Cutbanks- the Prince George Cultural Website
Celebrating local women at Jezebel's Jam
By Tyler Clarke, editor
Jezebel’s Jam, the annual celebration of local talented women took place March 8 at Art Space, the venue above Books and Company on Third Avenue downtown, to a respectable-sized supportive audience.
Emceed by the awkwardly humorous Melanie Setter who provided information about various female-centred services available in town, such as the Women’s Centre at UNBC and the Phoenix Transition Society, the event proved to be both an entertaining and informative evening.
UNBC Social Work professor Si Transken provided the audience with a snapshot into her feminist mind. Citing feminist anarchist Emma Goldman, Transken said “Emma is my spiritual mother… Sometimes when I’m having a terrible time with Gordon Campbell… is that a curse word? … and Stephen Harper – when they cut funding and subsidized housing – I think of Emma.”
Transken was the first but certainly not the last performer to demonize our current leaders of government for recent cuts to funding that effect arts, cultural, and social programs.
Transken proceeded to read a few of her poems, while her unique paintings, one of which inspired by clitoris’s, circulated around the audience. One poem focused on the importance of the marks she gives students, and how it’s one of her most hated of moments at UNBC. A mark can potentially mean a lot for a single mom living in her car, Transken explained. Female trio of musicians Mitra Kostamo, on violin, Elaine Yorston, reading poetry, and Theresa Jordan on guitar and vocals then performed a few numbers from their debut CD “Songs of a Woman’s Heart.”
With the female-pride levels now adequately high, a number of performers followed, including a tap dancer, the Zahirah Middle Eastern Belly Dance School, among others. Unique to Jezebel’s Jam were two all-male performance groups the UNBC A-Capella Club and local band Benjamin Button and The Stitches performing their first-ever show.
Next year’s Jezebel’s Jam, Setter said, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and be of a larger scale in honour of it.
Jezebel’s Jam, the annual celebration of local talented women took place March 8 at Art Space, the venue above Books and Company on Third Avenue downtown, to a respectable-sized supportive audience.
Emceed by the awkwardly humorous Melanie Setter who provided information about various female-centred services available in town, such as the Women’s Centre at UNBC and the Phoenix Transition Society, the event proved to be both an entertaining and informative evening.
UNBC Social Work professor Si Transken provided the audience with a snapshot into her feminist mind. Citing feminist anarchist Emma Goldman, Transken said “Emma is my spiritual mother… Sometimes when I’m having a terrible time with Gordon Campbell… is that a curse word? … and Stephen Harper – when they cut funding and subsidized housing – I think of Emma.”
Transken was the first but certainly not the last performer to demonize our current leaders of government for recent cuts to funding that effect arts, cultural, and social programs.
Transken proceeded to read a few of her poems, while her unique paintings, one of which inspired by clitoris’s, circulated around the audience. One poem focused on the importance of the marks she gives students, and how it’s one of her most hated of moments at UNBC. A mark can potentially mean a lot for a single mom living in her car, Transken explained. Female trio of musicians Mitra Kostamo, on violin, Elaine Yorston, reading poetry, and Theresa Jordan on guitar and vocals then performed a few numbers from their debut CD “Songs of a Woman’s Heart.”
With the female-pride levels now adequately high, a number of performers followed, including a tap dancer, the Zahirah Middle Eastern Belly Dance School, among others. Unique to Jezebel’s Jam were two all-male performance groups the UNBC A-Capella Club and local band Benjamin Button and The Stitches performing their first-ever show.
Next year’s Jezebel’s Jam, Setter said, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and be of a larger scale in honour of it.
