Archive for the ‘LQ17 March 2008’ Category:
After winning a Grammy Award in 1985 for best new artist and becoming the first artist in history to have five top ten singles from a debut album, Cyndi Lauper continues to win critical acclaim as a singer, musician, actor and writer. Cyndi has released 11 albums, over 40 singles and has sold more than 25 million records worldwide. She has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards, and 18 MTV awards.
As an actor, Cyndi has appeared in such features as Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Fine Line/Mirimax), Life With Mikey (Touchstone), Off and Running (Independent), Vibes (Columbia/Imagine) and opposite Christopher Walken in her critically acclaimed dramatic role in The Opportunist (Independent). Television credits include Queer as Folk (2005), Live and Kicking and Noel’s House Party (both for the BBC) and her Emmy Award Winning performance (Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series) as Marianne Lugasso on Mad About You (94-99). Cyndi also has lent her talents to other film and TV projects, voicing animated projects for Disney and The Simpsons as well as scoring soundtracks for the films Off and Running and Private Property, and the title song for Nick Cassavete7#39;s, Unhook The Stars. Cyndi made her Broadway debut in 2006, in the role of Jenny in The Threepenny Opera.
A devoted advocate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community for over 25 years, Cyndi Lauper launched the annual True Colors Tour in 2007. In partnership with organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), this North American tour brings people together to voice their solidarity for GLBT equality and raise awareness about the continued discrimination the community still faces. From Cyndi and her openly gay sister, Elen, taking part in a highly successful national public awareness campaign for PFLAG to participating in countless events to raise funds and awareness for the fight for GLBT equality, Cyndi is committed to this vital community that has loved and supported her throughout her career. In appreciation for her work, Cyndi has been honored by many organizations including HRC, PFLAG, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
Cyndi also is a tireless participant in the struggle to end the HIV/AIDS pandamic that has ravaged the world. Participating in efforts and events for organizations like AMFAR, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Cyndi continues to speak out about the need for education and greater resources to fight this disease
TRUE COLORS
WEDNESDAY JULY 2
DEER LAKE PARK – BURNABY, BC
Doors 4:00pm Show 5:00pm
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
http://www.hob.com/go/3pw/1217/tcolors_girlgig/
Ticketmaster or Charge By Phone 604-280-4444
Tickets (incl. GST) $57.50
(plus FMF and service charges)
**general admission lawn**
featuring …
CYNDI LAUPER
THE B52’S
ROSIE O’DONNELL
JOAN ARMATRADING
NONA HENDRIX
plus host …
CARSON KRESSLEY
While I think my own mother likes Mother’s Day as it is, it is interesting that the early mothers’ days were more about mothers as activists rather than individuals.
While various holidays celebrating mothers have occurred through history, Mother’s Day as it is celebrated in North America has roots in feminist pacifism. Julia Ward Howe is considered a founding mother of mother’s day and was reported to have proclaimed the first Mother’s Day in 1870 calling on mothers to:
“Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!…
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.
…From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!”
you can find the full text at: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/howejwriting/a/mothers_day.htm
And more about the original meaning of Mother’s day at: ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_day
On a more lesbian note, I also found an interesting article on how to manage mother’s day in a family with two moms and a book of photos of lesbian moms and their children.
Letter to LQ’s Editor from Corea Ladner:
Hello:
Perhaps you are already aware that an education guide that encourages tolerance for gay/lesbian/transgendered diversity in the schools is being compaigned against being available in BC schools.
The article states that ‘This week the Catholic Civil Rights League, a lay group, urged parents to protest against the guide over its inclusion of gay issues including same-sex marriage.’
Please see the following link for the full article. http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/03/032608school.htm
I would suggest that, since the CCRL is working to kill the guide, It would be helpful for us to send an email to the Education Minister to ensure the guide is used. Perhaps you could distribute this information if you have an elist and/or like minded friends and encourage everyone to send an email.
I’ve included below the email letter that I sent to Shirley if you would simply like to forward it with your own name.
Ms. Bond’s email address and website are as follows. Thank you for yor help.
http://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/38thparl/bond.htm
shirley.bond.mla.@leg.bc.ca
Dear Shirley Bond,
Public schools must be inclusive of all minorities. Gay and lesbian people make up 10 % of the population, including school children. Particularly in high school, gays. lesbians, bisexuals, and trnasgendered teens feel as if the whole system is created by and for people unlike them. Moreover, they are likely to suffer violence simply because they are gay – or are perceived to be gay.
Positive role models and an understanding of how gay culture has influenced and contributed to mainstream culture will help eliminate the discrimination suffered by GLBT youth in school. As Education Minister, I feel that you have a golden opportunity to help eliminate violence and discrimination in school – and in society by releasing the Education Guide, “Making Space, Giving Voice.”
Please help be part of the solution that brings compassion, knowledge and understanding into a culture that has suffered immeasurably by the ignorance of centuries of religious oppression and ignorance.
Please do so immediately and give it your full support. Thank you for your time.
Corea Ladner, Human Service Worker, BA
Xtra west is a good newspaper. Robin Perelle, editor of Xtra west and a lesbian herself, does her best, I know, but has to conform to some advertizing realities by publishing mostly content about the guys. However, if you’re like me, if and when you read Xtra west, you mostly scan it for the lesbian content – the Dykes to watch out for cartoon, stories about women, etc… and go blind to all the naked guys (yawn…).
Well, here I’ve done that filtering for you. The list below is derived from a RSS feed provided by the Xtra website, which shows you only stories that have the word ’she’, lesbian, woman or women in them. Xtra west is responsible for the content below, not Lesbian Quarterly. (PS, if the space below is blank this week, it means there weren’t any ‘qualified’ stories in their feed. )
To read the Dykes to Watch Out For, I suggest going directly to Allison Bechdel’s site.
Here’s a direct link to the ‘feed’ to view the full list of storieshttp://www.feedrinse.com/services/channel/?chanurl=573850cf40c40f54203509cc38e50c49
This weeks’ Xtra west did an excellent cover story about queer women in music, and why so many of them aren’t publicly self identifying as queer or lesbian or putting queer/lesbian content in their music.
Young lesbian and queer women artists are quoted as saying they don’t want to be ‘pidgeonholed’ as queer by representing themselves in the media as lesbian or writing about lesbian experience. While not exactly closeted, if the majority of their fans have no reason to know they’re not straight, they will be assumed to be straight.
Musicians and other public figures passing for straight is nothing new. Queer artists like KD Lang, the Nylons, George Michaels and Elton John also passed for straight in their early careers. While not needing the deep closet of gay actor Rock Hudson or US Congresswomen Barbara Jordan, who were outed only after their deaths, many young lesbian and queer artists are choosing to represent themselves as straight by not declaring otherwise. Would kd or the Nylons have been as successful as they have been if they had come out early in their careers? We’ll know that gay and lesbian people have reached full equality when creating art about our own experiences no longer reduces our career success.
But why are musicians looking for less mainstream audiences not out and proud? Lesbian musical matriarch Cris Williamson is quoted as saying that it’s all just a part of an artistic pendulum, and that much younger women, currently 12 or 13 have swung back towards being more political, and that gives her hope. I think she’s got a point here. Cris’ words put me in mind of an 80’s TV show starring Michael J Fox as the Republican teenage son of progressive activist parents. His parents were so political, there was no way to differentiate himself from them without embracing the conservative values they’d fought. Perhaps the current generation of lesbian and queer women artists are reacting to their musical foremothers in a similar way, choosing to be apolitical or pass for straight in order to be nothing like the lesbian musicians who preceeded them. One can only hope that their musical daughters will feel an equal need to do something different.
The information on this page is provided by Montreal-based Girlports Lesbian Travel Guide. According to Girlports:
Girlports was launched by Tanya Churchmuch, a longtime broadcast and print journalist and public relations veteran, as a result of her own frustration with the lack of resources available to lesbian travelers. “It’s so annoying for lesbians looking for easily accessible, up-to-date travel information written just for them, especially free travel information,” said Churchmuch. “Many websites sell themselves as providing resources for the LGBT traveler, but unfortunately, the “G” always seems to win out. I figured if nobody else was going to create the resource I wanted, I’d have to do it myself.”
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Okay, they’re not local gals, but good on them for winning this mainstream music award. Congratulations Wicked Jezabel.
Recent email to LQ:
I am a member of Wicked Jezabel, the Baltimore-DC area’s only all-female, all-gay party band. I would like to announce that on Feb 17, 2008, we were awarded the “Wammy Award” for “Best duo/group in Hard Rock” category for 2007 by the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA). ”We’re probably not only the first all-female band to win a Wammie, but we’re the only all-lesbian band to win a Wammie in 22 years.” I hope you find this announcement is of interest to our community.
Thank you,
Mickey Dehn
www.myspace.com/wickedjezabel
www.wickedjezabel.com
Out of the closet
And into the fire
Hotter than hell the flames lick my face
As my lover
Cools my heels
Out of the closet
And into the sidewalk
Walking as a female looking kind of like a guy
And for once
I am not afraid to be me
Not afraid to be me with you
My spirit
Relaxes
Within the caresses of this chosen way of being divine
Listen to the warbling of a newly made dyke
Singing tenor
And playing the harp
Laying quietly amongst the cd’s that rock my world
k.d.lang
preferred favorite
changes this formerly straight space once inhabited by somebody I didn’t really know.
-Cherilyn Fry is happily married (to her wife Judy) living in Vancouver. She likes writing poetry.
Vancouver plays this wonderful trick on Vancouverites every February. For a short while, it seems like spring is fully sprung and summer is a whisper away. The snow drops and crocuses pop up from the ground, and buds on trees start to swell. Alas, the only consistent Vancouver weather pattern I’ve been able to discern is this: As soon as the cherry blossoms have finished fallling into nice big petal drifts on the streets, so big you want to pile them up and leap into them, we’re in for at several weeks of non-stop torrential rains.
Now, I’m originally from northern BC, so I apologize for the Vancouver-centrism of talking about cherry blossoms so early in the year, not to mention the fact that they don’t have much to do with lesbians. Gloating about the warm weather down here is mean, I know, so go ahead get even and gloat about your cheap housing.
This edition of LQ is our 17th, and since the first edition of Lesbian Quarterly came out March 8th, 2004, it is LQ’s 4th birthday. The early editions were printed, which got to be too much work for one lone gal, so we went online only about a year ago. The print format archives are available here as pdf documents and still have a lot of good information and profiles in them.
A few days ago I recieved a poetry submission from Cherilyn Fry called “Lately Musings” . I love it when lesbians send me stories and story ideas. Keep them coming! And while you’re at it, how about a flurry of lesbian haikus? If the cherry blossom festival can do it, why can’t we?
I’ve begun posting articles as I come across them, so this edition is a little slim, but I encourage you to check out the following recent posts from the last few days:
L-Word Newsfeed for the L-Word fans out there (I personally stopped watching after Shane left Carmen at the altar…), this is a news-feed from the producers of the series, with interviews with the actors and other tidbits.
Leaping Thesbians – 8×10 Glossy at the Havana - This play by the leaping thesbian theatre company (by lesbians, about lesbians) will be showing on the east side beginning of April. Many thanks to Taylor Stutchbury, one of the thesbians, for sending in this information. I hope LQ readers will support this production and check out their site at: http://www.leapingthespians.ca/ April 16th will be a benefit for the Vancouver Dyke March and April 15th will be interpreted for the deaf.
Other fabulous LQ Items:
Recommend Lesbian-Owned Businesses
More Lesbian Book Reviews
Lesbian Musician Blog Feature
LQ Supporting Businesses
Lesbian Resources
Lesbian Agenda Calendar
Recurring Lesbian Events
Lesbian Travel Info supplied by Montreal Based ‘Girlports’
Site Contents
Lesbian Owned Businesses Also, send us stories about your favourite lesbian-owned business in BC. Don’t be shy!
Editorial Information
How to Advertise
Contact the Editor – Hey BC Lesbians! Send LQ your story ideas and announcements.
| June 6, 2008 | to | June 8, 2008 |
For those looking for a spring tune-up for their relationship, I guess…. [editor]
Getting The Love You Want
A weekend workshop for LGBT couples Vancouver, BC
June 6-8 2008
The Facilitators
Maureen and Tamara have been friends and colleagues for more than 20 years. Between them they have more than 40 years of experience in relationship! Maureen (and her partner Lawrence) have been married for 18 years with one daughter. They went to their first Getting the Love You Want workshop in 1993.
Tamara (and her partner Sarah) have been together for 22 years and have two sons. They went to their first Getting the Love You Want workshop in 1996.
Tamara and Maureen became Imago therapists in 1996, part of the first Canadian training group. We went on to become Advanced Clinicians in 1999. Each of us has a private practice where we see individuals and couples. We also teach and provide consultations.
The fine printThe fee for the weekend is $750 per couple, including GST. Breakfast, coffee/tea and snacks will be provided. Each person will also receive a Getting the Love You Want manual.
Please complete the attached registration form [LGBT Couples Workshop ] and send it in with a $300 deposit. Balance is due on the Friday night. We will issue a receipt.
We will break for lunch each day about 12:30. You will have one and half hours for lunch but you will also have assignments to complete. Wear comfortable clothing. You will have homework on Saturday night.
Your privacy is important. We encourage you to participate to your comfort level but you are not required to speak in front of the group.
Our cancellation policy is as follows:
If you cancel 10 or more days prior to the workshop, you will be refunded your payment less $150. Cancellation of 9 days or less will result in the loss of the deposit. In situations where you need to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances, we offer a one time opportunity to transfer your deposit to one of our future workshops within one year. The presenters are not responsible for prepaid, nonrefundable travel arrangements. If the presenters cancel the workshop, a full refund will be made.
:
Scholarship program: at least one spot in every workshop is available at a reduced cost to low income couples. Ask us for details.
“…the skills we learned are life changing. It has already made a difference in our relationship…”
Here’s a brochure with details and registration form: LGBT Couples Workshop
