Women's Liberation Radio News

2/11/19 ~ We hit our goal of $150 but keep donating to keep us alive and thriving! Thanks to those who bought us a hard drive to preserve our handcrafted podcasts.

Wondering how to sustain radical feminist organizations over the long haul? Take a listen to WLRN's Edition 34 dedicated to an in depth exploration of the Vancouver Rape Relief Center & Women's Shelter that has been in existence for 45 years. Our program starts off with the greeting by Damayanti, WLRN’s youngest member from India, who also delivers our world news segment this month. The world news is followed by a radio skit by Jenna and Thistle to help get the word out about our fundraiser to raise $150 for WLRN's own hard drive to back up all of our media files. Next, is the song Dead Men Don't Rape by 7 Year Bitch followed by an interview Julia did with Laurel McBride of the Vancouver Rape Relief Collective. Dominique Christina is next with her spoken-word piece called "The Period Poem" and is from a live recording WLRN captured of Christina performing it at the Vancouver Rape Relief Center's annual Montreal Massacre Remembrance event in early December of last year. Then, learn a ton from member of the V

Welcome back sisters to another hour of women’s liberation music on WLRN! I’m Phoenixx and it is the end of January 2019. Someone said the other day that it felt like the 74th of January! In some ways the month has felt interminable--like it’s just not passing quickly enough. And that it’s just been two Januarys of insanity, violence, hate and abuse and still no impeachment!!!! Luckily, we still have these airwaves of radical women’s liberation feminist thought, action and music as refuge for us refugees fleeing from the continual onslaught of misogyny and male supremacy. A few months ago I put out a call for current women’s music that take on real issues relevant to us as radical feminists and Lesbians. Songs that include such themes like sexism, male supremacy/violence, female revolution, the war on women and girls. Recently I was gifted the album Cronesong released in June 2018 by The River Hags: Lizzie Yee-Haw, Sally Starflower, Lili Yee and Melanie Gorguny! I first encountered the river hags at Ohio

These songs are meant to carry us down and into our cores. Many of them are from a Tuvan throat singer Sainkho Namtchylak who was born in far south Siberia. According to patriarchal tradition as reported by patriarchal research, women in Tuva were forbidden to throat sing because it was believed the female voices could hurt male relatives or could cause childbirth problems(no comment necessary). In spite of the taboos, Sainkho’s grandmother taught her much of her traditional repertoire from which Sainkho has produced many albums. There is only one all-female folk ensemble who performs Tuvan throat singing: Tyva Kyzy directed by Choduraa Tumat. Unfortunately, I was not able to access their music. Also included in this hour is a sister duo called Ibeyi whose music I heard on the website for one of the first returning gatherings this Summer on MichFest’s land. Ibeyi is a French (with Cuban, Venezuelan and Tunisian origins) musical duo consisting of twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz. The duo sings i

In this interview, WLRN member Robin speaks with Meghan Murphy about her start in radio, her path to Feminist Current, and her recent experiences with online censorship and harassment. Meghan Murphy is a radical feminist writer and journalist who was recently banned from Twitter for posting public information about a man in the news. On January 10th, 2019, Meghan will be appearing at he Vancouver Public Library for a discussion on the effect of gender ideology on women’s and girls’ civil rights. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.

Happy New Year! Sisters, let us start the year right. Let's hit the ground running. Let's speak out and stand up. Women will NOT be silenced. Join the revolution, and take a listen to our freshest edition on the misogynist censorship of women. Our 33rd show begins with an introduction by our newest member, Robin. Then Damayanti's world headlines are followed by "Your Revolution" by Sarah Jones. Julia speaks with Natasha Chart, board member of Women's Liberation Front, about the Wordpress blog Gender Identity Watch. After that interview, Jennifer Lopez's song "Let's Get Loud" segues into Robin's interview with Meghan Murphy, a feminist writer who was banned from Twitter for using male pronouns in reference to a male pedophile. Finally Sekhmet reads the collectively-written commentary to round out the hour. Thank you to all of our fabulous listeners for all your support. We love hearing from you, so let us know what you think. Reach out, and speak up!

Way to the Well Keruna Aye Kerunene Keruna Zamuci se Bozja Majka (Serbian) Kitka Collage of Koleda Carols (Bulgarian) Kitka A gute vokh (Yiddish) Kitka This week I'll continue to read from Sally Miller Gearhart's classic feminist novel The Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women while interspersing chapter readings with music from Keruna and Kitka. Hope you are moved to a deep and powerful remembering of your power as women unto yourselves.

Brought to you directly from Our Feminist Fires, the WLRN collective is happy to release this toasty news program dedicated to Sisterhood & Solidarity this December 2018. In Edition 32, hear the voices of women who attended and participated in the Vancouver Rape Relief Montreal Massacre Remembrance event held on December 1st at the Vancouver Public Library in addition to a recent interview Thistle did with Samantha Berg of JohnStompers.com about her views on the topic. WLRN's Thistle and Julia were able to attend the event in Vancouver and captured some fantastic audio, video and pictures while there. We are still in awe and in gratitude that our collective was invited by the Vancouver Rape Relief Center to participate in their annual event. WLRN's world news segment is written and presented by Thistle and this month's commentary is by Sekhmet SheOwl. The podcast is produced by sound engineer and producer, Jenna DiQuarto. Musical selections are by Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin & Annie Lennox and Tata Vega. O

Crackpot Crone: an Outrageous, Be-Laughing woman; one whose laughter melts down the plastic passions and unpots the potted ones. Syn-Crone-icities n: "coincidences" experienced and recognized by Crones as Strangely significant. Examples: too numerous to be Nagnoted here. Crones reading this (book) are invited to draw from their own experiences to illustrate this definition. Please join me for an hour of HAG music and short readings from Mary Daly's WICKEDARY to Summon all Re-volting Hags on the planet! Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock, you have dislodged a boulder, you will be crushed. -South African Women's Freedom Song, Aug. 9, 1956 Old Woman Linda Shear Trollabundin Eivor Manaus Tellu Tass'on Nain(Here's a Woman) Hedningarna Ancestor Albannach Rosna Livada Laboratorium Piesni Ninety Linda Shear Savage Daughter* Wyndreth Bergensdottir Gy Neski'yn Chant of the Ancients Carolyn Hillyer A Song We All Knew How To

In this extended interview, April talks with Danielle and Eileen of the Vancouver Lesbian Collective about their experiences at the 2018 Vancouver Dyke March and the climate for lesbians in an (ironically) increasingly sexist and lesbophobic queer culture.

Welcome back, sisters, to another hour of women's liberation music. This week I've gathered songs from my library that lend themselves to uplift. You know when you watch birds take flight and they catch the draft that pulls them effortlessly higher? Or if you watch pelicans over the waves in their V formation, how they lift up together, seemingly as one with the air currents? That's the effect I went seeking in this tapestry of songs this week. Not giving you a list to peruse ahead of time; just tune in and see where the V formation takes you. :-) I promise it will be entertaining and fun, uplifting. Hope you enjoy!

On October 25th, Thistle spoke with three lesbians by phone about their experiences at the San Francisco Dyke March on June 23rd. The march took place soon after the unveiling of the San Francisco Public Library's "art exhibit" featuring the Degenderettes' baseball bats and hatchets in barbed wire in addition to a red paint-stained t-shirt that said "I punch TERFs." The unveiling of this exhibit paved the way for anti-lesbian and anti-woman sentiment and harassment to thrive at the San Francisco Dyke March and also for anti-feminists around the world at other Gay Pride and Lesbian events to have a strong presence. Hear these three women share their personal stories and how they touched and influenced women across the globe. The song featured is "What's Up" by 4 Non-Blondes.

This show celebrates the authentic creative expression and powerful voices of womyn, undiluted by male interference. We hear about solidarity between womyn, mental illness and healing, the pure joy of female love and friendship, the pain of isolation that many lesbians experience, black butch life in 1920s America, the charisma of womyn who stand in their power, two luminous songs from womyn who are/were probably autistic, and a plea and a prayer from a working class womon that we can all wake up to our own power and empathy. 01 The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism 02 Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her 03 Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl 04 Robots In Disguise - Girl 05 Seven Year Bitch - Dead Men Don't Rape [Peel Session] 06 Natalie Prass - Sisters 07 Daphne Oram - Bird of Parallax [excerpt] 08 Cocteau Twins - Lorelei 09 Amy Winehouse - Valerie 10 Noisettes - Never Forget You 11 Eleanor Friedberger - Cathy With The Curly Hair 12 Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On 13 Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey - Prove It On Me Blues 14 Sara

If Halloween wasn't scary enough for you this year, listening to this podcast will send a chill down your spine as it is packed with stories from lesbians who marched in the streets and were met with violent harassment by fellow marchers at Gay Pride and Lesbian events around the world. Edition 31 starts off with Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl", a spooky greeting from Jenna and then WLRN's world news as presented by Julia. "Welcome to Hell" an SNL skit is up next before the listener hears an excerpt of an interview WLRN's April did with Eileen & Danielle Cormier, two lesbians who marched in Vancouver at their regional Dyke March in August. That interview is followed by Pat Benatar's "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" before we turn to excerpts of an interview Thistle did with Sherri Golden, Giovanna Capone & Vanessa, three lesbians who marched in June at the San Francisco Dyke March. Finally, we hear Thistle's commentary on what the L is going on with the L in the LGBT and the personal targeting of her by trans activist

Playlist: I Believe Her (acoustic and electric guitar) Emma's Revolution Cleanin' Out My Closet Trigger Warning! (Explicit rap) Angel Haze *You can read about this brave sister's story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Haze Casualty in My Own House (acoustic folk) Holly Near Abatina (reggae) Calypso Rose Me and A Gun (acoustic) Tori Amos Caleb Meyer (folk) Gillian Welsh Love is Blind **I chose the 'clean version' because I'm not comfortable (as a white woman) using a song that uses the 'n word' (Rap and Hip Hop) Eve Quarterback (country) Kira Isabella Liar (punk/heavy metal?) Bikini Kill Touch Me Again (Explicit punk/alternative rock) Petrol Girls The Body Electric (Alternative Rock) Hurray for the Riff Raff Closing song: We Will Carry Them Forever in Our Scars(shamanic) Carolyn Hillyer This week's music hour is intense, sisters. The theme in and of its

On June 23rd, the the afternoon of the San Francisco Dyke March this year, Bay Area author, filmmaker, and lesbian Giovanna Capone led a discussion on the herstory of butch lesbian culture present in the Bay Area in the 90s. On the call are Mel Stapper, Pippa Fleming, and Artemis Passionfire. We open the discussion with a poem written by Ms. Capone, titled Endangered Equals At Risk, read by WLRN's Sekhmet She-Owl.

This week, Phoenixx features Alix Dobkin in concert! Alix performed a sold out local house concert this past week! Phoenixx tried her skills at recording the concert, as well as interviews with attending dykes who had stories to share about Alix over the years. What a blast it was! Now we have these Lesbian songs, words and stories preserved with this week's Women's Liberation Music Hour! (actually it's more like an hour and a half!)Enjoy Lesbian Herstory being created and preserved! And thanks to all the dykes who contributed their beloved stories of such a beloved 'Dykon' as Alix Dobkin! That's her featured in the picture at the house concert. Thanks for staying tuned to WLRN.

Thanks for your patience. We are one day late so that we could make this WLRN podcast great! Our 30th edition features the world news read by April Neault, Julia's interview with Sheila Jeffreys and Thistle's interview with three young women who attended the Ohio Lesbian Festival last month and hung out at the WLRN table in the marketplace. The team at WLRN gives a special shout-out this October to our sisters in Great Britain who are coming out publicly and organizing with articulate arguments and good humor. Thanks for your work and for the inspiration! We focus in on the subject of Lesbian Feminism in this edition and are very grateful for the words of Sheila Jeffreys on this topic. Julia rounds off the podcast with her commentary about her experiences becoming a lesbian and why lesbianism is at the forefront of the women's liberation movement. Thanks for staying tuned to feminist powered community radio. Click on the donate button on our wordpress site to make a contribution to keep us blasting into the f

WLRN's Julia Beck had the pleasure of interviewing Otep Shamaya, lead singer and namesake of the band Otep, about her experiences as a woman and out Lesbian in the rock scene. Otep was the first female-fronted band to headline Ozzfest. With politically inspired lyrics and heavy metal riffs, her music sends a message of revolution. You can find Otep's new album, Kult 45, online and in stores now.

A group of lesbians founded the Pussy Church of Modern Witchcraft in 2017 to create a spiritual home for women and girls. This Maryland-based Church of female-born women is devoted to the liberation of women and girls from the oppression females face based on sex. The Pussy Church of Modern Witchcraft observes earth-based spiritual practices and is made up of diverse congregations of women around the United States and the world. You can receive updates about the Church at https://pussychurchofmodernwitchcraft.com/connect. The Pussy Church will hold its first conference in April 2019 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: SOLIDARITY: A Radical Feminist Conference. You can submit a workshop proposal or find more information at https://pussychurchofmodernwitchcraft.com/2018/07/25/solidarity-a-radical-feminist-conference/. Thistle spoke with Sister Dandelion on the phone to get the scoop on the church's mission and what it hopes to accomplish.