As many of you will have seen, Queensland state is being devastated by floods. The scale of it is almost incomprehensible. There are updates and stories coming out from there every minute. Everyone is trying to cope. I don’t know where they find the strength. Please donate or help if you can. The worse is yet to come.
Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
The account details for donations by internet banking are:
Account Name: Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
BSB: 064 013
Account number: 1000 6800
SWIFT code for international donations: CTBAAU2S
Call 1800 219 028 to donate using your credit card.
You can also donate in person at most banks and Coles Supermarkets.
Cheques should be made payable to:
The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
ABN: 69 689 161 916
and posted to:
Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal
C/O Department of the Premier and Cabinet
PO Box 15185
City East QLD 4002
www.qld.gov.au/floods/
As we speak NSW, Victoria, Tasmania are facing flood risks as well, and Western Australia is battling bushfires. Australia is a continent constantly dealing with and against the strength of nature. We are so often worrking to manage its effects that actually living in temperate zones of comfort is never taken for granted. Each summer, we brace for bushfires. Each autumn, we wait for rain. The whole country has been drought called more often and longer than we remember spraying our cars in the driveway. Hail is a common enough weather pattern and the northern half of the country, being almost tropical, is affected by dangerous winds and rain every year. It is a testament to the will and hardiness of Australians that we continue to do our best together with the land.
January 14, 2011 at 8:56 am
Update: Caterina Giuliano and Jo Angri are the lucky new owners of the Bookshop!
The gorgeous women behind the Feminist Bookshop in Sydney are retiring and their bedrock of liberal resources for women is looking for new owners.
I am just one of many whom Gail and Libby have helped. For example, they were instrumental in letting Read These Lips find an audience in Australia. These women are amazingly generous and kind, and I cannot thank them enough for nurturing the flame.
The Feminist Bookshop Is For Sale
Libby and Gail have decided it is time to retire. We would like The Feminist Bookshop to continue with its important work, as there is still potential for growth, especially if new owners can take the bookshop on-line and further into new technologies.
As a small independent bookshop our survival for 36 years has been a great achievement, and this has happened through hard work, dedication, and the support of many loyal customers. Our major customers are in the social work/community services sector, where we are highly respected, and where there are still many contacts to be made Australia wide. Our other important support has come from a diverse lesbian community, and from feminists in all walks of life.
If you are looking for a new career with top quality job-satisfaction, and you are interested in buying an iconic bookshop, please contact us as soon as possible for further information.
Please forward this email to your friends, colleagues and networks/newsletters etc. help us spread the word
Also please remember that it is business as usual…your continued support is very much appreciated
Gail and Libby
The Feminist Bookshop
Shop 9 Orange Grove Plaza
Balmain Road Lilyfield NSW 2040
Ph: 02 9810 2666 Fax: 02 9818 5745
International Fax: 61 2 9818 5745
ABN: 81 412 242 668
www.feministbookshop.com
Find us on Facebook
January 6, 2011 at 10:41 pm
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It will be a great night of fun, games and entertainment including the following:
* Sayoni Woman Of The Year Award
* Eligible Bachelorettes Date Auction
* Soft Launch of The Coming Out Guide
* Lucky draw with Top prize valued at $500
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January 6, 2011 at 10:29 pm
How’s about I start off the year with a rhetorical philosophy question? Stop rolling your eyes. Because I’m well and happily fed, having imbibed lots of wine and taking it easy the first week of 2011 with a good book in hand, lets me ruminate on pleasures that can safely be publicly shared. Before attempting any serious conversation or thinking, have good food and gentle alcohol at the table and by the end of the repast, when both mind and palate have been satiated, you’ll feel that all is well, if diversely opined upon.
Also because this is my own blog and I can natter on if I want to and you must read this because you fancy me or something.
What do I mean by Old Story. New Story? Well, as a sign of advancing age and maturity – as well as waist size, but that’s not the issue here – I’ve developed or am developing a slow mow into the genre of Non-fiction. It’s been coming but slower than my TV viewing which has all but forsaken commercial shows in favour of documentaries, from nature and science docos and now to history and biographies, with the odd quiz show thrown in. The change I came to realise late last year when, after an absence of some weeks, I was catching up on blogs and other current news when it all became too much. Why did I have to continuously chase after reports of events that would hardly affect me, for the sake of interesting conversation? There is so much to learn in today’s world for the future that while I enjoy the process of discovering i.e. reading about, them when does the time come to reflect and really enjoy the experience of personal discoveries? The world is a bloody interesting place and we should go out and see some of it for ourselves when we can. It’s not always about techology and war.
Stories written before I was born but occuring squarely in the 20th Century hold a fascination for me, expecially at this time when we’re still so young in the 2000s. A hundred years ago, the western world was still crawling out of wars, politics was all the rage, upper society was partying punishingly and great inventions were popping up regularly. Machines were taking over our lives, changing society but art was more about propaganda than expression. Middle aged workers and youth were more disgruntled than ever. Same old, some new.
I am reading a collection of gastro lit from The New Yorker that have appeared through the ages. These stories or columns were published before I was born and yet, through their wonderful writing and gastronomique theme they are easy and engaging. Much like the photography exhibit I went to last week, the story behind a moment is always more interesting than the captured moment itself. Living through the eyes and notes of writers, especially when written ex tempore or in situ, almost like in a war zone, gives context and therefore perspective and understanding of a time. After all, stories are about understanding a person or persons, a place, a time or an event.
So am I reading an old story or a new one? That depends on where you’re sitting. [via AN]
I’m all deeply thought out for today. I’m off to query this new series about young lesbians getting all angsty and incestuous in Glasgow.
January 6, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been repealed. Yeehaa!
Obama dude is pretty awesome. I think he does things the right ways – so far he’s set on fulfilling his mandate, he bases his decision on real data and not emotions, he hires specialists for the right positions, and he certainly seems to have greater respect for dignity and diversity. He might need to step up to the crowd and the media more in this age of looping vids and media bites, but overall, although it seems slow going, he’s sticking to his word.
And on that note, I hope you have safe holiday season.
December 23, 2010 at 9:56 am
Right, the big one has taken the next step for its literary aspirations in a move that puts it in the e-book market. For now, the Google eBookstore is a sad looking site that needs a whole lot of work (3 million books is nufink) in terms of content and usability and cross-referencing. While many many formats are provided for, Kindle’s is not.
Sadly for non-Americans, we are still restricted on access because of stupid geographical copyright.
There are many issues at stake here, not least of which is Google’s reach, the issue of public vs private rights, the issue of free literature vs paid content, the issue of electronic dissemination and the issue of how publishers, distributors and consumers use this. But for now, it’s merely a bookstore. But let’s not forget that Google sits on a massive archive of scanned books and that will one day see the light. In what form is part of negotiations that their eBookstore has brought up again.
December 7, 2010 at 10:12 am
You might have read about a het couple in the Britain who want to have a civil union but not a marriage because homosexuals can’t get “married” in the UK and are limited to civil unions, and they think all enjoined couples should have the same right/choice to marry. Never mind that it is part campaign and part romantic and nearly all about policy. I can see what they’re on about and if they get the law changed to recognise gay marriage then good for them. But I’d prefer if marriage as an institution was scrapped altogether and we get back the real meaning of marriage, i.e. a contract between adults to share body and material comfort, then we’d see how popular it would really be.
But in the wider view, the fight for gay marriage is, of course, about non-discrimination and the right to be trapped by state laws. In the diehard campaign for the right for us to be married, here’s another no less poignant site that seeks to keep the fight alive and to overturn the hardline that is the defining symbol of us vs them.
The Potential Wedding album wants pictures of gay couples who really really want that jeweller’s certificate. I think I’ll get C to sign up so we can be in cute company.
In the meantime, let’s all live happily de facto and have the same rights as married couples bar the wedding bills and licence.
[PWA via a lovely piece by Dick Gross]
November 15, 2010 at 9:30 am
Well! The NY Times deigns to acknowledge and rate e-books soon. How they actually compile the data will still be, sadly, traditionally sourced from probably only the big names.
November 12, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Read These Lips is a free e-book project dedicated to lesbian literature. In our fifth year, we are inviting submissions to our anthology series.
We seek multi-dimensional literary writings that speak the possibilities of lesbian lives. We feature popular genre as well as cross-genre works.
Submissions are open from 1 November 2010 to 31 January 2011. Please read our Submissions Guidelines carefully, and our previous anthologies for guidance.
Early expressions of interest are encouraged.
All correspondence to submissions@readtheselips.com
SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES
- Each submission: Not more than 4000 words per entry. Not less than 500 words, or 1 page, except for poetry or graphics. However, if making two (2) submissions per author per anthology, the word limit is 4000 in total. Maximum of two (2) submissions per author per anthology.
- You may submit stories, poetry, verse, graphics…any genre that can be reproduced on paper.
- Submissions should have a lesbian flavour but may include anything LBTIQ inspired. New work preferred.
- Submissions should be in MSWord or RTF format or any text file to preserve format, and not in the body of an email.
- Enclose a short biography, picture and email contact with your submissions.Submissions without biographies will not be considered.
- Third party sources must be credited.
- You agree to provide your submissions free of charge to the anthology.
- You agree to our editing process. For more information see Behind The Curtain at our blog.
- Accepted entries will not be removed from the anthology once published.
- We are not responsible for any copyright infringement that may be caused by the use of your submission in our anthologies.
How the anthology works.
Our anthologies are published only in electronic format.
The anthology is distributed via the internet.
It is free to download and to share. It is not for sale.
Authors retain their moral rights, but once a submission is included in the anthology and is published, it cannot be removed.
IMPORTANT: Those who wish to submit to us or host or distribute our anthologies should be aware of our Terms of Use.
November 10, 2010 at 9:01 am
Just to differentiate it from the horizontal mambo, y’know, but then I realised, Gee, when have we ever restricted our pleasure positions?
Long time coming but finally, a reality celeb dancing program – in Israel, no less – will be showing a lesbian in a same-sex dance routine. Doesn’t hurt that they are both gorgeous women.
Check it out or better yet, support your local same-sex dance class and competitions.
November 3, 2010 at 1:05 pm
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