March 10/10-walk/vigil/monologues

Three super events coming up that are keeping me busy; the benefit showing of The Vagina Monologues in Vancouver, the one in New Westminster and the Memory March. Every year I go into these shows thinking I am tired of doing the monologues but every year I see the impact it has on the audiences and the women who perform the pieces.  It is ‘the’ message about ending violence against women and girls.

I extend that work further by keeping The List-started by Mary Billy; compiling a data base of murdered and missing women and children across Canada. Mary started it in 1990, a year after Marc Lepine killed 14 women dubbed the Montreal Massacre by the media. When I took over Mary’s Femicide List she had 1, 865 names on it; names she found by cutting them out of newspapers, day after day as she sat at her kitchen table.  I have researched her list and added names by connecting with other ‘list keepers’, researching the Internet and adding names as they are sent to me.  Today, we have almost 4,000 names.

Two wonderful women; Dawn and Nancy come in to my office every Monday and have been helping me edit the process, adding the names to the laminated sheets of names we carry at the Memory March. It is sad work and I appreciate the company after four years of doing this on my own.  We wear the names and honour the women and children by doing this.  I believe that if they are not forgotten, that future women and children may be spared the brutality.  If we do not speak about the rampage of murder in our country, we cannot end it.

Too many grandmas have been butchered by grandsons, too many moms killed by sons, and too many wives brutalized by their partners.  Statistics claim around 100 children are killed every year; 200 women.  Almost one a day-in this fine and civilized country.  We should all feel the shame thisbrings on us for allowing the abuse of women and children to carry on.

I am working on a book and will be ready to publish and tour, speak to groups who care by Fall.  Rampage, the pathology of an epidemic is over 20 chapters long and tells my journey of doing this work; and the stories of other grassroots workers who work alone, trying to do the job that government agencies should be doing–keeping track of the damage, the dead, the lost. At the end of every chapter I have listed the names, told some of their stories.  It is a compelling read-I believe, an important piece of work. I do it because I want it documented.

Support our work by attending The Vagina Monologues this year and walking with us on March 28.  Gather in Crab Park (Portside Park) at 2 PM, walk up Main street to Thornton Park (Vancouver) with us-stand at the vigil, hear the names, remember . . . see Memory March page for details.  Quit pretending that violence is what happens to someone else.

*Tickets for the Vancouver benefit showing of The Vagina Monologues are available at Beckwoman’s, 1314 Commercial Drive & 2651 E Hastings; also at Biz Books, 302 W Cordova St-$15 for the Wise Hall production, 1892 Adanac Street/8 PM Saturday March 27-tickets and doors open at 7 PM.

*Tickets for the Sunday, March 28th production are available at the Massey Ticket Centre at 6 PM for the 7 PM show or in advance at www.masseytheatre.com

ticketing@masseytheatre.com

$18 (plus service charge)

*See Memory March page and join us before the Sunday show!

Feb 9/2010

Everybody’s going green., learning to live green for life and jumping on the vegetable wagon. This is a good thing but we’ve seen it before. I went green in the 60s, 70s-had a lapse of no-name madness in the 80s & 90s but am back on the green wagon.  We’ve heard it all before but I think now there is more urgency and this time it is not such a grassroots movement, but a serious commitment from people who are in a position to change the world.

Eating organic and going green are becoming mainstream. But for those of you who are still dabbling; recycling when it’s sunny out, eating salad when on a date to impress, buying bottled water but only as a fashion statement, using organic make-up because you think it is cute when you say, “I have to save those poor little bunnies from being used as test subjects” –these facts might make the change a little easier

Why eat meat, when . . .

1. 16% of the world’s greenhouse gases come from the methane created from flatulent livestock and methane is 23 times more dangerous to the atmosphere than carbon monoxide is.
2. Growth hormones and antibiotics fed to livestock and fowl are causing diseases in humans.
3. Slaughterhouses and even barns use enormous amounts of energy to stay in operation.
4. Our water systems are contaminated by manure and fertilizers.
5. Grazing lands take up more than on-quarter of all the ice-free land in the world.

You don’t have to give up all meat; just try to eat more organic, or eat less meat. A useful website is www.veg.ca

Use Fair Trade Products, because . . .

1. Chocolate is created under terrible conditions using child labour and deadly chemicals.
2. In West Africa where 70% of our cocoa comes from, the yearly wage is about $100 a year and children are working under awful conditions so we can eat a chocolate bunny for Easter.

Cocoa Camino is a Canadian company that imports fairly traded chocolate products; check out the website www.lasiembra.com

Why use organic dairy products?

1. Enocrine disrupters are found in non-organic milk products which gets stored in our fat and causes problems with our hormones.Try cleaning products and cosmetics that are organic or solutions you can make up at home that are non-toxic because . . .
2. There are 23,000 chemicals registered for use in Canada and at least 300 more chemicals are approved every year. Industry does not have to prove that a chemical is safe before it is introduced into a product in Canada.
3. Methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl-an ugly foursome used to preserve make-up. They can alter hormones and cause skin problems.

I think I took an entended holiday . . . back to work for a few weeks now.  I have two friends who come over every Monday and work on the List with me.   We’re getting busy around here; the Penny-a-Line Players and Art Matters Society organizing four benefit showings of The Vagina Monologues.  See those pages for audition inormation and I am currently casting for my play Two Feet and a Heartbeat.

I am always looking for writers to send in some interesting stuff-best to email me with your article ideas or completed articles gwynne1@telus.net

It is a hopeful year, time for a fresh start and for completing dreams.  That is why I am focusing on my own plays this year.  Writing has not been a relaxing passtime for me for many years.  It is, work . . .work I love, but it is still work.  Rampage; pathology of and epidemic should be finished by Fall and it is my goal to get all my plays on-stage or with publishers by Fall.  You have got to make those writing commitments, along with all the other resolutions.

Get writing!

The holidays are approaching and I find myself hard at work on The List; a list of over 3,000 names of missing and murdered women and children in Canada.   I wish that all I was doing was preparing for family gatherings and celebrating.  This time of year, between productions and teaching workshops, is, however, one of the few ‘down’ times that I have and so I try to get as much on The List done as I can.

It is depressing work.  Yesterday, I found 50 names I had never seen before.  I keep finding more and it makes me aware everyday how far I have come on this journey, and how much farther I have to go. I am working on the book Rampage; the pathology of an epidemic that we hope to publish in the Fall of 2010.  I have two wonderful volunteers who come in on Mondays now and edit and cross-reference the lists.  I don’t know how long I can keep them.  People usually burn out and have to move on.

I know that once the ‘book’ is complete I will feel satisfied that there is a bound copy of the names and a tribute to the frontline workers; a record of my journey.  It is the only way I can honour the 10 years of work that Mary Billy put in and the 4 years of work that I have logged on The List.  Why is it so important?

I have nightmares that if I die someone will throw all of the work away; all of Mary’s newspaper clippings, all of my Internet research and the List itself will vanish and we will have nothing to show for the solidarity of the researchers; the friends I have met over the last four years.  Wayne Leng, Barb Mills, Chris McDowell, Pat Kelln, Martin Dufresne; they all work on The List and dozens of others whose blogs I have found and partial lists I have rescued.  I can’t turn back.  I need to know that all of the women and children have a place in history; warriors for us to remember.

It is my hope that we have a REAL national day of mourning for all of the murdered children and women; not just a handful of people remembering the Montreal Massacre or a few brave folks trying to Take Back the Night.  Schools should be closed, everyone in Canada should recognize and feel sorrow for the dead.  We should bow our heads in shame.

I have promised my husband that this year I will stop working on The List a few days before Christmas and leave it alone until after New Year’s Eve.  I will try but there is so much work to be done.  By the end of January I am in rehearsals, teaching classes and doing ‘outside’ work . . . so I will try to holiday and work; a nice healthy balance.

Problem is, there is nothing healthy about doing this work.  I can’t sleep at night, I’m angry and sad.  Maybe when the book is done, I can let go of some of the pain.  I know that I will walk away for a week or so over the holidays . . . I know that I can.  I have six grandkids, that’s how I keep the ‘work’ and reality in balance.

For now, it is back to work . . . take a break, back to work, and on it goes; trying to stay sane doing crazy-making business.

November is here with the rain and wind and the H1N1 panic . . .people are either adopting an ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude or they are hibernating, afraid to go in public.  I reluctantly had my shot, and no, I didn’t step in line before anyone else; I am the main caregiver of someone with a challenged immunce system.  I have to admit though, since I got the shot I feel better; safe, protected and grateful I was able to get the shot . . .just in case the worst is coming.

It’s a terrible way to live; being frightened of the flu.  A lot of us are becomming germ-a-phobes; teaching our children to scrub up like a doctor before surgery, and that’s just before dinner.  When you go to the doctor’s office, all the toys and magazines have been removed and antiseptic cleanser is at the door, on the counter, and people are wearing masks.  Not that it will stop you from getting the flu but it will stop you from spreading it. Until my 7 month old grandson’s flu shot kicks in I will wear a mask around him.  Why take the chance?

I find that the panic is causing a lot of people to feel depressed, worried and I can only blame Health Canada for that.  Why cry ‘wolf’ then not have enough bullets to kill the crazed beast? I adopted the attitude in the beginning that it was all hype and nonsense but now I am as worried as the folks who lie awake at night and fear the worst.  My family is split; one half in quarantine, the other half laughing about having an H1N1 party so they can all get infected at once and get it over with.  I don’t see either half as right or wrong.  It is all insanity.

I can only hope for the best. I can only pray the fear is being spread for our protection and we will all, in the end, sleep better at night, knowing we’ve had our H1N1 shot and will survive another winter of germs.

See you in September . . .

That was fast; it is almost October.  I want to encourage our readers to send in their stories, artwork, letters, concerns and joys.  It seems odd not to have published a print issue of The Rag this Fall.  Holding the tangible copy in my hands gave me huge satisfaction.  However I did not miss the business side of publishing; selling advertising and attending events to promote the publication.

I love being able to update the rag-ezine when I feel like it, without all the long hours of editing and stress.  To support these pages we do need to sell ads though; so if you want to share your product or service please let me know and we will help you connect with our readers.

Missing will be over soon enough and the work of creating a new children’s play begins, The Wonderful Miracle of the Sugar Plum Fairy, will be my fifth children’s play and will be presented December 19th.

I love the fall; my favourite time of year.  Let us know, here at the rag how you are doing . . .we are just a post away.

ragmag@telus.net

Cheers

Gwynne Hunt

Editor

Dear Friend,

It has been a difficult summer; transitions and healing.  I’ve been wondering at karma’s bite on the ass all summer, trying to reflect on what I could have done differently and it made me feel isolated (for awhile). Then I woke up today and remembered that I don’t live in a vacuum.  I have, in fact, tons of people who care about my life and the work I do.  That made me stop and reflect some more on how I have been caught up in my own misery and forgot the ‘work that I do’.

I can’t wait for September or the winds of change to blow away the blues . . . hell, I’m on it.  Back to work on The List (and it has been a bad summer), back to work on my writing and producing.  Missing will be in rehearsals soon, Creative Art Play will be starting and I am currently working on some skits for a conference on Tuning Into Our Teens.

I would like some input from my readers on how they survived this summer.  Good stories and bad-let’s share our stories.  Send them to ragmag@telus.net

Cheers

Gwynne

Dear Readers,

The Festival is over, the Rag has been put to bed and a new adventure has begun with this Rag-ezine.  I’m working with the Abbotsford Community Summer School doing two productions of my play Summer in the City.

We are always interested in your submissions and I look forward to seeing new work come my way.  We will continue to reprint archive articles from The Rag and of course we will publish new ones come fall; so keep checking these pages, they change often.

Have a good summer and ‘metaphors be with you’.

Gwynne

We’ve been publishing the Rag for six years and I would like to thank all of the advertisers, the writers, the readers and those who assisted in getting the Rag out.

It has been an interesting journey; satisfying, and relevant but I think our work is done. It is time to take the timeworn advice on the front cover; ‘do not let words get in the way of action’.

I’ve been dabbling in causes all my life; wearing them about my neck like the strands of an an albatross necklace; first this cause and then that one. In recent years all of my energy and focus has been working to end violence against women and girls . . . is that even possible?

The Rag has helped to raise awareness but the amount of work that goes into keeping it going is taking it’s toll on the other projects in my life; that and rising publishing costs, a lack of advertisers and distribution costs forced the decision that it is time to stop.

We introduce our  on-line magazine; the Rag-ezine at www.ragmag.net. We will continue to accept poetry, articles and pictures from our readers. We are not going anywhere, just changing the format that we use to keep in touch with our readers.

I feel that with the pressure taken off of me to sell advertising space, I will have more time to focus on the ‘work’.The List has been updated and the database is complete, but it does require constant research. I am working on a book that we will publish in the spring of 2010. The book, Rampage;the pathology of an epidemic,will be available to order from our website before the end of next year.

Rampage is about the journey of working on The List; not just mine, but other people who have contributed; it is about the irony, the rage and the love that has filled my life for the last four years of doing this particular work to help end violence against women and girls.

In the book, I have listed all of the names, told some of the stories and talked about the frustrations of doing this work. But the most important aspect of this work is that a complete list of over 3,000 names will be archived and a suitable tribute will have been recorded. I believe that this has to be done; this is part of our history and it is hidden away in police files and court records.

I want to put more energy into community work; not just the Memory March and producing plays about ending violence, but I want to spend more time working with children; offering artistic and creative support.

Most days, I find myself in a classroom doing improv with kids, women’s writing workshops and working as a mentor and instructor. This work is as important as the Rag, if not more so. I am sad I will not longer be ‘getting the rag’ out but the free time will be filled with more love, laughter and community work. And no doubt my six grandchildren. My newest grandson born April 15th and is keeping me busy.  I gotta tell ya, grandma is not ready to retire but I am sure ready to move on.

Cheers
Gwynne