BLOG THIS | blog.thismagazine.ca: May 2007 Archives

This Magazine is fortunate to be associated with a number of other fiercely independent news gatherers in Canada; we tend to believe that a diversity of voices is an essential part of a democratic media system.

That’s why the success of The Tyee website (which I wrote about in the magazine awhile back) is so inspiring. In the face of highly concentrated news media ownership in British Columbia, The Tyee has carved out a reputation as a trustworthy source of local news coverage and thoughtful cultural writing.

Currently, The Tyee is looking to boost its readership with a nifty little viral internet campaign. Watch the video above and check out the site—you won’t be disappointed!

More entries on: Media navel-gazing

May 30, 2007

When tragedy strikes, community media steps in

Posted by Ariel Troster at 02:43 PM ET | Comments (3)

If you aren't from Ottawa, you might not have heard of Dixie Landers. And if you don't read the queer press, you probably haven't heard that the popular and well-loved drag personality has been in a coma for the last three days, after being severely injured in a bar fight. The story hasn't hit the mainstream press, but Ottawa's queer community is getting up-to-the minute information on Dixie's condition from Capital Xtra, where readers are also posting comments to debate a case where there have been allegations of police inaction and possible mistreatment by emergency personnel.

Meanwhile, friends and supporters have set up a "Get Well Dixie Landers" group on Facebook, which now has almost 350 members. And people posting on Egale Canada's e-list are talking about the case, wondering aloud why more people didn't come to Dixie's defence, whether or not this was a gay-bashing, and what the community can do to prevent further violence.

Not a single word about this story has appeared in print or in any mainstream media outlet. But hundreds of people are staying updated on Dixie's condition, discussing the case, and organizing a community response to anti-queer violence.

A very sad case, but a truly inspiring moment for community media and online networking.

Get well soon, Dixie. Ottawa's pulling for you.

-- Cross-posted to Dykes Against Harper

More entries on: LGBT

May 29, 2007

HIV? Thanks, officer.

Posted by shawnsyms at 09:38 AM ET | Comments (5)

Police crackdowns on drug use lead to increases in HIV transmission. This assertion is supported by "Do Not Cross," a just-released report from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

To avoid HIV, hepatitis, abcesses and other health problems, ideally an injection drug user should use a new, clean needle each time. But when people are afraid of being thrown in jail, they avoid carrying needles on their person, re-use them often, and hide them in dirty places—bushes, garbage cans—to avoid detection. They inject as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of getting caught in the act, often injuring themselves in the process. They can be forced to store their drugs in any available bodily orifice on approach of the cops, which is harmful and dangerous. In some cases, they may switch from smoking to injecting a drug like heroin, even though this is riskier, because it can done faster and requires less of the drug itself.

When people are displaced to random neighbourhoods as part of anti-drug legal strategies, they have less access to support services and clean needles, and they may introduce others to drug use and attendent harms who would not have otherwise been exposed.

And when drug users end up in jail, they suffer from a variety of HIV-related harm and risk, including "lack of access to clean syringes or sterilizing materials in prison, lack of access to information and education on HIV/AIDS, lack of reliable access to opioid substitution therapy, lack of access to condoms, failure to prevent sexual violence and coercion, and interruption of antiretroviral treatment." The last point is an important one: HIV treatment is a form of HIV prevention, as a person on anti-HIV meds is less likely to transmit the virus to someone else.

Not all drug users are affected equally by police crackdowns. As Do Not Cross author Joanne Csete notes, "Those who have the most marginal housing, the lowest income and the least developed social networks will be most at risk." Read the whole report here.

More entries on: HIV/AIDS | Harm reduction | Prisons

May 25, 2007

Friday Links: What does a billion trees look like? Giant inflatable rats and Happy 100th Rachel Carson

Posted by ron at 11:14 PM ET | Comments (0)

The United Nations Environment Programme is announcing a program that would see a billion trees planted in 2007. We're not sure how feasible that is, really. As of this blog post UNEP had planted just over 14 million trees. It's almost June!

New York City union activists have enlisted an ally in their fight for labour rights.... a giant 12-foot tall inflatable rat (let's call him Larry). Larry has been around since 2002 but we think it's about time that some of our unions use him. CAW, CUPE, what do you think?

Americans (or at least New Yorkers) discover poutine. Sadly they still haven't learnt how to spell "quebeqois." Also, "embarassing but adored" is how we describe the Barenaked Ladies.

Finally the Environmental Protection Agency runs an intergenerational contest celebrating the centenary of Rachel Carson's birth.
The EPA writes:

Ms. Carson wrote that she would endow every child with "a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life." However, "if a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."

Sadly the contest is only open to Americans. But the thought is something that all of us can take away.

Photo of giant rat from Flickr.

More entries on: Weekend Links

May 19, 2007

Long Weekend Links: Zero footprint calculator, more ads on TV and hopscotch

Posted by ron at 06:44 PM ET | Comments (0)

Toronto's Mayor David Miller was at the C40 Large Cities conference and unveiled a zero footprint calculator with Ron Dembo, CEO of zerofootprint. It will be live soon but you can try it out.

TV networks have been whining about decreasing ad revenues for a long time now. As more of us Tivo, download and tune out of television all together ad revenues will decrease. Well, the CRTC wants to help out Canada's broadcasters by giving them the ability to set how much advertising shows up on tv. We kind of think the ads are a huge part of the reason why people are tuning out and showing more of them will undoubtedly endear these companies to their viewers.

The most adorable taxi initiative ever. Instead of putting ads on them schoolkids get to paint art on New York City's cabs. This is going to be a one time thing for the centenary of cabs in NYC.

Why would anyone wash away a children's hopscotch game? Apparently some overzealous Ottawa city staffers did and councillor Clive Doucet responded by encouraging citizen hopscotch brigades to chalk up the sidewalks.

More entries on: Weekend Links

May 17, 2007

the self-correcting internet touches down in Iceland

Posted by john_d at 02:40 PM ET | Comments (0)

(photo courtesy Rebekka)

This one's got everything I love -- a copyright fight, great photography, Iceland, some folks behaving badly and genuine contrition. Maybe there is something to this internet thing after all.

Most everyone has by now heard of the talented Rebekka Gudleifsdottir, a Flickr photography star of the highest order. Rebekka's stunning Icelandic landscapes and moody, broody self-portraits have attracted threes of millions of views on the photo-sharing site. Perhaps inevitably, her Flickr success has also attracted some crappy behaviour.

Long story as short as possible: Rebekka became aware that a company in England was selling copies of her images without her permission. She posted a note about this flagrant copyright violation on Flickr. The posting attracted hundreds of comments and started one of those famous internet tornadoes, with the discussion spreading out into photography and copyright fora the world over.

The plot twist: The infringing company started to receive some nasty messages from outraged Rebekka supporters and, presumably, complained to Flickr. Flickr removed Rebekka's post and all the comments from their site, apparently worried that their site was being used for harrassment.

The return: Rebekka posted her disappointment about the Flickr removal, and mused about the value of staying on the site. Flickr took a good long look in the mirror, asked itself why it was punishing one of its superstars, and apologized.

Here are some quotes from Stewart Butterfield, a Flickr co-founder (good Canadian boys always apologize):

"... I have a pretty good idea that we screwed up -- and for that I take full responsibility (actually, several team members are fighting to take responsibility).

There are several policies which will be changing as a direct result of this incident and the goal is that nothing like this ever happens again. Any errors from now on should be on the side of caution.

It's important to be clear why the photo was deleted: it had nothing to do with a desire to silence Rebekka from calling attention to the outfit which had reportedly sold copies of her photos without knowledge or permission and without compensating her...

So, to Rebekka: Our apologies. I'm sure you did not intend to bring on the firestorm to the extent it developed, you were not in the wrong and it was our fault to suggest that you were."

UPDATE: Coverage in the BBC

More entries on: Copyright/left

May 16, 2007

Speaking ill of the dead

Posted by Ariel Troster at 11:46 AM ET | Comments (3)

I know I'm not the only one who started singing "ding-dong the witch is dead" when I heard yesterday that gay-hating televangelist Jerry Falwell had kicked the bucket. I felt not a second of hesitation before letting out a little cheer, imagining an afterlife for Mr. Falwell filled with teletubbies, feminists and sodomites.

Does this make me a mean, terrible person? Should I be filled with grief for his family, and do the charitable thing and forgive Falwell for his transgressions against black people, women, queers and anyone else he judged to be immoral?

Well, let's look at the evidence. To quote Maisonneuve MediaScout's analysis:

- Falwell "was known to call the civil rights movement 'the civil wrongs movement;
- He supported South African apartheid;
- He said that the prophet Mohamed was a terrorist and the Antichrist was a Jewish man;
- He warned of the deleterious moral effects of watching the children's program Teletubbies, as one of the characters seemed to him to be a gay role model;
- And, in a move that finally alienated him from mainstream America, he laid part of the blame for the 9/11 attacks on '... the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians ... all of them who have tried to secularize America' - all this, and much more of the same, while wielding considerable influence in Washington."

GLAAD in the U.S. is urging the mainstream media to avoid glossing over Falwell's legacy of discrimination against queer people, and had posted a series of video clips of him making some of his more outrageous statements.

And today in the Globe and Mail, John Ibbitson has no qualms about speaking truth to Falwell's legacy, calling him a "big, booming, bigoted man."

Michelangelo Signorile also doesn't mince words about Falwell, saying,:

I don't really buy the "don't speak ill of the dead" argument, not with 24-hour news cycles that throw out pre-fabricated obituaries and are done with the story by the end of the cycle. And no, I don't have any sympathy for his family nor care about respecting them: They didn't respect me, nor the many others who lost loved ones to AIDS, suicide or gay-bashing, enough to stand up and speak out against their monster of a relative. Let's never forget that this man is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands due to AIDS because of the stranglehold he and his "mobilized" Christians had on our government as the health crisis emerged in the 80s within the gay community. The grotesque negligence of the Reagan administration was dictated by Jerry Falwell, who would then go on to hatch many dozens of little Falwells over the past several decades who inspire the hatred against gays -- and the violent gay-bashing and teen suicides -- that we still live with today.

And blogger sabotabby dismisses the notion that Falwell's critics are being uncharitable during his family's time of mourning, writing:

I suppose what I'm saying here is that I don't think it's wrong to speak ill of the dead. I mean, it's wrong to denounce them to their grieving friends and families, but it's not inherently wrong. And what I'm also saying is that it's okay to be intolerant .. Gloves off, kids. Reagan wanted most of you dead. Falwell wanted even more of you dead. These men consider you, your friends, your families, and most of the world, subhuman. It's fine to hate them - they hated you too -if your personal moral code allows for hate. It's fine to be relieved that they're gone.

What do you think? Do we have a responsibility to express remorse when a truly hateful person dies? Does it detract from our cause when we speak ill of the dead?

- Cross-posted to Dykes Against Harper

More entries on: LGBT

May 12, 2007

Free Alan Johnston, Toronto journalists say

Posted by mason at 12:14 PM ET | Comments (2)

Alan Johnston Toronto rally

On Thursday afternoon, I attended a rally outside the CBC building in Toronto in support of the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, who has been held by a militant group in the region since they abducted him some 62 days ago.

A few CBC personalities and other journalists said a few words each to the lunchtime crowd of about 250 media workers, and their message was simple: No journalist should be placed in danger and prevented from doing the important work of freely telling stories. In Johnston’s case, the problem is acute because he is one of the only journalists getting news from the Palestinian people out to the West.

The cries for Johnston’s freedom cut across political lines; one of the speakers at the Toronto event noted that there were simultaneous “Free Alan” rallies by Palestinian and Israeli journalists on either side of the wall in Jerusalem recently.

I signed a petition calling for Johnston’s immediate release, and you can too.

More entries on: Terrorism (not the state-sponsored kind)

Friday Links: Oh how we wish it were true, reality TV meets magazine and Happy Mother's Day!

Posted by ron at 12:57 AM ET | Comments (7)

One half of the duo of delusion stepped down from his position of power today. But man, do we wish this CNN screen grab was true. Sadly it's just a typo.

Opinions on graffiti might vary, but man do we dislike corporate graffiti. Here's hoping this idea takes off.

We're partially frightened but also very curious about this idea from the U.K. Take a few D-list celebrities and make them run a People/US Weekly style magazine. So bad it's good?

Finally, happy Mother's Day. Send your mom a card and help other moms in Africa. It might just beat sending her flowers. You should probably still give her a call though.

More entries on: Weekend Links

May 11, 2007

Girl, you're gonna want in on this...

Posted by john_d at 10:33 AM ET | Comments (1)

Just a quick follow up to Shawn's posting below.

I'm not sure anymore which wave of feminism we're in, and this, um, intriguing Locher's clothing line is not helping clear up my confusion.

Do I give the "Will f*** for shoes" shirt with irony, or sincerity? Someone help me out here.

(image courtesy lochers.com)

Thanks to Boing Boing for the tip.

More entries on: Feminism

"Man, you're gonna want in on this..."

Posted by shawnsyms at 08:34 AM ET | Comments (1)

On my walk into work this morning through Toronto's Entertaintainment District, I was barraged by a slew of posters promising the ultimate Man's Night Out:

An exclusive evening out just for men—celebrating all the things us guys love most.
The latest gadgets. The hottest wheels. The best sports moments. The finest cigars, beers and scotches... and a handful of lovely ladies, of course! All this and more, including the ultimate in steak dinners! There's no denying... It's A Guy Thing.

On the event's website, they target men of colour as well as white guys—all you need to feel welcome is an appreciation of fine cigars, and lovely ladies, of course!

The point of this hackneyed retread of the most predictable identifiers of gender and class? It's an club night promoting the use of a new deodorant! Funny thing is, in the circles I run in, the light scent of fresh clean body odor is considered way more "manly" than any perfume used to mask it.

What gives me hope for the world is the fact most straight guys I know would probably feel just as alienated as I did by the weird "Boys' Club" universe of this ad.

More entries on: Gender

May 09, 2007

May-June issue now online

Posted by mason at 12:23 PM ET | Comments (0)

*MJ07_no_bg.jpg

Hot off the digital presses, it’s the May-June issue of This Magazine! Tired of hearing about how hard cities have it in Canada? In this issue, Geoff Heinricks implores us to get with the program and move back to the land, where sustainability really lies. Meanwhile, we profile Blake Hunter, a 25-year-old Saskatchewan farmer who took over his family farm after being inspired by organic practices. We’ve got other rural-themed stories as well, but there’s more to This than that—including a look at Martha Hall Findlay and how last year she became the reluctant face of women in politics.

So dig in now!

More entries on: THIS matters

May 04, 2007

The Webbys, Spinal Tap and Saturday is going to be a great day!

Posted by ron at 10:19 PM ET | Comments (0)

Ah, we remember when the Webbys were a little niche award, this year David Bowie is going to be at the gala in June. We want to draw your attention to two winners:

Greenpeace's Green your apple site won a Webby for activism. Their site tries to take Apple to task for using toxic materials in its products and for generating so much e-waste. It looks like it worked.

We make money not art is one of the better contemporary art blogs out there. Site creator Regine skews towards the high-tech and the off-kilter so those looking for nice landscapes and still-lifes of fruit will be sorely disappointed.

In case you forgot.... Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

Faux band Spinal Tap are reuniting for Al Gore's Live Earth concerts. We're sure they'll turn it up to 11. We also hope the midget stonehenge will be there.

Today would have been Jane Jacob's 91st birthday. Here in Toronto, it's officially Jane Jacob's day. Tomorrow guides all over Toronto will be giving tours of various neighbourhoods. Not in Toronto? Well, there's no reason why you can't start one in your city. Every city has great neighbourhoods and hidden stories, isn't time you discovered them?

More entries on: Weekend Links

shame on whom?

Posted by john_d at 12:38 PM ET | Comments (0)

Some intriguing details coming out of Britain surrounding the resignation of Lord Browne as head of British Petroleum after revelations of, among other things, a gay affair.

The intrigue? No-one's all that intrigued.

"Gay stories are just not appealing to the masses it seems." -- so says PR consultant Max Clifford in The Guardian, attempting to explain why none of the major British broadcasters is devoting much money or time to the story.

I lived in London in 1987, during the second Thatcher election. It was a circus. My neighbourhood, Earl's Court was the centre of London's gay scene at the time (don't know if it still is), as well as being the expat Aussie neighbourhood and a hangout for local Chelsea football supporters on match day -- how's that for a potent diversity? One of the local candidates for office -- and I confess I forget which one -- was caught in a classic British tabloid sex scandal. Dude was red-handed with a "rentboy," and I believe there was some spanking involved. The papers and radio news went nuts. That week, at the local open-air market, obvious plants from the opposing campaign dogged this candidate through the crowds with cricket paddle spanking devices and shouts of "For shame! For shame!"

Clearly, in 1987, gayness and shame was still a sellable media connection.

These days, not so much. Lord Browne resigned mainly over allegations of bad business practices, though lying about his relationship didn't help his credibility. Is Britain over gay?

More entries on: Media navel-gazing

May 03, 2007

Who Would Strombo Do?

Posted by joyceb at 03:38 PM ET | Comments (0)

Our friends at The Beaver, Canada's history magazine, are running a competition I can get behind.

The Worst Canadian

You can fill out a two-question survey or email your nomination to WorstCanadian@historysociety.ca.

Hurry, you only have a few days left to nominate the nastiest, vilest, murderous and dishonest Canadians you know.

Thanks to DB Scott's Canadian Magazines blog for this one.

More entries on:

May 02, 2007

Fundie newsflash

Posted by Ariel Troster at 11:42 AM ET | Comments (2)

According to last week's edition of the Hill Times, Darrel Reid, former director of Focus on the Family Canada, is now the deputy director of policy and research in the Prime Minister's Office. Reid was most recently chief of staff to Rona Ambrose (when she was Environment Minister).

Just FYI, FOTF maintains that homosexual people can be "converted" through therapy, and its U.S. leader James Dobson has referred to abortion as a "baby holocaust." Reid was (and still is) a vocal anti-gay marriage and anti-choice spokesperson. He was instrumental in setting up the FOTF-funded Institute for Marriage and Family Canada, which disguises itself as a neutral research organization, but its studies so far have attacked the usual Conservative annoyances -- universal daycare, non-hetero families, etc.

If you are curious about Reid, and just how far the Christian Right has infiltrated Parliament Hill, check out this article by Marci Macdonald from a back issue of the Walrus.

-- Cross-posted to Dykes Against Harper

More entries on: Fundi Watch

tooliganism

Posted by john_d at 10:20 AM ET | Comments (13)

(image courtesy Toronto FC)

In case anyone was wondering... watching Toronto FC lose an action packed thrillfest of a home opener last Saturday afternoon with over 20,000 other screaming, chanting, singing idiots was without question the best time I've had at a pro-sports event in many, many years.

The final score was 1-nil for Kansas City, and still we cheered. If it had ended nil-nil, we might have gone insane with joy at being present when the team earned its historic first point. For goal-loving hockey fans there's no logic to any of this, so don't bother looking. Understanding the mentality of a soccer crowd only happens inside the crowd.

You'd think a sold out stadium of delirious fans entertained to within an inch of their lives by a 1-0 loss would make the local sports media sit up and take notice, if only for the weird novelty of it all. And while there was some begrudging coverage of the event by the major dailies, most of the hockey industrial complex made a point of bad-mouthing the whole idea of a soccer as a sport. One radio commentator wondered how long it would take for local fans to come to their senses and start ignoring "this garbage." And this is a guy who covers the Leafs.

This summer Canada will host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup tournament, with games played across the country. The final will take place on Toronto FC's home pitch at BMO Field in July. I expect the local headlines to be about hockey players in celebrity golf tournaments.

More entries on:

Previous month: April 2007
Next month: June 2007

THIS MAGAZINE. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL

Please note that all writers hold the copyright for their pieces and it is illegal for any portion of them to be copied or distributed without their expressed permission. So please don't steal.

THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

May 31, 2007

The Tyee: Part of the solution

May 30, 2007

When tragedy strikes, community media steps in

May 29, 2007

HIV? Thanks, officer.

May 25, 2007

Friday Links: What does a billion trees look like? Giant inflatable rats and Happy 100th Rachel Carson

May 19, 2007

Long Weekend Links: Zero footprint calculator, more ads on TV and hopscotch

May 17, 2007

the self-correcting internet touches down in Iceland

May 16, 2007

Speaking ill of the dead

May 12, 2007

Free Alan Johnston, Toronto journalists say

Friday Links: Oh how we wish it were true, reality TV meets magazine and Happy Mother's Day!

May 11, 2007

Girl, you're gonna want in on this...

"Man, you're gonna want in on this..."

May 09, 2007

May-June issue now online

May 04, 2007

The Webbys, Spinal Tap and Saturday is going to be a great day!

shame on whom?

May 03, 2007

Who Would Strombo Do?

May 02, 2007

Fundie newsflash

tooliganism