Memewar is a free magazine committed to creating conversations between disciplines. As contributors' thoughts clash and merge, we will see what connections, and possible solutions, arise.

Updates & Events:

2008-11-01: The art gala fundraiser event advertised in the latest issue of Memewar that was scheduled to take place on November 16 has been postponed. We are currently working on rescheduling the event for sometime in mid-January. Keep posted for more information. 2008-10-21: Just a reminder that the most recent issue is our OBSCENITY issue, and due to some graphic content has HAS NOT BEEN DEEMED WORK-SAFE! Please be aware of this fact when viewing PDF in a public or office setting (we certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for any lost jobs). 2008-10-10: Thanks to everyone who came out to the release party last night. I know we say this all the time, but without your support we wouldn't have a magazine! The full-colour PDF is now available for download, and hard copies should be at out distribution locations within the week! 2008-10-06: Our webdesigners are hard at work redesigning the Memewar website! Stay tuned for the new and improved website within the next couple months! 2008-09-18: We are proud to announce that Memewar was voted Vancouver's "Best Free Literary Magazine" of 2008 by the Georgia Straight! Check it out in the September 18th issue of the Georgia Straight, or on their website. 2008-06-08: Submit your poetry, prose, art, photography, or essays to Memewar! Upcoming themes are: Issue #8: God(s) and Idols Submission deadline October 31, 2008. Issue #9: Movement Submission deadline February 28, 2009. For more information on submitting to Memewar, see our submission guidelines.

About Issue #7: Parental Advisory

In this issue of Memewar we take a look at the borders between the public and private, the agreeable and abject, and attempt to understand the ways in which we classify. In an essay entitled “It’s Not Easy Being Obscene” Matt Hogan defends obscenity as one of the most important art forms of our time—a mode of expression that is capable of provoking what modern poetry seldom does: dialogue. Further investigating this theme, Dave Gaertner asks whether we can analyze pornographic material through an academic framework, and considers the career of Annie Sprinkle (Pornstar/PhD) for some possible answers. In “Beyond Emotion: Censorship Versus Obscenity” Kurt Beers tackles obscenity from the perspective of a law enforcement officer, suggesting that harmful obscenity does exist in the world and must be censored. Beers does recognize, however, the difficulties inherent in classifying materials as obscene and believes that it is only through intelligent conversation that a consensus on the matter can be met. Finally, Jim Deva of Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium speaks to Memewar about the lack of intelligent conversation between Canadian Border Services and the people they “serve,” and recounts the arduous court battle that came to define the bookstore as a landmark in Vancouver’s Davie Village.