Local artist Maren Conrad spent six weeks creating a collection of paintings titled “Politically Vulnerable” that depicts ten wives, girlfriends and lovers of California governors, both past and present – but you won’t see it hanging from the walls of the Vanguard bar when it opens downtown this weekend, as was originally planned. “Art is supposed to provoke conversation,” Conrad said in response to the bar owners pulling her collection after complaints. “That’s why we as artists create. It’s so unfeminist to say these powerful, courageous women don’t get to be put on that wall, and I’m not surprised that men are cowering away from this issue.”   The players On June 7 while Conrad was g

Hear from two young women who successfully petitioned Seventeen magazine to stop Photoshopping girls. Meet the feminist media critic who started a Kickstarter campaign to examine gender stereotypes in video games. And Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, is on tap as well. These women, along with other speakers, will be streamed to TEDxSacramento Women 2012, an intimate speaking engagement event to be held Saturday, Dec. 1, at The Urban Hive. The main TEDxWomen event – and where most speakers will be – is being held in Washington, D.C. This marks the city's first TEDxWomen event, though the organization has held nine independently organized TED events. "In Sacramento, it will be

T-Mo Entertainment’s annual Holiday Jam showcased local talents’ finest this past Saturday, Nov. 24, at the Guild Theatre. For only a $10 admission, the show was affordable to all, with proceeds going to local homeless shelters and T-Mo’s Boy to a Man workshop. The theatre is illuminated starkly in the quaint Oak Park neighborhood - truly a diamond in the rough. Local vendors lined the theatre walls with a vast array of handmade jewelry, music and clothing. Jennifer Bernard, founder of Haute Baubles Jewelry & Accessories, was one of many vendors in attendance. Her handmade glittering jewels sparkled across black velvet fabric, enticing, yet affordable. Bernard, who works full time, explai

Kelley Rees and Magdelena Ford were fired up when they followed the Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte Get-Out-the-Vote bus from the Capitol building Friday to Reno, where they will be through Super Tuesday. Rees and Ford, both 22, recently graduated from UC Davis and had never done volunteer campaign work before. But they felt there is so much at stake for young women in this election that they jumped at the chance to talk to voters in Washoe County, the key swing county in the key swing state of Nevada. They are among hundreds of Californians who have headed to Nevada during the final days before the election to get voters to the polls. “Mitt Romney and lots of members of Congress w

It's time once again for Mercy's fabulous women's event, Care Begins with Me. The event is on Tuesday, October 9 from 5 - 9 pm at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento. Guest speaker, Reneé Rongen, will deliver her humorous, powerful and life changing message about how to "Live Life from the Inside Out." Reneé Rongen is a nationally recognized speaker and author who has been dubbed by media as "The Mother of Motivation and a combination of Lily Tomlin, Oprah and Mother Teresa." her messages transcend age, culture and profession. Reneé's comedic timing, coupled with her acclaimed gift as a master story teller, will leave you feeling uplifted and inspired. In addition, throughout the night,  atten

'50 Shades of Grey ' If you have read the trilogy you have feelings about them. The good, the bad. The possibly pornographic nature of the content. Let me say that I read the trilogy. The books were unlike anything I had ever read, but as a (relationship) writer and an avid book reader, I felt the need to figure out what they were all about. I was not prepared for what I read, but I, like half the women on earth, was gripped by the story. I must have read all three books in less than four days. Although controversial in nature and seemingly improbable in theory, I believe this to be the reason women have been falling over themselves about the possibility of a movie being made out of the

  Read Casey Kirk's take on Wanderlust 2012 here.  Photos by Steven Chea.

A cloud of incense, copious amounts of body hair and tree-hugging hippies vomiting love and sunshine all over each other. These are things that might come to mind when envisioning Wanderlust, a music and yoga festival nestled in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. While the love and sunshine part might be partially (and pleasantly) true, the rest couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, Squaw Valley was transformed over the weekend into a gathering place for fit, radiant and well-kept yogis and yoginis of all ages and backgrounds, arriving by land and air from various parts of the West Coast. Aimed at creating a community around mindful living, the festival’s mission is to encourage the p

SACRAMENTO – A sea of red shirts will overtake Crocker Park as hundreds of walkers and runners come together this Saturday, June 16, to participate in the 2nd Annual Go Red Race to benefit the American Heart Association. The Go Red Race, presented by The Golden 1 Credit Union and Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute, is another event in the line-up for the Go Red For Women movement in the Sacramento area. The movement seeks to increase awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women and to inspire the local community to take charge of their heart health. Funds raised from the event will go toward the American Heart Association’s overall goal to help fund research and find better

Susan has been on the cusp of modern medicine her whole life. Having been born with a heart defect, she is no stranger to heart conditions. In 1959, Susan was born with an interatrial septal defect, also known as a hole in the heart. When Susan was only 2 years old, she had open heart surgery to repair her heart. The procedure, which was still very new, was performed by the famous pioneering heart surgeon, Denton A. Cooley, M.D. The hole was surgically closed and Susan went on to have a happy, healthy and normal childhood. It wasn’t until Susan was in her late 20s that her heart started having problems – problems that were completely unrelated to her heart condition as a child. In June

Since her twenties, Linda felt like she had the word "smoker" tattooed on her forehead whenever she'd see a doctor. Her symptoms – shortness of breath, dizziness, fatigue – were always chalked up to her smoking habit. "Of course, I knew that my smoking contributed to my symptoms, but I wished I had a doctor who would be proactive about my health, even though I'm a smoker," she said. As Linda got older, she became increasingly concerned about her health. “I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse,” she said. “It’s a common condition that explained a lot of my symptoms. But I found out later that was a misdiagnosis – my condition was much worse.” Around her 50th birthday, suspected she may

Sacramento State’s University Union UNIQUE Programs, Student Health & Counseling Services, and Active Minds are pleased to announce The Vagina Monologues at the Sacramento State University Union Ballroom at 7:30 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012. Eve Ensler, a playwright and feminist, wrote The Vagina Monologues. The monologues are a compilation of Ensler’s interviews with hundreds of women on their views and experiences of sex, relationships, and violence and cover issues of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexual self-discovery. Sac State’s production will include only student actresses reciting the dialogues. The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day, a global activist movement to end violenc

For the holidays, Plates Cafe and Catering is serving Christmas cookies, baked and prepared by the women in St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children. St. John's provides shelter, education and childcare to homeless women with children. As part of the shelter's six- to 12-month training program, Plates Cafe and Catering, located at 14 Business Parkway, serves as an on-the-job training site for the shelter, where the women perform restaurant positions such as cooks, waitresses and hostesses, Stuart Edgcombe, 46, Chef at Plates Cafe and Catering, said. "It's more than just cooking," Edgcombe said. "It's teaching them life lessons." Teresa Kamekona, 39, said her experience at Plat

Bridging the gap between male and female bicycle enthusiasts, female mechanics at the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen are helping women learn the technical skills needed to maintain and repair their own bicycles. Bicyclette is an after-hours session hosted by Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen, located at 1915 I St., that is exclusive to women, transgender and female-identified people, according to Andrea Havelaar, 37, outreach coordinator for the shop. The free session is held from 6 - 9 p.m. every third Monday of the month. "In our society, there is the tendency for guys to do things for a woman instead of thinking that she has to do it for herself," mechanic Robin Evans said. The Midtown resident

Daisies, Tomatoes and Parsnips, Oh My! The relationship between what you grow and the air you breathe Researchers at the University of Virginia found that air pollution is destroying flower fragrance, making it harder for bees to find flowers when foraging. This proves that the relationship between the air we breathe and what we grow can be a crucial factor on whether your garden will have the best petunias on the block or whether they fall flat. The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and the air districts of the region want to provide tips on how you can make the most out of your garden. This can be done while reducing pollutants in the air you breathe and bringing

This Saturday female skateboarders and street artists are teaming up at Granite Skate Park, located on Ramona Avenue, to spend the afternoon skateboarding together and celebrating art. From noon - 3 p.m. Few and Far, an organization working to create connections among female artists and skateboarders, will be hosting its first Few and Far Skate Jam. This is the first skate event that Few and Far has hosted but they “plan on making it an annual event,” said Joanna Mahaffy, the skateboard representative for Few and Far. Few and Far is an organization that is based out of northern California and seeks to connect women interested in street art and skateboarding from around the globe. Few

The smell of chocolate truffles, orange cream and strawberries flooded the KVIE commercial kitchen Wednesday morning as Women’s Empowerment graduates were hard at work. Making 1,200 desserts for 550 people was no easy task, but the 10 women took on the challenge with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. The desserts are for the 10th Anniversary Celebration of Independence Gala that benefits Women’s Empowerment, a Sacramento non profit that helps homeless women find jobs and housing for their families. The gala is Thursday from 5:30 - 9 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt, 1215 J St. The women worked diligently to make the perfect cheesecake bites from a recipe of one of the graduate’s grea

Living in the city and wondering how you can do your part to Spare The Air and maintain your glamorous self? The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and the air districts of the Sacramento region have five trendy tips to help you learn how to help improve the air quality while being chic in the Sacramento region. 1. Be a Nerd Doing your part to help the environment and society is not always easy. You are studying for your biology midterm and not quite sure why it has to involve frogs. Then, last week you picked up an extra shift at the coffee shop to pay for that can’t-take-my-eyes-off-every-time-I-walk-past-the-window scarf at the boutique on J Street. On top of work

Do you watch the Millionaire Matchmaker? No, me either. Did you see the episode where the guy reserved the baseball stadium for his date—first date, mind you—because they were both huge baseball fans? He had dinner served in the empty park, just the two of them in the stands during the off-season. He then proceeded to romance her with tales of what a great story it would make for them to tell their children one day, mom and dad’s first date…blah, blah, blah. It continued on to be an incredibly romantic evening, and she was completely swept off her feet. Later, in the Matchmaker’s office, he admitted that he had no intention of ever calling her for a second date, for what I reason I no l

“Freedom has not come as a gift, but as a triumph.” –Alice Paul The 1911 victory for California women made California the sixth state to win equal suffrage for women. The California win doubled the number of women who could vote in the United States, building electoral power and support for the 1920 passing of the 19th amendment, which would give all women in the country the right to vote. The Sacramento History Museum has unveiled a unique and wonderfully elaborate exhibition detailing the long struggle women fought to win the vote, not only in California but in all of the United States, aptly titled “We Won the Vote! 100 years of Equal Suffrage in California.” The exhibit displays tru