One Red Hot Country Mama!

A friend recently sent me this interesting site: http://www.walkscore.com/.
It allows you to calculate how good your neighbourhood is in terms of
walkability. My neighbourhood (High Park) faired okay and the
neighbourhood I lived in when I went to high school (Kanata Lakes)
rated at under 10% – which seems about right since it was pretty much
as suburban as you can get. As oil prices go up, I imagine Walk scores
will become more and more meaningful in terms of real estate value.
What does that mean for the ‘burbs?

I found this TED talk from NPR CEO Alisa Miller fascinating. She uses cost-conservation as a reason for the media covering less international news than 20 years ago. She explains that the news media covers Brittany stories because those are cheaper and easier to cover. I also would add that there is a demand issue as well. Since most of the news media are private broadcasters, they will provide a product that people want. If people really wanted hard-hitting news, the broadcasters would find a way – and you think they could with all of the new tools available today… I for one, would like to see a lot less of Brittany and learn more about the world.

My friend and I used to have an inside joke where we said "thank-you bad experience"! as a tribute to the lessons we learned the hard way. Whether it be an enemy that was bothering us, a plan that got ruined or a foible by either of us… we would see it in this lighthearted way in order to feel better. I have seen business executives call losses as a result of bad experiences, competition or bad decisions as "tuition" and they intended to learn from the tuition that they paid.

In the Dali Lama’s Art of Happiness it says:

Imagine what it would be like if we went through life never encountering an enemy or any other obstacles for that matter, if from the cradle to the grave everyone we met pampered us, with funny faces and the occasional "goo-goo" noise. If from infancy we were carried around in a basket (later on, perhaps on a litter), never encountering any challenge, never tested — in short, if everyone continued to treat us like a baby. That might sound good at first. For the first few months of life it might be appropriate. But if it persisted it could only result in one becoming a sort of gelatinous mass, a monstrosity really — with the mental and emotional development of veal. It’s the very struggle of life that makes us who we are. And it is our enemies that test us, provide us with the resistance necessary for growth.*

And he is right – it is not ONLY our enemies, but enemies certainly provide a part that is needed for growth. The Chinese government are certainly giving the Tibetans plenty of time to contemplate on this one.

Pg. 181 The Art of Happiness

There are a lot of great things about being a feminist. I get to go against traditional gender stereotypes and do things like own my own business for example. I also get to feel like I am doing the right thing for my two nieces, and for the other young up and coming girls and women. One thing that is sometimes not so fun, is that I get to see everything through a feminist lens. Which is a problem when it comes to enjoying popular culture.

For example, there is Iron Man, a movie that I watched with my boyfriend last night and really enjoyed. Interesting story, Robert Downey Jr. was amazing and the effects were astonishing. Except for the important and irksome part… the fact that the female supporting role, played by Gwenyth Paltrow was pretty much encapsulating every female stereotype there is.

• Downey Jr. got to do all of this very cool stuff and influence the world, whereas all she could do was support him.
• She was his assistant, and he ended up falling in love with her. A big reason why he loved her was because she took care of him – it didn’t show her having many interesting personality characteristics other than that.
• The only time she was helpful was when she was listening to Downey Jr.’s instructions.

All of the other females in the movie were either serving or having/wanting to have sex with Downey Jr.

After I came out of the movie, I wondered about what Paltrow thought playing this role – acting as such a clear stereotype. Then I heard her on BBC Radio this morning saying that she enjoyed playing the role with the heartbreaking line:

"I believe in the old saying, that behind every great man is a great woman."

You can see a previous post on this line. Basically the post is saying… what a stupid expression. What if the man is single? What if the man is gay? What then? And most to the point for me: what if it is the woman that is great, who is behind her? What if both of them are great? Of course I realize that these words are scripted by a PR agency somewhere, but PR is a very female profession, so – are we really still doing this to ourselves?

So, great movie, terrible female role. Thanks for nothing Gwyneth (and all of those who have created the Gwyneth personality and her roles). All of you ought to think about doing the right thing for your nieces/daughters/etc.