Glasgow Feminist Network

Even before I went away on holiday I hadn't written a blog post for a wee while and that's because I was busy working on the new website for Glasgow Feminist Network.  We ended up just deciding to do it ourselves rather than wait for someone else to build it for us, so I said I'd give it a bash, and with tonnes of help and pointers from Jamie McHale of Telaco, I got there in the end!

I'm quite proud of it, to be hoest: go and check out my handiwork here:

www.glasgowfeministnetwork.org.uk 

...Even if you're not a feminist, go and see the fruits of my labour and help boost our web stats at the same time!  And if you are a feminist - or think you might be - sign up to our mailing list!

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Yes, for all those who were distraught and at a loss when I went away, fear not! I'm back again.

And for those of you who didn't know I was away - shame on you! - I'll fill you in: I went down to Birmingham with a few amigas from the Glasgow Feminist Network to go to the weekend Summer School run by UK Feminista and hosted by Birmingham Fems.  It was so much fun!

We decided to fly down because it was the cheapest option, and we decided it beat a 4 hour train journey.  So, HR stayed at my house the night before and we rose with the larks (not that I've ever seen a lark) and hopped down to Glasgow International for our 06:50 flight.  Once we'd arrived in Birmingham we found our way into the city centre for breakfast, with only a slight detour on the wrong monorail track.  I've never been anywhere that had a monorail, it was awesome.  And it was free!

Anyway, once we made it to the university, we signed up for the events we wanted to go to and it all began!  We went to big talks by people from Eaves, Object, Women for Women International... and several smaller workshops about how to organise your feminist group, how to advertise, how to do events etc...  All in all, it was really useful for us in running the GFN and we got filled with the feminist spirit!  Everyone there was so nice and friendly, there was a real camaraderie there, it was great.

On the Saturday night there was an after-party so we had dinner in the halls of residence - drinking games ahoy! - and then headed to the party to tear up the dancefloor.  The security guard there didn't know what had hit him when ten feminists hit the floor to dance like wild things and sing along at the top of our voices to Blondie!  I think us Glasgow peeps led the way but we were quickly joined by others and danced the night away.  We finished with an enthusiastic Wannabe and that was the end of an amazing night.

Admittedly, the hangover the next day was distinctly less amazing but we powered through for another day of classes and workshops, and thanks to coffee, Nurofen, coffee, bit of food, Monster Munch and coffee we made it through and found our second (third? fourth?) wind.

Our flight back to Glasgow was at 20:30 and by the time we got home we were well and truly knackered.  Not including flights, I managed to only spend £50 for all my food and drink (of which there was plenty)  - money well spent, and a crowd of very happy Glasgow Feminists!

Say No To Rape

This evening is the vigil organised by the Glasgow Feminist Network, to say that the recent rapes (reported and unreported) in Glasgow city centre and west end are not acceptable and that more must be done to stop this happening.  Also, as far as I know there have been no arrests made for any of these rapes, to which we all want to know:  why the hell not!?

Please show your support and come along to out peaceful protest, it's on from 5pm til 6:30pm tonight (Friday 11th) in George Square, Glasgow.  Everyone is welcome, men and women, and nothing will be asked of you other than to show up!  Even if the weather's not great, it's only 90 mins and when you think of the rape rates vs. conviction rates here in Scotland and the UK, it gives you a good reason to brave the cold.

According to Rape Crisis Scotland [for the year 2009-2010]:

• There were 884 rapes reported to the police.
• Of the 884 recorded, 92 were prosecuted.
• And of these 92 prosecutions, only 41 led to convictions.

So that's 41 of 884, which statistically means if you are raped and you report it to the police, you have a 4.68% chance of your attacker being held accountable.

And please remember, this refers only to rapes that were reported; for obvious reasons there aren't statistics to show what the conviction percentage would be if you included all the victims who were too afraid to go to the police.

Please come along and give us 90 mins of your evening to show that you don't think this is a reasonable statistic.

Here's an article in Thursday's Evening Times, regarding our vigil.  {NB, it's Christina Carlisle, not Christine as written!}

I Am Not A Morning Person

I woke up the morning about 9am, switched on my phone and had, wait for it, nine missed calls from my boss, plus a text asking me to work today at the last minute.  Just as well that I usually switch my phone off when I go to bed because, as anyone who's ever seen me first thing will know, I am not a morning person!!  Also, he rang Ross in my work at 5am to ask for my number, I would have been less than impressed with a call at that time, and would have probably said I couldn't work out of sheer grumpiness!

Let that be a lesson to you all:  any calls before, say, 10 am and/or two cups of coffee will not be kindly met, assuming I even answer.  Text messages all the way, please.

Anyway, I did end up working and it was quite busy, so it passed fast.  I might be doing a volunteering project with the YWCA and then meeting Hannah to get her knitted squares off her.  I've also some stuff to do for the Glasgow Feminist Network: I volunteered to write up the minutes of the last meeting so I'll get cracking on that.

The meeting went well, we got quite a lot organised, including a day in the Glasgow Women's Library to celebrate International Women's Day (8th March) plus a vigil in George Square to protest and draw attention to the latest (in a long line) rapes that have recently taken place.  Hopefully we'll get a good turn out and we might have guest speakers from Rape Crisis Scotland.  Hopefully get a bit of press coverage, too.

All this stuff has relit my feminist fire and I'm (again) looking into postgrad degrees in Women's Studies.  There are actually about 8 unis in the UK which offer this course, so I just need to get all the details of each one and decide which looks best.  And make sure it's not in a crap place, too!  I'd love to do it in London, but who the hell can afford to be a student in London?  You'd have to work full-time as well just to be able to afford to live!  Anyone got any uni recommendations?

My neck is killing me from steaming a pile of clothes today, I think I need to work on my technique!  I'm off for a cuppa.

Biscuits, And Other Adventures In Baking.

Glasgow Feminist Network meeting tomorrow (Glasgow Women's Library, 2pm, go! If you can.) and I agreed to make some cakes and biscuits to take.  Any excuse to break out the rolling pin and strapping on my apron!  So, I found a new recipe for easy biscuits, and decided to make 2 or 3 batches.  One of cinnamon flavour, one of ginger, and maybe one of almond, too.  Then I thought I'd make my ole favourite, the big Cherry Bakewell.  I've made that one a few times now and it's always a hit. 

Really looking forward to the meeting, I hope it goes well!  I'm waiting for the first batch (cinnamon) of biscuits to cool out of the oven so I can test one and make sure they're tasty before I start the next ones.  You've got  be so careful with biscuits cause if you leave them in for a minute or two too long they go rock solid.  Soft and chewy is what we're after!  I even bought different coloured icing pens so I can decorate them according to their flavour!

I'll do another wee post later to let you know how they turned out.  Watch this space...

Dresses and exercise!

In light of being unemployed and actually not having all that much money to throw about on new clothes (not that you can really tell, to be fair), this blog has started give me my fashion fix.  I really like putting up pics of new bargins, rediscovered gems and generally fash-forward outfits, so that's why I've changed the title of my blog up there.  I also feel that my dreams of London aren't exactly off to a running start, so the name was a bit misleading anyway.

Glad you all seem to like the turban, I love it and wore it all day and night, even when I was just sitting in the house.  My granny also loves it and that, as we know, is enough to cement the style status of any item.

After Tenerife, the next thing on the Clara agenda is MM's birthday cocktail party.  I am starting to get very excited about this for three reasons, all under one roof: 
1. My amigas
2. A chance, nay, a command, to get dressed up to the nines and
3. Cocktails.

With this in mind, I've been musing over which dress to wear.  Although you might have thought that I'd be champing at the bit (weird expresson, where did I get it from?) to buy something new, in actual fact I have several lovely dresses that are too formal for everyday use and don't often get to see the light of day.  Or the disco lights of a good party.  So, I love a chance like this to dust one of them off and let it know it's still loved.  I have made a final decision, and I just tried it on to make sure.  Still love it, and I think it's perfect, so I've found a winner.

I pranced about my room in it for about 10 mins, just because.  If you go to all the trouble of putting it on, you might as well enjoy it for a few minutes, right?  I even have a pair of shoes that are the ideal height for it, though the colour isn't the best match.  Still, in the name of being cheap 'n' chic, I think I'll just wear them.

I should really head to bed, I'm up early tomorrow to go to a meeting in the Glasgow Women's Library, I'm going to be helping to organise some events with the Glasgow Feminist Network, so I'm really looking forward to it.  I'm already a member but I'm well chuffed at being able to get more involved in it!

After the meeting I'm going to hit the gym, too.  Gotta keep going with the arms routine!  I can see a small bit of definition in my upper arms now, though I accept that it's probably invisible to everyone else.  But I'm determined to stick with it anyway!  I'd love to be able to do the Tracy Anderson Method, but I don't feel like splashing out on the DVDs and books and stuff, to be honest.

Anyone got any good tips for toning up the shoulders and back?   There's a machine in the gym that I know how to use (kind of) but I'm not sure which muscles it actually targets.  Might do a bit of online research and see what I come up with.

I just did e quick Googling, and stumbled across this wee set of exercises by Tracy Anderson for Marie Claire.  They look bloody tough!  I'm not sure I'd even get through one set but I'll give it a go anyway!  If anyone else has a shot, let me know how you get on!