As you probably have gathered, this is Part 2 of 3 in our International Women's Day series of events. We've had the brainstorming, we'll get together on March 8th for the event itself, but in between we want to get together for a bit of a hang out while we make awesome signs to carry at the rally.

The lovely Red Tent Sisters (yes, they really are sibs) have graciously agreed to let us get our art on in their basement! We've got it from 2 to 5, so come on down and paint:)

Hopefully we can pool our resources to make these. I've got paints, maybe someone can bring some tape, somebody can bring bristol board, etc. We'll use the 'Talk about this Meeting' section below to sort this part out.

Everybody's free to make a sign saying whatever you want, but I'm sure people will have ideas to share if you need one. Don't feel dorky about bringing a list of slogans - if anyone comes up with one, we'll be appreciative! Just remember, keep 'em short! It's hard to paint a paragraph;P Now, the event does have a theme and you can keep it in mind when you're coming up with a slogan (or not - totally up to you!). The theme is:

"The Rising of the Women is the Rising of us all!"
Additional subthemes include:
- The right to unionize
- Equal pay for work of equal value
- End to violence, end to war

Oh, and Red Tent Sisters is a gorgeous women's health store on the Danforth, specializing in reproductive and sex stuff and workshops, for those of you who aren't familiar with it. Oh, and you can leave your sign there to dry, just remember to come and pick it up before IWD! So awesome of them to donate the space.

North side of Danforth, between Pape and Jones Ave. Street parking is available 10-4 daily. Public parking lot around the corner off Woodycrest.

February 10th us another option if the 17th doesn't work. We'll confirm closer to the date.

http://www.factorytheatre.ca/index.swf

The Russian Play is a bittersweet ode to the dangerous of love that tells the story of Sonya, a teenage flower-shop girl who falls in love with a married gravedigger. Essay exposes the underbelly of academic and gender politics through the tale of a first-year student who writes a controversial essay that brings conflict with her patronizing professor and manipulative department head.

When: Sat., Jan. 19, 2008 8:00 PM
To: Sun., Feb. 17, 2008
Tue-Sat 8 PM; Sun 2 PM
Cost: $12-$36; Sun PWYC

http://events.canada.com/act/events/info/?id=290572

International Women's Day is Saturday, March 8th this year, and as a group we can pool our efforts to put something together for it - even something as simple as making a few signs and marching together!

Like we did for Take Back the Night, we'll meet 3 times:

A) Brainstorming (e.g. Let's make signs that say "Women are great!")

B) Executing (e.g. tote out the arts and craft stuff to make signs)

C) IWD (e.g. carry beautiful signs, yell)
There'll be a rally, then a march, then a fair. You can get a rough idea here: http://www.iwdtoronto.com/home.htm
Right now, it's just got last year's info, but I've been in touch with the organizing committee and they say more info will start coming as of late January.

You don't have to come to all three, but well... you should!

When I think about it, almost all of the women I know do some kind of craft. It's an interesting thing for making you reflect on your gender. Sure, it's kinda stereotyped, and yeah, lots of times we choose to live these things out. So, why? Or why not? What value do you get from making things? Do you ever think, "Can I do this and still be a feminist"? If you're a guy, how do you feel about doing crafts? Should we embrace things that have been devalued because they're associated with women?

There's no big agenda here, but we'll probably divide the evening like so:

Show-and-tell/Introductions

General discussion

See? It's pretty free form.

Everytime venture into unknown is sublime, and so I'm opening up a new element to Feminism Meetup: Guestspeakers. Plain and simple title, but the event is overwhelmingly rich and deep.

Kicking off with two females coming from different worlds, yet sharing similar attributes of strenght. One an artist. The other a martial arts student. Hear their concepts and perceptions of how feminism has shaped them.

*BIO*
Annie Wong is a practicing poet and artist in Toronto. Ms. Wong has previous works published in a number of magazines and journals, and is the Arts-Photography editor of Existere Journal of Arts and Literature.

How should we represented/expressed feminism? What does it mean to be a feminist or a woman in today's world? These are crucial questions that are at the forefront of my work. On behalf of Magda's request I will be presenting my art project, "Pretty Pristine Pussy", a photo-documentation of my menstruation period, while also sharing some of my poems.

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p.s. as usual i'll try to find a table upstairs at Tequila Bookworm for us to meetup.