I just realized the difference between writing for newspapers, writing on a personal blog that only friends or colleagues will see, and writing on a personal blog that is also career-related and "published" in a public sphere.
I'm not so self-centred that I think a million Canadians will be reading this blog. Nor do I think it likely that a potential employer of mine -- or potential high-profile colleague, as the case may be -- will stumble upon it anytime soon.
But I was three paragraphs into a satirical rant about a certain columnist whose piece I read in today's Globe (or rather, stopped reading halfway through because it was so freaking boring)... when I realized that it's probably not a good idea to post stuff like that on the internet.
Even if it's just my friends and family and maybe classmates who are reading this, so far. Even if perhaps 90 percent of Globe readers would agree with my assessment of said columnist. And even if I'm just a lowly j-school student with no current "real job" prospects.
Even so. As one of our recent online media lectures made so clear to me, the internet can be an amazing tool. It's no longer about the amount of information you can access online -- it's about the fact that you can make all kinds of information come to you, with very little effort. But that also means that anything I post on my small blog could end up in anyone's inbox, for no apparent reason other than that they have an RSS feed tagging anything with the label Journalism or Globe and Mail or Careless Ranting.
All those warnings our teachers gave us about not posting inappropriate pictures or comments on Facebook in case employers saw them are now making sense. But this time it's my own writing that made me think twice: not two days has this blog been up and running, and already I've had to stop and rethink the line between personal opinion and material that I'd feel comfortable publishing in a newspaper.
Interesting.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
...What next?
So I'm starting another blog. I figure since I've recently become an officially published journalist, I should keep up with the trends and create a "presence" for myself online. (I'm sorry, Wayne MacPhail... from now on, I'll try not to be such a technologically-incompetent 20-something.)
Unlike whatever daily drivel you may see me writing on Facebook, this is going to be where I post any articles or stories I get published in the real world. I'll post the ONE newspaper story that's out there so far -- and just so that one doesn't get lonely, I'll also post my old articles from my undergraduate student paper. This will also have the purpose of allowing me to feel better about myself by seeing the progress I've made in the last two years.
So without further ado... here are the very beginnings of my career.
The London Free Press
Tue, October 30, 2007
Witches favoured over princesses:
Costume choices this year lean toward the dark side.
By MEGHAN MOLONEY, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
Cute is out. Scary and sleazy are in.
The preferences are clear for this year's hottest-selling Halloween
costumes -- and you might be surprised by what girls are wearing.
Or maybe not.
Disney and kittens aren't faring too well at cash registers this year,
say clerks at costume-specialty stores.
More popular -- and likely coming tomorrow to trick-or-treat at your
door -- are the darker, more adult costumes.
At the new Party Packagers store on Southdale Road, manager Michelle
Nemeth says girls' choices have leaned toward the dark side this year.
"The cutesy stuff is not popular. It's more witchy, goth stuff -- the
monster bride, the goth maiden witch."
For adults, she said, "skimpiest sells."
Even costumes for very young girls are more risque. Nemeth points to
Bratz brand cheerleader outfits.
For boys, a big seller has been Optimus Prime of the Transformers
movie -- Nemeth has sold out of them twice -- as well as the classic,
red-outfitted Spiderman.
Men favour the black-suited, bad-guy Spiderman, she said.
Tastes run to the more traditional at Value Village and McCulloch's,
with princess and fairy costumes still favourites for girls.
Crystal Sheridan at McCulloch's said teen girls are still keen on
fairy tales, only they're considerably sexier than the ones you'll see
in the Disney movies.
Boys, influenced by recent movies, have been going for army outfits
and comic-book superheroes.
Tiny pirates also will be sailing the trick-or-treat seas.
Jen Lee, an employee at the Wellington Road Value Village, said these
boys and girls "have probably been inspired by Pirates of the
Caribbean."
Unlike whatever daily drivel you may see me writing on Facebook, this is going to be where I post any articles or stories I get published in the real world. I'll post the ONE newspaper story that's out there so far -- and just so that one doesn't get lonely, I'll also post my old articles from my undergraduate student paper. This will also have the purpose of allowing me to feel better about myself by seeing the progress I've made in the last two years.
So without further ado... here are the very beginnings of my career.
The London Free Press
Tue, October 30, 2007
Witches favoured over princesses:
Costume choices this year lean toward the dark side.
By MEGHAN MOLONEY, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
Cute is out. Scary and sleazy are in.
The preferences are clear for this year's hottest-selling Halloween
costumes -- and you might be surprised by what girls are wearing.
Or maybe not.
Disney and kittens aren't faring too well at cash registers this year,
say clerks at costume-specialty stores.
More popular -- and likely coming tomorrow to trick-or-treat at your
door -- are the darker, more adult costumes.
At the new Party Packagers store on Southdale Road, manager Michelle
Nemeth says girls' choices have leaned toward the dark side this year.
"The cutesy stuff is not popular. It's more witchy, goth stuff -- the
monster bride, the goth maiden witch."
For adults, she said, "skimpiest sells."
Even costumes for very young girls are more risque. Nemeth points to
Bratz brand cheerleader outfits.
For boys, a big seller has been Optimus Prime of the Transformers
movie -- Nemeth has sold out of them twice -- as well as the classic,
red-outfitted Spiderman.
Men favour the black-suited, bad-guy Spiderman, she said.
Tastes run to the more traditional at Value Village and McCulloch's,
with princess and fairy costumes still favourites for girls.
Crystal Sheridan at McCulloch's said teen girls are still keen on
fairy tales, only they're considerably sexier than the ones you'll see
in the Disney movies.
Boys, influenced by recent movies, have been going for army outfits
and comic-book superheroes.
Tiny pirates also will be sailing the trick-or-treat seas.
Jen Lee, an employee at the Wellington Road Value Village, said these
boys and girls "have probably been inspired by Pirates of the
Caribbean."
Thursday, February 2, 2006
CPT Member Speaks Out on Hostages in Iraq
This is the first student newspaper article I ever did that could be described as "in-depth". I was pretty proud of it when it came out at the time. My editor wrote the introductory bit, and we published the piece as a transcript of the interview.
************
The Ontarion - Features
February 2, 2006
CPT MEMBER SPEAKS OUT ON HOSTAGES IN IRAQ
Written by Meghan Moloney, with files from Kim Mackrael
Father Bob Holmes is a Toronto Priest and a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a non-denominational organization of human rights workers who travel to war zones, prisons, and communities in crisis, such as Colombia, Kenora, Hebron, Arizona, and Iraq. The organization's goal is to "reduce violence by getting in the way."
Last November, four CPT workers, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were kidnapped by a group calling itself The Swords of Righteousness Brigade.
The group demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces in return for the peacemakers' safe release. After a long period of silence, a fourth video of the activists appeared last weekend with a renewed demand for the release of Iraqi prisoners.
Last Sunday, more than 150 CPT members and supporters walked to the US consulate in Toronto to show their support for the CPT hostages and all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces.
Fr. Holmes is a close friend of captive James Loney of Toronto. Meghan Moloney interviewed Fr. Holmes the day before the latest video was released.
Meghan Moloney: What kind of work do you do for CPT?
Father Bob Holmes: I'm part of the support team, that support our peacemakers in the field. My specific role is coordinating pastoral support – making sure that the peacemakers stay healthy spiritually, emotionally, physically – and I just came back from Chicago, where we did a workshop on trauma awareness and self-care in war zones.
MM: Can you elaborate on how CPT came together and what its philosophies are?
BH: The Mennonite Church was challenged by one of their theologians about twenty years ago, who just confronted them and said, "Look – if we’re going to call ourselves a peace church, we have to be as willing to risk our lives for peace as soldiers are to risk their lives in war." And he challenged them to begin to gather a hundred thousand people who would be trained and ready to go at a moment’s notice into war zones and get in the way, to reduce the violence. And so over the last twenty years, we’ve developed a Christian Peacemaker Team [...] and we’ve got about two hundred who are prepared and trained to do that work. And we think it’d be wonderful if Canada just took the lead and was the first to have an unarmed force of people who were prepared to go into zones and, non-violently, to bring an end to the oppression that’s happening around the world.
MM: What does your organization gain by being non-denominational, as opposed to being affiliated with a specific sect among Christians?
BH: It gives us a much wider reach, in terms of participation. And what happens is, we base our work, really, on the hunger and thirst for justice, and to love your enemies, and so that’s the kind of Christian basics that we operate from, and it’s not based in any one church. What we discovered is that we end up in coalitions with Jewish peacemakers and Muslim peacemakers and secular peacemakers, so we discovered that there’s lots of people who have discovered that non-violent direct action is probably the best way to overcome discrimination and oppression.
MM: Why does the organization choose to keep the word ‘Christian’ as a part of its name, recognizing that perhaps in North America it may draw negative as well as positive attention?
BH: That’s true, and what we’re trying to do is draw the positive to it, and let people know that there are Christians who don’t believe in war, even though some of our neighbours to the South think that Christians should be warriors. And we are certainly not exclusive in the sense that we figure we can do it ourselves – we don’t. We always work in coalition with others. But we draw our motivation from the gospel – we pray, you know, we gather every morning and we worship, and that prayer gives us the courage and the strength and the will to go out and to risk our lives for peace. And so that’s an important thing for us. But we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims and Jews and seculars.
MM: Concerning the four peacemakers who were taken in Iraq, what were their reasons for going to Iraq specifically, and what was their function there?
BH: Iraq is a place where there’s a tremendous amount of violence, and it’s good for Americans and Canadians to be there because it’s Westerners that have really brought the violence in its present form. The U.S. invasion and occupation has caused a huge wave of violence in that country. So we feel that we ought to be there to do what we can to reverse it and to reduce that violence, and we do that, number one, just by our presence – by being there, and by suffering that vulnerability with the Iraqis, then we are able to speak more authentically when we come back home about what’s really going on there. And secondly, we shine a spotlight on the violence and we’re able to say, look, this is not right, the Geneva conventions are not being observed here, people are being held in prison without charge and without their families knowing where they are for months and months and months, and that’s just not allowed. Sixteen thousand people were being detained when I was there, and I presume it’s a similar number now. So we called not so much for their release but for justice to be built into that system, so that people are charged and have a chance to confront those charges and if they’re not guilty, to be released.
MM: In retrospect, given all of these reasons for their presence, and given what eventually happened to four of them, do you feel that it was still worthwhile – was it the right decision for them to go?
BH: Well, of course. We knew the risks long before we went – we’d been there for three years. Now we were there before the invasion – I’ve been there three times, this was Jim Loney’s fourth time, and I’m sure it was the fourth or fifth time for Tom Fox also. We’ve known this could always happen, so it’s not a surprise when it does happen. You don’t want it to happen, and you fear for it, but you’re willing to take that risk because someone needs to be there, and all the other international groups have left. And so, we end up working very closely with a lot of Iraqi human rights groups, and they’re delighted to have an international human rights organization that they can connect with, because it makes their voice much louder. Otherwise they don’t get heard, whereas now we can be their voice in a much wider area. And in fact, because of the four being held there, our voice has gotten incredibly loud. We are now being heard around the world.
MM: Who are you trying to reach?
BH: We’re trying to send lots of messages to George Bush and his advisors right now. That’s why for these past two weeks we’ve had the Shine the Light Campaign in Washington, DC – every day, there’s a procession from one place of violence to the White House, in order to draw attention to the White House that this war in Iraq is wrong. We've been doing the same thing in Toronto every day also, and going to the US Consulate [...] again to send a message to the United States government that what they’re doing in Iraq is wrong. The occupation is wrong, the detaining of people without charge is wrong, the torturing of people, the abuse of human rights is wrong, and the best thing they can do is get out of there.
MM: So with the final vigil on Sunday [Jan 29], what message do you hope to get across on a global scale?
BH: We want to let the whole world know that occupation can never bring peace, it can never really produce democracy. They’re trying to impose democracy through an occupation – that doesn’t happen, it can’t happen. And we also want people to be very aware that when you detain thousands and thousands of people without trial, that that doesn’t bring peace either. It creates more resistance – in fact, it’s creating terrorists, it’s creating people who are very upset with Canada – well, the United States, not so much Canada. We also really want to call for the freedom of our peacemakers. But that call, of course, is going to those who are holding our peacemakers. We’re hoping that they are very aware of what we’re doing, and that it makes them aware that the people who they are holding are actually people who want the occupation to end, and who want their detainees released, and therefore these [CPT members] should also be released.
MM: Since November, the kidnapping of the four peacemakers has gained global attention from the media. What are some of the critical questions that have been posed?
BH: You know, the typical question you get – "aren’t you being naïve to be there." And our response is no, no, we’re not being naïve at all, we’ve known exactly what the situation [is], we’ve been there three years, we know how dangerous it is. We know that four thousand Iraqis have been taken prisoner and held for ransom, so for us the risk was also the same, you know, we’re willing to bear that risk the same as they are.
MM: Muslim communities have been very supportive in protesting the kidnapping [of the CPT members], including organizations such as the Canadian Islamic Congress. How do you feel about the supportive reaction from Muslims and Iraqis, and how does that impact your efforts?
BH: We were really delighted that our Muslim friends and colleagues of people we work with were able to stand up and say to those who are holding our people, ‘let them go, because these people are really trying to help Iraqis’ –-ordinary, civilian, unarmed Iraqis. And we were delighted that those voices came out so strong, and we had no idea that so many groups were aware of who we were. Some people spoke out for us that we didn’t know even knew about us. But it tells you that they did know, and they did appreciate what we were doing, and they do know we’re non-violent, even though some of the groups that spoke out were not non-violent, they still said hey, these people are doing good work – let them go. So we were delighted with that.
MM: So now that you have the knowledge of that kind of support, does that impact the efforts that you’re making?
BH: Well yeah, I mean our effort – still, after two months – is to try to speak to the people who are holding our four peacemakers, and the only means we have of doing that is through the Arabic media. So we’ve been feeding Al Jazeera and other Arabic sources with as much information as we can, and they’ve been wonderful. They’ve been very anxious to receive it. And they will show the video footage or they’ll voice-over the radio or they’ll translate for the press. So we’re very happy with that, we’ve been getting very good coverage in their media.
MM: Is there one overall thing or one specific result of the whole campaign that you’re really proud of, that you really feel has made a difference?
BH: Well, I’m really proud of the fact that people world-wide right now, from New Zealand right through Great Britain, Canada and the United States, the English-speaking world especially, and the Arabic-speaking world, know that there are Christians who are peacemakers and who don’t believe in violence, [but] who do believe that Gandhian, Martin Luther King style – and I would say Jesus style – of actions are the solution, not violence.
************
The Ontarion - Features
February 2, 2006
CPT MEMBER SPEAKS OUT ON HOSTAGES IN IRAQ
Written by Meghan Moloney, with files from Kim Mackrael
Father Bob Holmes is a Toronto Priest and a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a non-denominational organization of human rights workers who travel to war zones, prisons, and communities in crisis, such as Colombia, Kenora, Hebron, Arizona, and Iraq. The organization's goal is to "reduce violence by getting in the way."
Last November, four CPT workers, Tom Fox, Norman Kember, James Loney, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were kidnapped by a group calling itself The Swords of Righteousness Brigade.
The group demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces in return for the peacemakers' safe release. After a long period of silence, a fourth video of the activists appeared last weekend with a renewed demand for the release of Iraqi prisoners.
Last Sunday, more than 150 CPT members and supporters walked to the US consulate in Toronto to show their support for the CPT hostages and all Iraqi prisoners held by US forces.
Fr. Holmes is a close friend of captive James Loney of Toronto. Meghan Moloney interviewed Fr. Holmes the day before the latest video was released.
Meghan Moloney: What kind of work do you do for CPT?
Father Bob Holmes: I'm part of the support team, that support our peacemakers in the field. My specific role is coordinating pastoral support – making sure that the peacemakers stay healthy spiritually, emotionally, physically – and I just came back from Chicago, where we did a workshop on trauma awareness and self-care in war zones.
MM: Can you elaborate on how CPT came together and what its philosophies are?
BH: The Mennonite Church was challenged by one of their theologians about twenty years ago, who just confronted them and said, "Look – if we’re going to call ourselves a peace church, we have to be as willing to risk our lives for peace as soldiers are to risk their lives in war." And he challenged them to begin to gather a hundred thousand people who would be trained and ready to go at a moment’s notice into war zones and get in the way, to reduce the violence. And so over the last twenty years, we’ve developed a Christian Peacemaker Team [...] and we’ve got about two hundred who are prepared and trained to do that work. And we think it’d be wonderful if Canada just took the lead and was the first to have an unarmed force of people who were prepared to go into zones and, non-violently, to bring an end to the oppression that’s happening around the world.
MM: What does your organization gain by being non-denominational, as opposed to being affiliated with a specific sect among Christians?
BH: It gives us a much wider reach, in terms of participation. And what happens is, we base our work, really, on the hunger and thirst for justice, and to love your enemies, and so that’s the kind of Christian basics that we operate from, and it’s not based in any one church. What we discovered is that we end up in coalitions with Jewish peacemakers and Muslim peacemakers and secular peacemakers, so we discovered that there’s lots of people who have discovered that non-violent direct action is probably the best way to overcome discrimination and oppression.
MM: Why does the organization choose to keep the word ‘Christian’ as a part of its name, recognizing that perhaps in North America it may draw negative as well as positive attention?
BH: That’s true, and what we’re trying to do is draw the positive to it, and let people know that there are Christians who don’t believe in war, even though some of our neighbours to the South think that Christians should be warriors. And we are certainly not exclusive in the sense that we figure we can do it ourselves – we don’t. We always work in coalition with others. But we draw our motivation from the gospel – we pray, you know, we gather every morning and we worship, and that prayer gives us the courage and the strength and the will to go out and to risk our lives for peace. And so that’s an important thing for us. But we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims and Jews and seculars.
MM: Concerning the four peacemakers who were taken in Iraq, what were their reasons for going to Iraq specifically, and what was their function there?
BH: Iraq is a place where there’s a tremendous amount of violence, and it’s good for Americans and Canadians to be there because it’s Westerners that have really brought the violence in its present form. The U.S. invasion and occupation has caused a huge wave of violence in that country. So we feel that we ought to be there to do what we can to reverse it and to reduce that violence, and we do that, number one, just by our presence – by being there, and by suffering that vulnerability with the Iraqis, then we are able to speak more authentically when we come back home about what’s really going on there. And secondly, we shine a spotlight on the violence and we’re able to say, look, this is not right, the Geneva conventions are not being observed here, people are being held in prison without charge and without their families knowing where they are for months and months and months, and that’s just not allowed. Sixteen thousand people were being detained when I was there, and I presume it’s a similar number now. So we called not so much for their release but for justice to be built into that system, so that people are charged and have a chance to confront those charges and if they’re not guilty, to be released.
MM: In retrospect, given all of these reasons for their presence, and given what eventually happened to four of them, do you feel that it was still worthwhile – was it the right decision for them to go?
BH: Well, of course. We knew the risks long before we went – we’d been there for three years. Now we were there before the invasion – I’ve been there three times, this was Jim Loney’s fourth time, and I’m sure it was the fourth or fifth time for Tom Fox also. We’ve known this could always happen, so it’s not a surprise when it does happen. You don’t want it to happen, and you fear for it, but you’re willing to take that risk because someone needs to be there, and all the other international groups have left. And so, we end up working very closely with a lot of Iraqi human rights groups, and they’re delighted to have an international human rights organization that they can connect with, because it makes their voice much louder. Otherwise they don’t get heard, whereas now we can be their voice in a much wider area. And in fact, because of the four being held there, our voice has gotten incredibly loud. We are now being heard around the world.
MM: Who are you trying to reach?
BH: We’re trying to send lots of messages to George Bush and his advisors right now. That’s why for these past two weeks we’ve had the Shine the Light Campaign in Washington, DC – every day, there’s a procession from one place of violence to the White House, in order to draw attention to the White House that this war in Iraq is wrong. We've been doing the same thing in Toronto every day also, and going to the US Consulate [...] again to send a message to the United States government that what they’re doing in Iraq is wrong. The occupation is wrong, the detaining of people without charge is wrong, the torturing of people, the abuse of human rights is wrong, and the best thing they can do is get out of there.
MM: So with the final vigil on Sunday [Jan 29], what message do you hope to get across on a global scale?
BH: We want to let the whole world know that occupation can never bring peace, it can never really produce democracy. They’re trying to impose democracy through an occupation – that doesn’t happen, it can’t happen. And we also want people to be very aware that when you detain thousands and thousands of people without trial, that that doesn’t bring peace either. It creates more resistance – in fact, it’s creating terrorists, it’s creating people who are very upset with Canada – well, the United States, not so much Canada. We also really want to call for the freedom of our peacemakers. But that call, of course, is going to those who are holding our peacemakers. We’re hoping that they are very aware of what we’re doing, and that it makes them aware that the people who they are holding are actually people who want the occupation to end, and who want their detainees released, and therefore these [CPT members] should also be released.
MM: Since November, the kidnapping of the four peacemakers has gained global attention from the media. What are some of the critical questions that have been posed?
BH: You know, the typical question you get – "aren’t you being naïve to be there." And our response is no, no, we’re not being naïve at all, we’ve known exactly what the situation [is], we’ve been there three years, we know how dangerous it is. We know that four thousand Iraqis have been taken prisoner and held for ransom, so for us the risk was also the same, you know, we’re willing to bear that risk the same as they are.
MM: Muslim communities have been very supportive in protesting the kidnapping [of the CPT members], including organizations such as the Canadian Islamic Congress. How do you feel about the supportive reaction from Muslims and Iraqis, and how does that impact your efforts?
BH: We were really delighted that our Muslim friends and colleagues of people we work with were able to stand up and say to those who are holding our people, ‘let them go, because these people are really trying to help Iraqis’ –-ordinary, civilian, unarmed Iraqis. And we were delighted that those voices came out so strong, and we had no idea that so many groups were aware of who we were. Some people spoke out for us that we didn’t know even knew about us. But it tells you that they did know, and they did appreciate what we were doing, and they do know we’re non-violent, even though some of the groups that spoke out were not non-violent, they still said hey, these people are doing good work – let them go. So we were delighted with that.
MM: So now that you have the knowledge of that kind of support, does that impact the efforts that you’re making?
BH: Well yeah, I mean our effort – still, after two months – is to try to speak to the people who are holding our four peacemakers, and the only means we have of doing that is through the Arabic media. So we’ve been feeding Al Jazeera and other Arabic sources with as much information as we can, and they’ve been wonderful. They’ve been very anxious to receive it. And they will show the video footage or they’ll voice-over the radio or they’ll translate for the press. So we’re very happy with that, we’ve been getting very good coverage in their media.
MM: Is there one overall thing or one specific result of the whole campaign that you’re really proud of, that you really feel has made a difference?
BH: Well, I’m really proud of the fact that people world-wide right now, from New Zealand right through Great Britain, Canada and the United States, the English-speaking world especially, and the Arabic-speaking world, know that there are Christians who are peacemakers and who don’t believe in violence, [but] who do believe that Gandhian, Martin Luther King style – and I would say Jesus style – of actions are the solution, not violence.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Out on the Shelf
The Ontarion - News
October 27, 2005
OUT ON THE SHELF
Written by Meghan Moloney
A new resource library and centre for the queer community, called Out On The Shelf, had its official opening on Thursday, October 20th.
Located in downtown Guelph, the centre includes fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, comics, newspapers, and other resources geared towards the queer community. The two-dollar membership fee covers book borrowing; access to the centre itself is free.
In addition to resource materials, the centre is also a welcoming space for queer people and their allies who wish to meet with friends, ask questions, participate in events run by volunteer organizers, or just to hang out.
The volunteers who have worked over the last two years to create this space all agree on one thing: the need for a queer-positive location in Guelph, accessible to the general public. Dave Vervoort is a therapist who works with the queer community and has been one of the main organizers of Out On The Shelf.
“Guelph on the whole has been a fairly open-minded city to the queer community," he said at the opening. "We knew on the whole that things were supportive here, yet we had no place to congregate. People don’t want to meet in the bars... certainly some people do, but not everybody.”
Echoing Vervoort, Bruce Buchanan – a Hamilton community member – explained that bars shouldn’t be the only spaces available to people.
“Being a gay person, most resources we have are bars, and they’re open on the weekend, and they’re not necessarily the place you want to go and meet somebody, or visit,” he said. As a representative of smaller queer communities in southern Ontario, he described Toronto as a “Mecca” for gay people; however, according to Buchanan, “For people within the small communities, the rural communities that live outside of Guelph or Hamilton, it’s a lot easier for people to drive into our locations to get that information about what’s going on.”
Buchanan, in collaboration with the Centenary United Church, is planning to open a library similar to Guelph’s Out On The Shelf centre. He currently runs a restaurant in Hamilton called the Comfortable Pew – “a place where you can go have lunch, and visit with friends and meet up with people, in a very safe environment.”
As well as being a safe and positive meeting space, Out On The Shelf is also an important way to dispense information to the queer community. Vervoort, along with the SpeakOut program, has produced a pamphlet called the Guelph Queer Resource Guide, which lists local services, businesses and entertainment spots that are queer-positive or provide important resources to the community.
Vervoort stressed the importance of having a physical space like Out On The Shelf to dispense this kind of information, in addition to networks of activist groups and support systems. He also emphasized the collective effort that has gone into this opening: instead of focusing on the original six volunteers, he says, “We’d rather people know that it’s a community effort – it’s a lot of volunteers that came together to pull this off.”
The centre is the result of more than two years of collaboration between groups of activists involved in the queer community, including PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Ally organizations, Change Now, and University of Guelph organizations such as Guelph Queer Equality (GQE), OutLine, and the Women’s Resource Centre.
Out On The Shelf has also benefited from numerous donations: Vervoort mentioned Pink Triangle Services, a non-profit charity and social service agency based in Ottawa, and the Dr. Kelly McGinnis library, as having donated “well over half the books”; the Wellness Centre donated 1000 dollars of seed money, to help with production costs like photocopying. The Canadian Mental Health Association was an essential supporter of the centre: volunteer Tahira Dosani said, “They let us use the space, don’t charge us rent, have given us a phone line and they were really supportive in creating the initiative.”
One of the key goals of the centre is to bring together various parts of the Guelph community and its members. “The best thing about this project from my perspective,” said Vervoort, “is that it’s brought together a diverse group of people within the queer community, and a diverse group of Straight Allies, to come together – and we all have our differences, but we’re able to come together and work collaboratively.” Vervoort also points out that much of the financial support being given to queer resource centres in Canada goes to “the metropolitan cities – Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal.” The hope of many volunteers is that people from rural areas who come to Out On The Shelf – including university students – will be inspired to create similar spaces and start similar initiatives, outside of larger cities and without extensive financial support.
The centre hopes to run many events in the coming months, including readings from authors and collaborations with the Bookshelf. Rob Gartner, another volunteer, also plans to run promotional events with the university: “There’s a large pool of people [on campus] who have questions about life, and that we wanted to approach, and to be able to promote and also let them know that this exists.”
October 27, 2005
OUT ON THE SHELF
Written by Meghan Moloney
A new resource library and centre for the queer community, called Out On The Shelf, had its official opening on Thursday, October 20th.
Located in downtown Guelph, the centre includes fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, comics, newspapers, and other resources geared towards the queer community. The two-dollar membership fee covers book borrowing; access to the centre itself is free.
In addition to resource materials, the centre is also a welcoming space for queer people and their allies who wish to meet with friends, ask questions, participate in events run by volunteer organizers, or just to hang out.
The volunteers who have worked over the last two years to create this space all agree on one thing: the need for a queer-positive location in Guelph, accessible to the general public. Dave Vervoort is a therapist who works with the queer community and has been one of the main organizers of Out On The Shelf.
“Guelph on the whole has been a fairly open-minded city to the queer community," he said at the opening. "We knew on the whole that things were supportive here, yet we had no place to congregate. People don’t want to meet in the bars... certainly some people do, but not everybody.”
Echoing Vervoort, Bruce Buchanan – a Hamilton community member – explained that bars shouldn’t be the only spaces available to people.
“Being a gay person, most resources we have are bars, and they’re open on the weekend, and they’re not necessarily the place you want to go and meet somebody, or visit,” he said. As a representative of smaller queer communities in southern Ontario, he described Toronto as a “Mecca” for gay people; however, according to Buchanan, “For people within the small communities, the rural communities that live outside of Guelph or Hamilton, it’s a lot easier for people to drive into our locations to get that information about what’s going on.”
Buchanan, in collaboration with the Centenary United Church, is planning to open a library similar to Guelph’s Out On The Shelf centre. He currently runs a restaurant in Hamilton called the Comfortable Pew – “a place where you can go have lunch, and visit with friends and meet up with people, in a very safe environment.”
As well as being a safe and positive meeting space, Out On The Shelf is also an important way to dispense information to the queer community. Vervoort, along with the SpeakOut program, has produced a pamphlet called the Guelph Queer Resource Guide, which lists local services, businesses and entertainment spots that are queer-positive or provide important resources to the community.
Vervoort stressed the importance of having a physical space like Out On The Shelf to dispense this kind of information, in addition to networks of activist groups and support systems. He also emphasized the collective effort that has gone into this opening: instead of focusing on the original six volunteers, he says, “We’d rather people know that it’s a community effort – it’s a lot of volunteers that came together to pull this off.”
The centre is the result of more than two years of collaboration between groups of activists involved in the queer community, including PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Ally organizations, Change Now, and University of Guelph organizations such as Guelph Queer Equality (GQE), OutLine, and the Women’s Resource Centre.
Out On The Shelf has also benefited from numerous donations: Vervoort mentioned Pink Triangle Services, a non-profit charity and social service agency based in Ottawa, and the Dr. Kelly McGinnis library, as having donated “well over half the books”; the Wellness Centre donated 1000 dollars of seed money, to help with production costs like photocopying. The Canadian Mental Health Association was an essential supporter of the centre: volunteer Tahira Dosani said, “They let us use the space, don’t charge us rent, have given us a phone line and they were really supportive in creating the initiative.”
One of the key goals of the centre is to bring together various parts of the Guelph community and its members. “The best thing about this project from my perspective,” said Vervoort, “is that it’s brought together a diverse group of people within the queer community, and a diverse group of Straight Allies, to come together – and we all have our differences, but we’re able to come together and work collaboratively.” Vervoort also points out that much of the financial support being given to queer resource centres in Canada goes to “the metropolitan cities – Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal.” The hope of many volunteers is that people from rural areas who come to Out On The Shelf – including university students – will be inspired to create similar spaces and start similar initiatives, outside of larger cities and without extensive financial support.
The centre hopes to run many events in the coming months, including readings from authors and collaborations with the Bookshelf. Rob Gartner, another volunteer, also plans to run promotional events with the university: “There’s a large pool of people [on campus] who have questions about life, and that we wanted to approach, and to be able to promote and also let them know that this exists.”
Thursday, October 6, 2005
NO CRABS IN THIS BUCKET: K-Os brings joyful rebellion to Homecoming weekend
*************
The Ontarion
Arts & Culture
October 6, 2005
NO CRABS IN THIS BUCKET: K-Os brings joyful rebellion to Homecoming weekend.
Written by Meghan Moloney
The first time I saw Kevin Brereton perform in concert, it was April, 2002. My friends and I had been waiting outside Ottawa's Congress Centre for eight hours, in the freezing wind, to see Swollen Members open for Nelly Furtado. But when the first opening act came on stage, all we saw was a guy sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar. At 17, I knew next to nothing about the indie hip-hop scene that was slowly emerging from Toronto. But by the end of that short opening set, I was a huge fan of the man now known as k-os.
A lot has changed since then. The success of his 2002 album, Exit, garnered widespread media attention, and his follow-up--Joyful Rebellion, released last year--has brought k-os even more acclaim from fans and music critics nationwide. This is an accomplishment that many artists never experience with their second album. Even if you don't own Joyful Rebellion, you've almost certainly heard a couple of the singles. k-os is rising, and fast.
With this in mind, the excitement in the air on Saturday night came as no surprise. Peter Clark Hall was full of fans of all ages, dressed funky and ready to dance. The concert billing had us all expecting to see Kyle Riabko as the opening act, but due to some unexplained mishap, he was replaced by newcomers Shawn Hewitt and Aidan Campbell--two of the three members of Shawn Hewitt and the National Strikes.
Hewitt is from Toronto and has been performing for the last two and a half years. Their set clearly impressed the audience, and got a great response despite being relatively unknown. Hewitt went back and forth between the keyboard and electric guitar. His vocals defied categorization, a trait he shares with k-os. His voice was sweet and musical, but flexible and even raspy at times. He could switch range or tonality several times in one song and not miss a beat, while dancing so hard his entire face shook.
Campbell, as only a truly talented drummer could, knew when to take it down a notch, and when to let all hell break loose in a frantic Dave Grohl style. They also knew exactly how to work the crowd. It was hard to say which moment inspired louder cheering--when Hewitt changed a lyric in one of his songs to "down with George Bush," or when he referred to k-os as "the saviour of Canadian hip-hop."
Iconic comparisons aside, that's exactly the kind of reaction k-os got from the crowd that night. The anticipation was high by 9:45, when guitarist Russ Klyne, bongo player Santosh Naidu, drummer Ray Garraway, DJ Jasper Gahunia, and bassist Toby Peter finally took the stage. A loud robotic voice started a countdown and k-os hit the stage, wearing a hooded windbreaker and sunglasses.
The band launched into B-Boy Stance, a quintessential k-os song mixing hip-hop beats, special sound effects from the DJ, guitar riffs, electric piano, and fast-flowing lyrics. The lyrics were hard to follow at times because of their complexity, especially with that pure wall of sound. k-os often let the crown take over on vocals, resulting in songs that were less polished than the album versions, but more of an interactive experience.
k-os's politics came through loud and clear. The first line of B-Boy proclaimed, "It's so hard to remain authentic"--a testament to his choice to remain true to his creative vision and to his commitment to social awareness. Emcee Murdah was another song that referred to the corruption of musicians for the sake of mainstream success, and the disappearance of old-school MCs within hip-hop's recent focus on money, sex, and macho competition.
At several points, k-os showcased his bandmates by asking to have the lights dimmed and a spotlight shone on each one while they performed unbelievable solos. Klyne's guitar solo and Naidu's bongo rendition were particularly crowd-pleasing,
inspiring break-dancing around the hall.
When k-os took the mic again, he told the audience that this would be his last show in Canada until 2008, which gave the night a special meaning. Each song got a better response tahn the last, from his classic Superstarr, combining swing music with a hip-hop beat, to Crabbukkit and Man I Used To Be. He also performed an homage to Michael Jackson and covers of Pink Floyd, Sting, and Wheatus.
After crowd-surfing for several minutes, k-os returned to the stage to wrap up the show. He re-introduced and thanked each member of the band and road crew. Then came the highlight of the show for me--the first verse of the Beatles' classic Yesterday, which segued into his own philosophical Heaven Only Knows. k-os closed it down with the reggae beats of Crucial, which encourages Canadians to open their eyes to social issues.
The band then left the stage to the sound of deafening screams and applause. The crowd started chanting "encore," but sadly there was none. It was a memorable night of Canadian music. I can't wait to see how it changes between now and 2008.
The Ontarion
Arts & Culture
October 6, 2005
NO CRABS IN THIS BUCKET: K-Os brings joyful rebellion to Homecoming weekend.
Written by Meghan Moloney
The first time I saw Kevin Brereton perform in concert, it was April, 2002. My friends and I had been waiting outside Ottawa's Congress Centre for eight hours, in the freezing wind, to see Swollen Members open for Nelly Furtado. But when the first opening act came on stage, all we saw was a guy sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar. At 17, I knew next to nothing about the indie hip-hop scene that was slowly emerging from Toronto. But by the end of that short opening set, I was a huge fan of the man now known as k-os.
A lot has changed since then. The success of his 2002 album, Exit, garnered widespread media attention, and his follow-up--Joyful Rebellion, released last year--has brought k-os even more acclaim from fans and music critics nationwide. This is an accomplishment that many artists never experience with their second album. Even if you don't own Joyful Rebellion, you've almost certainly heard a couple of the singles. k-os is rising, and fast.
With this in mind, the excitement in the air on Saturday night came as no surprise. Peter Clark Hall was full of fans of all ages, dressed funky and ready to dance. The concert billing had us all expecting to see Kyle Riabko as the opening act, but due to some unexplained mishap, he was replaced by newcomers Shawn Hewitt and Aidan Campbell--two of the three members of Shawn Hewitt and the National Strikes.
Hewitt is from Toronto and has been performing for the last two and a half years. Their set clearly impressed the audience, and got a great response despite being relatively unknown. Hewitt went back and forth between the keyboard and electric guitar. His vocals defied categorization, a trait he shares with k-os. His voice was sweet and musical, but flexible and even raspy at times. He could switch range or tonality several times in one song and not miss a beat, while dancing so hard his entire face shook.
Campbell, as only a truly talented drummer could, knew when to take it down a notch, and when to let all hell break loose in a frantic Dave Grohl style. They also knew exactly how to work the crowd. It was hard to say which moment inspired louder cheering--when Hewitt changed a lyric in one of his songs to "down with George Bush," or when he referred to k-os as "the saviour of Canadian hip-hop."
Iconic comparisons aside, that's exactly the kind of reaction k-os got from the crowd that night. The anticipation was high by 9:45, when guitarist Russ Klyne, bongo player Santosh Naidu, drummer Ray Garraway, DJ Jasper Gahunia, and bassist Toby Peter finally took the stage. A loud robotic voice started a countdown and k-os hit the stage, wearing a hooded windbreaker and sunglasses.
The band launched into B-Boy Stance, a quintessential k-os song mixing hip-hop beats, special sound effects from the DJ, guitar riffs, electric piano, and fast-flowing lyrics. The lyrics were hard to follow at times because of their complexity, especially with that pure wall of sound. k-os often let the crown take over on vocals, resulting in songs that were less polished than the album versions, but more of an interactive experience.
k-os's politics came through loud and clear. The first line of B-Boy proclaimed, "It's so hard to remain authentic"--a testament to his choice to remain true to his creative vision and to his commitment to social awareness. Emcee Murdah was another song that referred to the corruption of musicians for the sake of mainstream success, and the disappearance of old-school MCs within hip-hop's recent focus on money, sex, and macho competition.
At several points, k-os showcased his bandmates by asking to have the lights dimmed and a spotlight shone on each one while they performed unbelievable solos. Klyne's guitar solo and Naidu's bongo rendition were particularly crowd-pleasing,
inspiring break-dancing around the hall.
When k-os took the mic again, he told the audience that this would be his last show in Canada until 2008, which gave the night a special meaning. Each song got a better response tahn the last, from his classic Superstarr, combining swing music with a hip-hop beat, to Crabbukkit and Man I Used To Be. He also performed an homage to Michael Jackson and covers of Pink Floyd, Sting, and Wheatus.
After crowd-surfing for several minutes, k-os returned to the stage to wrap up the show. He re-introduced and thanked each member of the band and road crew. Then came the highlight of the show for me--the first verse of the Beatles' classic Yesterday, which segued into his own philosophical Heaven Only Knows. k-os closed it down with the reggae beats of Crucial, which encourages Canadians to open their eyes to social issues.
The band then left the stage to the sound of deafening screams and applause. The crowd started chanting "encore," but sadly there was none. It was a memorable night of Canadian music. I can't wait to see how it changes between now and 2008.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)