See below for a call for submissions for the awesome Worn Magazine!

“Everything I know about fashion, I learned from my mother.”

Almost every one of us got our first lessons in style from our mothers. Whether by practical advice or in setting an example, how (and with whom) we grow up has a huge influence on the evolution of our aesthetic tastes. Hell, even the complete absence of fashion effects us somehow.

Do you have a story about how your mother influenced your sense of style?
Do you have sage advice the rest of us need to hear?
Have you carried your mother’s sense of style with you all your life?

We think you do - and we think a whole bunch of people are going to want to hear about it.

Worn Fashion Journal is sending out a call for submissions.

We are putting together a ‘zine all about how moms shape our view of fashion and how their influence and advice follows us all our lives.

Pitch us your best stories and get your mom the recognition she deserves.

We are looking mainly for essay/anecdotal stories, 800 - 1000 words.
You may include pictures, but it’s not required.
We will consider other formats for your ideas - just let us know what you’d like to do and we’ll let you know if we can swing it.

Send us your pitches and ideas by: February 10, 2008

All final drafts by: March 1, 2008


Unfortunately, as an independent magazine, Worn can’t pay writers for selected submissions - but we will make sure you get a free copy of the ‘zine so your mom won’t think you made it all up.

Don’t procrastinate.
Just think what your mother would say…

Contact Worn with your story ideas or let us know if you have any questions: dearworn@wornjournal.com

Check out our website for more contact information or find Worn retailers in your neighbourhood.

masc is a magazine providing space for young men between the ages of 15-22yrs old to express themselves and their realities. masc magazine presents positive, alternative examples of masculinity and is a catalyst for discussion, particularly around ideas of gender, stereotypes, sexuality and health. masc magazine supports and challenges young men to be better, more whole human beings.

MASC magazine update - Please forward to anyone you think would be interested.

Mark your calendars, MASC magazine is having a gathering/fundraiser/party……

When: Friday, February 22, 7pm – late
Where: The Gift Shop: 1550 Queen Street West (Just west of Jameson….right next to Mitzie’s Sister)
Cost: $10-$20 sliding scale

Back in November about 20 of us gathered at Tinto’s café to explore the idea of a new magazine for young men called MASC. The idea is to develop a mag that not only reflects the diversity of young men but stirs in some self-reflection and new-directions.

It’s a gathering because we want to see and hear from people who share our excitement about this magazine.

It’s a fundraiser because we want to start spending money and making this all happen.

It’s a party because a party is never a bad idea when you’ve got 100 cool people together on a Friday night.

A small organizing team recently met to map out this event. Here’s what they came up with and how they need your help.

From 7pm to late, the evening will be a combination of participation and performances. The event has 4 areas in need of more planning and HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN HELP:

(more inside…)

…I bring you Cat and Girl, from the brilliant Dorothy Gambrell.

I don’t know about you, but for me nothing eases the sting of term papers, bibliographies, and external examiner nominations than this comic strip. Calvin and Hobbes meets Dorothy Parker? Al Burian meets Judith Butler? Samuel Beckett meets Le Tigre? All of the above get together for a slumber party where they start a Ramones cover band and read The Babysitters Club to each other? Who cares, this stuff is genius.

Sorry I’ve been remiss. Back on the blogging team soon.

p.s. if no one buys me her “Capitalists Do It Ruthlessly” shirt for my next birthday, I’m disowning the world.

There’s a piece in the Feb/Mar 08 issue of Bust Magazine about career waitresses. I haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy, but a post on Girlistic brought me to careerwaitresses.com, “a multimedia project that profiles career waitresses aged 50 and older who have been dishing out everything from eggs to insults for up to 60 years.”

The site is worth a look because it, through the beautiful photographs of Candacy Taylor, honours women in a field that of faces the stigma of being “just a waitress,” and values them as “some of the healthiest, most vibrant, hardest working women in the U.S.” The photographs are currently on tour. Check out the gallery here.

photograph: Candacy Taylor

By the way, did you know that Shameless Magazine is on MySpace?

And that you can join our group on Facebook?

Why aren’t you our friend already?

This is disgusting.

From the Toronto Star:

Judge’s Ignorance of AIDS Draws Fire:

An Ontario judge is at the centre of a misconduct investigation after insisting a witness who is HIV-positive and has Hepatitis C don a mask while testifying in his courtroom…”The HIV virus will live in a dried state for year after year after year and only needs moisture to reactivate itself,” Douglas insisted, according to a transcript of the Nov. 23 trial proceedings…

“I mean, he speaks within two feet of me with two serious infectious diseases,” Douglas told McCleave. “Either you mask your witness and/or move us to another courtroom or we do not proceed.”

I really don’t understand how some people are even allowed to be judges. Don’t you think that if your job involved dealing with people and the law that you’d be required to have some small amount of sensitivity?

Via Torontoist.

From the Toronto Star:

Bra size at 20 may predict Type 2 diabetes risk: Study.

“…figures still show that women who wore B, C and D cups developed the disease at higher rates than women who wore A cup bras.”

Is anyone else reading this and thinking it’s a rather misguided and bizarre way to perform a medical study?

You might have heard that the Globe and Mail’s Karen Von Hahn has declared that “It’s official: Feminism is out of style.”

People, young feminists in particular, are irritated. I am one of them. This is the letter I sent to the Globe today:

As a proud 28-year-old feminist, I’m truly astounded and disappointed with Karen Von Hahn’s article It’s official: Feminism is out of style.

It’s official? I can promise you from both personal and professional experience that there are many women of my age and younger who are very proud to call themselves feminists. Whether or not your 26-year-old niece or 18-year-old daughter happen to know who Gloria Steinem is is irrelevant and doesn’t qualify as “research” on my generation’s belief systems on gender equality.

If you had done even some light looking, you’d find that feminism is very much active and alive amongst young Canadian women. Perhaps you don’t recognize feminism in its current form because it is an active ideology, constantly evolving to fit the ever-changing landscape of women’s lives, over the years growing to be more inclusive and accessible to women of colour, queer women, women living in poverty, women living with disability, all women and their allies.

Just because you don’t recognize it any more doesn’t mean it isn’t still “in style” - and to say so is dismissive and quite frankly, patronizing.(more inside…)

Nominations for the Canadian F-Word Blog Awards open today.

“Join us in celebrating the best Canadian feminism has to offer - activists, artists, uppity women, and more snark than you can shake a stick at. This event is being hosted by A Creative Revolution.”

Get on over there!