Herizons Magazine (Spring 2008)

I am not a mainstream media fan, and I haven’t been one for a long time. I like to think that, as I have gotten older, my dynamic and sometimes contradictory critical feminist analysis (can you tell I was a sociology major?) has deepened from the angry polemics of a surly teenager to something a little bit more complex. But, I have to admit, politically speaking, I have been really lazy lately. As I withdrew my attention from celebrity news and headlines that held no interest for me, I wasn’t so conscientious about cultivating a batch of new, alternative news sources. As the office mate most likely to answer “No” to the question “Did you hear?” Herizons is a welcome addition to my reading list.

When engaged, I am very fast reader. I managed to make my way through nearly half of the Spring 2008 issue of Herizons in one sitting, even with the distraction of preschool music lessons in the background. With the tagline “Women’s News and Feminist Views,” the range of topics in the magazine seemed to be tailored to my interests, namely women—how we are affected by this world, and how we effect change in this world, from multiple perspectives. All of the articles were written in an accessible tone, whether they were focused on issues of global politics or music reviews.

In covering the content of the magazine, I found good reasons to shift my environmental focus to the boreal forest in my own (national) backyard, and got the scoop on what the young gals of today are reading. (It’s not Judy Blume.) I don’t listen to the radio very much, and got some great leads on women recording artists to add to my library. I also liked the fact that I was able to read the work of many Canadian women writers—including Maya Khankhoje, Susan G. Cole, and Tara-Michelle Ziniuk—within one issue.

Not that I ever entirely stopped, but reading Herizons has helped me to get excited about my politics again.

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