Jill Ratcliffe

Momentum Grows to Fight Homelessness in Halifax

Hillary — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:41:22 +0000

Meeting tonight: plan for action

The Out of the Cold Emergency Winter Shelter will open its doors for the last time this season on the eve of April 30. The shelter has been open since November without any formal funding, run and operated almost entirely by volunteers.

en lire plus

Solidarity Radio

Hillary — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:22:56 +0000

Halifax participates in nationwide broadcast on homelessness

Service providers, artists, musicians, writers, speakers, broadcasters and everyone in between gathered at St. Matthews Church on February 23 to provide the people-power for a nationwide radio broadcast on homelessness. “We shared delicious food, engaged in good conversation, and most importantly we listened” said one volunteer.

en lire plus

Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access

vivian — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:43:38 +0000

To view a slide show of the evening, click on any one of the photos above.

Its 1:00 in the morning and there's more than a hundred students milling about NSCAD.

Some students are working hard on their final projects. Others are piled into the NSCAD student lounge listening to music, sharing food and discussing the administration's proposal to restrict 24 hour access to students.

"Any way you divide it up, this proposal just doesn't make sense," says Emily Davidson, Student Union President of NSCAD.

Currently, NSCAD is the only art college in Canada that provides students with around-the-clock access to studio space. Davidson says international and out-of-province students choose this university because of this selling feature.

The University hasn't formally announced it will be removing 24 hour access, it has only been discussed in a finance and property committee meeting that a student representatives sits on.

"There has been no communication about this," says Davidson who was upset by the university's decision to not engage students in the process.

The decision to restrict overnight access will save the university $140,000 a year, a nominal amount according to Davidson. It's part of a larger set of cuts to the university that will see fewer student assistants on campus, reductions to the library budget and the closure of the Dawson Print Shop, a for-profit print studio that was opened only ten months ago.

The university attempted to restrict 24 hour access last year but students' efforts last year prevented it from going through.

On April 30th the NSCAD Board of Governors will vote upon the issue. If the vote carries, access will be restricted as of May 1st, 2009

Valentine's Play

Maya — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:48:54 +0000

Reflections from a women’s bathhouse

As we step past frosted glass doors into a small, well-lit foyer my heart is pumping. The sound of excited voices through a second set of doors leaves me wondering what to expect. Feeling exhilarated by the space and slightly flushed by two glasses of wine, I notice my palms are clammy. This is my second time at Shedogs Bathhouse.

An older, very butch lady meets my friend and I at the front window. While taking IDs and tickets and offering towels, she relays the rules: respect, consent, confidentiality. Allowing our entry through the interior set of doors, she directs us to room four, where we can change and leave our belongings. All the lockers are taken as it is a full house tonight.

My only question, “Have we missed the fisting workshop?” is met with, “Starts in 10 minutes.”

The veneer of security is understandable. Bathhouses have long been targeted as hotbeds of homosexual activity. In 2000, Toronto police raided Pussy Palace, a women's bathhouse night at Club Toronto. Police, almost all of them male, entered the establishment and walked around, taking the names and addresses of some ten women and questioning volunteers.

Traditionally, gay bathhouses are places where men can go to have sex with other men, regardless of sexuality or social status. Bathhouses for women are much more rare. Twice a year the local Halifax men’s bathhouse, Seadogs, hosts a queer ladies night for woman-identified folk. Tonight is the ladies' Valentine's Day bathhouse.

Room four is one of many small rooms off a long, dimly-lit corridor. Each is equipped with a small bed, wall-to-wall mirrors and a handful of condoms and little lube packages scattered like candy on the clean white sheets. In one room there is an erotica-reading party, while others are occupied by lovers. We are told that the rooms on the main floor have a “doors open policy.” Private rooms are in the basement, ten dollars for a key.

en lire plus