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The Times Advocate, 2008-03-05, Page 44 Times—Advocate Wednesday, March 5, 2008 zocna TIMES ADVOCATE Editorial Opinion PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing casts. NI ana a Deb Lord — Production Manager Scott Nixon — Editor CNA 2007 BLUE RIBBON t k The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. Metroland 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 MediaGroup Ltd. Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe -General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL Still a long way to go March 8 is International Women's Day, an event that began as a movement to bet- ter the working conditions for women almost 100 years ago. Working conditions around the turn of the 20th century were deplorable, and women in many countries began holding rallies and marches in an effort to get shorter hours, better pay and the right to vote. The first National Women's Day was observed in the United States on Feb. 28, 1909. The next year an International Women's Day was proposed to honour the women's rights movement and in 1911, on March 19, more than a million people attended 1WD rallies. Less than a week later, a disastrous fire in New York's gar- ment district took the lives of over 140 women, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants. The reason the death toll was so high was because of a door that had been locked to keep the workers inside. The tragic "Triangle Fire" served to punctuate the need for improved conditions in the United States and around the world. In 1917 Russian women began a strike for "bread and peace", succeeding in getting the right to vote and forcing the Czar to abdi- cate. The date, March 8, has marked 1WD ever since. In some places this March 8 will be celebrated by giv- ing little gifts to mothers and other women, much the way we celebrate Mother's Day or even Valentine's Day. In some countries it is an official holiday. Other places mark IWD by celebrating the progress made by women, and reflecting on what still needs to be done. Make no mistake, there is much that needs to be done, with women around the world earning an estimated 30 to 40 per cent less than men for the same work, and making up most of the world's 1.3 billion extreme poor. Yes, we have a number of women in the upper eche- lons of business and industry. Canada has women serv- ing at every level of government and even had a female prime minister briefly. And yes, there are few profes- sions closed to women in this country. But any young woman who thinks PND is a remnant of the bad old days before the battle was won, is in for a rude awakening. The workplace is still a dangerous place for many women. It should be noted that this is not only the 97th anniversary of the first International Women's Day, it is also five years since SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) hit this country. While many of the patients who died contracted the disease through close family contact, a number of victims were the nurses who cared for the sickest patients - and as it turned out, the most contagious. Horribly, there were cases where nurses were not provided with proper protective equipment, particularly face masks. Nurses, most of whom are female, have to cope with the same workplace dangers as other women including getting murdered by an ex-boyfriend. Domestic violence remains a significant cause of disability and death among working -age women everywhere. In addition, nurses deal with constant life -and -death crises, not to mention staffing shortages, lack of job security, and crazy shifts. They should not have to fight for the equip- ment to allow them to do their work safely. Not on my dime As the saying goes, you usually can't tell a book by its cover. But in the case of 'The Hills Have Eyes: the beginning' graphic novel, the cover says it all. As a fan reviewer says on a website, "Staples' cover depicts one of the hills inhabitants preparing to introduce a victim to the business end of an ax" which is the start of 88 pages of a "mind-boggling orgy of blood and vengeance." Which makes it all the more surprising that the mutants have come down from the hills and landed on the shelves of the Exeter and Clinton branch Huron County libraries. For those of you not up on the genre of "torture porn" movies, the Hills Have Eyes was made in 1977 and saw a family with a broke down car trying to fight off a group of mutants created by atomic bomb tests. Following such movies as Saw, Hostel and Wolf Creek, the movie was remade in 2006 and has now spawned a comic book available at your local library. Since my word might be considered old fashioned among more hip and opened -minded readers, a 30 - second spin around the fringes of the internet might be useful to find what else the book's fans are saying about it. At dwscifi.com it's a "blood -splattered look, with some gruesomely effective splash pages of flesh - hungry mutants and slaughtered victims...gory and gripping pulp horror." Meanwhile over at FanGoria,which gives it three and half skulls in its review, they mention "the bloodsoaked images that leave nothing to the imag- ination." aintitcool.com says "This is a gory read -one not for the squeamish and more suited for those gorehounds out there." A more mainstream view comes from Publishers Weekly which says: "will appall tasteful readers while delighting its blood- thirsty core audience by delivering all the expected gore...Palmiotti and Gray deliver the hallmarks of conventional horror— extreme brutality and numbing violence delivered with a minimum of wit or char- acterization. These efforts are ably assist- ed by explicitly detailed, albeit rushed - looking art that manages to capture all the gruesome splatter." And the charming fellows at esplatter say: "This story spares no gore, and fans of these popular films will be absolutely riveted...a very adult comic book." But before the soapboxes are pulled out and the book burner word gets tossed around (although that's a great idea) take a breath. The Catcher in the Rye this isn't and no one is trying to take away anyone's right to read about cannibal mutants in your mother's basement. But I'd just as soon not have to sit across the table from you while you read it in the library. PAT BACK 4 VIEW BOLEN 0 About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. CLOSED ON HOLIDAYS. Contact Us By Phone or Fax Classified ad & subscription sales ....519-235-1331 24-hour automated attendant 519-235-1336 Fax number 519-235-0766 Fax number for accounting dept. 519-235-2449 Subscription Rates One year rate for addresses in Canada: $42+GST Two year rate for addresses in Canada: $75+GST One year rate for addresses outside Canada:$160+GST Call 519-235-1331 to order a subscription. Classified Rates Word ads: $13 for 20 words, 20(t for each additional word+ GST. Notices (births, announcements, coming events, memoriams, cards of thanks): $16 + GST for up to 50 words, All ads must be pre -paid. The classified ad deadline is Monday at 10 a.m. Display Advertising To place a display ad, 519-235-1331 weekdays 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. or evenings 519-235-1336 (leave message) or toll-free at 1-888-270-1602. Deadline: Fri. 2 p.m. Web site: www.southhuron.com E-mail Us TA e-mail addresses consist of the person's first initial and last name followed by @southhuron.com. For example, Deb Lord's e-mail address is dlord@southhuron.com Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team COMPOSITION Manager Deb Lord ext. 103 Nikki Cyr ext. 101 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 101 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Nina Van Lieshout ext. 107 CUSTOMER SERVICE Sue Rollings ext. 101 Jennifer Skonieczny ext. 102 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext 106 Marg Pertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111