The Girl Effect

My Second Favourite Ani DiFranco Song

"Napoleon" is my second favourite Ani DiFranco song, right after "Gratitude".

She played it last Friday, and it was amazing!

I heard that the person she's talking about in the song is Madonna. The story I heard is that she wrote it in response to Madonna's request that she move from her independent label, Righteous Babe Records, to her label (at the time) Maverick Records...inneresting...

Song: Napoleon
Record: Dialate, Living In Clip, So Much Shouting So Much Laughter

they told you your music
could reach millions
that the choice was up to you
you told me they always
pay for lunch
and they believe in what i do
and i wonder
if you miss your old friends
once you've proven what you're worth
yeah i wonder
when you're a big star
will you miss the earth

and i know you would always want more
i know you would never be done
'cuz everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

and the next time
that i saw you
you were larger than life
you came and you conquered
you were doing alright
you had an army
of suits behind you
and all you had to be was willing
and i said i still
make a pretty good living
you must make a killing
a killing

and i hope that you are happy
i hope at least you are having fun
'cuz but everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

now you think, so that is
the way it's gonna be
that's what this is all about
i think that that is
the way it always was
you chose not to notice until now
yeah now that there's a problem
you call me up to confide
and you go on for over an hour
'bout each one that took you for a ride

and i guess that you dialed my number
'cuz you thought for sure that i'd agree
i said baby, you know i still love you
but how dare you complain to me

everyone is a fucking napoleon
yeah everyone is a fucking napoleon

"Change Has Come To America"

I'm not even an American, but watching his speech was something else.

Now let's put up or shut up, Dems.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there."

~ President-Elect, Barack Obama

GAH!

Check. It. Out.

I met her.

However briefly, I met her.

Naomi Klein.

No dinner, no meet and greet. Just me and my plethora of Naomi Klein books.

She was even impressed I had her book on American business in Iraq.

I IMPRESSED NAOMI KLEIN.

But what was even more interesting was the fact that she had rider (like a rock star).

Above is a picture of her half eaten dinner.

As well is a picture of me eating one of Naomi Klein's cookies.

They were oatmeal raisin.

Sigh.

Sheldon Kennedy!!!!

W00T!

Yesterday was the big day!

Sheldon Kennedy came to town! It was amazing.

I'm still trying to process it all, but it was amazing to spend the day with him and Wayne McNeil, the other co-founder of Respect In Sport.

We didn't know what to expect when we met with the two of them, but they were definitely down to earth and very, very cool guys.

You had no misapprehension that Sheldon is a Prairie boy when you talked to him.

He said 'give'er' a lot.

Oh. And the best part?

This conversation:

Shannon (my RISE team member): So Sheldon, what did you think of Oprah?

*Sheldon has been on The Oprah Winfrey Show 3 times

Sheldon: (deadpan) She's a bitch.

GOOD GOD I LOVE HIM.

Sigh.

More pics to come.

Big, Huge, AMAZING NEWS!

Mark your calendars.

November 19th, 2007 A.D.

This is the day that Jessie gets to hang out with one of her heroes...Naomi Klein.

Yes, you read that right. Naomi Klein.

Alan Leschied will be playing host to Naomi Klein when she comes to UWO for a book thing for her latest work, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism".

By now, I may have lost some readers...so let's back up.

Who exactly is Naomi Klein?

In short, she's a brillant woman. She's a journalist, writer, film maker, and intellectual.

And I get to have dinner with her.

She wrote a book called "No Logo: Taking Aim At Brand Bullies" in 2000. It was published shortly after the WTO summit in Seattle and was met with great excitement from those in the activist community. You say "No Logo" in a crowd and people instantly know what you're talking about. This is a book that changed MY life.

I was but a budding activist when the book dropped into my lap. At the time I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen come fall of 2001, when I started my first year of university. Naomi Klein's book opened my eyes about some stuff I had never really thought about. If you haven't read this book, or even heard about it, you must go out RIGHT now and find out about it. If you don't get yourself a copy at least visit the website: www.nologo.org. I might even credit her book (partially) to the reason I majored in globalization (being the anti variety, not the pro).

It's a thought provoking piece on the branding that drives capitalism.

Sweet bliss.

Besides Naomi Klein's own accomplishments (and there are a lot) she's surrounded by amazing people.

She's married to Avi Lewis, who hosted "counterSpin" on CBC for a while, after a stint as the political analyst at MuchMusic (love him). And her mother-in-law is Michele Landsberg, an amazing feminist journalist (Toronto Star, Globe and Mail). And her father-in-law is STEPHEN LEWIS.

Maybe she can adopt me.

So, I get to hang out with her, have dinner with her and pelt her with my questions.

I'm so frigging excited.

Freaking Amazing.

Ok, so I'm ready to debrief on my amazing evening of seeing the one and only Jon Stewart.

It started by almost being ended. That is there was some crazy shit going on the 401 and 403.

People don't know how to drive anymore, I mean it. We were severely cut off by an American right by the Husky station when we left town.

Not cool...and we couldn't give them the one finger salute as Andrew saw the New York licence plate and immediately his mind went to "they have a concealed weapon".

Besides that Andrew and I enjoyed watching the almost carnage unfolding a few cars ahead of us...until we realized that we were hurtling towards the almost crash at 120 km/hr.

But we did arrive at the Fallsview Casino and Hotel...and let me say...very nice.

We parked the car and headed out to find the elevators...instead Andrew took us down a hallway that was very smelly and literally led out to the edge of the cliff. Wrong way, definitely.

Then we found the elevators and headed up to the hotel/casino...very nice.

Now I thought since Andrew had bragged about being a poker savant we would head into the casino...I had $20 worth of quarters weighing me down...but no. He doesn't find that "enjoyable". There should be a law that people who can count cards (because I know you can) should ALWAYS have to drop some coin in a casino. Whatever.

Andrew and I did get to have a great dinner at the Golden Lotus...very nice Chinese restaurant in the casino...where Andrew scared all the wait staff by trying to speak English using his scary hand gestures.

But we eventually convinced Jacob (although I'm almost positive that wasn't his given name...mainly because I don't think China has a huge Jewish population) to get us some Peking Duck...mmmmm....duck....

And it was full out. Very fancy...2 courses...crispy skin...duck hash...iceberg lettuce...picture to come.

Lots of delicious-ness.

Afterwards we walked around the building...and ended up at a toy store. Luckily Andrew restrained himself from buying anything for his child who already has one of everything.

Then we got in line. I'll give you a visual. Imagine a roped off line that could fit about 50 concert goers. Now imagine that line empty...except for Andrew and I eagerly awaiting 8pm when the doors opened. Seriously, we were the only ones waiting.

Then it was time for doors to open. One hour before we were in our seats...which didn't have arm rests...which made Andrew very uncomfortable. He likes barriers. Yeah, no shit.

Then the rest of the concert goers started to come in...the audience was varied.

We learned a few things from the audience. Firstly, it seems they were giving out tickets at the early bird dinner. Lots of grey hairs. Secondly, Andrew and I were severely over dressed. But I like to think we were taking it the most serious of anyone. And we really couldn't chance anything. I was glad I dressed up when Andrew told me that there was a rumour that Stephen Colbert was opening. He didn't, but still. Close call.

As people filed in to the sold out performance we did see Jon's estranged father, Donald Leibowitz in the crowd...you know when you're a superfan when you know who the distant parents are...kudos to Andrew.

And then we heard it...Teenage Wasteland by The Who.

And if you know anything about Jon, you know that this is the song he always walks onto stage to.

Flippin' amazing.

And then mildly disturbing. I knew Jon was a short man...I had no idea he was a tiny man, too.

Wow.

Anyway he did an amazing set...albeit stuff I have on my iPod already. But it didn't matter.

He was FANTASTIC.

It was AMAZING. SOOOO AMAZING.

I HEART JON.

HEADLINE NEWS! ABOVE THE FOLD!

Run, don't walk to the corner store and get a copy of the London Free Press.

Do it.

Now.

Why are you still reading?

GO!!!

www.lfpress.com

p.s. I'll blog about my evening with Jon, the night was so magical I need a few days to process.

VALERIE PRINGLE WAS BEHIND MY WORK!!

Ok, so I was unloading my trunk and I saw CBC cameras behind our building.

To give you all a reference, I work at WAYS and my office is in a group home. The group home is on the Thames River, very beautiful.

As I rounded the corner I saw gleaming red hair.

And I don't want to hear that none of you know who Valerie Pringle is. I mean, who of us didn't have afternoon naps with Valerie hosting "Midday" in the background? The woman's a fucking national treasure.

I suspect Valerie was taping segments of her show, "Antiques Roadshow", which just recently made a stop at UWO.

And being my father's daughter (no matter how hard I try to fight it) I, of course had my new camera with me.

And being my mother's daughter (again, no matter how hard I try) I badgered the CBC staff with my RISE for Youth pamphlets and brochures.

I would love to be interviewed by Valerie Pringle. We could talk about sexual exploitation while bonding over being fair skinned and red haired (I like the term "red haired" better than "redhead", I know Valerie would, too).

I went upstairs to the group home portion of the house and started clicking away. I was taking pictures with one other boy who lives at the house. We instantly bonded.

I really need you people to understand how excited I was. I was literally jumping up and down. But that might have been from the paper fumes.

However, when I went to my department office, no one shared my joy. This just further proved to them what a dork I am.

But I know you understand.

Yippee!

RAFFI ROCKS

Ok, so we all know and L-O-V-E Raffi.

We grew up with him and sang all the classics.

And maybe Raffi's next career move doesn't seem so far off...he's just wanting to protect little ol' baby beluga in the deep blue sea. He swims so far and he swims so free...

Or does he?

Our beloved Baby Beluga is in trouble folks.

The culprit?

Global Warming.

And Raffi is striking back in his own way.

Nothing pisses me off more than when celebrities (and yes, Raffi definitely IS a celebrity) start talking politics...except when they do it through their art, which is what Raffi is doing.

Raffi just completed a song called "Cool It". And it rocks.

Check out the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSn9KrK0peM

You won't be disappointed!

Besides that, Raffi's website kicks it.

http://www.raffinews.com/

Hold on "Baby Beluga" we're using "The Wheels On The Bus" to get "Down On Grandpa's Farm" so we can avoid polluting by "Riding On An Airplane" so we can go "Ha Ha This-A-Way" and eat some organically grown "Apples and Bananas".

Ok. Now I have to go and "Shake My Sillies Out". "Day-O" everyone.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG