Naked Boys Reading
220 Elgin Street K2P1L7 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Harry Styles is the first non-woman to appear solo on the cover of American Vogue...let alone wearing a dress! In one of the pics he is outfitted by gender flui...d designer @harris_reed ! A lot of people have been asking me what I think about it and I’ll say this: I am holding simultaneity and choosing abundance over scarcity. Am I happy to see Harry be celebrated for openly flouting gendered fashion norms? Yes. Do trans femmes of color receive praise for doing the same thing every day? No. Do I think this is a sign of progress of society’s evolution away from binary gender? Yes. Do I think that white men should be upheld as the face of gender neutral fashion? No. It’s a curious thing this: holding space for joy, while also insisting on a more expansive form of freedom. We can both acknowledge this unprecedented moment while also remembering that it could only happen because of the resistance of trans femmes of color. We who for decades were imprisoned by cross-dressing legislation. Make no mistake: trans femmes of color started this and continue to face the backlash from it. Our aesthetics make it to the mainstream, but not our bodies. We are still dismissed as too much and too queer because we aren’t palatable enough for whiteness and heteronormativity. Is that Harry’s fault? No. It’s the fault of systems of transmisogyny and racism. I want a world where everyone regardless of their gender can wear whatever they want. He is exercising that and giving permission for other people to do the same that makes me so happy!! I can both celebrate this and be cautious about the politics of representation. I truly hope that more trans femmes of color will be given roses, covers, recognition. I hope that people will remember that what is manifest in a magazine does not necessarily materialize on a moving train: when it’s you against transphobia with no one to defend you. I hope I can work with Harry and all people of all genders to #degenderfashion and create a more beautiful world beyond the gender binary. @tylersphotos stylist: @harry_lambert instagram.com/alokvmenon

Join us TONIGHT (Tuesday, November 24 at 7:00 pm) to demand action on our $15 federal minimum wage! Together, we will call the following Ottawa area MPs: - Catherine McKenna (Ottawa Centre): 613-946-8682... - Mona Fortier (Ottawa Vanier): 613-998-1860 - David McGuinty (Ottawa South): 613-990-8640 - Anita Vandenbeld (Ottawa West--Nepean): 613-990-7720 - Marie-France Lalonde (Orléans): 613-834-1800 - Karen McCrimmon (Kanata Carleton): 613-592-3469 - Chandra Arya (Nepean): 613-825-5505 - Pierre Poilievre (Carleton): 613-692-333 Please RSVP to get emailed the Zoom link to join us.

I find it shocking how since resuming indoor dining how many guests have become angry over me telling them to wear their mask properly or to put one on. The vas...t majority of these guest are white men. I often have the wives of these men apologize for their husbands and thank me for telling them to wear their masks indoors. To be clear no one, in my view, has the right to tell a worker anything about the law concering wearing a mask indoors. It is a form of harrasment, for a customer to get in your face about not wearing a mask, while not wearing a mask. The law states that you must cover your face from your chin to your nose, if you do not like it, you will be told to leave. At my workplace we make this clear with a sign on the front door. Workers need to be able to report these angry anti-maskers, they should be fined for their actions and told to leave the establishment right away, folks I repeat this is not a drill, this is my workplace, is you want to be waited on put your mask on. If you cannot see the risk workers are taking in order to serve you, I have no interest in serving you. On a postive note, during these moments of distress with unmasked men, other customers are quick to let me know that I did the right thing, I thank those folks for voicing their support. However, I wish they would say it to the offending guest instead. Friends when you see a worker being harassed by an unmasked patron, stand up for the worker and tell that person to put their mask on or leave. Lets not leave it to the workers to stand up to the cleint, instead lets show some solidarity and make these folks wake up or get out of the way. Fun fact, I am not getting paid a dollar more an hour to deal with all of these new regulations I just get to keep my job, thats it. Why is it left to service workers to enforce the rules ? We need to all come around this issue and enforce the wearing of masks.