The Gender Files

I hereby propose that the name of the Stanley Cup be changed to the Xwayxway Cup.  After the honorable members not from Vancouver (that would be James Moore and Stockwell Day) decided that we need as many reminders of Britain’s triumph over France as possible, we should seek other avenues for not honouring rich white guys that weren’t born in Canada.  One can only assume that the residents of the village of Xwayxway, in what is now known as Stanley Park, were born in Canada. 

 I don’t think people can say enough about the minority Conservative government’s decision to end funding for abortions as part of their platform for maternal health.  There was a small protest recently by people opposed to legal abortions but you just don’t hear much in the way of the vicious pro-baby-anti-mother league that you do in the states.  And yet despite the obvious controversy abortion is in the states you have Hillary Clinton saying that abortion funding needs to be part of a global strategy for improving maternal health.  Unless I’m really mistaking the potential for fringe right-wing parties in the prairies where does Harper think he’s going to lose seats?

The only thing I can think of is that recycling and Road to Avonlea loving province of PEI and their 4 Liberal-held seats.  Never before in the history of Canada has PEI held such sway over foreign policy.   Personally I’d rather they were pushing for making abortions illegal in Canada before they moved onto poor women in Africa.  They don’t let local women have abortions on the island so why not fight against all legal abortions in Canada?

As part of a short series of films documenting the impact the UBC Film program has had on local filmmaking, Gwen Haworth’s She’s a Boy I Knew will be screening on May 7^th at 7 P.M. at the Pacific Cinematheque.  Haworth’s film is taking center stage with the Friday night showing, a better night than that given to both Larry Kent and Bruce Sweeney.  This might be both a testament to her filmmaking abilities and her reception at the Vancouver International Film Festival when she won most popular Canadian film at the 2007 edition and extra screenings had to be added. 

 She’s a Boy I Knew documents Haworth, her family and friends as she goes through changing her gender from male to female.  Operating within a diverse set of documentary techniques the film offers an engaging look at how a local family deals with something that any loving family wants to support but might also contradict preconceived notions of gender.  

I was 13 years old when I first went to Lilith Fair at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. I was a huge fan of its founder, Vancouverite Sarah McLachlan, and I remember feeling so cool to be coming down from the Island to the city to celebrate women in music. Somewhere I think I still have the tour album and an autograph from Lisa Loeb.

So I was interested to see the announcement last fall about the new Lilith Fair tour scheduled for 2010. Yes, eleven years afterthe last tour in 1999, Lilith will roll into the Vancouver area this Canada Day for a show at Pitt Meadows airport with a lineup including McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, and local artist Frazey Ford of the Be Good Tanyas.