That Pause I talk about in Person

Hi There,

Thanks so much for visiting the blog for These Things that People Make. I'm taking a break from the show to work on a documentary radio and video project about the lives of my Lesbian Homesteading Aunts who live in the Adirondack Mountains. I'll post more about it here in the near future.

In the meantime, feel free to check out past shows, and don't hesitate to be in touch.

sar

June 16, 2011: Coco Riot!! So Good!

Coco Riot is a tough, smart, and charming organizer and artist who is currently based in Montreal. Coco's work often deals with issues related to gender, and migration, racism, and queerness (and lots of other stuff). Coco started making comics when they had read all the comics they could find.

Coco and I have met, as friendly acquaintances through all sorts of mutual friends and community events in Montreal, Halifax and Toronto, but rarely have Coco had the opportunity to have good in-depth conversations.

This is a great conversation I am so excited to share with you. We talked mostly about two of Coco's newest projects, Llueven Queers and This is About Having an Accent.

To hear the interview, post this address in your browser: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-cocoriotcomplete.mp3

Check out Coco's work, at http://cocoriot.com/

June 9, 2011: Wise Daughters Craft Market, a brief History

My good friend Tara Michelle Ziniuk introduced me to Wise Daughters, and Mary Breen who started and runs the shop back in the fall of 2010. Its the best craft shop I've been in Toronto so far. Believe me, she has really great stuff!

I had the fantastic opportunity to interview Mary about how Wise Daughters got started. To my surprise me and Mary have more in common than I realized. She's worked for many non profits and she has an interest in activist archiving. How cool is that?

Listen to this interview by pasting the link below into your browser.
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-wisedaughters.mp3

Check out Wise Daughters' website at:
http://www.wisedaughters.com/

Oh! and PS: the knitted felt in the photo above is Mary's work! so dreamy.

June 2, 2011: Shameless Mag Turns 7! An interview with Sheila Sampath

Sheila Sampath is the Art Director and Editorial Director of Shameless Magazine. She also plays in Betty Burke, and runs the Social Justice Design Company, The Public.

I met Sheila last Saturday because Betty Burke was playing a show with my band, Sarah Mangle Buys a Bear along with this other badass band called Rackula in Hamilton. It was a Sascha Fundraiser at This Ain't Hollywood. Sheila plays the piano, and the guitar, and if my memory serves me correctly, she also plays the uke (like me).

I first learned about Shameless magazine 8 years ago, before it existed. At the time I was working for POWERCamp National (now known as the Girls Action Network), a young women's feminist organization, and we met up at Pharmacie Esperanza.

Shameless magazine runs on No Budget. They just adopted, a new, more politicized focus. Sheila plays the piano and is an amazing talker and thinker. This interview is very good. You should just listen to it. Enough said.

Sheila is my new friend.

Check out the interview by pasting this link into your brower:
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-june2thesethings.mp3

And check out Shameless online: http://www.shamelessmag.com/

May 19, 2011: Do You Read Me?

Do You Read Me? is a collaborative art book zine project done by the Oakville Gallery's Youth Council, Bronte Youth Centre, and The Art Gallery of Ontario's Youth Council, coordinated by Sarah Febbraro, Oakville Gallery's Community Arts Programmer.

Do you Read Me? contains whole zines, artist pages and answers to anonymous question cards. Its a gorgeous really interesting project that ended up being over 200 pages long.

I interviewed Cait Harben, artist educator who worked on the project and a room full of the artists from the Oakville Galleries Youth Council whose work is featured in the book. Listen to the interview to hear about the process of putting the book together, the individual artist's practices and thoughts about the role of politics in art.

Get a copy of the book, and come to the launch at Oakville Galleries: http://www.oakvillegalleries.com/

Listen to the interview by pasting this link into your browser:http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-doyoureadme.mp3

April 14th: Breaking Knitting Rules with Lori Guest and Erin Crickett.

Dear Lori and Erin,

Thanks so much for clammoring into the on air studio at CFRU last Thursday. I love that you stop doing knitting projects that you don't want to keep doing. I love that you knit in bars, and spin on your front step saying hey to your neighbors . I love that you spin garbage. I love that you knit projects that are hard, that you break the rules, or sometimes don't even know what the rules are. I love that you are so enthusiastic about what you do. Its contagious. I love that you are committed to talking about important issues, even when they're not at all popular conversations.

I love the idea that we knit and look at our hands, and don't have to look at each other, and that sometimes makes it easier to talk the hard topics.

Keep up the good work.

Fierce, tough, loud, dirty love,
sar
PS: to listen to this interview, get yourself to this website: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-toughknitters.mp3

April 7, 2011: Emotions, Feminism and Hair with Teresa Cheng!

Teresa and I really met when we were crammed inside somebody's parent's SUV, driving on icy roads to a Queering Social Work Conference at Wilfred Laurier University. As a side note: Social Work school is often terribly homophobic and filled with gross outdated, fucked up mythologies about queer people. Its gross!

Teresa and I met before that car ride. At parties a few times, but this car ride at 6:45am was when we really talked, and sat very close to each other, because we were squished in a car. I chattered on in my early morning hyper way, and everyone else in the car tolerated me, while they woke up in the navy blue early morning sunrise on the highway.

We wandered around Kitchener before the conference started, or while it was going on, to find coffee and food and figure out what to say on the panels we were invited to speak on. And then we all drove back home. Somewhere in there, Teresa offhandedly said she made zines. She had a new one coming out. Honestly, I hadn't met anyone -like, a new person - a friendly stranger who made zines in a while. I was surprised and excited and I said I wanted to see them. Teresa said she'd be selling them at an event that I was actually performing at. It was an anti valentines day event that Elisha Lim had organized at the Transac.

So, I waited for that event so excited to see Teresa's zines. And then she had a photocopying or layout mishap, which is sooooo normal for zine makers, and often so fruterating.... and THEN, one day, in the morning, in my bedroom, on facebook I saw that Teresa had posted this cute photo of herself holding three copies of her newest zine. and we met up at a cafe on College Street, and I bought two copies of Feeling Words (the newest zine that Teresa has made).

I get the sense that Teresa makes zines because there are these conversations we need to have. About how we police ourselves with feminist rhetoric, and become less accepting of ourselves, and honest with eachother as a result. Conversations about racism in the Queer community that shows up in Acceptable Queer Hair Stylings, and conversations about how we FEEL. And lots more conversations inside those conversations. Is urgency the right word? Teresa's zines have a timely resonance and relevance that is really cool, and useful.

Check out our interview! Teresa will read to you and tell the stories of her three zines: Dykes and their Hair, Upskirt: Dirty (Un)Feminist Secrets, and Feeling Words: A Pocket Zine of Emotions.

I hope Teresa makes zines for a million more years. And I hope I get to see All of them.

To listen to the interview, paste this address in your browser:
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_April_07_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

Download Upskirt from the Queer Zine Archive Project:
http://www.qzap.org/v6/index.php?option=com_g2bridge&view=gallery&Itemid=41&g2_itemId=1179


Download Dykes and Their Hair from the Queer Zine Archive Project:
http://www.qzap.org/v6/index.php?option=com_g2bridge&view=gallery&Itemid=41&g2_itemId=795

Get a copy of Feeling Words: A Pocket Zine of Emotions by emailing Teresa: poopytoothpaste@gmail.com

March 31, 2011: What Makes an Object Queer? An interview with Jamie Q

Jamie Q and I lived in Montreal at the same time. Jamie is one of those people who - when we bumped into each other we always had awesome conversations, although we never succeeded in making plans and following through on scheduled hang outs. I remember once we made a plan to climb the mountain, but that never happened, which is also okay.

And then, a year and a half ago, we were both out in Halifax at the same time. I was there attending Camp Out, a rural Queer intergenerational activist history camp at the Mermaid and the Cow Campground in Pictou County, and she was working on an impressive hyper active mutiple colour screen printing book with James Kirkpatrick at the Ink Storm Screenprinting collective at the Roberts Street Social Centre in Halifax.

I walked up the narrow stairs that hide in the kitchen and there she was sitting on the hard green couch. I was delivering my friend Jake a rock I had gotten from the Lawrencetown beach.

Its great to bump into old art friends in familiar places always, but it was especially awesome to bump into Jamie, because she is especially awesome.

And then, you know, thank god for facebook. I don't know that I would know about Jamie Q's latest projects it it wasn't for facebook. But please oh please, please please please please check out Jamie's amazing website and look at all the Gorgeous things she has made!

Her website address is: http://jamieq.net

and THEN, while you're looking at all that amazing shit,

copy this address into your web browser:

http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_Pe.mp3

and LISTEN TO OUR INTERVIEW.

and THEN: MAKE YOUR OWN ZINES!!!






Metaphors for how we talk about the body. Making abstract objects. The language we use.
The beauty of the book.

March 24, 2011: Pet Calendars, and 24 Zine Challenges with one of my favorites.

SARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANSSARAHEVANS

This is an interview with the fabulous Sarah Evans who is the co-founder of the Anchor Archive Regional Zine Library found on cute little Roberts Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I first met Sarah Evans in Halifax at a show at the One world Cafe, or at Scuzin's, Capp Larson's temporary diner, or at a porch party. I don't totally remember. OH YEAH. I actually do remember: I met Sarah Evans through one of her zines about farming. I read the zine in the grainery, 10 years ago, and then I borrowed my friend Shan's bike, and biked in the critical mass friday evening bike ride, and I saw Sarah there, hanging out with Caleb, another future friend who I thought I would never been cool enough to talk to. Caleb had taken apart his bike to paint it, but then was having trouble putting it back together.

I told Sarah I liked her zine. I was aware of having a zine awe-struck crush on her. I rode Shan's bike, and I thought: how do I even talk to these cool people?

And THEN,about 5 years later, somehow I met her again, on a porch or at a show, probably through Capp, or Sonia, and Sarah invited me to come do a zine residency and live in the little shed, and I did.

Sarah Evans just does great things, she's one of those people that does rad things all the time, and is all walk, not talk, and Halifax is a great location for that kind of behaviour. One of those really neat, heart warming, beautiful projects is the PET CALENDAR, that had been taking place for the last six years.

Listen to this interview to hear all the details, and loveliness of the Pet Calendar, and to also hear about 24 Zine Challenges

Listen by pasting this URL into your browswer:
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-petcalendartopodcast.mp3

Contact Sarah, and learn more about the Anchor Archive, and the Roberts Street Social Centre: www.robertsstreet.org

March 17, 2011: The Manarchist Gets the Megaphone

Kaley are roomates and friends who write zines together under the name Go It Alone Together. They live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The first zine they made together (in 2007) was A How to Guide To Manarchy. This tiny, cute, relieving, hilarious zine highlights obvious problems of macho anarchist dude behavior within so-called punk, anarchist and radical left spaces and communities. The problems of manarchism are often obvious but manarchists are rarely called out, (in my experience)to their faces or in any ongoing way. Its a hard thing to do. This zine uses humor to highlight the problems of manarchism.

This is one of the ways that zines are awesome. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to sum this up in the right words right now. People can write things that are really true, that we know are true, but rarely say out loud to the people who most need to hear them. Zines can comfort people that need the reassurance that they are not alone in their frustrations. And zines hang out, silently holding people accountable. Showing up in bathrooms and bedrooms and info shops in cafes in bike shops in community centers.

Learn more about Go it Alone together. Visit: (http://goitalonetogether.ca/)

To here the interview with Kaley and Emily about A How to Guide to Manarchy, visit: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-manarchyfinal.mp3

March 10: The Awkward Sex Zine

Natalie and Kim are the editors of The Awkward Zine project. They are great. All the people who wrote in this zine are also great. The Awkward Zine Project is a great idea.

listen to the interview about the zine project by copying this address into your browser: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_March_10_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

Learn more about the Awkward Sex Zine Project by visiting their website: http://awkwardsexzine.wordpress.com/

March 3 2011: Amy Leigh's Twelveohtwo

All of a sudden time just passes. All of a sudden its not 2004 anymore, its not 2002 anymore and we have all this stuff to reflect on because things actually have changed. When I moved to Toronto I decided to finally go through these cardboard boxes of paper that i had been moving from house to house to house over the last 4 years, that I hadn't opened, I had just kept moving these closed boxes of paper from house to house. As I side note: I've kept every journal I've ever written in, based on advice from the best drawing teacher I've ever had, Adrian Norvid. I keep all those Journals in my closet.

So when I moved into my current home in Toronto last September, I sat on the floor and I listened to the radio and I opened all the cardboard boxes of paper. Among lots of scratchy drawings, embarrassing poems, receipts and letters from friends, I found these gorgeous screen printed posters for events that happened in 2002 and 2003 in Montreal, at a time when extravagant screen printed posters for events were the norm. Posters for art shows, for music shows and zine fairs. I put the posters on my wall in my new bedroom in Toronto. I realized that at that time, in 2002, I took that time of phenomenal art for granted. I thought that I would walk down all the streets of the world, and always be able to be surrounded by amazing and inspiring posters. And now I know better.

Amy Leigh has had her zine distro, TwelveOhTwo, for the past seven years. We're in a different time for zines now, then when she started the distro. Its a new era. Zines are not dead. Far from it. And theres something extremely cool, and valuable about doing the thing you do, through trends, and through changes in technology, and different political times.

It was lovely to have Amy Leigh over to my house and ask her questions about her distro, about the priorities for her distro, projects that inspire her from elsewhere, and Amy's reflections about building community, and organizing and also hear Amy Leigh's thoughts/critiques on Canzine and Broken Pencil. She's a lovely, hard working smart person.

to listen to this interview, paste this address in your browser: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-thesethingsamyleigh.mp3

Feb 17 and Feb 24 2011: Allyson Mitchell Part 1 AND 2 !!! Serious Discussions of Unignorable Unappoolgetic Loud Fat Feminist Queer Craft.

To listen to the FIRST PART of the interview, visit: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_February_17_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

To listen to the SECOND PART: of the interview:
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_February_24_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

Allyson Mitchell confronts Fake Rainbow Unity.

Confronting the social lie of (gay, lesbian, queer) acceptance. The liberal desire for us to shut up, and be the quietest smallest gay person possible.

I biked to Allyson Mitchell's house after I applied for a job wearing a grown up coat I borrowed from my roomate. I felt like I was in Adulthood Drag in this coat. I felt uneasy. I wanted my big brownish grey coat my lesbian superstar aunt Elizabeth gave me.

Drinking tea with Allyson Mitchell in her kitchen was the perfect remedy for the uneasy feelings I had previously experienced caused by the boring adult coat.

Acutally, who cares about the coat. I mean,i did feel better about myself and my silly coat after interviewing Allyson Mitchell but the coat: Who Cares? Allyson's work is way more meaningful and haunting and needed than that story about the coat. There is something (or many things) aesthetically comforting and inspiring and bad ass and it reminds you of home an is giving all the harmful things of life the finger at the same time.

Maximalist.

Allyson Mitchell makes craft/art that is impossible to ignore. It is unappologetically loud and bright and comforting and explicit and lesbionic. I love it.

Watch out for her Lesbian Feminist Haunted House that Nuit Blanche Toronto (last year) claimed was TOO BIG to accommodate.

Check out her stuff: http://www.allysonmitchell.com

To listen to the FIRST PART of the interview, visit: http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_February_17_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3


To listen to the SECOND PART: of the interview:
http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_February_24_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

Feb 10, 2011: The Arrow Archive, and Erin's Top 11 Zines

Listen to the interview here:http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-These_Things_That_People_Make_-_February_10_2011_at_10_00_-_CFRU_93.3.mp3

The Arrow Archive Zine Library has recently moved from the Sky Dragon Centre in Hamilton to the Guelph Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity, room 107 in the University Centre on the University of Guelph Campus.

The Arrow Archive's Founder, Erin hung out with me in my office at CFRU and told me the history of the archive, and reccomended her top 11 zines. (I asked for her top 10, and she brought 11! I love that shit).

Here are her reccomendations:

1. Cooking With Surplus -n- Excess: by Sy Loady

2. Coloring Book for the Broken hearted by Sy Loady

3.If Death Comes by Todi

4. Infiltration

5. Xerography Debt

6. Ring of Fire

7. One a Day

8. The Fence

9. The Worst

10. S/He's got Labe

11. Invisible Invaders #4

Listen to the radio show to hear Erin's descriptions of the zines, and why she loves them.

Erin also discussed the rad zines she makes My Life in Clip Art, Evidence: Mixtape in Paper, and Fag Punk, and what it takes to make a good quality zine.

Also, check out: zinelibrary.info

For more about the Arrow Archive visit: arrowarchive.blogspot.com and/or email: thearrowarchive@gmail.com

Send the archive mail! Thats the Best!

arrow archive
box 183
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 6J6

For more information about the Guelph Resource Centre on Gender Empowerment and Diversity visit:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~wrc/

Feb 3: Girls to the Front. an interview with Sara Marcus

In our phone interview, Sara Marcus, excellent author of Girls to the Front and I talked for over an hour. She told me the story of collecting interviews from over 130 people for this archival Riot Grrl Project. The story of struggling to tell the story in her own words, the complicated and important story, stories of Riot GRRL.

I highly recommend this book,whether or not you have history with Riot Grrl (yet).

After talking to Sara, I've started actively looking for allies the projects I wished existed in the world. In particular: explicit support in Guelph for loud girl/women bands.

you can listen to the interview by going here:http://www.radio4all.net/files/sarah.mangle@gmail.com/4332-1-girlstothefrontjan2011.MP3

check out the book: www.girlstothefront.com

Jan 27, 2010: Rafaela's hands make Monsters

Rafaela Vidinha met me at a street corner in the east end of Toronto and walked me around the back of the factory where she lives with lovely people. We sat in her studio space, hanging out with puppets and she told me the story of bringing foam and fun fur to life.

"...you don't need to see them blink to believe they are beings.
theres a certain moment where your mind needs to fill in the blank" (Rafaela Vidinha)

Jan 20, 2011: Bringing Back Your Childhood Brain, and the Things You Made with it.

For this episode I interviewed 12 people about crafts they remembered doing as a child. I wandered around the University Centre on the University of Guelph Campus and spontaneously asked people to do an on the spot mini interview.

Childhood is often when people trust their weird facinations.Theres something beautiful and deeply serious about this practise. I want to get back to that. I want to get back to taking my weird creative interests seriously, and making things over and over without worrying or over analyzing too much.

Thanks so much to Gabriella, William, Kevin, Jan, Jessica, Melanie, Nick,Alex, Melissa, Dean, Patrick and Nicole for telling me about popcicle stick boxes, hand drawn Pokeman,homemade recipe books, pastry, paint by number (horses), felt stars with glitter glue, painted clay pots with glued on googly eyes, fireworks drawing explosion (big black blob), edible finger paint, home made weapons, knitting, crochet, quiliting, toilet paper tube men and shrunken styrofoam faces.

Jan. 13, 2011: Dog Outfits and Decoration with Missteawinkie and The Swayze

I love dressing up my golden retriever, Logan. We go to parties wearing matching bandanas. I love pets in clothes.

For this episode of These Things That People Make, I interviewed two super creative awesome pet clothing designers:

Cyndi of Missteawinkie (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Missteawinkie?ref=top_trail) and Sarah of the Swayze (www.theswayze.com)

Both of these fabulous people are making custom dog clothes that people can afford. They are innovators, committed to their own styles, and they are pushing past conventional, predictable pet outfits into really interesting stuff.

They're also both extremely nice, and charming. Check out their stuff, and check out the interview! Cats in Vests! Dogs in leather jackets!

Jan. 6, 2011: The re-airing of the fabulous Dave End

Dave End changed my life in a significant fashion. That would be a big thing to write about here in this blog. I'm not normally so personal. Ever since I played that talk with Linda Barry I just want to type whatever comes into my brain. Its an interesting urge to interact with as I write these blog posts.

Dave End and I did a phone interview about a year ago.

I know him because onetime he played a show in a kitchen in Griffentown, Montreal, and the place was filled with straight skinny white indie rock boys and we bitched about it outside on the street. Actually Dave was talking about how the show made him feel and I was understanding. The next day Dave and 3 of his friends and me and a baby had a picnic in the park.

When we returned from the park, Dave sat on the couch in the livingroom of the house I was babysitting in, and talked about wanting to play shows specifically for queer youth. At the time I was setting up a lot of shows in tiny to small venues. It had never occured to me to play a show especially for queer youth. I looked at him, sitting on the couch, and said I would set it up.

We chose a very difficult weekend for the show. It was Pop Montreal. Pop Montreal is a festival with way too many indie rock bands not getting paid enough all playing in too many venues all over Montreal at the same time. Needless to say, there was a lot of competition that night. It was really hard to find a venue, and in the end, my dear friend Liam Michaud arranged for us to play in the daycare where he worked at the time at the Green Centre. It was not an easy to find location at all. It was tucked away, on the edge of Westmount, on third floor. All the logistics came together just a few days before the show. Dave was going to drive all the way from New York City. Some of my friends in Queer Concordia did an amazing job of promoting the show. They made presentations in their classes and handed out flyers. I gave a workshop with my buddy Judy about Homocore music at project 10 in some kind of connection to the show.

When the show actually happened, it was full of people I'd never met. What a great feeling. We'd managed to fill the space, and the show itself felt like magic.

Dave and I ended up going on a few tours together after that. We'll go on more.

Driving for hours with Dave End is one of my favorite things to do in the world. He uses words so well.

Okay. I should probably tell you a bit about this interview in particular. Dave End is an amazing seamstress, in addition to being a very captivating performer. A year ago we did a phone interview where day talked about constituting your own reality through sewing your own stuffed animals.

We talked about fat activism and sewing your own clothes and sewing images,feelings, and comforts you want around you.

Dec. 30, 2010: 40 years of Doll Houses You Can Sit On.

This December my partner and I traveled to the Adirondacks to visit my fabulous lesbian aunts who I love so much. I'm so lucky. I'm going to open a file on them in the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Brooklyn. I'll tell you more about that some other time.

Right now I need to tell you about Norman. He's an amazing woodworker. I'm going to back up my storytelling a little bit. We took a very early greyhound bus on Toronto to Syracuse. Elizabeth and Marybeth (the dream aunts) picked us up and informed us we were going to Marybeth's Christmas family dinner, and off we went. I'd never met any of Marybeth's family before.

We arrived at the house. All the streets in the neigbhourhood were named after fruits. After consuming adequate amounts of coffee, we settled into a gift giving frenzy which was really interesting because I was meeting all these people for the first time. There were three very cute dogs shuffling around. Gifts everywhere, lots of excited voices, and Norman, Marybeth's dad. He was sitting next to us, and then he disappeared for a few minutes, and returned with a plastic container with homemade wooden pens in it. We're allowed to each pick one. He has another of container of wine stoppers and ornaments. We're invited to take one of those too.

Norman has made different family members mini wooden replicas of buildings that have been significant in their lives. Buildings where they work, places they used to live, bars they frequented. They're great.

After most of the gifts were given out, Norman showed us two doll houses that he has made for his daughters. He's been making doll houses for 40 years. Initially, when Norman started talking about the doll houses and showing them to us, I asked him if we could do a radio interview right at that moment, and he said yes, and I ran out to the car to find my audio recorder.

The interview is what happened after this moment.

Dec. 23, 2010: AJ as Candyman

My roomate Aj completely surprised me this December by turning our kitchen into a production facility for 900 cookies, chocolates, and scones. Over 20 variety. In This episode of These Things That People Make we brought you a baking show. Listen to an archive of the show to learn about how to make caramel chocolates (turtles) and stained glass star cookies. Aj is a baking wonder. Not only did all the food look so pretty. It also tastes great. You should come over sometime, and taste for yourself.

Dec. 16, 2011: CFRU Listening Guide 1997

Why does it feel like 1997 wasn't that long ago? and yet, here we are. somewhere in the future.

In this episode of These Things that People Make, I sounded like a show on WFMU. I read the show titles and descriptions from a CFRU listening guide put out in 1997.

It was a fun show. pretty ridiculous.
I mean, thats one way to re-live history.

Dec. 9 2010: Critical Responses to Maclean's "Too Asian" bullshit

On November 10, 2010 Maclean's published an article originally titled "Too Asian?". The article is terribly racist, suggesting there is an "Asian" take over of Canadian Campuses, creating hardship for upper class white students who want to have a party experience at university and are faced with "Asian" students who want to study all the time, and not have any fun creating an uncomfortable environment of "segregation". The article implies that all "Asian" students are also new immigrants to Canada, or international students, erasing Canada's immigration history. Maclean's should be extremely embarrassed to have this article exist with their name attached to it. Unfortunately they don't seem embarrassed, and instead issued another article 'explaining" their original article, which didn't seem to explain anything at all... but instead introduce some other ridiculous arguments.

This episode of These that People Make featured a youth tube video created by the Youth Coalition against Maclean's "Too Asian http://www.youtube.com/user/YCAMS#p/a/u/1/XnRTyRevm7Q and a radio documentary response created by Spitfiyah (CKUT's Women of Colour focused show) in response to the article. Give it a listen: http://www.radio4all.net/files/spitfiyah@ckut.ca/3042-1-Too_Asian_Talkback.mp3

Criticism to this article and its sentiments continue in full force.

Dec. 2, 2010 : Call For Submissions Show

Every so often I host a show where I read exciting call for submissions to you on the air, hoping to inspire you to get involved and write things! Here's the call for submissions I focused on during this show:

1. Awkward Sex 'Zine

Sex can be awkward. Even women who feel sexually confident and powerful have at least one awkward sexual tale to tell. But what makes sex awkward? How does awkward sex make us feel? How do we deal with that awkwardness? We're looking for stories and artwork from women of all sexualities that deal with these themes (and/or others). 

Identifying details about people should be changed to protect their privacy. Please include a short bio & use a pseudonym if you wish! 

Deadline: Dec 15, 2010
awkwardsexzine@gmail.com

2. Signals: A Radio Zine needs submissions!

DJ Frederick is issuing a call for submissions for the 2011 issue of Signals: A Radio Zine. Looking for personal essays that involve radio related topics, interviews, and articles about any and all aspects of shortwave listening, free / pirate radio stations, community radio, low power radio and the “underground” era of FM radio. Radio related music, cd, or book reviews welcomed. Artwork, fiction, poetry and any unusual topics are appreciated as well. Please limit to 1,000 words. Send submissions to: singinggrove@conknet.com

3. CompZine about Bras, looking for submissions:
Possible things to write about:
-first bra, favourite bra, why you love/hate bras
-bra washing tips, bra fashion tips
-historical facts/essays about bras
-where you buy bras and why
-dealing with having an odd bra size
-to wear a bra, or not to wear a bra?
-any interesting personal story relating to bras, bra shopping
-have you ever been professionally fitted for a bra?
-if you’re a male, what do you think about bras?
-comics and artwork! (please note the zine will be black and white photocopies and 1/2 sized)
Please send submissions/questions to: petitspoissons AT gmail.com and put BRA ZINE in the subject line.
No fixed deadline…as soon as I have enough material I will print the zine.
Thanks!
Elizabeth J. M. W.

4. Riot Grrl

i'm finally putting pen to paper to create another (but new nonetheless) riot grrrl zine. i'm after submissions from all riot grrrls and boys anywhere in the world!

here's what i'm looking for:

articles/stories on any of the below topics:

* how you first discovered riot grrrl
* what riot grrrl means to you
* how riot grrrl has helped you and your grrrlfriends
* how has riot grrrl/feminism changed the world in your point of view
* important issues that still need to be fixed
* grrrl love
* stomping out grrrl hate
* being a grrrl in the punk rock scene

riot grrrl manifestas

comics

artwork

cd/book reviews

grrrl bands in your area (if possible, include link to their site/myspace/facebook/etc.)

you're also welcome to include photos of you and your grrrlfriends to accompany your articles/stories!

all submissions can be sent to: riotgrrrl@y7mail.com

deadline for issue #1 - 15th Jan 2011

thankyou :)

5. [[[ SUBMIT TO UPPING THE ANTI ]]]

Pitches due December 3, 2010; first draft due January 7, 2010

*WHO WE ARE*

UPPING THE ANTI: A JOURNAL OF THEORY AND ACTION
is a radical journal published twice a year by a pan-Canadian
collective of activists and organizers. We are dedicated to publishing
radical theory and analysis about struggles against capitalism,
imperialism, and all forms of oppression.

In our first ten issues, we've published articles by and interviews
with renowned activists and intellectuals, including Aijaz Ahmad,
Himani Bannerji, Grace Lee Boggs, Ward Churchill, Michael Hardt,
John Holloway, Sunera Thobani, Andrea Smith, and many more.

We have covered a wide variety of topics including Palestine solidarity
activism, trans politics and anti-capitalism, anti-war activism, Indigenous
solidarity, contemporary feminist organizing, and activist burnout.

In every issue, activists and organizers reflect on the state of
contemporary organizing in Canada and beyond. We publish theoretical
and critical articles, interviews and roundtables. UPPING THE ANTI
also includes a book review section where activists assess new writing
on the Left.


*CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS*

We are currently looking for story ideas for ISSUE TWELVE, which will
be released in APRIL of 2011. If you have an idea for a story you
would like to see published in our journal, please send us a one page pitch
by Sunday, December 3, 2010. In addition to the pitch, please submit a short
writing sample (max 1,000 words).

In your pitch, please provide a brief description of the topic of your
investigation, your main questions, an account of how you will address
these questions, as well as a brief biographical note.

Before submitting a pitch, we encourage you to read back issues in
order to familiarize yourself with the kind of writing that we
publish. We also encourage you to have a look at the UPPING THE ANTI
writer's guide, which can be downloaded at http://uppingtheanti.org.

Pitches should be for original stories that have not been submitted or
published elsewhere. Please do not send us a pitch that you have
simultaneously sent to another publication.

Although we will consider all pitches, we are especially interested in
stories about the current economic crisis, contemporary labour organizing,
feminism and women's struggles, dis/ability, international solidarity work,
mobilization strategies, marxism and anarchism in the 21st Century, activist
interventions in art and culture, and struggles around questions of sex and
sexuality.

We will review your pitch and provide you with feedback. After a pitch
has been approved, writers are expected to submit their story by deadline.

Deadline for first drafts for ISSUE TWELVE is January 7, 2011.

Please submit all pitches and direct all queries to uppingtheanti@gmail.com

6. Calls for submissions

The Toronto quarterly issue #7

Send us your BEST poetry (4-6 poems), short stories (1-2 stories max, 500-3000 words), artwork, and photographs. We prefer that you copy and paste your poetry into the body of your email or send as ONE attachment in word.doc format. Send ALL short story submissions as a word doc. attachment. Any poetry or short story submissions sent as multiple attachments or not in word.doc will NOT be read.

If you have a novel/poetry book, a poetry/music cd or dvd that you're interested in having us review, please email us your query to thetorontoquarterly@hotmai

l.com with REVIEW REQUEST typed into the subject box. BOOK and MUSIC REVIEWS submitted will be considered for publication.

Send us your ARTWORK and PHOTOGRAPHY. Send in high resolution (jpeg file). We will consider all artwork submitted for the COVER of TTQ7.

ALL SUBMISSIONS should contain a short biography (5-6 lines MAX) stating town/city you reside in, previous publishing accomplishments, educational background if so desired. Please DO NOT send us a novel about yourself. Make it interesting and promote your books and/or webpages if desired.

PLEASE: ONE submission per issue. Multiple submissions will NOT be read. Be sure to send us your BEST work the first time or wait until the following issue to submit again.

We DO NOT publish previously published works.

PLEASE NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS

ALL RIGHTS and COPYRIGHT upon publication in TTQ7 remains with the author.

PAYMENT: Each contributor to TTQ7 will receive a FREE e-book of TTQ7 as payment. It will be emailed to the contributor as a pdf file.

ALL SUBMISSIONS should be emailed to: thetorontoquarterly@hotmai

l.com

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 28, 2011.

Nov. 25, 2010: Elisha Lim: The Illustrated Gentleman Calendar

Elisha Lim and I sat in their bedroom and recorded this interview about the Illustrated Gentleman Calendar. This is a calendar that I am really excited about. It hangs between my bed and my bedroom door at eye level. A perfect place for a sexy hand drawn calendar about fashion strategy.

Elisha is extremely charming, and talented and a great dresser. Also a really insightful writer. I want to dwell on that for a second. Elisha has a really wonderful poetic way with words, and that makes interviews with Elisha and reading Elisha's work so remarkable and great. Great drawings, yes, but also fantastic word combinations, that should not go under-complimented.

The illustrated Gentlemen walks you through the whole year, trying on clothes in places we could never afford, lingering in stores and trying on hot clothes (and looking so good) while the staff are often rude or hostile - because they don't think Elisha and their friend should be shopping in the men's section.

Its a calendar where we learn about Elisha's interactions with friends, family and inspiration (this sentance is really cheesy, but its true!!!) and learn style tips. Its also about more than that.

Its a great concept, and a great thing.

Now get yourself to the men's section dressing room, or wherever you dream of shopping, with the best things you can find.

(image from http://www.nomorepotlucks.org/article/chance-no-13/illustrated-gentleman)

Nov. 4, 2010: Lynda Barry Speaks at the International Festival of Authors

Lynda Barry. What a wonderful, inspiring, brilliant, hilarious, enthusiastic person. What a dream.

The day Lynda Barry spoke at the Harbourfront Centre for the International Festival of Authors (Oct. 30, 2010), I spent a bunch of time at the Pearson Airport. My friend Anna Leventhal was flying across the Atlantic Ocean to visit her friend Suzy who makes feminist dolls. Or at least she used to, when we were both in art school.

Anna brought me a t-shirt from her radio show, Venus, which airs on CKUT in Montreal and is over 10 years old (of which I am a big fan, and have been for years!). I was wearing a sports bra, so I just took off the shirt I was wearing and put on the Venus shirt. The man in charge of keeping that area of the airport cafe clean and orderly got really pissed off at me and told me there were families around. Families scared of sports bras!

And then I took the long bus back into Toronto and gradually realized that I didn't really know where the Harbourfront Centre was, and I wasn't sure what subway stop to get out of, and If i didn't run from where ever I got out of I was going to be late and miss the beginning of Lynda's talk! All the Sky Dome tourists really pissed me off as I ran. They walked so slow, their heads rolling around on their shoulders as they looked up at all the shiny tall buildings. I really had to pee. My friend Laura Mac was waiting for me in the lobby. There was no time to pee! We ran in and sat in the front row of the theatre.

I don't air talks on this radio show, normally. My usual format for These Things that People Make is interviews I do myself. And I don't aspire to be the Globe and Mail, or the CBC, or whatever more mainstream things exist (who are media sponsors of the Author's Festival) but Lynda Barry's work is raw and deeply sad sometimes and honest and great. And I didn't want to miss the chance to hear her and see her face, and record it to share it with you.

Me and Laura held hands as we listened to her. I fumbled with the recorder and half way through the talk a festival staff told me I wasn't allowed to record it because i didn't have a media pass around my neck (I had been given permission to record, but was only given comp tickets, no media necklace). Eventually she let me keep recording. (hooray!)

Soon I'll interview Lynda Barry for real. Sometime soon. She said she was into it, when we talked to her after the show in the book signing line up.
Until then, I have this great talk that you should listen to right now, if you haven't already. it will make you want to draw. trace you hand, and make a turkey smoking a cigarette.

Oct 28, 2010: Funding Drive Retrospective Show

These Things that People make has be so lucky to feature so many rad people on this show over the year and a half that it has existed.

To celebrate These Things that People Make, and to invite people to donate to the CFRU funding drive (that took place on air from Oct. 23 - 31, 2010), I played excerpts from some of those great shows, featuring:

Rebecca Singer - talking about how to knit your own beard.(originally aired in April 2009)

Elisha Lim - 100 Butches! (this interview took place June 2009)

Liam Michaud - The Prisoner Correspondence Project (originally aired Summer 2009).

Claire Barrera - When Language Runs Dry Zine:a zine for people with chronic pain and their allies (originally aired (Feb. 25, 2010)

Dave Roche - About My Disappearance (originally aired March 18 2010)

Caleb Latreille, Liv Carrow, Griffin Epstein and Aaron Mangle: HOUSE SHOWS!(originally aired Jan 21, 2010)

YAY! There are SO MANY PEOPLE doing SUCH GREAT THINGS, making INSPIRING, CHALLENGING and much needed THINGS. I love it. Keep it up people, and thank you.

(and thanks for donating to the funding drive!)

Oct. 21, 2010: Hallowe'en and You and Me.

Halloween can be a fun time.

For this episode of These Things That People Make I asked several people to tell me about their childhood or adulthood Halloween costumes. That was really great! Costumes are fun.

Homemade identical dad and kid costumes, wishes for homemade costumes, limited Hallowe'en costume choices mandated by controlling siblings, dressing up as famous people who you don't actually know anything about, Christmas themed Hallowe'en outfits, costumes that prevent you from fighting back like you usually do, this episode illustrates that real life is often weirder than any fiction than we could make up.

I'm going to start planning next year's Hallowe'en costume now... so I come up with something really amazing....