because I'm a girl too

If you live in Canada (or the UK), this is a good place to start:

www.plancanada.ca or www.plan-uk.org

I wanted to go to a fundraiser for Haiti relief last night, but was too exhausted. I asked my co-worker, who was organizing the event, if I could contribute anyway and she sent me to Plan Canada's website. Whatever donations you make will be matched by the government to sweeten the deal. While digging around on their website, I found some great opportunities to help.

Maybe you have seen the "Because I am a Girl" campaign ads on the subway? This is a great program that helps young girls in developing countries that are condemned to lives of inequality and poverty. Some stats from the website:

-Girls aged 15-19 account for 50% of victims of sexual assault worldwide
-Birth complications and unsafe abortions are the leading cause of death for young women aged 15-19

-Seventy per cent of the 1.5billion people living on less than a dollar a day are female
-Stunted growth in estimated 450million women as a result of childhood malnutrition
-Approximately 7.3million young women are living with HIV/AIDS, in comparison to 4.3million men
-Two thirds of 15-19-year-olds newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female

There is an option to sponsor a child, and buy gifts of hope including home birthing kits and literacy training for 2 women ($100!). Who's with me on this? Lets get involved. If women's issues aren't your thing, you can buy a clean water for a family, polio vaccines, mosquito nets, mango trees, a pig, cow or goat and then write it off on your taxes. Everybody wins!

some hearts bleed

I have to post a response about Haiti because I can't stop thinking about Haiti.

Like many, I don't really know what to do about this tragedy or any other. The amount of people on the nightly news who want to lend a hand, a dollar, their time and energy is uplifting. For every person who cares, there are many more who do not want to think or talk about sad or depressing circumstances. I find it impossible to forget the suffering of the world through the comforts of western life. I created this blog in the hopes that the process would lead to my learning how to be an active activist.

So, donate to Red Cross when I'm buying groceries? It feels sickening to have so much. Its like, okay, here is my twoonie for the good cause and now I can go back and watch tv and read fashion magazines and forget again.

I hope to find ways to give. I will share them with you.

inspiration vs. perspiration

Thomas Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

I find myself chasing after that elusive 1% all the time. They are slippery, those moments of clarity when the ideas come to you perfectly out of thin air. If you're not careful, these precious moments will slide aside in a heartbeat to accommodate any old mundane distraction.

Why does the inspiration always strike in the most inopportune times? In the shower when hands are wet and soapy and one cannot write down the words that are coming together. While walking, trying to fall asleep, and especially right before work. When inspiration hits with the poorest of timing, I always convince myself that I will remember; that the ideas will come back to me just as naturally as they had in the first place.

And I never quite get them back intact. Not with the same gusto anyway.

This is where the perspiration comes in.

something to look forward to

What a truly heartwarming idea.

Whether you are interested in them or not, babies are the great equalizer. No matter where you live or how, the experience of having children really levels the playing field. I love the way this film captures that magic and gives us a cross cultural glimpse of how similar we all are as human beings. The trailer alone speaks volumes about culture (different and universal simultaneously) and the natural world vs. modern times. This film has the same kind of thought provoking imagery as the 1992 materpiece Baraka.

I can't wait to see this documentary, mostly for the footage of Nambia and Mongolia. That scene with the little mongolian baby crawling across the field, mountains in the distance, makes me so unbelievably happy! And the babies in Nambia playing with rocks in the dirt... Perfection.

good omen

My heart shaped macadamia nut.

I wish I could read german

German's most popular women's magazine, Brigitte, has declared it will no longer use professional models. Instead Brigitte will feature a mix of prominent women and readers from ages 25-45. Just the age range alone is revolutionary!! The magazine has called upon its readers to model and to give feedback about who they would like to see in future issues.

This is huge! This is political. I applaud the publishers of Brigitte and the women of Germany for embracing such a progressive concept!

I am sure the fashion world is gasping in horror at such a decision, but women everywhere should be cheering! I am.

There is no disputing the fact that the media and advertising need to improve the images that are being sent out to young women (and everyone really). There is no denying that young women are more f-ed up about their bodies than ever, and that eating disorders are literally a house hold problem.

Young women of today are consumed and using their vital energy to change themselves physically and conform to beauty ideals that are unrealistic and so difficult to achieve. This is inextricably linked to the cycle of patriarchy. How can a woman have any real power if her life is devoted to chasing the beauty myth?

Holding on to our current demented ideals of female beauty is not doing the world any good. I don't understand why the fashion industry is so dead set on maintaining this standard, other than it is established and generates an awful lot of money. I, for one, am really tired of being told how to be cool, how to look, what to like and what to buy.

Of course, someone always has to be a critic. Brigitte is already getting flack for not doing enough to change the beauty standard and fight against anorexia. They are still featuring actors and other conventionally beautiful women. In my opinion, change takes time and you can't undo hundreds of years of beauty brainwashing overnight. Lets just hope that Brigitte magazine can be brave enough to continue to buck the system and influence others to follow suit.

I dream of spaces

Remember that song by the Scorpions? Winds of change? Yeah, the one with the whistling... (Apologies in advance for sticking it in your head too).. I am (regretably) hearing this song in my head while I comb the internet in search of wonderful apartments in victorian houses on side streets with lots of space

and high ceilings

and tall windows

and laundry

and outdoor space

and closets

(that I can actually afford to rent).

Herringbone floors would be really nice as well. I am obsessed with herringbone floors. Is that too much to ask? Does such a place even exist? The winds of change are blowing again...

My constant urge to change spaces began with my nomadic mother. She would pack up and move our little family to a new apartment or city, or even one time to live like locals in Puerto Vallerta, whenever the wind blew or life demanded it. And I adopted this way of life as my own. A desire for new surroundings like a blank canvas with which to start over again. This next move that I am dreaming of will be my 46th. By some miracle, not once have I ever lost my keys.

Over the holidays, I had lunch with an old friend who told me her parents had to sell her childhood home. The place she grew up and lived in her entire pre-adult life. I felt a twinge of sadness upon hearing this news, but surely nothing in comparison to the loss she must feel to part with a place so rich with memories.

Perhaps I am ready to know what home feels like.

new life

I always enjoy a little retrospective early on in the new year, even more so when the whole decade is fresh. Something about that zero makes it feel like anything just might be possible if the stars are right. Time to think about what you realllllly want, because chances are its different than what you got last year. And if you're anything like me, you'll do some thinking about where you came from and how far you still have to go. I can't help but wonder how I will ever get there. Sigh.

I thought of writing a list of everything I have done on NYE for the past 10 years. Then I realized that nearly every New Year's Eve has been spent in bars-- working! So I dug up as many old journals as I could find to see what my past resolutions were, only to realize that most every year recorded (15 years and older) I was just as lost and restless as I am now in my thirties. There is nothing like revisiting words from years ago to make one cringe in horror. Although I may still be feeling my way blindly through life, at least I know I've become wiser. (Perhaps I'll even share some of my embarrassing teenage diary when I am feeling self deprecating. We can all have a laugh at the drama of youth!)

In 2010, I will:

learn to drive
write something, anything... (update this blog 3 times a week, among other things)
make a home
make the impossible, possible


What will you do this year? I am genuinely interested; so go on, tell me your dreams!