Social Justice: From Rhetoric to Action, which looks great. Journalist Linda McQuaig will give the keynote – she’s a fantastic speaker – panelists include activist and writer Justin Podur (ZNET) and workshops will be held on art and social change; climate change; media; poverty and justice for immigrants and refugees. Also, LAL will perform! Here … READ MORE
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In the Blog
violent times
It seems like this year has been a particularly violent one for women in Canada – violent in the public sense, at least. From Stephen Harper’s recent slashing of funding and closing of offices at Status of Women Canada to Peter McKay’s public denigrating of Belinda Stronach (and the ensuing women-hating remarks from the likes of Norman Spector) to the ongoing disappearance of Aboriginal women. At my university, there has been a string of sexual … READ MORE
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In the Blog
New issue in the mail!
The Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Shameless is in the mail and should be on newsstands in a week or two. It’s a great issue! On the cover is a profile of the Miss G_ Project. Inside: Anna Leventhal interviews Jessee Havey from The Duhks, we have a Q&A with Sarah Polley, Zoe Whittall bids farewell to Sleater-Kinney (sniff, sniff), Pike Wright talks to dub powerhouse d’bi young, Melinda Mattos takes on the word “chick,” and … READ MORE
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In the Blog
A shameless announcement
With our Fall/Winter 2006 issue at the printer (check your mailboxes in a week or so!), we’d like to announce that Shameless co-editors, Melinda and Nicole, will be looking for a new editoral crew to take over running the magazine so that we can retire from indie publishing to pursue other projects. Here’s a sneak peak of the letter from the editors from the issue: We always laugh when people ask us where Shameless HQ is … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Shut up and sing
I’m looking forward to seeing Shut Up And Sing, Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck’s documentary about the backlash the Dixie Chicks faced after the country rockers spoke out against George W. Bush on the evening of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Alternet has a great piece that centres on the forces that fuelled hatred for the Chicks, mainly concentrated corporate power – “Travelin Soldier was the number one single when it was removed from playing rotation. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
uncovering “real” beauty: more on Dove
I’m way behind on posting about this, thanks to Shameless columnist and friend Anne Katz for passing it along. I’ve been following the Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” for a while now, and wrote a piece about it in our last issue, in which I found their marketing campaign, which centres on notions of “real” beauty to sell beauty products, full of contradictions. Their new ad fascinates me for so many reasons. One, the company made … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Yay for us
This just in: This year’s Utne Independent Press award nominees were just announced and we are pleased at punch that Shameless was nominated in the Lifestyle coverage category! This is our fourth Utne nomination. Congrats to our friends at Kiss Machine, Spacing and Broken Pencil, who were nominated in other categories. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Toronto Zine Library
Shameless friend and contributor Suzanne Sutherland has been working with a crew of volunteers to organize the Toronto Zine Library, which finally has a home. The collection of around 300 zines will be housed at the Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Ave.), where volunteers will be on hand to serve as zine librarians on Sundays from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. You can visit the library on other days, too. The library is interested in acquiring … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Shop ‘til you drop
I am still trying decide what to make of this new “Red” campaign launched by Bono this week, in which major retailers like the Gap, Apple and Armani are selling red-coloured T-shirts, iPods and sunglasses and donating a portion of the proceeds to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS. News media have been gushing with details of Oprah and Bono’s shopping trip down the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, picking up Red items and feeling amazing … READ MORE
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In the Blog
American Apparel uncovered
Ive always been skeptical of American Apparel, the L.A.-based chain that sells plain clothes that claim to be sweatshop free, marketed to hipsters through often creepy, sexed-up photos of supposed real people, sold in stores that claim to be community galleries. Before opening actual stores, AA sold blank T-shirts in bulk to bands who, concerned about selling merch made in sweatshops, could print their logo/image/photos on them to sell at shows. When stores proper started opening, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The status of status
As you may have heard recently, the Conservative government has done some major damage to groups working for women’s rights and social justice in Canada. Stephen Harper and Beverley Oda, Minister of Heritage and Status of Women, slashed 40 percent ($5 million) of Status of Women Canada’s administrative budget, removed references to “equality” from its mandate and have made it so that groups that lobby or do advocay work (hello? that’s a major part of feminist … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Hotel Workers Rising
For several months now, I’ve been involved with a campaign called Hotel Workers Rising, a North America-wide effort to raise the living standards and working conditions of hotel workers. As the campaign slogan goes, there are a million reasons to support hotel workers, especially if you’re someone who cares about cities, workers’ rights and the multiple ways in which women’s work is (under)valued. You can read something I wrote for This Magazine about the increasing … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Make your own comics workshop
Make Your Own Comics with Shameless Cartoonist Roxanne Bielskis! Five-week workshop starting on Wednesday, October 4th at the Parkdale Public Library (1303 Queen St. West) in Toronto. Would you like an introduction to the exciting process of telling your stories through comics? Come learn the theory and technique of comics storytelling with Roxanne Bielskis, creator of Poverty Comics and Shameless’s own Poverty High! This is not just some workshop that will teach you how to draw an … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Tit Tales
Here at Shameless HQ, we’ve always had an uneasy relationship with advertising. While we know that ads make publishing a magazine possible, we want to avoid the publishing model that aims solely to deliver audiences to advertisers, and treat our readers with respect. That said, thanks to our talented ad sales managers, we’ve managed to have ads in the magazine that fit our aesthetic and politics: small, often women-run, independent businessnes and organizations concerned with … READ MORE
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In the Blog
“Bye-bye, beer babes”?
Heres something exciting: according to the Canadian Press, a Quebec alcohol industry group, Éduc’alcool (which is funded by Quebecs liquor agency), wants beer companies to stop using sexy women in their ads to sell beer. Im actually pretty amazed to hear an industry group use words like “sexism,” especially when it comes to beer advertising. Beer ads are notorious for their regular, textbook-use of skimpily-dressed women to sell ideas of hetero-sex, popularity and a general good … READ MORE
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In the Blog
To do…
Here are some feminist-friendly events to hit up in the next few weeks: The Ryerson Women’s Centre and McClung’s, Ryerson’s feminist magazine, are hosting a screening of the doc I Was A Teenage Feminist on Monday, Sept. 11 at 6:30p.m. According to the press release, “Join filmmaker Therese Shechter as she takes a funny, moving and very personal journey into the heart of modern Feminism. Armed with a video camera and an irreverent sense of humor, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Analyzing Girls Gone Wild
The always spot-on Feministing has a post linking to an incredible piece by Claire Hoffman in the Los Angeles Times that you and your friends should read. She spend some time with Joe Francis, the creator of the Girls Gone Wild videos that see young, drunk women take off their clothes for Francis’ cameras. Hoffman wants to know why the girls do it, but finds out a lot more about Francis and his motives … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Young Latinas in Leadership
Here’s a notice from MUJER, a Toronto-based group that addresses the needs of Latin American Women: Young Latinas in Leadership Are you: - Latina 18-25 Years old ? - Committed to become an activist on violence prevention? - Interested in linking with other young Latina women? Training on Violence Prevention: PROMOTING HEALTHY & EQUAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG YOUTH Training is geared towards developing leadership skills for working on violence prevention initiatives with children and youth. A Certificate will be issued upon completion of … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Double Dare
Has anyone seen the awesome documentary Double Dare (directed by Amanda Micheli)? It follows two stuntwomen as they try to negotiate the politics of Hollywood and working in a male-dominated industry. Its fascinating stuff! The film features two women: Jeannie Epper, who comes from a famous family of stuntpeople and has had a long career as a stuntwoman, and the much younger Zoe Bell, who was the stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess and did … READ MORE
