October 9th, 2016
from Nat
“Reconciliation is about not saying sorry twice. That is why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s top call to action is child welfare equity and reform, and implementation of Jordan’s Principle. The evidence of the discrimination is profound, and so is the evidence of the harms to children. It is wrong, indeed immoral, for governments to suggest there is any excuse for continuing it, so the most important question is “What are we going to do about it?”” Cindy Blackstock on Canada’s long history of discrimination and violence against Indigenous children.
“68 per cent of Canadian respondents said minorities should be doing more to fit in with mainstream society instead of keeping their own customs and languages.”
The RCMP offered an apology and a 100 million dollar compensation package for the thousands of officers sexually assaulted and harassed at the police force, but no mechanisms for holding perpetrators accountable.
Communities across Turtle Island are calling for an Indigenous Day of Action tomorrow, asking Justin Trudeau for Deeds, not Words. See what’s happening in your community.
Poland overturned a proposed complete ban on abortion after massive protests and a women’s strike earlier this week.
At Halifax Pride’s AGM this week, a group of predominantly straight white members of the Atlantic Jewish Council overwhelmed the meeting in order to vote down an anti-pinkwashing motion put forward by Queer Arabs of Halifax. Read El Jones’ full account of the meeting here.
Jia Tolentino on Elena Ferrante, Kim Kardashian, cultural criticism and When Women Signify Too Much. I agree with Tolentino on much of this, so although there was a lot written on both women this week, I’m not going to include any of it here. Lots of it was great, though, and is easy to find!
ask yourself every day: what do i do to protect trans folks–particularly trans women of color? what do i do to help them? ask yourself
— hari nef (@harinef) October 7, 2016
Listen to Kimberlé Crenshaw on the meaning of intersectionality
Toronto, have you gotten your tickets to this year’s Shamies yet? They’re the annual fundraiser for Shameless Magazine. We’re going to be doing a contest on our instagram today, so stay tuned to @guts.magazine, or buy your tickets here!
“While it hasn’t dramatically improved my situation, finasteride has helped me recoup some of my losses hair-wise, and seeing the small improvements helps me stay positive about my slow and steady progress away from masculinity. So when my friend reminded me of finasteride’s side effects, my stomach dropped: it has a noted tendency to increase and prolong bouts of anxiety.” On finasteride and balancing side effects
Today’s affirmation: You don’t have to apologize for who you are. pic.twitter.com/ph0t37Wljl — Hana Shafi (@HanaShafi) October 7, 2016
10 of Maggie Nelson’s favourite books
If you’re in Toronto next weekend, please consider attending This Means WAAR, a weekend of action against rape culture, put on by Black Women in Motion. The two-day event will feature workshops, panel discussions and interactive activities.
Let’s Stop Pretending White People Can Be Objective on Racial Issues
A short video on a 13-year-old building an app to help victims of domestic abuse, through Black Girls Who Code
“Daphne Odjig has died. She was an inspiration and role model for generations of Indigenous artists past, and for generations of Indigenous artists to come; an exemplar of tenacity, guts and grace for those of us who continue the work of defining and securing the place of Indigenous visual culture in the art world of Canada. Baa ma pii miinwa Daphne, rest in peace.” Bonnie Devine on Daphne Odjig
No Abolition Without Demilitarization: Black and Muslim Solidarity for Ending Policing Worldwide
“Like Canada, Canadian literature is a social construction made up by the CBC and marketing firms.” An interview with Gwen Benaway
When folks talk of ‘virgin forests’ they erase the tens of thousands of years or human interaction with those forests prior to colonialism — Spooky Feminist Todd (@ZoeSTodd) October 6, 2016
Are you following Big Sis yet?
“The President Has Never Said The Word ‘Black'”
Further reading on A Seat at the Table, Solange’s stylist, and on her love of the zoom.
I know that horoscopes aren’t actually news but these are my links and I can put in what I want! As a Libra (always) looking for guidance, I found both the Autostraddle and Mask Mag October horoscopes very helpful, maybe you will too!
The only commentary I have to offer on the American election right now is the recommendation to watch Mykki Blanco perform Zoe Leonard’s I Want a Dyke for President. Here you go:
“The truth is, Indigenous motherhood can be the restoration of nationhood, it can be the key to melting the colonial mould of what motherhood should be and restoring it with the truth of what Indigenous motherhood is.” Read the first blog post from Andrea Landry on the Revolution of Indigenous Motherhood
Why do politicians focus so much on manufacturing jobs, instead of the jobs in the service sector that employ far more people?
You can check out and fund this new deck of cards that will illustrate 52 women from history.
An interview with Lorna Simpson on her spare new paintings
Dissent’s Fall issue is all about Feminist Strategies, check it out!
Spent about 15 hours stitching this feminist art meme ???? pic.twitter.com/evK0s3R6ke — Hanecdote (@Hanecdote) October 1, 2016
This is where your food comes from
“To reclaim the potter’s field, to identify and map onto that which is perceived to be mapless, anonymous, total, cavernous, inevitable, unending. Do we possess the tools necessary to make sense of this seemingly grim work, done by the successors of those who are rendered breathless for being black? Perhaps the Fisher Price tool kit that we have been given to talk about our past, our experiences, and our hopes of a better world do not suffice. Perhaps we need new tools. Not just to reclaim or redeem stolen lives, but to affirm and lift up those still here.” Potter’s Field: Part One, by Justin Hogg in Blindfield
This week we published “Spell for Surviving your MFA”, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s struggling within the confines of academia right now:
“Take rest days. From exercising
and from not exercising. From the internet.
From school. From people and from solitude.
Prioritize your goals over ‘learning objectives,’
your education over the aims
of an institution that hinders your growth
as much as it enables it.”
Adele Barclay was named this year’s CWILA Critic-in-Residence. She’s a great poet, writer and critic, and as the poem above says:
because she has too much love in her”.
A final thought to leave you with:
Incredible but true: tiny feminist literary presses account for roughly 45% of economic growth in Canada — Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg) October 5, 2016