Who Thought This Day Would Come?

Alberta delivers good news for midwives, expectant mothers

Starting April 1, 2009, midwifery will be added to the maternity services covered by the public health system in Alberta, the province said on Thursday. The average cost of using a midwife is about $3,500

Of course this is wonderful news but there's a big big problem:

But midwives in Alberta are scarce because they must complete a two-year licensing period and run a private practice. According to the Alberta Association of Midwives, there were 29 registered midwives in the province in 2006.

For 4,589 babies, 29 midwives are going to very busy.

Dream for Women

Antigone Magazine's Dreams for Women postcard art project is launching it's 2009 Dreams for Women calendar featuring postcards submitted by men and women around the world! The calendar seeks to help raise money for The Antigone Foundation and for other women's organizations around the world. As part of this launch, we have created a video in which men and women share their dreams for women equality.

The Project:

Featured in Ms. Magazine, in the International Women’s Museum, and on Feministing.com, the postcard art project has attracted worldwide attention and interest, garnering media attention and submissions from as far away as Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Portugal, Romania and Los Angeles. The Dreams for Women art project asks women and men of all ages to depict their hopes and dreams for women (examples include “I dream of a world with more female leaders” and “I dream of a world where no woman is seen and not heard”) by painting, drawing, writing, sketching or decoupaging them onto a postcard.

Inspired by the popular mail-art project PostSecret.com, a postcard art project that encourages people to send in their secrets, Dreams for Women strives to be a feminist PostSecret. Instead of asking what your secrets are, the project wants to know what your dreams for women are. The Antigone Foundation began receiving submissions in January 2008 and has received hundreds of submissions so far. Their YouTube videos, which showcase the project, have also received thousands of hits.

The project, which is coordinated by a small group of dedicated young women ranging in ages from 20-24, is committed to envisioning progress for women around the world. According to founder Amanda Reaume, dreaming is essential to change: “the postcards we have received and continue to receive keep expanding our vision of the future, and keep adding more voices to the conversation of what that future will look like for women.”

The project was started out of a desire to encourage women and men to envision a better future for women and to help fund work towards that future. Dreams for Women has thus launched a fundraising calendar. The calendar, featuring 12 postcard submissions from around the world, will be sold for $20 and is available via Antigone Magazine’s blog www.antigonemagazine.wordpress.com.
Indeed, the project hopes to raise money to officially launch the Antigone Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that will encourage young women to get involved in leadership, politics and activism. The organization will continue the work started by Antigone Magazine, a publication about women, politics, leadership and activism that started at UBC and has since expanded to a national subscription base, as well as, to the University of Toronto.

But the organization also hopes to help raise money for other women's organizations around the world. They will be selling the calendars in bulk at a discounted price so that other women's groups can use it for fundraising. Groups who buy any amount over 10 copies for fundraising purposes will pay only $10 per calendar. They will then be able to resell the calendar for $20 and raise money for their organizations. For more information please e-mail antigonemagazine@hotmail.com or check out their website here:

http://antigonemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/its-here-the-dreams-for-women-2009-calendar-is-here/

Quit the Click

The Globe and Mail has officially announced it is endorsing Harper. This is the link to the story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081009.weelection2008/BNStory/politics/
BUT I'm not going to hyperlink as I'm done giving money to the right wing rag by clicking all over its website and sending money to the advertisers. I'll watch the stocks from The Star or CBC and try to be limited in posting links of Globe stories and articles that Lilith Attack responds to.

The media MUST to be non-partisan and it's sick that one of our leading national papers has declared itself to be pro-conservative. It's obvious that the Globe supports conservative policies as it is with its biased articles and slanted editorials. Responsible news reporting should never have a partisan edge. I consider my own political position in the industry I work in and have heard the senior partner give a verbal high five to "our Mr. Bush" (those Dixie Chicks - oh how they bullied our neighbour's supreme leader); and received an email from said senior partner urging all staff to contact our MLAs to oppose the Royalty Rate hike last fall - being in opposition to the senior partner(s)' politics makes me feel somewhat at risk and marginalized. Of course my political views have never been challenged by he who pays my salary nor was I questioned on my voting tendencies in my interview; but I can't help but feel under a Tory thumb at my desk should and when the revolution commence. Do I really have the freedom to express my opinions at the kitchen water cooler when Mr. C is reading the Globe and Mail at the table behind me? Do staff writers really have the freedom to write and report responsibly with a Harper endorsement? "Leave your anti-corporation sentiments at the door, Ms. Smith," this building is blue. I am in the middle of quarterly and annual reporting and I need to speculate on the economy. Because I am representing a right wing partner, my presented speculations shall be skewed from my personal speculations. In that sense my own reporting may not be responsible but I am merely passing on words to the desk of a CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation that is delighted with tax cuts from Harper's team and sees no doom and gloom; no social disparity and ignores the glaring dissonance of the Prime Minister's tongue.

Chalk Talk

I'm diggin' JL's recent campaign ads:

Jennifer Wells notes:

Stylistically, the trio of "Chalk Talk" ads released this week by the New Democratic Party are a huge departure from the rum-ta-tum-tum drumming beat of the party's early creative. This is a first outing for Zig, in that the ad agency - rooted in Toronto and with a growing presence in Chicago - hasn't taken on political campaign work before. The strategy thus far has been to go negative out of the gate, build the Jack Layton brand, and now more softly attempt to convince Canadians that the NDP is a safe place to invest. About the time the writ was dropped, I was tipped to the news that Zig, after an energetic pitch, had been chosen. The party loved Zig's fresh perspective. The NDP's Brian Topp called it "arresting and different." We wanted, he said, to be seen as the "NEW democrats." (Via Adhocracy)

To Serve and Protect

"They said I could be arrested for making false complaints."

Murder suicide in Drumheller this weekend has left me feeling sick and infuriated. So much pain for the mother of this little boy.