Because I Am a Girl School Tour, Interview with Nana in Victoria (photo by Corey Norman)

It’s been a long time on the road for me, having spent the last 5 months between California & Jamaica recording.  I ended 1 tour across Canada, hopped on a plane to LA to finish my record with Kops & Robbers, then back to Vancouver a couple coffees later to get started on the “Because I Am a Girl” tour.  Phew.

The night before our first show for BIAG in Victoria, I quickly updated my Facebook Fan page to say “I am so excited to start a tour for Girls Rights”.  A few moments later, a young boys posts a reply…”Girls have no rights!”  I asked him to explain and he replied “MAKE ME A SAMMICH THATS HOW I MEAN.”  Taken a back a little, I thought about this kid.  I remembered him from one of the Vancouver schools (on the last tour), noticing everything from him freckles and skinny jeans, to how nervous he got asking me for an autograph.  Where do young boys learn such things to say? Family? Friends? Television?  Music?  I simply replied “I hope we come to your school as you have a lot to learn.”

I am proud to be on the Because I Am a Girl School tour for so many reasons. The things I take for granted that most people should already know…they don’t.  We shouldn’t discriminate again girls, yet right here in Canada young boys are emulating what they hear in the general consensus be it media, family or friends – and taking such thoughts and words as jokes.  Sexist jokes and remarks manifest into a general understanding when repeated enough times, especially when misogynistic punchlines get a laugh and rise out of a group of peers.  Little boys, grow into men that function in the work force and are often seated in decision making roles…it is important to change the status quo of such thought at a young age.  I want all young ladies out there to speak out against these remarks whenever they hear them.  It could be as simple as saying “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” or “I know you can’t be speaking to me, because that is not who I am as a girl!”  I want all young boys that appreciate the women in their life to also speak out against such hurtful statements, and simply say “That’s not cool man...” or “I love and support the girls and women in my life“.

As for my mouthy little friend, all I have to say is I am far too busy as a woman, touring, recording, running my record label and signing your autograph request to make you a sandwich.  Mayhaps you have the time to make me one?  Turkey club, hold the mayo.

Back on the road again.  One Love.

Nana before first show in Victoria BC

I love rocking the show. (photo by Corey Norman)

I got to see my long time friend (and supporter) Cappy One in Victoria!

Ferry Ride Victoria to Vancouver...I'm doing my best Titanic impression

My mother left home when she was fourteen.  She faced abuse at the hands of my father.  She raised three children as a single parent, without a high school degree, on government assistance.  She was an amazingly capable mother, and I learned from her how to think and live independently by watching her do it.  I was out of my mothers’ home at the age of fifteen.  Most people around me assumed, with the statistics to back it up, that I would never graduate high school, let alone make it to college or university.   “She’ll be living on welfare & have three kids by the time she’s twenty”.  I didn’t want to settle with the idea that the circumstances into which I was born and raised would dictate my future opportunities.  So I used others’ doubt to fuel my own belief in myself.  After leaving high school for two years, I returned, graduated on the Honour Roll, and then graduated Ryerson University four years later on the Deans’ List. 

I was unintentionally a living example of what Girls Rights’ rights are all about.

 Girls Rights are quite simply Human Rights.  Boys and girls have the same rights (such as access to education, healthcare, opportunity) but around the world girls face obstacles in accessing these basic rights simply because they are born a girl.  Plan Canada’s 3^rd annual Girl Report: “Girls in the Global Economy: Adding it All Up” offers hard stats to back this up.  The report also shows that investing in girls and young women can literally transform lives and lift entire nations out of poverty. 

 I find this point really interesting: Empower a Girl, you Empower a Community.

 It sounds so simple, and yet the feedback I get from a lot of people when I tell them I’m on a Girls Rights tour is “huh?” or “whats that tour about, some feminist, pro-woman, man-hating agenda?”.  It saddens me that some people can’t see beyond their own limited reality.  Women make up more than half the world’s population.  Empowering women, by simply allowing them to participate in decision-making, have access to basic human rights and control over their own resources, is key to reducing global poverty and instability for everyone.  When women are educated, they have better job opportunities.  Statistics show that women around the world spend 90% of their annual income on their families, in comparison to the 30-40% that men will bring home to their families.  Currently, most of the one billion people living on less than a dollar a day are women.  This one fact alone highlights the need to invest in our girls globally.  Gender inequality impacts the global economy.  And this, in turn, impacts all of us.

I have learned so much in our first week on tour in Northern Ontario. I want to write so much more!  Next week   In the meantime, check out some of our pictures from the first week on my myspace page, here:  

ETERNIA’S TOUR PHOTOS, WEEK ONE

Blessings and love,

 Eternia.

The Girls of the tour on our way to Thunderbay!

2 weeks ago...

From Hollywood to Thunderbay!  3 days into the tour and I’m still getting over the culture shock, weather change and early days (This rapper is allergic to 6am mornings!)  Tamara has been really great at kicking me out of bed when I ignore my alarm clock, so we make it to the schools on time.

It’s been a crazy contrast writing lyrics for L.A. pop singers to meeting all these beautiful young women face to face in high schools across Ontario.  A lesson that I have learned in just the past few months are that pretty faces are dime a dozen…along with fake eyelashes, fake bodies and really high heels which all can be purchased.  I have found that women with lasting power have taken the time and discipline to develop a skill, fine tune an interest and established their opinions and beliefs on things.   To see the freckles and unique details in a face that has so much more to paint, write about or illustrate has so many beautiful complexities in comparison to the plastic mold we often see in magazines and on TV.

Another crazy juxtaposition is having been in the constant  sea of traffic on Californian freeways to silent  rides to the next city where evergreens cover the land like a lush shag carpet.  We pass by lakes that are clear as glass and offer the most true reflection of foliage positioned by the waters edge.  When the sun sets, the sky progresses through pinks, oranges and reds until darkness arrives and the black canvas is speckled with a trillion stars.  Tonight on the drive into Thunderbay, the Big Dipper guided our way clear and wondrous – and I was reminded of the truths behind the age old understanding of Natural Beauty.

One Love and good night.  MASIA ONE

Backstage @ Koras, Eternia paparazzi pt 1

The Masia One Adidas custom made by Paul T that I rocked for the show!

Masia & Nana somewhere 1 hour from Wah Wah Ontario!

Eternia paparazzi pt 2!

DJ Kyle imitates Tamara's pose

Sunset from White Water to Thunderbay