2/23/2017 0 Comments CuRRENTLY...February.
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2/18/2017 0 Comments Life: we all need a role modelAt three-years-old I may not have been a fully formed human—but I could certainly recognize the kind of human that I wanted to be. For little Leah Zielke, Belle from Beauty and the Beast was my ultimate “goals”. Pretend games around my house constantly involved recreating scenes from “Be Our Guest”, or spinning around the room singing ~~ tale as old as timmmme~~. I would wander around the house pretending I knew how to read, trying to perfect my ‘Belle with her nose in a book’ look. It went beyond pretend games though. There were aspects of Belle’s personality I began to relate to and recognize as qualities to aspire to. She was smart, she was brave, she was a little weird and she loved to read. I learnt from her that I wanted to be someone who was okay with deviating from the norm and embraced being different. I learnt I wanted to be someone who looks beyond others’ appearances or reputations, and takes the time to get to know people. I learnt I wanted to be someone who would do anything for the people they love. And I learnt I wanted to know how to read. ASAP. All of these qualities can be found in many of the other Disney princesses, however it was Belle who I consistently looked up to. The number one reason for that being: She looked like me. She had brown hair and was White, and because of that I was able to project myself onto her. I could see myself embodying her qualities because I was able to essentially watch myself act them out. Everything she did was something I would one day be able to do; weird brunette girls who love to read could be princesses and I was stoked. Being able to find myself in a Disney princess, or any other kind of childhood hero, didn’t mean I was a normal little girl doing what normal little girls do…. It meant I was a normal little White girl doing what normal little White girls did. At the time that I would have watched Beauty and the Beast there were only two non-white princesses. Jasmine and Pocohantas, however, are not without their problems. Respectively, each provide grossly over-simplified and ‘disneyfied’ renditions of Arab and Native American cultures, and thus all other races besides white were virtually cut from the available princess roster. I really can’t imagine watching every single Disney princess movie and not finding someone who looked like me. I was even lucky enough to have choices: there was Belle or Snow White! I could then decide which I identified with beyond looks and personality! (by a landslide it was Belle). Until 2009 when The Princess and the Frog came out, the reality for Black girls was that no princess looked like them. For Asian girls there was Mulan in 1998, a whole 60 years after the first Disney princess waltzed on-screen. Most disabled characters are seen as villains with hooks, and within the entire Disney franchise there has never been an openly LGBTQIA character. I do think Disney is moving in the right direction, showing an increasing interest in depicting diverse characters but #giveElsaaGirlfriend already! There are so many groups of people underrepresented in the entertainment we consume. So many little girls and boys looking to the T.V. only to see images of princesses and heroes they will never be. But they can be! And our entertainment should reflect that! Disney, Marvel, Universal, and Teletoon ETC have started making progress to fill in the holes of representation, but they are still largely gaping. Imagine if there were as many Asian princesses as there are blonde. Imagine if there was a princess who didn’t look like she stepped off of the Victoria Secret fashion show, or if there was a princess who needed a wheelchair. Imagine if all little kids could look to their entertainment to find the guidance I found in Belle. Keep going Disney -- it’s not yet enough. -Leah The first time I heard Chance the Rapper, a good friend (@hospey) played me “Favorite Song” as he tried his best to educate me on rap beyond Macklemore (thank goodness with time I eventually got there). I bobbed my head along. It was a good song! Very catchy. But I kind of forgot about it. It actually took me an embarrassingly long time to really listen to Acid Rap, Chance’s most current mixtape at the time. And then on a particularly rainy day in a particularly rainy period of my life I heard the aptly titled “Acid Rain”. I was in the car and had to pull over because the song had quite literally brought me to tears. On it he’s haunting-- almost apathetic at points. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and that was when I realized Chance had more to offer me than a few head bobs. Since then I’ve followed Chance with reverence and awe. With every move he makes, he seems to only add to these feelings. His anti-violence initiatives in Chicago left me amazed, as he helped promote a campaign to cease gun violence in Chicago for 42-hours over Memorial Day weekend. An amount of time that may seem small to us gun-violence-sheltered Canadians, but for Chicago on their most dangerous weekend, this was nothing short of a miracle. Then right as he began to catch the attention of the music industry he completely shifts gears to work on Surf, a project produced under Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, not Chance the Rapper. It’s not my favourite musical Chance moment but the fact that when most artists would be signing record deals and networking their butts off to get their face out there, Chance was making a “social experiment” of an album with a bunch of pals…is Chance in a nutshell. He sticks to his values whether that’s friendship, faith, or independence and does not falter, not for fame, money, or anything that normally tempts us regular people. Chance is not regular. And that brings us to Coloring Book and his shiny new Grammy’s. I am not sure if there is an artist who has ever deserved a Grammy more than him, and it’s not just because Coloring Book is a beautiful, cohesive mixtape. No it’s the fact that it’s a mixtape, period. A mixtape is essentially a compilation of an artist's work available for free. It can look like an album, it can sound like an album, but you will never have iTunes charging you $1.29 for it (or whatever they have raised the price to at this point). So this means in the age of technology these compilations are available on streaming sites such as Datpiff, Soundcloud, Spotify, or Apple Music. As we saw with Acid Rap this is a great way to get your music out there and build a fan base, however these tapes could never be showcased in awards settings such as the Grammy’s. A rule undeniably skewed towards padding the pockets of record producers decrees you must sell your music in order to be eligible for a Grammy. That is……until Chano came along. Although the Recording Academy insists their recent streaming related rule change wasn’t due to any particular artist, it’s hard to deny the heavy pressure Chance was putting on them to make it happen. Coloring Book reached No. 8 on Billboard’s charts making it the first ever streaming-exclusive album to do so. It reached 57 million streams in its first week, which equates to about 38,000 units sold. Considering Rihanna’s ANTI (which is a miracle and has already been documented here) only sold 15,896 units in its first week—(albeit that doesn’t include the streams it gained from being leaked) Coloring Book hit an impressive number. The Grammy’s rule that “recordings must be commercially released in general distribution in the United States, i.e. sales by label to a branch or recognized independent distributor, via the Internet, or mail order/retail sales for a nationally marketed product,” was originally intended to weed out the amateur from the ‘professional’ musicians. But as Chance and many others are beginning to show, streaming has made that once distinct line far murkier. What now counts as a professional musician? Should it be the traditional ‘those who sell music to the masses’? Or should it bend to include those who can reach 57 million streams in one week, sell out an entire baseball stadium for their brainchild music festival, those who can work with the likes of Kanye, 2 Chainz, Madonna, Lil Wayne, and John Legend? Chance seems to think the latter, and the Recording Academy eventually came around too. Chance wasn’t shy about wanting these Grammy's. He took out an entire ad in Billboard magazine that said, “Hey, why not me?” He took to social media on it, he even co-signed a fan made petition about it. But not once did he take the obvious route for someone who wants to be eligible for a Grammy…to sell a song. No instead, five months before the Recording Academy changed their rules he’s spitting lines like, “let’s do a good ass job with Chance three I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy Let’s make it so free and the bars so hard That there ain’t one gosh darn part you can’t tweet.” As an intro to Kanye West’s project Life of Pablo… you can bet that made it to the ears of a few Grammy execs. Instead of giving into their rules he literally made it impossible for them not to change them, and threw it in their faces to boot. He put up a fight and refused to back down. And now he’s sitting here with 3 Grammy’s not because he made beautiful music (he did), but because he knows when his values are worth not backing down on—and other people take notice. When Chance cares about something it’s impossible to not care with him. That’s why he has atheist teenagers all over the world singing, “how greeeeeeat is our god!”, that’s why his fans never faltered when he took time off from being a solo artist to create Surf and that is certainly why he has 3 shiny new Grammy’s staring back at him. Thank you Chance for teaching your humble fans how to give a shit about what they believe in. WE LOVE YOU. -Leah 2/9/2017 0 Comments BOSS LADIES: SHONDA RHIMESWHO: Shonda Rhimes WHERE: all over your TV WHEN: Thursday nights WORDS OF WISDOM: “There's nothing wrong with being driven. And there's nothing wrong with putting yourself first to reach your goals. The other stuff still happens.” Shonda Rhimes is pretty much the queen of television. Ever since Grey’s Anatomy’s first episode, when Meredith Grey woke up naked, next to an equally naked Derek Shepherd, Shonda has been slaying the television game. Her empire continues to boom, and in my opinion (I hope everyone else’s too), she has become the most powerful and most brilliant showrunner working today. Her shows are known for smart dialogue, commanding characters, compelling stories, and embracing humanity in all its diversity. Not only does Shonda make truly amazing, edge-of-your-seat television shows, but she blesses us week-after-week with fully fleshed out characters, not confined to boxes or singular traits. She has redefined over and over again, what it means for humans to be the sum of all our parts, instead of the tired, stereotypical portrayals we are so used to seeing in television and movies. Shonda Rhimes began her television reign with the courageous decision (for 2005, at least) to start the show with Meredith Grey waking up after a one-night stand, kicking the guy out, and continuing on with her day as a bad-ass doctor. Shonda was told by a room full of old men that a woman who has sex with a guy before work is only trashy, and nothing else. She was instructed to rewrite the pilot to make her female characters more palatable and classier. And she responded by ignoring their advice, and giving us the real and the very relatable Dr. Meredith Grey. This paved the way for so many more characters who refused to adhere to typical representations; she created black, female, gay, Asian, and differently abled characters, unconstrained by their expected definitions. While a show about sexy doctors may not have begun with the goal of tackling hot-topic current issues, Shonda and her Shondaland team can be counted on to deliver much need doses of truth, to a weekly audience of more than 20 million viewers. Especially unafraid of making big, bold and relevant statements is Thursday night’s middle slot: Scandal. In paralleling the 2016 Presidential election, the show included powerful commentary on sexism in politics, Black Lives Matter, and the alarming rise of xenophobic, fear-mongering political figures. In an increasingly transcendent and overlapping time, where fraudulent businessmen can pretend to be qualified politicians (I’m looking at you, DJT) and Hillary Clinton can try her hand at acting (Broad City!!!), Shonda skilfully uses her area of expertise to speak out, and take a stand. Each week she does it so eloquently and effortlessly; I am constantly in awe of her talent, her compassion for differences, and her bravery to engage with so many controversial issues, in an industry that is not always so allowing or forgiving. Her 2015 debut book, "Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person" is a testament to how driven and passionately Shonda lives her life. She is a stunning example of having everything she needs to fulfill her, and being genuine and honest about what that entails. In a world where women are sometimes pressured to "have it all": the marriage, the kids, the career, the perfect body (whatever that is...), and the social life, Shonda Rhimes does it her own way, and inspires other women to do it their way too. In case you hadn’t guessed it already, I might just be a Shonda super-fan; to me, she can do no wrong. Although there have been some particularly devastating deaths of beloved characters, I trust Shonda Rhimes to be the wonderfully intelligent and determined leader that she has proven herself to be, season after season. 12 years later, she continues to bring the heat, bring the drama, and blaze the trail for anyone who dares to do things differently, and be a boss. - Amy Two years ago, while speaking to Georgetown law students, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “People ask me sometimes, when — when do you think it will it be enough? When will there be enough women on the court? And my answer is when there are nine.” People laughed, but in actuality, it’s kind of a revolutionary (albeit slightly facetious) answer. In a world where Justin Trudeau’s “because it’s 2015” sent many into affronted alarm, RBG’s statement is defiant, challenging, and deserves unpacking. To me, Justice Ginsburg was posing the question: “Why not?” or “Why should it be so hard to imagine?” Considering that the last two centuries of the US Supreme Court have never seen more than three women on the bench at a time, having nine judges who are women is a good place to aim, and if they achieve half of that, then that’s not so bad. For 192 years, there were nine men on the bench. Not once, and not twice, but every single time a new judge was nominated, for almost 200 years, the Supreme Court was made up entirely of men. It was not an anomaly, but a hallmark of history that continues to plague today’s society. Contrary to what it maybe sounds like, I don’t think RBG is mandating that all men be removed from the Supreme Court, but instead is utilizing her position, as an influential figure, to say that having nine women on the bench can be, and should be, a possibility. There should be no limit to female potential, and young girls should never be raised to think there is a limit. The Notorious RBG was simply doing what she has always done: standing up for every girl's dream to be whoever, and do whatever, she wishes, without the limitations of gender roles or societal constructs. Justice Ginsburg is a trailblazer, a pioneer, and has inspired generations of women to achieve more than they could have ever imagined. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for discriminated-against communities. Most of her years have been spent fighting for gender justice, and in acknowledging that gender injustice disproportionately affects marginalized women. In recent years, she has voted on the progressive (left) side of multiple Supreme Court decisions dealing with racial injustice and the law. However, even more recently, her actions have hinted that, possibly, Ginsburg has become comfortable in a role as a white feminist. It’s not to say that she hasn’t embraced and practiced intersectionality in the past, but if feminism isn’t ALWAYS intersectional, then it’s not actually a useful contribution to the liberation of the oppressed (and in my opinion, not really feminism at all). Intersectionality is an idea officially coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, but one that has been practiced “in every generation and in every intellectual sphere and in every political moment”. In her own words, it is “the need to think and talk about race through a lens that looks at gender, or think and talk about feminism through a lens that looks at race.” It was founded in the thought that a women of colour experiences discrimination that does not fit into the cut-and-dry boxes of racism or sexism, but rather a combination of both. Now, intersectionality is a discipline that encompasses all aspects of oppression: race, sex, class, sexual orientation, ability, and so much more. RBG’s response to Colin Kaepernick’s protests against police brutality (which warrants another post entirely), were disappointing to say the least, and disrespectful, if I was to say a bit more. Among other words, she called the protests “stupid”, “arrogant”, and “dumb”. In her position of great power and reach, she belittled and vilified a peaceful protest, without even mentioning the issue at hand, or the reason why Kaepernick decided to protest in the first place. Justice Ginsburg’s shying away from expressing opinions on police brutality and racial injustice cannot be attributed to her responsibilities as a Supreme Court Justice. Her fellow justice, Sonia Sotomayor, wrote a deafening dissent in 2016, which went far past the legal requirements of a dissent, and became, what seemed like, a cathartic venting of frustrated emotions. In a case centered around unlawful police stops and the Fourth Amendment, Sotomayor ended her dissent with a section written “only for [her]self”, which many have viewed as a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement, and ultimately, a personal condemnation of the ongoing denial of racial discrimination in the United States. Unfortunately, RBG’s contribution on that part of this crucial matter was nowhere to be found. So, when Ginsburg responded with “when there are nine”, I was excited and filled with pride- I was thrilled to hear a fellow female speak so boldly. But I also wish she would have said a bit more. I wish she would have used her authority to talk about every other person who has been oppressed by the heteropatriarchy. I wish she would have been a voice for people other than just the educated white women in the audience. I know it would have incited substantially more rage than her initial comment, but I wish she’d declared a desire for more than just gender equality on the bench. She had the opportunity to hold up a microphone for all the aspiring Indigenous lawmakers, for all the future Muslim judges, for the LGBTQ community, for every Asian-American, for every Sikh, Hindu, or Buddhist, and for the immigrants who dream of one day sitting on the bench. Why limit ourselves at nine women? Why not nine judges who might be more representative of the demographic makeup of the United States? Intersectionality is something Canada needs to work on too. Justin Trudeau took steps when he introduced a significantly more diverse cabinet than his predecessor, and the current House and Senate are the most diverse in the country’s history. On the other hand, our own Supreme Court (which is the product of Prime Ministers dating back to 1984) has a long way to go to achieve racial diversity. Also extremely troubling: Donald Trump just nominated the most white, most male first-cabinet since Reagan. Since 1981. 36 years ago. Did I miss the memo that time is in fact now moving backwards?? In both countries, and all over the world, we need to stop buying into this false explanation of “We’re just hiring the best possible candidate for the job”, and call it what it is: sexism, bigotry, racism, and prejudice. Plain and simple. And it extends so much further than gender equity in our governments; it’s not just the 75¢ on the dollar for white women, but the 64¢ for Black women, 59¢ for Indigenous women, and 56¢ for Hispanic women. Feminists around the world have to adopt intersectionality, because women’s rights are merely a fraction of the immense puzzle. It’s not enough for us to just show up to the Women’s March. We must listen, and be allies to so many others. We need to stop fearing imagined consequences of stepping outside the white-feminist bubble, because for those who are oppressed, the consequences are so much more than an unfollow on Instagram, or an unfriend on Facebook. Especially in the new political climate, white women have to be there for Standing Rock, for Black Lives Matter, for Palestine, for refugees, and for every other community. And then maybe we can call ourselves feminists. -Amy Further Reading on the Importance of Constant (Vigilant) Intersectionality Celebrity Feminism: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a8642654/celebrity-feminism-has-no-place-in-trumps-america/ Sonia Sotomayor: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/utah-streiff-sotomayor/487922/ Ruth Bader Ginsburg: https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/11/ruth-bader-ginsburg-shows-white-feminists-must-better/ Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality: http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw-intersectionality-i-wanted-come-everyday-metaphor-anyone-could |