Nomination are currently open for the 2009 Canadian Blog Awards and will close on Saturday, November 21st.
As you may know, the Queer Canada Blogs blogroll is choc full of excellent blogs written by talented bloggers… Now is you chance to show a blogger how much you appreciate their hard work, by entering their name into the running for an award!
Suggested categories include:
- GLBT (Obviously! Though I’m not sure where this puts those of us who identify as queer…)
- Overall
- Blog Post
- Blog Post Series
- Personal
- Family
- Photo/Art
- Humour
- Political
…And these are just the ones for which I’m nominating my favourite blogs!
Check out the full categories listing and fill out the nomination form at the CBA website.
We’re here, we’re queer, we’re taking over teh internets…
queer canada blogs, our blogroll featuring queers in canada as well as canadian queers living elsewhere, now has its very own blog review column in capital xtra, aka the ottawa edition of canada’s big queer newspaper. as usual, mae callen is responsible: i’m just the latecomer, tagging along and thrilled to be given the opportunity to take part!
mae kicked it all off in august with a look at The Naked Black Guy, followed by my first review in the september issue, in which i reveal to the world how much i love queer parenting blogs. today we got word that they want us to keep the reviews coming! hurrah! i’m hoping that it’ll get picked up by the paper’s other editions too.
a note on “fame”: mae and i are both writing under our online pseudonyms, because that’s how we blog and it’d be uncomfortable to out our real-life selves for this project, especially considering that we’re specifically writing about our blog communities. i wouldn’t have it any other way! and yet, it’s a bit sad, because i’ve finally got an article published in a real paper, and yet i can’t even clip it out to show my mom because there’s no way i’d want her to read my blog. it’s a double edged sword, my friends.
while we’re talking about QCB, guess what? there’s a chance that mae and i might finally meet IN PERSON next week when i’m in toronto!!! how very exciting is that.
Filed under: Activist, Critic, Feminist, Queer, Reader, Sailor, Scifi Fan, Writer
i like to read. not a shock, i know.
i like to read books from a variety of genres and on variety of topics. in fact, i’ll read just about anything available. when given options, i’m especially fond of science fiction, travelogues by women, non-fiction historical narratives, and how-to manuals.
lately, i’ve been reading about australian history, australian women in antarctica, aboriginal australian experiences, and bike trips in australia, with a harry potter novel thrown in to lighten everything up a bit. with a holiday coming up next week, when i’ll have 12 days away from my computer, i decided that i wanted some good fiction to enjoy at the beach.
so, off to the library.
i went to the fiction section, and was quickly overwhelmed, because it was all ordered by author and i wasn’t in the mood for the long browse that may have been necessary for me to find something appealing.
well, i thought to myself, what do i want to read? i want a novel, i decided, about australian queer women. i would like to have a better idea about the lives of dykes in this country, and anyway, if there’s romance in a novel, it’s easier for me to enjoy it when i don’t have to change too many pronouns in order to identify with a protagonist.
i went to the public computer terminal and entered “lesbian fiction” into the catalogue search field. a new page appeared, with a large black square in the middle: under the image of an exclamation point, it read “oops! you’re not allowed to look at that!”
wtf?
i went back, and tried just “lesbian”.
same result.
maybe it’s under “gay”, i thought… but all that garnered was a ton of results such as under “gay men – health” and “gay men – relationships”, etc etc etc.
i tried “lesbian” again.
this time, the warning message read “if you keep this up, there will be consequences”
consequences?
if by “this”, they meant being queer, then yes, there seems to be a “consequence”: i have to deal with homophobic bullshit from software at the public library.
for a moment, i was at a loss for what to do. on one hand, i wanted to just say FUCK IT, and leave, because i shouldn’t have to out myself in order to find a good book.
but on the other hand, what about the folks coming in to the library who are questioning their sexual identity, or supporting someone who is? they’ll be even less likely to seek out a librarian’s help… i know, because i spent most of my coming out days in the library.
i took a deep breath, calmed my righteous anger and fear, and found a librarian to join me at the computer. as politely as possible, i told her what i wanted and what searches i’d tried. she told me that it was “a bug in the system” for the public catalogue terminals, and tried the same searches, with the same results.
i gave an awkward little laugh and said, “a bug? hmmm… yeah, all i could think was that that’s kinda offensive!”
she tried on her own computer, where there are no blocks (or “bugs”), and said that all she could find were some short stories. i thanked her, and went to get them: it was a collection of contemporary lesbian love stories, all by american and canadian authors.
le sigh.
i returned to the public terminal and searched the catalogue for something by emma donoghue. her novel hood is just about my favourite book, but i’ve missed the rest of her work. happily, i found one of her books. also, a sarah waters novel: i’ve never read anything of hers, but it’s been recommended. in the catalogue, i saw that they also had laurie j. marks’ elemental logic trilogy, which i’m tempted to re-read.
after examining the catalogue some more, i realized that there were no subject tags on any of the fiction listings. this made me feel a bit better, if only because queer novels aren’t the only ones lost in the multitude of themes. however, it also annoyed me, because it is inefficient. what if i was on a real nautical kick, and wanted some sea-going adventures to compliment my love of c.s. forester’s hornblower? how would i find out about patrick o’brian?
that’s a misleading analogy, of course. there is a very big difference between wanting a book about sailors and a book about queers. last time i checked, sailors aren’t being mocked, abused, legally oppressed, or murdered for being who they are.
i believe that fiction plays a vital role for queers learning to accept ourselves. when i was coming to terms with my sexuality, a self-help book on “how to come out” (or whatever) was the last book i’d have taken from the library: it was too forthright and intimidating. but jane rule’s after the fire? that was easy, because the story wasn’t “real”: joining the protagonist on her journey allowed me to explore the concept of my queerness without forcing it into fact before i was ready. through fiction, i could delve into the lives of queer women and become familiar with them at a distance that still felt intimate.
we need queer fiction to counteract the stress of homophobia, which is linked to the over-representation of queers in treatment for depression. for the health of the community, queer fiction needs to be easy to access, and public libraries need to assist with this task. an easy solution is the application of subject headings to all fiction, which increases its relevance to all library users: the sailors as well as the queers.
back to the “bug”. if the public library software won’t allow access to resources associated with a sector of society which is currently struggling for equality in the face of severe oppression, THAT’S MORE THAN A BUG. even if the blockage of results from a search of the word “lesbian” is a coincidence, the results are offensive at best. at worst, they are damaging, because they discourage people from finding help they may desperately need. hell, i’m out and proud, and even i got shaky knees at the prospect of having to ask a librarian for queer books!
my roommate said that a “bug” such as this warrants a sign next to each public computer terminal, which 1) explains that certain valid search words may incorrectly garner a warning, 2) states that the error will be fixed within a given time frame, and 3) directs clients to seek the assistance of a librarian should the error arise.
damn right!
i’m going to go write a looooooooong letter to the head librarian right now.
then, i’m going to use the internet to find some novels about australian queer women.
i had a funny moment this afternoon, where i was suddenly feeling the “why” of my decision to come to australia. there was nothing unusual happening: i was out for a run and had just reached the part of the trail that goes through the gum trees at the corner of the sports field near my house. i suppose it was very beautiful, the landscape i mean, in a dense and urban sort of way. the morning’s fog was just starting to burn off, and there were sun beams coming down through the remaining mist. for that one moment i was simply very much so present, and things felt right.
of course, everything is going quite well… i’ve got a whole bunch of work building a website that i really believe in, my roommates are great folks, i’ve been reading lots, and my lover will be here in 10 days. also, there’s a pot of stew on the stove.
altogether, an excellent celebration of my 200th post on this blog.
…but everything else here is backwards.
well, not everything: i exaggerate. but still. it’s weird.
anyway, i’m here and happy and almost healthy, and getting into the swing of life in melbourne.
because i want to share stories and photos with family, whom i’d prefer to keep in the dark regarding this anonymous blog, i’ve started writing at a new, less-than-anonymous site. i may still post here occasionally, for those times when i really want to talk about the nitty gritty sex- and drug-fueled parts of my existence, but am thinking it’ll be spotty at best.
if you want to read my other blog, and you know me in real life, you can find it at (my first name spelled backwards) dot wordpress dot com. if you don’t know me IRL but still want to read it, drop me a line via the comments and we’ll see.
i guess i can take down the NaBloPoMo thingy on the left sidebar, seeing as november is now over and thus National Blog Posting Month has come to an end.
le sigh.
well, i guess i shouldn’t beat myself up over it, cuz my attempt to do 30 posts in 30 days wasn’t an epic failure.
not epic, no.
but… really, i don’t deserve much of a gold star or anything, do i? i managed to pull off 19 posts, which is 63.33%. blech. ah well. i blog because i want to share my writing, but without getting marks as i have when i’ve shared it @ skool… so, fuck it.
next time, i oughta set out a list of goals before i start a project such as this. in fact, i’m going to pretend i did! looking at it that way, i’m pretty pleased with myself. i feel as though i used this month very well, thank you very much:
- i only moved to this URL for all my blogging needs back at the start of october, and despite the import of my archives, it was still feeling a bit bare and unsettled. you know, like when you move to a really great new apartment and you’ve painted the walls and added all your favourite old furniture and crap, but it still doesn’t feel quite like home? participation in nablopomo provided me with a chance to get past that awkward stage, by forcing me to post a lot of writing on this blog. now i feel like i belong here. it’s nice.
- in the past, i’ve spent far too much time lazily reading the blogs of strangers, instead of writing my own. during nablopomo, i didn’t have that luxury… if i read something interesting on someone else’s blog, i’d run over here and write about my thoughts instead of just thinking them. yessirree, i was training myself to produce a product! oh gawd, when i think of it that way, i’m appalled. ick. still, it was fun to have a goal.
- also, some of my thoughts were only half-baked, and i didn’t always have time to finish them (though i’d meant to before the end of the month… dammit!). so, i have a nice store of drafts to work on for later posting, during slow times.
- i work at a computer all day. often, it drives me crazy. nablopomo forced me to be more focused in my non-work computer time, so that i didn’t end up spaced out over the screen for hours longer than i needed to. during november, i actually built up a nice bike, cooked a ton of food, spent a lot of time with friends, rearranged some of my apartment, read a bunch of books, and did a lot of sewing: in short, a solid list of computer-free accomplishments.
- the groups on the nablopomo website brought me together with a lot of other great writers, whose blogs i now read semi-regularly. also, i got all curious about other bloggers who share my interests, so i spent a bunch of time searching through the blogging community and found even more folks whose writing i enjoy. in particular, i’m thinking of nikki, amanda, mizducky, mae callen, kyle, and violet… yeah, even though you don’t know me, y’all get shout-outs, cuz i think yer pretty damn cool.
- for the most part, i’ve been a big lurker: i read peoples’ blogs, but never added a comment. now, i’m all like w00t! par-tay! er. well, maybe not quite. still, i tend to write comments a lot more than i did in the past… mostly cuz i now know how bloody boring it is when no one. ever. comments. (this is not a thinly-veiled plea for your attention, i swear! i actually get a lot of f2f commentary and that’s usually enough for me to feel the love)
happy december, everyone. i have one more day here in toronto, and will be flying to the west coast early on wednesday morning. this has been the worst trip to ontario i’ve ever had; i love the city and my friends here but insomnia kicked my ass, and i’ve barely been present at all this past week. apologies to those of you i missed! next year? or… you could come visit me?
i’m so happy november’s over, and am dead thrilled to be going home.
hey all…
as you may have noticed, i’ve added a new link at the bottom of the left sidebar: if you click on it, it’ll take you to a list of blogs by queer canadians (also, blogs by queers in ottawa… but that’s only half of it). mae callen over at Driving fast on loose gravel maintains this blogroll, and i think it’s a great resource… and not just cuz i’m thrilled that i was added to it!
so… wanna be on it? know anyone who might want to be? drop mc a line, or use the comments and i’ll send it along.
take care
stay free
feral g.
Filed under: Writer
it’s the 14th day of national blog posting month, and i’ve still only written 11 entries in this here blog. [whining] i’d thought it would be soooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasy! [/whining] yeah, it’s not. i love writing, but i can’t always share what i write, due to sensitive topic areas or my standards regarding what y’all would find entertaining. or both. heh heh.
that’s all i have to say about it: when i first heard about nablopomo, i didn’t think it would challenge me, but it is. i work and i have a social life and i have a crappy wrist that prevents me from typing all the time and i often just want to read when i’m relaxing, not dump my life out onto teh internets.
however, can we succeed despite the odds? yes, we can!
which reminds me: i wanted to tell you about watching the american election…
later.
Filed under: Foodie, Homebody, Radio Star, Reader, Scifi Fan, Worker, Writer
the rain started on wednesday night, or at least that’s when it really started to come down. i biked home from work and it was stilll just grey grey grey. by yesterday morning, there were torrents. at 7:30 am, my best friend and i sat on the couch drinking coffee while looking out at the trees across my yard, and considered how important it was or was not that we leave the house.
just walking to the bus stop, my skirt and leggings were soaked.
halfway through my radio show, i read out the upcoming weather report: rain rain rain, all the way through to next week.
which is why, upon waking this morning to an even worse sore throat and aching head than i had yesterday, i contently went back to sleep instead of going to work. my boss is out of town anyway, and everything i should be doing could be done from home. truthfully, i probably won’t get much done, but whatever: i’m sick, it’s raining. time for reading (earth logic by laurie j. marks), low-effort cooking (black beans now on stove, will be spiced with chipotle for dinner tonight), cuddling (26 pounds of purr currently weighing down my lap) and watching movies (film noir! today’s choice is the big clock, followed by witness to murder). also, of course, blogging: can’t forget about the blogging, nosiree.
it’s already the 5th of november and i’m only just now getting around to saying Hey Y’all! I’m Participating In National Blog Posting Month, By Writing Here Every Day For Thirty Days!
yes: i have some catching up to do. but that’s fine cuz i’ve had some posts percolating all during these past couple weeks, when hand/wrist pain/stiffness have made blogging a less than pleasant activity. i’m making a commitment now. please ignore the delays, and pass the ibuprofen.
