Posts by Diandra Oliver
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In the Blog
Love and Relationship Series: Separation
Editor’s note: To get you excited for the upcoming winter issue of Shameless, we are posting a series of blog posts every week on the theme of love and relationships. What does love mean? Who are our relationships with? What kinds of love are there? We’d love to hear from you in the comments. Look for the new issue on newsstands in January! If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe! I grew up in a … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Don’t Be THAT Guy?
Recently, the Vancouver Police Department partnered with a handful of agencies including Battered Women’s Support Services, Women Against Violence Against Women, and BC Women’s Hospital Sexual Assault Service to launch a new public education campaign called “Don’t Be That Guy.” Basically, over the summer posters reminding guys not to be “that guy” and take advantage of women who have been drinking (and that they need consent to have sex with them) will grace the … READ MORE
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In the Blog
And Still With the Colonialist Language
For the past two months I’ve been pondering if I should respond to the brouhaha that followed my post on here about Feminism for Real and the resulting pieces by Feministe and the rapid fire on a number of other (f)eminist blogs (here, here, here, and here). I’m not feeling defensive and never felt defensive at all: discourse is awesome. I wasn’t even going to say anything until a recent Shameless article triggered me to … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Are You FOR REAL?
Even though one of the identifiers I use for myself is “first-generation” and if I were asked to check an “ethnic-background” or “racial heritage” box on the census I’d choose white, in the land I come from we capitalize Aboriginal and First Nation. And their communities aren’t “Indian reservations” or referred to as “tribes” (unless, of course, that’s how certain communities have stated they want to be identified as by us colonizers): they’re Capital “N” … READ MORE
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In the Blog
!! Rebel, REBEL !!
Prince George, BC-based derby girl, social justice activist, youth counsellor, and DIY’r Laura Burkholder is putting together her first zine as a challenge to herself (and to get it off her bucket list). Her zine will be called “Rebel, REBEL: A collective experience” and will focus on rebelling against the dominant paradigms of consumerism and patriarchy. She would like the zine to look at how there are a million different ways, large and small, that we … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Smash Patriarchy Embroidery Sampler!
In the spirit of the oncoming holidays and perhaps the need to put together a present for someone that you really like when you have little or almost no cash, I put together this embroidery sampler! You should be able to root around your place for a sewing needle and a not-so-stained tea towel? Now scrounge up a dollar and head to a thrift store where you’ll find some embroidery floss and an embroidery hoop. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Fight Boredom!
Hello Amber of the Fight Boredom Zine Distro is one of my ultimate Zine Heroes. Based out of Montreal, feminist Hello Amber!, runs this small zine distro and puts together the Fight Boredom Zine as well as a perzine, Culture Slut. Her distro is led by its inspiring Fight Boredom Manifesto: ONLY BORING PEOPLE GET BORED Or, The Fight Boredom Manifesto We will fight boredom with action, ideas and creativity. We will fight boredom with feminism, friend dates and … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Women as Leaders in Education
Are you a leader in your school? Or have you taken your leadership skills back to your school or other community schools? Jennifer Martin works at a public alternative school in Michigan and is conducting research on feminism and leadership in public schools and needs your help! What’s even cooler is that she’s set up the research on her blog: http://womenasleadersineducation2010.blogspot.com/ To submit your feedback and contribute to her project and thus forwarding the field of feminist … READ MORE
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In the Blog
To Know or Not to Know? That is the Question.
In just under 2 weeks I’m going to be having a baby. I’ve resisted blogging about it here because while having children, child rearing, parenting, birthing, and all the facets tied up with it (consumption, children-in-the-world, industrial capitalism, gender dynamics, etc) are Feminist issues, I’m still on the fence as to where I stand regarding my feminist experience and the whole “having a baby”-thing: I just haven’t felt I have anything really coherent or “new” … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Great Candy Caper of 2010
Recently my partner and I relocated to Vancouver Island from the wintery north to take a new-ish life: long growing seasons for gardening, future island hopping, and new jobs! Little did I know that by relocating from an amazing job where I felt I was actually making a difference in my community to a smaller island community meant that jobs are actually few and far between. In desperation to ensure I could pay my bills … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Are You Friends With Sluts?
iamfriendswithsluts.tumblr.com thinks you are! This new-ish Tumblr roll is a compilation site of photos of girls that are posted on social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace. Readers submit photos they find on their friends or strangers sites to I Am Friends With Sluts and they are posted with ridiculously disappointing commentary: “It only takes two wine coolers to make me a lesbian” “I’m training to fight my eating disorder next month on Pay-Per-View.” “Bound together by … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Decade After: Why Katie Roiphe is Still the Bee in my Bonnet
Criticism of a recent article by Katie Roiphe on new motherhood is making the rounds in feminist blog-land. Basic premise is that Roiphe looks at her first six weeks of motherhood with a post-feminist lens that conflates motherhood with addiction: new mothers are addicted to both their babies and motherhood. So much so that they’re (she’s) reduced to tears about being separated from her new child. While nurses, mothers, ECE providers, and academics could go … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Sew-a-go-go
This past weekend I got to participate in a teen girl roller derby camp that my place of employment, the YMCA, threw with a handful of other local agencies and businesses. One of the girls’ main projects was DIY-ing their camp t-shirts into derby dresses/shirts of wonder. They used lace, glitter, markers, and general deconstruction techniques to turn their men’s cut tees into the sassy piece they desired. The fun part was that even though … READ MORE
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In the Blog
One Reason to Count Down the Rest of the Summer…
When we started the Roller Derby League here in Prince George we were pretty excited about the onslaught of Roller Derby culture about to hit our communities: the Hell On Wheels documentary, Knockdown Knits, and the forthcoming Whip It. With Whip It about to come out it’s like we, the roller derby’ers, have fully arrived in hegemonic pop culture. The trailer brings on debate about the showiness of the sport, the brutal beatings so … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Amy Diary
Amy Barbara of Vancouver recently posted her junior high diaries on her new blog the amy diary. A testament to the power of a grade-school diaries, the amy diary is a sweet little snapshot into the language and life of a young woman. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Another Thing We Can Blame Feminism For
Hey ladies! Didn’t you know that you didn’t need a rugged, “manly” man? And that Feminism with a capital “F” has trained your brain to not only think for itself (!!) but to long for not-too-rugged jaw lines? Well, don’t fret because the New Male Beauty is here! Straight from Jezebel, it seems that Irina Aleksander at the New York Observer has scoured the television for images of this new man. Her argument? They … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Sister Suffragette Sing Along!
I am procrastinating from the home stretch of my thesis and singing along to this karaoke version of Sister Suffragette from Mary Poppins! What a great way to send a thesis about feminism into the future! … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Oh third wave, where art thou?
I am in the thick of submitting the second draft of my thesis. Over the past few weeks I’ve updated essays I wrote over a year ago, saying “yes” to every edit my thesis-supervisor has suggested, and incorporating newer material because my research just kind of stopped at 2007. One of the articles I’ve come across in my search for newish material, “What is Third Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay,” by R. Claire … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Just In Time For My High School Reunion
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy I can’t even begin to contain my excitement about the No Doubt reunion tour of 2009. I am unable to participate on all fronts due to working and defending my thesis this summer, but I can relish in the onslaught of YouTube’d live performances and as-seen-on-TV specials, such as this first one from Friday’s Today Show. Often, hearing about my favourite band from Grade 7 … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Big Embroidery Scandal of 2009
The interwebs are ablaze with activity and anger about a recent embroidery showdown. Some crafters are claiming there’s been a copyright infringement of Sublime Stitching original designs created by Jenny Hart. The perpetrator? Urban Threads. To date no official comment has been released on either of Hart’s websites, but an incredible amount of data is being batted back and forth online. Without going into too much detail (you can find blogging here, here, here, and … READ MORE
