Excuses, excuses...Now act!

I've been meaning to write an entry for many a day now. But I always have an excuse. I'm tired. I don't know what to write about. I have too much to write about. No one will care what I write....

But at some point we have to set aside excuses and act.

Laurie has pushed me, and now we're going to act. Back in October Stephanie Nolen of The Globe and Mail wrote an article which I sent to Laurie. The article is no longer available in its entirety online, but you can get the intro here and purchase the full article. Laurie, the wonderful soul that she is, couldn't sleep for days because the idea that the word "re-rape" existed just messed with her mind too much. Not that it didn't bother me to read those words too...but I was able to push it away. Not Laurie. So she emailed me. "Laura, I've got an idea. But I need your help." I didn't know it at the time, but I had just signed up to co-produce V-Day in the Capital.

No more excuses. It's time to act.

Too many women in the DRC are being violated repeatedly as an act of war. In an article by Kris Kotarski for The Calgary Herald, Maj.-Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who was the commander for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Eastern Congo is quoted referring to the mass rapes saying that:

It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.

Closer to home, a 2006 Statistics Canada study, called Measuring Violence against Women, found:

Prevalence and severity

• Women are more likely than men to be the victims of the most severe forms of spousal assault, as well as spousal

homicide, sexual assault and criminal harassment (stalking).

• The rate of spousal homicide has declined in recent years for both women and men, and survey data suggest that the

severity of non-lethal assaults against women has also declined somewhat.

• Over the past 30 years, the percentage of persons charged with fi rst degree murder in spousal homicide cases has

risen; however, men are twice as likely as women to receive this charge.

• Trends in various types of violence against women, as recorded in police statistics, are mixed:

• rates of reported sexual assault have declined since 1993;

• the number of spousal violence incidents against women has declined since 2000 while the rate of

violence perpetrated by boyfriends has increased;

• the number of male partners reported to police for criminal harassment has increased.

Impact

• Spousal violence has psychological, physical, social and economic impacts for victims, their families and society.

• Female victims of spousal violence are more likely than males to report being injured, suffer lost productivity, experience

multiple assaults, fear for their lives, and experience negative emotional consequences.

• Almost 40% of women assaulted by spouses said their children witnessed the violence against them (either directly or

indirectly) and in many cases the violence was severe. In half of cases of spousal violence against women that were

witnessed by children, the woman feared for her life.

• Studies of the economic costs of violence against women to victims and society estimate that costs to health, criminal

justice, social services and lost productivity range in the billions of dollars.

Some more (and fairly recently updated) statistics can also be found here thanks to The Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women.

But, I could spout numbers and percentages until I was blue in the face and that perhaps wouldn't get most to understand the absolute importance and prevalence of this problem.

So why not come hear a story of someone who's actually experienced it? Why not hear from someone who saw their own mother beaten? Or someone who grew up surrounded by broken women? Someone who is raising their son to Not Be One of Them.

That is where V-Day in the Capial comes in. 

Here is our first post from our blog/website:

And so it begins....

We are very pleased to announce that as part of the annual V-Day campaign, we will be staging a benefit reading of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, on April 25th, 2009 at the Theatre of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings To Stop Violence Against Women and Girls, is a groundbreaking collection of monologues by world-renowned authors and playwrights, edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle. These diverse voices, of both men and women, rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the insidiousness of violence at all levels: brutality, neglect, a punch, even a put-down.

What is V-Day?

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

The V-Day movement is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world, in 120 countries from Europe to Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and all of North America. V-Day, a non-profit corporation, distributes funds to grassroots, national and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. In 2001, V-Day was named one of Worth Magazine's "100 Best Charities" and in 2006 one of Marie Claire Magazine's Top Ten Charities. In ten years, the V-Day movement has raised over $60 million.

2009 Spotlight Campaign

Along with supporting local programs of education and prevention about violence against women, 2009 is also shining the spotlight on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women in the DRC is a new global campaign to call attention to the wide-scale atrocities committed against women and girls in Eastern DRC and demand an end to the impunity with which these crimes are committed.

By joining this campaign, you will be supporting Congolese women and men who are demanding an end to rape. You will be supporting local efforts to demand justice and accountability. You will be supporting survivors of sexual violence to heal and rebuild their lives and communities. And you will join others around the globe to demand that women and girls in DRC are safe.

The Campaign is being initiated by V-Day and UNICEF, representing UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict

What's Next?

In the coming weeks we will be announcing our performers, where you can buy tickets and who will benefit from the money raised.

Questions? Drop us a line at capitalvday@gmail.com

I do hope you'll join us and take the time to act.

An Open Letter to Paris Hilton from Skip Church

An open letter to Paris Hilton, from Skip Church.

Dear Paris,

I saw you cry the other day. and that hurts me... from the inside. Please don't cry.

Paris, I still love you. I have always believed in you. When people say you're stupid, I ask them 'compared to whom?' When people tell me you're 'spoiled, I ask them 'have you smelt her beautiful perfume?' When people tell me you're a 'b*****,' I tell them 'that was Tinkerbell. her Chihuahua.'

You're nothing like what they say. You're caring, beautiful, and a wonderful singer. I've downloaded your whole album off the net for free when it first came out. just thinking of that moment gives me the goose bumps.

Paris, I offer this to you. I will take care of you. You need someone right now that will support your 'habits.' You need love, and more importantly you need a hug. I want to be your lawyer. and I offer this service at no charge. Just say the word.

Love,

Skip Church
skipchurch@hot899.com

p.s. I'll send a limo over. because driving yourself may be a bad idea.

I’ll reap when I’m dead

Great article from the CBC on people who are more famous after their deaths. Some great Arcade Fire trivia in here too!

I’ll reap when I’m dead

Pop culture’s biggest posthumous successes

By Andre Mayer

May 1, 2007

The Children of Húrin. (Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Getty Images)">
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and now, 34 years after his death, The Children of Húrin. (Haywood Magee/Picture Post/Getty Images)

It’s shaping up as another stellar year for J.R.R. Tolkien — even if The Lord of the Rings musical tanks in London the way it did in Toronto. Tolkien has a new book out: The Children of Húrin. Granted, Tolkien’s son Christopher shepherded the novel along, but the fact that the British fantasy author has been dead for more than 30 years has been no impediment to his making the bestseller list again.

The Children of Húrin is not the only post-death triumph of ’07. Waitress, the directorial debut by the late Adrienne Shelly, was a darling at Sundance this year, where Fox Searchlight acquired distribution rights for $4 million US. (The film opens May 2.) Here are some of the biggest posthumous successes in pop culture — obscure artists who found fame after their demise or bona fide stars who refused to let death curtail their productivity.

Will Rogers

Living years: Famous for his wit, Will Rogers worked as a standup comedian (in the Ziegfield Follies), a syndicated humour columnist, a radio broadcaster and as a prolific actor; in pre-Second World War America, he was just about the biggest name in showbiz.
Died: Aug. 15, 1935 (plane crash)
Comeback: At the time of his death, 20th Century Fox was in possession of two completed but unreleased Rogers films: Steamboat ’Round the Bend and In Old Kentucky. The studio was uneasy about showing them, fearing audiences might find it in poor taste. When Fox finally did release the films later in 1935, audiences streamed to see them in a collective act of commemoration. In 1936, Fox re-released the Rogers film Dr. Bull (1933) to great profit.

James Dean. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

James Dean

Living years: James Dean had scored bit parts in Hollywood prior to 1955, but had no profile to speak of until he appeared that year in East of Eden, an adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel. Dean played the insecure scion of a First World War-era California farmer. Most critics agreed that his performance hinted at a great talent. Dean had wrapped up work on two other films before he…
Died: Sept. 30, 1955 (car crash)
Comeback: Posthumously, Dean appeared in Rebel Without a Cause, a 1955 film that would come to represent a generation of American teens. Dean’s complex performance — brooding, mumbling, vulnerable yet irreducibly cool — made him an avatar of disaffected youth. In 1956, Dean was seen as an oil prospector in the film Giant. He received posthumous Oscar nominations for both East of Eden and Giant. More significantly, his image became a fixture on bedroom walls the world over.

Emily Dickinson

Living years: The American poet Emily Dickinson was a textbook hermit who spent the bulk of her time scribbling bons mots in a notebook. During her lifetime, she published only 10 poems. (Is it any wonder she wrote one called I Am Nobody, Who Are You?)
Died: May 15, 1886 (natural causes)
Comeback: After her death, Dickinson’s family stumbled upon 40 hand-bound volumes containing more than 1,700 of her poems. 1,700! Trying to redress Dickinson’s obscurity, family members sent her poems to all manner of publishers. It wasn’t until the 20th century that Dickinson got her due, when she was acknowledged, alongside Walt Whitman, as one of the most important poets in American history.

John Kennedy Toole

Living years: Thwarted Louisiana novelist.
Died: March 26, 1969 (suicide)
Comeback: When Toole committed suicide in 1969 at the age of 31, he left two unpublished novels in his wake. One of them was a boisterous fugue called A Confederacy of Dunces. His mother took up his cause, campaigning tirelessly until the work was finally published in 1980. A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, has sold over one million copies in 30 languages and is rightly considered one of the finest comic novels ever written. (Toole’s other book, The Neon Bible, was published in 1989. It was adapted into a movie with Denis Leary in 1995 and inspired the title of the latest album by the Arcade Fire.)

Tom Thomson. (National Archives of Canada/Canadian Press)

Tom Thomson

Living years: The Ontario artist spent many years toiling as a graphic designer before finding a patron who could support his transition to painting full-time. It was during the period of 1913-1917 that Thomson created his most famous works — majestic oil paintings of the Canadian wilderness. He had only sporadic showings in galleries.
Died: July 8, 1917 (drowning)
Comeback: In 1918, Canada’s National Gallery bought The Jack Pine and Autumn’s Garland, along with 27 sketches. The Jack Pine was part of Canada’s contribution to the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in London in 1924, which brought Thomson worldwide notice. As a sign of the latent saleability of Thomson’s paintings, in November 2006, one of his works was snapped up for $934,000.

Ray Charles

Living years: One of the pivotal figures in 20th-century American music and the ultimate crossover artist, this pianist helped define rhythm and blues while also exploring jazz, country, gospel and unadulterated pop.
Died: June 10, 2004 (natural causes)
Comeback: August 2004 saw the release of Genius Loves Company, a duets album that paired Brother Ray with stars like Elton John, Diana Krall and Norah Jones. At the ensuing Grammy awards in 2005, Genius Loves Company won eight awards. (By any standard, a gratuitous haul.) In September of ’05, we got Genius & Friends — another duets album, this time culled from vocal collaborations he had done in the period 1997-05. The next fall, Concord Records released Ray Sings, Basie Swings. This disingenuous record sets Charles’ vocals from a 1973 performance to a new accompaniment by the Count Basie Orchestra (who are still touring 23 years after Basie’s death).

Jimi Hendrix. (Lipnitzki/Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

Jimi Hendrix

Living years: The creator of indelible psychedelic rock statements like Purple Haze, Foxy LadyThe Wind Cries Mary. His well-documented performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival leaves no doubt: Hendrix is the most incendiary guitarist ever.
Died: Sept. 18, 1970 (drug overdose)
Comeback: Hendrix was ridiculously prolific in the studio; given how much he recorded in his four-year burst of creativity, you almost wonder whether he saw the end coming. The first two posthumous records, The Cry of Love (1971) and War Heroes (1972), were whole albums of unreleased studio tracks. The Hendrix estate has proven a savvy lot: every decade since, they have OK’d 10 or so new albums — either new compilations of Jimi’s biggest tunes or collections of previously unreleased live material. And, by all accounts, the well is far from dry. and

Zora Neale Hurston

Living years: Zora Neale Hurston was an essayist and novelist who, along with Langston Hughes, was a large force in the Harlem Renaissance, a group of artists who expressed the African-American experience in 1920s New York. Her most famous works include Mules and MenTheir Eyes Were Watching God (1937). Many of her contemporaries viewed her depiction of black slang dialogue as minstrelsy; while Richard Wright, author of Native Son, claimed her books were weightless and written for a white audience. The criticism greatly damaged Hurston’s career. In her final years, Hurston worked as a librarian and substitute teacher in Florida.
Died: Jan. 28, 1960 (stroke)
Comeback: At the time of her death, Hurston was buried in an unmarked grave. In the mid-’70s, writer Alice Walker was so shocked by this ignominious fact that she took to restoring Hurston’s battered reputation in American letters (as well as giving her a proper epitaph). The result was a cavalcade of new Hurston essay and short-story collections, as well as the first-ever production of Mule Bone, a play she had co-written with Hughes. In 2005, Oprah Winfrey produced a TV movie version of Their Eyes Were Watching God, starring Halle Berry. and the novel

Tupac Shakur. (Chi Modu/diverseimages/Getty Images)

Tupac Shakur

Living years: This controversial West Coast rap artist is best known for All Eyez on Me, one of the biggest-selling and most influential hip-hop albums of the ’90s; Tupac Shakur’s name is regularly bandied about in discussions of the best rapper ever. Shakur also nurtured an acting career, starring in Juice (1992) and Poetic Justice (1993).
Died: Sept. 13, 1996 (assassination)
Comeback: Having flirted with death while living — he survived an attempt on his life in 1994 — Tupac has been remarkably lively in death. Like Jimi Hendrix, Shakur was apparently inexhaustible in the studio. Six studio albums have been released posthumously, as well as a handful of compilations. (Comedian Dave Chappelle once did a hilarious satire of Tupac’s recorded output, addressing the alarming prescience of his lyrics.) As well, Shakur appeared posthumously in three films: Bullet, Gridlock’d and Gang Related. Live 2 Tell, a screenplay he penned while in prison in the mid-’90s, is slated for a film release in 2008. No word yet on whether Tupac will make a cameo.

Ernest Hemingway

Living years: Ernest (Papa) Hemingway was the author of American classics like A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, which scored him the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953. He took the Nobel Prize in Literature the following year.
Died: July 2, 1961 (suicide)
Comeback: Since his death, his estate has issued a litany of new titles, including the memoir A Moveable Feast (1964) and the novels Islands in the Stream (1970), The Garden of EdenTrue at First Light (1999) and Under Kilimanjaro (2005). Hey Papa, shall we pencil in another for 2011? (1986),

Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBC.ca.

From Rabble

Goodbye Studio 60 :(
Here's how things work (really)

And the always great, Heather Mallick:
Magazines: where are the women writers?