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My face has been screwed up for several days. I've been having some wicked allergies and the skin under my eye is itchy and inflamed. It hurts like hell. I just put some cortisone on it and that seemed to help.

To counterbalance this, my two freelance work cheques came today!

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I went to a fun reading last night. It encompassed three events- the launch of a new issue of West Coast Line, the launch of a new printing venture, and the launch of two books of Roy Kiyooka's letters. It was held at Honey. When I first walked in, I ran into two girls from the Colouring Book project. We immediately scored the big booth at the back and talked about art, travelling, family history, and other scintillating topics. I found out that one of the girls is a fire dancer. They both do facilitation work teaching anti-racism and anti-sexism to high school students. Can I say that I'm jealous?!?! Talk about my dream job! Anyway, I really like them.

The readings themselves were pretty good. I'm super excited about Wayde Compton's new project, which is to publish a series of books by black writers. I got to meet Wayde himself which was cool, as I really admire the kind of work he does.

I also learned a bit about Roy Kiyooka and his legacy from the readings done from his book. I finished off the evening by meeting Daphne Marlatt, who was incredibly sweet. We actually have a friend in common since she was writer in residence in Saskatoon.

All in all, a fun evening.

What I've been reading

1. Girl 15, Charming but Insane- by Sue Limb- A British teen book. Not particularily wonderful, but not bad. The funniest part was when the main character decides to stuff her bra with soup balloons. She thinks about using water, but realizes that if they break it will look like she peed herself. So she uses minestrone. Ah, youth.

2. Grassroots- a guide to feminist activism- by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards- I am so very happy that this book has been created. It's a response to "Manifesta", which is about third wave feminism. As the authors toured, young women frequently asked them how they could be activists. The authors decided to answer the young women by writing this book. It's a great, practical activist guide and helps encourage women to be activists in their school, college or workplace. It uses examples of real life, regular individuals who have made a difference. It encourages you to look at problems and how you can make the world better, in simple ways that don't go against your personality. It also tackles activist burnout, art and activism, and activist elitism. I highly, highly recommend this book.

3. Old Flames by Kim Moritsugu- I read this one because I probably have to interview her soon. It's the story of two women, and their reacquaintance with old flames and themselves. At first I thought it was pretty bad, but then I realized that I wanted to read it and was trying to make excuses to read it. So I got sucked into the story. Guess it wasn't that bad after all.