beautiful

Redheads Writing in Cafes — let’s rock and or roll unless it’s with Jack.

Archtop Cafe has become one of my favourite neighbourhood cafes. It’s located in Bloor West Village and is about twenty-minute walk from my home. There are a few things that make this cafe one of my favourites. The staff are top notch and make you feel at home right away. There are classics from the 1920s to the 1980s being piped out of the sound system and in the theme of the music, the cafe sells vinyl, both new and used. A few months ago, they opened a section of their basement as a used vinyl shop. Vinyl lovers, you need to check out this place.

The cafe is a nice size and has quite a few tables, it would be a great place if someone was considering holding a reading. At one point they had live music on Thursday and Friday nights and though they have put that on hold, it may resume again in the fall. Out front during warmer weather, there are a few cast iron bistro tables. The other day, while running errands, we sat out there sipping lattes as we watched the villagers walk by.

I love that I live in a part of town that has neighbourhoods with their own individual personalities. Each feels a little like the small villages they use to be. High Park, The Junction, Roncesvalles and Bloor West Village.

04_campbell block, Fri Mar 06, 2009, 12:57:25 PM, 8C, 3056×2366, (446+4096), 100%, bent 6 stops, 1/60 s, R113.2, G77.1, B86.9

In the basement of the Annette Street, Public Library is the West Junction Historical Society. I need to visit the Historical Society when it’s open to the public as it will assist me with my research. I also need to find a day to go to the Toronto Reference Library. I keep putting it off and need to just suck it up and go. One the problems of living in a neighbourhood that you are in love with and has almost everything you need within walking distance is you tend to not leave the area. Personally, I am also someone who can go days or even weeks without leaving the hood. I would much rather go to places that I can walk or cycle to. If only the information I needed from the Toronto Reference Library was online!

In other news and in the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing promotions for the new documentary on H.H. Holmes. My friends also know that I’m a bit of an H.H. Holmes aficionado so I often get tagged in things referencing him. I am on the fence about watching the documentary as the topic it’s about has already been debunked several times and I honestly think his great grandson is just trying to cash in on the fame, especially with the movie Devil in the White City with Leonardo DiCaprio coming out and the popularity of the novel. Every time I hear about the documentary on the History Channel I feel a rant brewing and ready to bubble up. H.H. Holmes was NOT Jack the Ripper! I could get into a whole detailed timeline showing why he wasn’t, or the many glaring and obvious reasons that he could not be Jack, but I would rather leave that fun to you. Seriously, go read up on both of them. Though the history is gruesome, it is also very fascinating and once you educate yourself, you will also realize how impossible it was for H.H. Holmes to be Jack.

I’m going to end this blog post before I go off on a serial killer tangent.

Until next time…. stay shadowy.

Redheads Writing in Cafes — except when it’s the front porch

The sun — it burns! IT BURNS! When you are so pale that you look like you may be dead — the sun is your enemy. It’s extra evil when you forget to bring your sunscreen. I’ve been to the grocery store twice now and both times forgot to pick up some. Yesterday my mom scavenged through the medicine cabinet to find a tube of SPF 30 that expired in 2012. Might be time to get a new tube Mom! Maybe? Until I remember to buy a tube, I will be hiding out in the safety of the shade. This is what happens when you are part vampire.

Two mornings in a row at 3 am I have been awoken by a strange noise outside. A low, guttural clicking noise. It sounds like it is coming from the side yard, just on the other side of the deck. Is this an animal? A reptile? What makes this kind of noise? Zombies? Werewolves? The neighbours? Every time I am up north, it always feels like the beginning of a horror movie.

Then there are the crows.

7:30 am on the dot, second morning in a row, my wake up call was the very loud, very boisterous cawing of crows congregating on the fence beside my parents house. At least a dozen of those gleaming black beauties cackling away at each other. This sound is music to my ears. I love crows and ravens. Once I finally stumbled out to the kitchen, I could see them all lined up along the rail-tie fence. Then I spotted her. A massive raven perched on the roof of the house directly above them. She looked regal, as if she was looking down at her coven.

Ravens are my spirit animal.

I have always been fascinated by crows and ravens. More so ravens. They are birds that work in communities, who protect each other, are super intelligent and seem to be in tune with the energies around them. Many of my women partners-in-crime see themselves with houses filled with cats when they are in their eighties, I see myself with a house filled with ravens and crows. No. I’m not kidding. Two of my favourite things are a charcoal drawing of a raven that my super talented friend Laurie made and a small statue of a raven pulling flesh from a skull. My perfect creepy house, when I’m in my eighties and nineties will include a raven, on a perch near the front entrance. You definitely don’t need a fancy alarm system or a guard dog if you have a raven on the watch.

I’m going to be at my parents for at least another week. I’m hoping to get a good photo of the raven. I may need to figure out where in Toronto to find ravens and crows. It would be a good series of photos to take with my DSLR. For now, while at my parent, I will need to rely on my cell phone camera.

Until tomorrow… stay creepy.

Fabulous February

I can’t believe that it is February already! I have some fabulous shows happening! For my features, I will do some of my naughtier spoken word pieces 😉 xo

Lizzie Violet’s Cabaret Noir: Featuring David Bateman, Regina Dentata, Shikha and Special guest Dan Thompson.

https://www.facebook.com/events/587995767998638/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

I will be interviewed on CIUT FM – February 10th @ 10 pm (invite to come)

http://www.ciut.fm/shows-2/spoken-word/howl/

Featuring at the Nik Beat Tribute at Winterfolk @ The Black Swan – February 15th from 3 pm to 5 pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1588658454702073/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

Hosting Wonderfest Poetry Series @ Habits Gastropub – February 19th doors open at 8:30 pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/869960529692354/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Featuring at Makin’ A Racket at the Rocket” – February 20th starting at 7:30 pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/605164479615942/

Winter Wonderland @ Hirut – Details to come!

November, November, NOVEMBER!

Now that we have gotten through the awesomeness of ROCKtober… are you ready for the rustlings of November? I hope so, cause it’s crammed with just as much awesome!!!

Here is some of the amazing stuff going on!

November 6 – Wordspell | Featuring Tanya Neuymeyer and Lamoi.

Doors open at 7pm | Open Mic sign up at 7:30| Show at 8|Free Times Cafe (320 College Street)

Tickets at door: $6 and up

ALL ages & genders welcome in the audience!

Open mic is open to those who identify as women, is held after the feature performances and is limited to 4 minutes per poet.

Find out more about the series at:
Group page: www.facebook.com/groups/WordSpellTO
Website: http://cytopoeticsevents.com/wordspell
Follow on Twitter: WordSpellTO
Email: WordSpellTO@gmail.com

November 10 – LizzieViolet’s Cabaret Noir | Featuring Dom Pare, Imogene Quest and Giraffe

Doors open at 7 pm

The Central is at 603 Markham Street.

We will have limited open mic spots (for poets, performers and musicians). Sign up starts at 7.

This is a PWYC event. (the door suggested price $5 and up)

November 14 – Songwriters Circle of Jerks 13 …and the ladies who love them.

Doors open at 8:30pm |Free Times Cafe (320 College Street)

Featured act is Lizzie Violet, Cathy Petch & Vanessa McGowan

November 18th – Poetry Open Mic | Details TBA

Doors open at 7 pm

The Central is at 603 Markham Street.We will have limited open mic spots (for poets, performers and musicians). Sign up starts at 7.

This is a PWYC event. (the door suggested price $5 and up)

Size Beautiful

I really wish someone would start a campaign called ‘Size Beautiful’. A campaign to teach women to love their bodies no matter what size or shape they are. Society has us so brainwashed into thinking we have to be a size zero to be accepted, that we will starve ourselves to look that way and this has to STOP! I’m a curvy girl. I’m smart, attractive, creative and most importantly healthy. I’m NOT a SIZE! I refuse to be a SIZE! When someone asks me what size I am, I always say ‘I’m this size.’ Women all around the world also need to stop being sizes! Be healthy!

I’m a recovering Bulimic. I suffered in my teens and twenties, because I also thought I needed to be a certain ‘size’. In the process I screwed up my metabolism and my health. I’ve since fixed my physical health and hopefully most of my mental health since accepting I’m not a ‘size’. We place so much importance on size that we forget the most important things are being healthy and taking care of ourselves. As a curvy girl and a Vegan, I constantly get this question. ‘You’re a Vegan, but you aren’t….. (they pause because they can’t say it, SKINNY). I always respond, ‘I’m Vegan and I eat well.’ I have an incredibly healthy diet, I am active (though no athlete) and have no health issues, my body isn’t meant to be thin, or muscular or any other shape than this shape. I’m proud that to be this shape. I LOVE that I have curves.

There was a time when society coveted curvy women. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Mae West and Jayne Mansfield were idolized by all. Women wanted to be like them and men wanted them. These women couldn’t keep men out of their beds. When did this stop? It never should have. Where along the way did society stop believing that women shouldn’t have curves? We need to take a step back, look at woman as a woman, not as some image a magazine portrays as what a woman needs to look like. If you are one of those people who won’t date, befriend or love a woman because of her size, try looking beyond the package and you will see you are missing out on being with a fabulous human being. You are missing out on someone who is beautiful both inside and out. I grew up being told over and over again by my father that everyone is beautiful, no matter what their packaging is. I never used to ‘get it’, but I do now. He’s right.

Wait! Wait one darn minute! Why am I waiting for someone else to start this campaign? Let’s all start it right here, right now! Stop being a size. Start being healthy. Be size beautiful.

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