Welcome to the VIM Magazine blog!

VIM Magazine is the first fashion and design magazine to be published for Michigan State University students. VIM Magazine seeks to give MSU students a fresh outlook on the current trends in fashion and design. We hope to inspire students to portray their individual styles in the ways that they think, act and live.

Why vim? The word vim means "enthusiasm and vitality," which we believe represents our readers' enthusiastic spirit for fashion and design. The word comes from the MSU fight song... "They're fighting with a vim/Rah rah rah" A special "thank you" goes out to Katie Dixon, one of our creative directors, for coming up with the name!

This semester has been a fun and exciting one as we work to get the magazine started! We found some amazing staff members, selected part of the content for the fall issue, completed the media kit and worked on our first photo shoot! Over the summer, VIM Magazine staff will be hard at work finalizing layouts, selling ad space and contacting businesses to complete our fall trend pages.

A BIG thanks to spring semester staff who have helped get the magazine up and running! We appreciate all of your hard work!

Stay tuned as we post fun articles about fashion and design throughout the summer and don't forget to mark your calendars for the fall issue out Sept. 13th!!


Julie, Kerry, Lauren

Update the magazine came out the first week of November 2010.

Rape Revenge - Update

The songs you heard on tonight's show were all Rape Revenge originals:

1. Car Ride with a Vivisection Intern
2. I'm Not Your Fucking Mother
3. Fuck Your Gender
4. I'm So Gay

Rape Revenge will be playing a show on April 30th at Emmedia (351 11th Ave S.W.) - suggested donation of $5 at the door (doors at 6pm).

Check out: www.xtruexrecords.com
Contact: raperevengeband@riseup.net

Rape Revenge

Tonight on Yeah, What She Said I will be interviewing a few members from Rape Revenge, a self described feminist, straight edge, vegetarian grindcore band from Calgary, Alberta. Click on the 'Rape Revenge' title above to check out their MySpace!

Tonight's Show: Marital Rape in Africa

Tonight we interview Jennifer Koshan, an associate professor in the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law. Jennifer recently went to Kenya to participate in the African and Canadian Women's Human Rights Project. The project was focued on the legal treatment of marital rape in Africa. We will speak to Jennifer about her trip to Kenya and the issue of marital rape in Africa and Canada.

Tune in from 8:00 to 8:30 pm on CJSW 90.9 fm. You can also listen online at cjsw.com, and subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss a show.

Feminist Recommendations for the Calgary Spoken Word Festival

Calgary’s Spoken Word Festival is on right now! And there are at least three events that seem very woman-related and of interest to feminists. Check them out! (The best part is they’re all $10 or less!)



Gutsy Gals Do Lunch

Join two edgy gals and do lunch the way lunch should be done. This event will feed your mind and satiate your senses – and may we add, cultivate your inner wild-child.

Wednesday, April 21

Cathedral Church: Corner of 7th Ave & 1st Street SE

Noon

Free



Unveiling the Breath

Listening to the voices of Muslim men & women who have experienced an Islamic country will diffuse the myths, and create breathing space for myths and misconceptions to be over-written by truth, transparency and common understanding.

Saturday, April 24

Big Secret Theatre, Epcor Centre

2:00 pm

$5 plus GST



Story Circle Woman Song

Each year we gather to celebrate the strong voices of dynamic women of diverse cultures and ages! Good Goddess: Listen to the earth! Amplified!

Sunday, April 25

Big Secret Theatre, Epcor Centre

1:00 pm

$10 plus GST

Fish & Chips anyone?

Had some fish and chips today while taking Dex for a walk. They were pretty good but too greasy for me... I don't eat very much fried food so I barely touched my fries after devouring the fish itself.
Need to get my lazy bum off the couch and into some cute clothes so I have something else to show instead of food! I never intended this blog to become a food blog but it looks like my stomach is overruling my fingers at the time being!

Because only Mom's cook dinner...

Thanks to the awesome blog Sociological Images for initially posting this sexist ad.

Tonight: Megan & Laura of The Dirty Girl Social Club

Tonight we're hanging out with members of local band, The Dirty Girl Social Club. They are also the pioneers of The Feminine Persuasion, an all-female music showcase that aims to build a tight network and sense of community among local female musicians. The Dirty Girl Social Club have been written up in both FFWD Magazine and BeatRoute for their fun rock tunes and for spearheading their one-of -a-kind showcase. We'll be talking to them about all things from how they started up to the trials and tribulations of being women on the local music scene. Check The Dirty Girl Social Club on Myspace to hear some of their tunes.


Catch us live tonight at 8:00pm MST on CJSW 90.9 FM or www.cjsw.com.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast to get caught up on past episodes!

Evian Takes our Obsession with Youth to the Next Level

Have you seen this commercial for Evian featuring the 'roller babies'?







Not only do I find the manipulated images of babies insanely creepy, this commercial also exemplifies our society's obsession with youth. Evian's new tag line is "Live Young," and the commercial claims that Evian "supports your body's youth." There's a bullshit marketing line if I ever heard one!



Anyhow, I suppose this post isn't particularly feminist... but I just felt the need to rant. This commercial seems fairly innocent and fun if you don't scrape past the surface, but I think Evian has really taken our obsession with youth to a new level here. Yes, I know it's just supposed to be silly and funny... but the message behind this is that drinking bottled water (which is an environmental atrocity) keeps us young. And in a society like ours that worships youth, a lot of people will believe anything advertisers say in their efforts to keep looking young.

Study Says Educated Women Are Heavier Drinkers

Interesting...

I found the following post at Asylum, a self-proclaimed men's lifestyle site whose viewpoint I'm not entirely sure I trust in relation to these kinds of things. The ending remark in the original post sort of threw me off; I haven't included it here since I figure it doesn't have much credibility but feel free to respond accordingly.

A new study reveals that the better a woman does in school, the more likely it is she will grow up and abuse alcohol.



Researchers from the London School of Economics tracked the lives of roughly 10,000 men and women born during the same week in 1970. They discovered that women who scored "medium or high" marks in primary school were 2.1 times more likely to drink every day as adults than their less academically successful counterparts. Intelligent guys also drink more, but the correlation isn't nearly as extreme.



There are two explanations the researchers offered for this phenomenon. One is that brainy women often delay motherhood, giving them more time to develop a social life based on alcohol consumption; the other is that higher-achieving females are more likely to work in male-dominated fields, which have cultures that are heavy on drinking.

The VaJayJay Monologues come to Calgary

The VaJayJay Monologues is showing in Calgary from April 29 to May 8, 2010.



Showing Tuesday – Saturday @ 8:00pm

2:00pm matinee on May 2nd & 8th

$10 Artist’s Matinee on Thursday, May 6th at 2:00pm

Pay what you can preview 8:00pm April 28, 2009



$22.00 for adults

$17.00 for students/seniors/equity artists



For tickets call 403-263-0079 or visit Urban Curvz.

a twist to your benedict

mmmm... here is the recipe that i found in Style At Home magazine but changed up to my own recipe...
saute some sweet potatoes chopped up with spanish onion, olive oil, garlic, and a touch of salt
place this mount of orange deliciousness on a place...
then add some fresh spinach leaves on to this....
then poach an egg (this is harder than it sounds... i just dropped mine in a pot of boiling water and flipped it around between spoons...would have worked better if i had a special poacher/pot)
place the poached egg on top of the spinach and voile! you have yourself a yummy meal... i also added some creamy cheese with herbs on top for a kick of taste to compensate for blandness...

toolazytotakephotosofmyselfandwhatiliketowear....willeventuallygetbackintofashionmode-stayedtuned

Tonight's Show: Interview with a Sexual Educator

Tonight we interview Patty Thille, a former physical therapist with an MA in Women's Studies. While writing her MA Thesis she took a job at Venus Envy, a feminist sex toy shop in Halifax, which lead her into the field of sexual education.



Patty teaches numerous workshops on sex and aspects of sexuality. Some of the workshops include; I'm Coming! A Guide to Women's Orgasm, Going Down: A Guide to Fellatio, and Up Yours! Anal Pleasure and Health. To stay informed about Patty's upcoming workshops, join her Facebook group: Venus Envy Sex Ed in Calgary.



Tonight we'll be discussing the workshops, sex toys, and myths about female sexuality and orgasms. It should be a delightfully sexy show! Tune in from 8:00 to 8:30pm on CJSW 90.9 fm in Calgary. You can listen from anywhere in the world on cjsw.com, and don't forget to subscribe to our podcast!

Canadian Women Earn 21% Less Than Men

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) recently posted this graph showing the gender wage gap between median men's and women's wages. I was surprised to see that Canada's gender gap is 21% - substantially higher than the average (17.6%) for OECD countries.



This means that for every $100 a Canadian woman makes, a man doing the same job makes $121. Canada even scored worse than the USA, whose gender gap is 19%. Poland, New Zealand and Belgium are leading the way in closing the gender gap - in these countries the gap is 10% or less.



The OECD reports:

"Even though most OECD countries have laws requiring equal pay between the sexes, women still earn less than men on average... Why do these differences persist? Discrimination is part of the answer. Women are also more likely to be in low-paid occupations and less likely to get promoted – in most countries the earnings gap is bigger among higher-paid workers. Childcare responsibilities mean women are also more likely to work part-time."

Pattinson's Pretty Props

Robert Pattinson (a.k.a. Edward the vampire from Twilight) is on the cover of the March 2010 issue of Details magazine. And so is a woman's crotch.



Every photo used in this story includes random naked women. Their bodies are used as objects or props - perhaps they're meant to add "mystery" or "beauty" or "artistic merit" to these photographs - but using beautiful naked women as props in photography is the oldest, sleaziest trick in the book. The women's bodies are dehumanized - they look like mannequins, and their purpose is the same as a mannequin - look good and be silent.



Gwen from Sociological Images comments,

"What struck me was the way that the photo shoot uses naked women as props for Pattinson’s masculine display... It’s not just that there are naked women as props or backdrop; it’s that in some cases, he seems utterly disinterested in them... It’s a double form of objectification: women’s naked bodies are used as stage decorations in masculine displays, and yet their presence is not even necessarily interesting to the male protagonist."