Bitch Mourns fellow Indie Mags

The most recent issue of Bitch Magazine featured an article honoring the many independent mags that have tanked in the past two years. Journalism is changing and it’s a rough time for even well-established publications, much less independent zines already on a shoestring. Among the honored dead were Punk Planet, the Animal Liberationist No Compromise, Lesbian sex magazine On Our Backs, and the media-savvy Stay Free! Each represented paradigms rarely seen in mainstream media and while many are survived by blogs, anthologies and media projects, their loss is significant blow. The fact that they all perished in 2006 and 2007 is sobering and might augur years to come. Happily, Bitch itself is marching forward. 

Overall an excellent issue of Bitch with everything from geeky women, unschooling moms, and Christian rock of all things (don’t ask, just read it). An ad for a Women’s Media conference in Cambridge caught my eye. It’s called Women, Action and the Media aka WAM 2008 and it’s happening this March. The keynote speaker is none other than Helen Thomas! I’m definitely considering going, and will report here if it all works out.

CNN acknowledges Maher Arar

CNN broadcast a segment about Maher Arar last night. I’d give you a link to the video but apparently it has already “expired.” Lame. But seriously, where has CNN been on this issue the past couple of years? In his home country of Canada Arar is widely known, he was Person of the Year in the Canadian edition of Time Magazine for crissakes.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Mr Arar: He was coming home from a vacation and was going through JFK Airport in New York on his way to Canada. Arar was detained by American authorities under accusations that he had terrorist connections. When Arar asked to see a lawyer he was told he did not have that right as he is not an American citizen. He was sent to Syria, the land of his birth, where he was tortured by Syrian authorities. Over ten months after he was detained in JFK he was allowed to return home to Canada, his wife had run a campaign for his release after he was taken. Arar was never charged with a crime and the United State government refuses to apologize. Emotionally scarred, Arar still manages to head a campaign to clear his name, and stop the practice of extraordinary rendition that landed him in Syria.

You can read more about Maher Arar here.

PS I think I’m going to move away from the strict online portfolio idea, though I’ll still post my articles here as well

Blog Genesis

So the idea for this blog is a place for me, a student who is orienting her career towards journalism, to post my articles. I hope this blog will serve as a kind of online portfolio to store my work and also serve my general love for organization.

For those who wish to know about such things, my name is Hilary Barlow. I’m an undergraduate at the University of Toronto and a history specialist. I sometimes write for The Varsity and The Gargoyle. I have also written for the Smith College Sophian and Voices of Central Pennsylvania. Comments, questions and constructive critique will always be welcome here.

Thanks for reading