Well, as the whole world knows, there was a very big party last week in Vancouver, our humble headquarters are in the midst of it all. There's a history of problems with drink spiking and drug and alcohol faciliated sexual assault when big events like this happen. SafeVibe is a movement for everyone who wants to keep predators out of the bars and put an end to sexual assault. The more people who actively get involved (men, women, youth, everyone!), the closer we will be to making social change a reality.
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
I loved watching the Canadian women’s hockey team spill onto the ice to celebrate their gold medal win. I almost missed the chance to see the three-time gold metal champions because the coverage of the men’s semi-final round dominated the headlines. But I saw the team gracefully play their way to a gold, lead by the only female coach in Olympic hockey. This victory was only 24 hours after four Canadian women medaled in bobsled, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of the group of women ski jumpers whose frustrating journey to compete in these games has been almost forgotten. And that’s likely because, according to University of Alberta’s Pirkko Markula, “women will have received only 5 percent of pre-Olympics media coverage, and will receive only 25.2 percent during the Games”.
Hailing from the mountain town of Salt Lake City, Utah, Lizzy enjoys picnics, reading on a lazy Sunday morning and adventurous bike rides. After learning about books at the University of Toronto she now calls Vancouver home. She joined Hello Cool World as a member of the LACE campaign action team, and luckily for us, decided to stick around.
One week ago the 2010 Olympic Games opened in Vancouver, HelloCoolWorld’s hometown. Our photographer and friend, Nancy Bleck, Slanay Sp’ak’wus, reflects on the Games First Nation’s focus.
Last Friday, day of the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympic games I watched while some of my First Nations friends participated, and others protested.
During the ‘official’ opening, whether they knew it or not, the world was introduced to a basic lesson in First Nations protocol, or Chiyacx, the traditional law for how to do things in a good way. Those unfamiliar with Chiyacx, may have observed only what they see as ‘dancing and costumes’, what should be understood as regalia and ceremony. What happened was actually an historical first.
Nancy Bleck is an award-winning international artist working with photography, film, video, and cross-cultural collaboration. She was recently honoured with the YWCA ‘Women of Distinction' award in the category of Arts, Culture and Design, for her work on Uts'am - Witness, a project spanning 10 years.
Since Hello Cool World's non-virtual office is in Vancouver we find ourselves in the midst of a pretty big street party! In the coming days, our video team will report from the streets on what is going on in our 'hood. Check out our first video blog-cast from the Opening day "alternative" - the convergence protest the afternoon of February 12, a largely celebratory gathering of thousands of people who wanted their voice heard over the corporate-speak of the official games. Earlier in the day, more peaceful protests disrupted the route of the Olympic Flame relay.
SafeVibe is a movement for everyone who wants to keep predators out of the bars and put an end to sexual assault. A campaign by the Vancouver organization WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women), the SafeVibe community is made up of all genders and sexual orientations who are committed to keeping the party scene safe. Hello Cool World helped design SafeVibe and are hosting it in our "nestwork" of campaign sites. We continue to do whatever we can to help get the word out, such as this interview with SafeVibe Coordinator Michele Murphy!
HCW: Explain the evolution of the SafeVibe Campaign.
SV: The campaign really began with what women were telling us. We know in 2009 that 37% of our hospital accompaniments here at WAVAW were drug and alcohol facilitated sexual assault. This has been a consistent problem that is on the rise instead of a decline. We were seeing that drink spiking, predatory behavior and harassment in bars are a huge problem in Vancouver and the idea for the campaign started to grow.
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
Hailing from the mountain town of Salt Lake City, Utah, Lizzy enjoys picnics, reading on a lazy Sunday morning and adventurous bike rides. After learning about books at the University of Toronto she now calls Vancouver home. She joined Hello Cool World as a member of the LACE campaign action team, and luckily for us, decided to stick around.
Nancy Bleck is an award-winning international artist working with photography, film, video, and cross-cultural collaboration. She was recently honoured with the YWCA ‘Women of Distinction' award in the category of Arts, Culture and Design, for her work on Uts'am - Witness, a project spanning 10 years.
