MAKEOVER AT TORONTO WOMEN’S BOOKSTORE | S. G. COLE: PASS THE LIPSTICK WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS Spring 2007 Vol. 20 No. 4 Made in Canada ANI DIFRANCO HOPE FOR THE AMERICAN LEFT BONNIE KLEIN NOT A DISABILITY STORY BETSY WARLAND MEDITATION ON RADICAL RECOVERY LYNN CROSBIE THE TRUTH ABOUT LYING Canada/US $6.95 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866; PAP Registration No. 07944 Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB R3C 2G1 Canada Display until June 1, 2007 Subscribe to Herizons THESE FIVE FABULOUS BENEFITS WILL BE YOURS When you become a subscriber to Herizons, you’ll be rewarded. You’ll stay informed about the 1changes women are making in Canada and around the world. Whether it’s improving women’s health, demanding action to improve women’s equality status, confronting racism or promoting sustainable development, women are at the forefront of change. You’ll read Herizons’ insightful and often hilarious columnists as they share their insights about life immersed in social and political change. You’ll be inspired by Herizons’ Nelliegrams that chart women’s progress. And we’ll recommend books and music to soothe and reinvigorate your soul. When you become a Herizons subscriber, you receive your copy in the mail before anyone else. 2 Delivered right to your door. Four times a year. In the coming months, we’ll launch Herizons on- line archives, and as a subscriber you’ll be able to 3 log on to access articles from our archives. The archives will be accessible only to Herizons subscribers. You’ll also save money—up to 30 percent off the newsstand price when you commit to a 3-year 4 subscription. Best of all, your subscription to Herizons, Canada’s most widely-read feminist magazine, is 5 a positive way to demonstrate your support for unapologetic feminist analysis and reporting. It is your support that keeps the feminist ink flowing. All this for the price of a large pizza. SAVE UP TO 30% OFF THE NEWSTAND PRICE Log on to www.herizons.ca to subscribe or fill in the handy reply form in the envelope enclosed. table of contents SPRING 2007 / VOLUME 20 NO. 4 News SHOULD THE AGE OF CONSENT BE RAISED? 6 by Kaj Hasselriis HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER AIDS NEWCOMERS 8 by Reuel S. Amdur HARPER SLAMS DOOR TO EQUALITY 9 by Penni Mitchell KENYAN ACTIVIST WINS V-DAY SUPPORT 14: Dove —awash in feminist message. 12 by Maggie Ziegler CAMPAIGN UPDATES 14 Daycare hope, soap and hormones Features SPITFIRE 18 Ani Difranco on why she hasn’t given up on the American left. by Cindy Filipenko FEMINIST INK 24 The Toronto Women’s Bookstore put women of colour front and centre, and the store’s financial growth is just one of the results. 24: Feminist Ink by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha A RADICAL MEDITATION ON RECOVERY 28 In this intimate conversation, poet Betsy Warland talks about the process of recovering from cancer and how it has altered her outlook. by Di Brandt WHO CARES FOR CHILD-CARE WORKERS? 32 With a new study showing early childhood education improves children’s academic performance, the working conditions of daycare workers are a growing feminist concern. by Danielle Harder NOT A DISABILITY STORY 36 Bonnie Klein’s latest film rocks. by Emma Kivisild 36: Not a Disability Story HERIZONS SPRING 2007 1 table of contents SPRING 2007 / VOLUME 20 NO. 4 Kick-ass women in a world that needs its ass kicked MANAGING EDITOR: Penni Mitchell FULFILLMENT AND OFFICE MANAGER: Phil Koch ACCOUNTANT: Sharon Pchajek BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ghislaine Alleyne, Phil Koch, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhard, Valerie Regehr EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Ghislaine Alleyne, Gio Guzzi, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhand ADVERTISING SALES: Penni Mitchell (204) 774-6225 DESIGN: inkubator.ca WEB MISTRESS: Rachel Thompson/BlueMuse RETAIL INQUIRIES: Disticor (905) 619-6565 PROOFREADER: Phil Koch 51: The truth about lying COVER PHOTO: Danny Clinch HERIZONS is published four times per year by HERIZONS Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $27.50 (includes GST) in Canada. Two-year subscription is $43.92 in Arts & Ideas Canada. Subscriptions to US: add $6.00. International MUSIC MUST-HAVES subscriptions: add $8.00. Cheques or money orders are payable to: HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA R3C 2G1. The Indigo Girls, Kate Reid, Ursula Rucker, 40 Ph (204) 774-6225. Kim Beggs, Theresa Sokyra SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: [email protected] EDITORIAL INQUIRIES: [email protected] BOOK REVIEWS ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: [email protected] 42 Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil, The WEBSITE: www.herizons.ca Mommy Brain, Madwoman in the Academy, HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Thin … just for starters GST #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire hope FILM and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build 49 Forest for the Trees awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the THE TRUTH ABOUT LYING boundaries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among other marginalized people; to foster peace and ecological 51 by Lisa Foad awareness; and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse, understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not Columns necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No material may be reprinted without permission. Due to limited resources, HERIZONS PENNI MITCHELL does not accept poetry or fiction submissions. 5 Choice Words HERIZONS is a member of the Manitoba Magazine Publishers Association. LISA RUNDLE 17 Food for Thought HERIZONS acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine MARIKO TAMAKI Fund our toward mailing and editorial costs. The Epilady Cometh 39 HERIZONS gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council. SUSAN G. COLE Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866, PAP Registration No. 55 Pass the Lipstick 07944. Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 2G1, Email: [email protected] LYN COCKBURN Herizons is proudly printed on Forest Stewardship Council- 56 Dicking Around on Equality certified paper that is 50 % recycled, including 25% post- consumer, acid-free and chlorine-free. 2 SPRING 2007 HERIZONS letters Embargo challenged. Rozena Maart: Interview on white consciousness a joy. Tokyo trafficking article corrected. KUDOS ON WHITE shambles, despite decades of massive that affects innumerable women and men. CONSCIOUSNESS subsidies from fellow socialist regimes. In 1986, I bored myself into sobriety, for Congratulations! Herizons’ Winter 2007 issue Unrest is punished. The Cuban army has which I am tremendously grateful, and since was especially satisfying from cover to cover. standing orders to shoot any Cuban citizens 1989 I have been in recovery from the effects It was a joy to read the interview with Rozena trying to escape. Repeat that last sentence a of growing up in a family in which alcohol was Maart. At times singularly, within Canadian few times out loud, because they prove it a problem. I continue to be a member of a white domination, she has determinedly every day. The bodies wash up on the recovering community because the tentacles refused to minimize her awareness. shores of all of Cuba’s neighbours. I’ve seen of this disease are relentlessly rooted. To RENEE SAGEBEAR ALBRECHT them personally. They are mingled with the those who believe that 12-step programs are Hamilton, ON bodies of Cubans trying daily to escape on politically regressive, let me say that my flimsy little rafts, logs or rowboats, and who feminist credentials are finely honed. BUSTED ON BLOCKADE have run afoul of sharks or the nightly Recovery circles helped me to grow up, Today I was doing one of my favourite things, tropical thunderstorms on the open teaching me how to take full responsibility for browsing a magazine rack, and I saw your Caribbean Sea. my health and happiness. The trick is, you magazine, which is new to me. I was perusing North Korea is the other remaining true- “gonna wanna.” it with pleasure, and then I saw your article on believer communist regime. By wild Lyn, you did the only and best thing you Cuba (Winter 2007 issue). I was floored to see coincidence, the economy is a shambles and could do: You showed your daughter you loved you raise that tired old canard about the the country survives only through massive her when she couldn’t love herself enough to United States being the source of Cuba’s subsidies from other [similar] regimes. North get well. Bless you for bringing this disease economic woes. Korea also shoots its own citizens trying to out of the feminist closet. Let’s run through this again. The United escape, on a nightly basis. CY-THEA SAND States has enacted an embargo, barring The United States is not even remotely Montreal, QC American citizens from trading with Cuba. Cuba’s biggest problem, no matter how That’s all. They are not blockading Cuba; Cuba petulant and disruptive it can be. Cuba’s WHAT GIVES ON OTHER CANCERS? is free to trade with all 178 other countries biggest problem is entirely homegrown, and I certainly agree with Penni Mitchell’s article around the world. That means that Cuba has will not have any chance to improve until the “Pink to Green” in Herizons’ Summer 2006 trade access to all the goods in existence. Castros are gone. issue. Many socialist countries over the years since BRUCE GRANT I have nothing against the cause of breast 1961 have bent over backwards trying to prop Toronto, ON cancer, I just wonder why there is no Walk for up Castro’s oppressive regime.