LIX - Newsletter

Hey LIX Chicks!

How's it going? I am thrilled to report that the world's longest skating rink is now closed...I no longer have to think up plausible excuses why I can't go skating with Lucy and our daughter! Yipppppeeee! Daylight has been extended an extra hour and spring is in the air!

And we have more reasons to celebrate this month...first and foremost, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on March 1st that same-sex survivors are now entitled to Canada Pension Plan benefits if their spouse died after April 17, 1985. Same-sex survivors can now claim these benefits but recovery of back payments will be limited to the 12 months prior to the date the application for pension benefits is received. The ruling in this case Canada (Attorney General) v. Hislop is the culmination of a long fight that gay pioneer, George Hislop, pursued until his death in October of 2005. I hope George is looking down and cheering, martini in hand!

The second reason we can celebrate is (sound of drum roll): Proud Chicks Dance Party 3 will take place at Lakeside Gardens on Friday, August 24th from 9:00 - 1:00. Yes LIX chicks, your steering committee has set the date for the best women's dance of the year! Kerry woke up from a dead sleep at 3:00 a.m. a couple of weeks ago and shrieked 'Oh my God...we haven't booked the hall yet!'. Since she lives alone, she played a few hundred games of solitaire and then promptly called the Ron Kolbus Centre as soon as it opened. For any women who are new to LIX, I just want to give you the heads-up that this dance sells out every year and it is a blast!

This is our third annual lesbian dance to celebrate PRIDE and this year will be even better as we have rented the patio as well as the hall. So you'll be able to wander outside, drinks in hand and visit with those few of us pariahs who still smoke. And speaking of smoking, there is a serious matter that I must bring to your attention. It is imperative that women smoking whatever substances do so OUTSIDE. A few insidious 'butts' were found in one of the washrooms last year and, as a result, we have been warned that any repeats of that behaviour will result in us not being able to rent the hall again. So please keep this in mind. The actions of one or two people could blow this whole event for LIX and I, for one, love this dance! Okay...enough wrist slapping.

I'm very happy to report that many of our LIX members participated in the Ten Oaks Project bowlathon which raised over $17,000 this year. The team that strong-armed...I mean, encouraged...me to bowl with them was The LIX Chicks. We were very fortunate in our fundraising efforts...collecting over $3000. Luckily, the pledges were not calculated by the number of pins we knocked down as we were, without a doubt, the worst bowlers in the place. But we looked fabulous in our matching LIX Chicks t-shirts. The LIX Chicks (Lucy, Kerry, Marie, Karen, Joyce, Joan and little Ana) would like to thank all of the people who sponsored us on March 3rd. Click here for photos.

On March 6th, we held our second coffee meeting at the new location...The Roasted Cherry. Lucy had negotiated with the manager and succeeded in getting a microphone for use in the introductions and five-minute infomercial sections of the meeting. What a difference sound makes! Even those LIX members who were nervous, found this cordless mic a breeze. Who knew we had such a talented group of singers in our midst until we were treated to a couple of impromptu renditions of Moon River. And once we could hear each other clearly, I located half a dozen of my ex-lovers in the crowd who I didn't even know had joined LIX!

Our five-minute infomercial presenter was Maggie Ashton of Ashton & Associates, an accounting, bookkeeping and taxation firm. Maggie gave us tons of useful information about filing our tax returns. She also worked the room smoothly with that microphone as she answered members' questions. I'm not going to attempt to summarize the presentation as I haven't a bloody clue how to file my own return. I find self-employment delightfully sane and straightforward except at tax time. Thank you Maggie for a very useful presentation and for the life-saving work you do on my taxes every year. You can visit Maggie's web site at www.ashtontax.ca.

Just a quick reminder that our LIX dinner/speaker meeting takes place at The Pantry this coming Monday, March 19th. Doors open at 6:00 to allow you to select your table and visit with your friends before dinner. Helen Humphreys will have her books on sale and we're still trying to convince Alex Brett to bring a box of her books to sell. (Wendy can be very persuasive so expect to see Alex behind that book table.)

I see that there are a few new links and business cards on our Members Links page of the LIX web site www.girlswanttoknow.com. If you've got a business to promote, please consider taking advantage of this free advertising opportunity. You don't need to have a web site to join the growing number of LIX members who are listed there. If you'd like to add your business information to the site, please send an email to the fabulous Wendy at wendy@imaginationseverything.com. As always, we encourage you to support the business ventures of our LIX members.

Special Interest Groups and Activities:

1. Conversational French Classes. The conversational French group has just wound up a very fun and successful 3 month class and are planning their next 3 month session to start in April. They've booked their teacher and will be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. If you're interested in joining them for this next session, or have any questions, please contact Sibyl at sibylfrei@rogers.com. Women of all levels of ability are invited.

2. Women's Beach Volleyball. Elizabeth is trying to get together a team of about nine women for the Women's Beach Volleyball Games held at Mooney's Bay. The league is run by the city. Games are Monday evenings between 6:00 - 9:00 and run from May 28th until August 13th. The cost is $68.50 per player. If you're interested in joining, please contact Elizabeth at elizabeth.youngman@ottawa.ca.

3. Lesbian Latin Dance Classes. Djuna is looking for other lesbians who are interested in taking Latin dance classes (cha-cha, salsa, merengue, rhumba, etc.) at the Let's Dance Studio on Colonnade Road. All levels of dance experience welcome. Come out and learn some sizzling new moves for the dance floor! Classes will be held once a week for 9 weeks, cost app. $120/couple. For more information, please call Djuna at (613) 324-4746.