Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated.

Today is International Women’s Day, which means it’s the perfect day to celebrate how far we’ve come – but also to recognize how far we still have to go.

My brilliant friend Maddy of Meat Locker Editions (an awesome female founded publishing company) wrote this little rant about #IWD, and it perfectly sums up my feelings about today:

International Women’s Day: a rambling of thoughts. Affirming my commitment to learn more and fight harder – in small and bigger ways – for the rights and freedoms of all women; challenging myself to make sure I practice inclusivity; recognizing my privilege and the benefits it affords me, reviewing how I can work from this position to be a better woman, ally, person. Last night I had a sobering reminder of how far we still have to fight, of the violence, manipulation and abuse that women face daily here in our city, country, world. Thinking of the despicable treatment of our Indigenous women, thinking of how we must make change. Pushing myself to learn and from a place of humility, do what I can. Refusing to be bullied any longer. Celebrating the women who fought before me, the women who raised me, the strength and guidance we find as we continue to grow our understanding of womanhood.

The one leg of equality women in North America still majorly struggle with is that of equal pay and equal respect in the workplace. It is a cause very dear to my heart. If you’re struggling with a horrible work situation, remember Tina Fey’s brilliant advice:

So my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: “Is this person in between me and what I want to do?” If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work, and outpacing people that way. Then, when you’re in charge, don’t hire the people who were jerky to you.

That brings me to this weeks song. Leslie Gore passed away recently, and her music most definitely helped usher in that first wave of feminism we owe so much of our current freedom to.

This is a feminist anthem that will never go out of style. Even those girls who somehow think being a ‘feminist’ today is a bad thing, can get behind the sentiment she’s singing about.

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDUjeR01wnU[/tube]

Whoooa Toronto.

What a week. Seriously. There’s a whole lot to talk about this Halloween.

We have a new mayor, and while I’m happy it’s no longer a Ford brother, I firmly believe Tory is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and his policies will be no different than those that Ford loved. He was the CEO of ROGERS for god’s sake.

I am still shocked that the city somehow thinks another conservative mayor is what we need after 4 years of an awful conservative mayor. “At least he’s not Ford!” is what I heard from people I ususally respect – but if all you care about is the city not being on Jimmy Kimmel – then I guess you got what you wanted. This is a rich white man in office to support the rich white men – make no mistake on that one.

His very PR savvy act of asking Olivia and David to join his team was smart, but until he starts undoing the damage Ford did, I don’t believe in him as my mayor any more than I did Ford. Politically they are as similar as it gets.

We also had a “terrorism” scare last week that was actually someone with serious mental illness. How Harper found it appropriate to use it as an excuse to make us all George W. Bush America FUK YEAH I will never understand. The focus here needs to be on taking care of Canadians with mental illness – something Harper has zero interest in. His terrorist rhetoric on the other hand is much better for his “lets make us more American” agenda.

AND THEN – the ball dropped on Jian Ghomeshi. I’ve been silent about this on the blog after being told to ‘wait for the evidence’ but I too, like everyone in the Canadian music/media industry knew about Jian. I mean, I had no idea he was actually this sick – but I heard the warnings/whispers that he’s a real creep with girls and got that icky feeling of a snake crawling around when seeing him interact with young women at events.

A lot of men like to question that article I just linked to – wondering why, if so many in the industry knew about him – no one said anything. The whispers were generally spread among women, to protect women – or from men who knew, to protect women. No doubt there was a collective sigh within the industry when it all went public.

Finally, we don’t have to pretend like we’re not grossed out by him at Polaris Galas and Lena Dunham interviews. We don’t have to whisper to our eager interns at a music party to avoid him at all costs.

• What Kind Of Woman Won’t Report Sexual Assault? To those few people who somehow still defend him via the  – why didn’t they go to the police? – question, please read this now. Actually read it. Don’t just skim to the bottom and post a ridiculous comment. This is a lawyer talking about exactly why 9 out of 10 women do not report abuse. Because the 1 who does, almost always lives to regret that decision.
• A brief history of ridiculous things we’ve been asked to believe after famous men were accused of rape And if you need further proof – look only to the cases outlined in this article. Money and fame generally means you have legions of people who will defend you against your victim, as we initially saw with Jian.
• Owen Pallett wrote the best thing anyone in the music industry has put out there so far on all of it He considers Jian a friend – but he will not give his word more validity than that of 4 women, and now we know that number is 9 women and growing.
• I Care About Eight Alleged Victims, Not Jian’s “Due Process” Another great article on how the justice system is incredibly flawed when it comes to sexual assault and date violence.
• The top 15 lost music venues in Toronto On another note – here’s a nostalgic look back at the music venues that once were a vital part of our lives.
• Jeff Tweedy: why the album still matters Love this.
• 2014 is the first year with no platinum albums This is fascinating. I’m not sure what it will mean for the music industry going forward, but as usual, things seem to be changing every single day.
• Arcade Fire’s Funeral and the Legacy of the “WHOA-OH” Can you believe it’s been 10 years? I still remember being new to Toronto, living with my high school friends and having them play me this album. Nothing was the same after that.
• Sounds Just Like This project will show you just how similar most pop songs actually are.
• When Iggy Pop can’t live off his art, what chance do the rest have? Try not to let this depress you.
• Watch Emma Watson Deliver a Game-Changing Speech on Feminism for the U.N. (UPDATED) If you somehow missed it, her speech was excellent. Without men joining the conversation, progress will continue to stall.
• Lena Dunham Hilariously, Candidly Interviews Mindy Kaling I adore this conversation between two of my biggest role models.
• How We Love: TED Radio Hour This collection of TED talks on love is brilliant. If you have some spare time today give them a listen.
• Follow-Through Habits for Serial Quitters If you need a little help seeing things through, there are some good tips here.
• 10 Times When It’s Okay to Be Lazy Because sometimes you have to turn off your type A gogogo tendencies or you’ll burn out.
• 5 Ways to Reset Your Work-Life Balance When You’re Crazy Busy And if you are one of those type A’s, you’ll want to read this too.
• And if we needed any more understanding for why women don’t report sexual harassment and abuse of power by powerful men, look only to the way Monica Lewinsky’s reputation was DESTROYED when her name was thrown into the public. Of course, the Ghomeshi case is different in many ways, but the in the end she got shit all over while Bill lost next to nothing. Women don’t forget this:

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7icJSTjL8[/tube]

Hello Friday. And hello March. While you’ve been disappointingly snowy so far, I’m still holding out hope that the rest of the month will finally bring us the long awaited spring weather this city is in desperate need of. Even more exciting – DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME returns on Sunday. I know this kinda sucks because we lose an hour of sleep, BUT it means we get daylight and sunshine and evenings back. It means the good times are truly almost here. There’s nothing more depressing to me than it getting dark at 5pm, since, when given the option, I don’t wake up before noon. #nightowllife.

Anyhow, do you have any fun plans for the weekend? My weekly column over at dose has a few suggestions for those of you in Toronto. Personally, I’m heading to the ballet for the first time ever for the opening night of Swan Lake. Very excited! I’ve been to the Opera and the Symphony a few times, so this is my last step in fully embracing grown up art. And the movie Black Swan will finally make perfect sense to me.

Also – FYI, I have a couple vinyl giveaways coming up for both Broken Bells and my favourite, Bruce Springsteen! Stay tuned.

Now, for the link love:

• Olivia Chow all set to enter Toronto mayoral race YESSSS. YESSSSS!!@!@@! I was actually starting to get a little worried that she might not run because she’s waited so long (and she still hasn’t made it official by any means), but as they detail in the article, it’s a smart strategy. I love her almost as much as I love my own mother. Part of the reason Jack was so incredible was because she was by his side. Living in her ward is truly a privilege, and I am more than willing to volunteer for her campaign. There is NO ONE ELSE in this world I’d rather have running Toronto, and she is by far the person most capable of repairing all the damage Ford has done.
• Which ’90s Indie Band Are You? I got Sonic Youth, which is cool with me.
• Big Star’s Alex Chilton Wrote the Script for Every Indie-Rock Recluse He sure did. That’s why The Replacements wrote a song about him.
• The Hipster Music Index Heh. Arcade Fire was definitely thrown off the ‘hip’ bandwagon after winning a Grammy, no one can contest that.
• 10 Great Cover Songs from the Paste Vault I love a good cover.
• The Secret to Creativity: Being Able to Make Connections This concept makes perfect sense. It’s why Evernote is my saviour.
• 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity & Get Discovered A really great read if you ever feel awkward about self promoting/pimping your work. Useful tips.
• How to Make It as a Freelance Entrepreneur Very very good advice for you freelancers.
• 16 Things Every Leader Should Know
• YouTube’s Parity Problem, or Why a Billion Isn’t That Impressive So it goes. This is the new music industry.
• The 11 Smartest Girls In Comedy This list is true greatness. Get to know and love every single one of them. Speaking of funny ladies – Lena Dunham is hosting SNL this weekend! My PVR is set.
• Passenger’s sexist note left on WestJet flight stirs pilot’s heated response And while I just got you pumped up with that awesome ‘yes. women are funny’ article – here is something to help you know there are still sad little men like this in the world that need to be castrated.
• Travoltify Your Name! Hahahhah. Travolta’s butchering of Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars has now spawned its own widget. For the record, my Travoltified name is Leona Leeee. Not bad actually. I might use it as a pen name one day.
• Finally, if you were one of those kids who, like me, always wanted a hoverboard – your dream is (not) coming true. But this is a very smart (if misleading) viral marketing campaign:

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vE_vpkr90[/tube]

All right, so – as the Putin link below explains – I’ve been trying not to give too much attention to the Olympics this year because I’m incredibly disgusted with the politics of Russia, and I think it’s a travesty that the IOC allowed such a brutal place to host these games. But, with that said, even I can’t deny my Canadian pride after that incredible nail biter of a game the Canadian women’s hockey team won yesterday. I only tuned in for the last 5 minutes of overtime, but damn – it was worth it. That has to be one of the greatest comebacks in hockey history.

There is a point where you have to separate the athletes from the politics, and acknowledge that it’s not fair to rob them of their one moment after 4 years of hard work because of the IOC’s massive mistake.

With that said, here are this week’s links:

• Q&A: Broken Social Scene Frontman Kevin Drew On His New Solo Album Definitely worth a read.
• IKEA’s Expedit line is biting the dust, and vinyl nuts aren’t happy about it This is sad, but I won’t complain until I see what the new replacements actually look like in real life. They just might be prettier.
• 5 Ways to Get Up to Speed on Anything, Fast Good advice.
• ARCHISET: An Illustrated Tribute to the Interiors of Classic Cinema If you dig film as much as I do, you’ll love this.
• CONTACT Turns Any Table Into A Musical Instrument This is pretty cool.
• Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ performed with eggplant, grapes, and MaKey MaKey As is this. I love it when artists get creative with their instruments.
• 7 Habits of Incredibly Happy People The point about spending money on experiences rather than things is something I’ve found to be incredibly true. The more I’m out experiencing life and new things/people/places, the happier I am.
• Victim gets revenge on rapist by setting him on fire This has to be the best response to victim blaming and that horrific thing coined as ‘rape culture’ that I’ve ever seen.
• Putin Plays the World for Suckers, and Wins UGH. This guy is one twisted dictator. We think RoFo is bad, but at least he’s no Putin.
• Finally, watch Pussy Riot’s video for “Putin Will Teach You How To Love”  aka the thing they were making when they were publicly WHIPPED by a bunch of Putin’s men for making music in the street. If you’ve ever wanted to see women whipped by men in a very non consensual, horrific way – check it out below. This is the country that is currently hosting the world. Shameful. Why didn’t the IOC let Iraq host the games in 2004? Not much difference.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjI0KYl9gWs[/tube]