Skatistan

Empowering girls in Afghanistan through skateboarding.

Brilliant.

Skatistan has been rolling on now since 2007. I first touched the pages of their brilliant 320 page, full colour, amazingly tactile and captivating first book months ago at the very rad Antisocial Skateboard Shop in Vancouver, which happens to also female owned and operated. I'm a bit ashamed I am only posting about it now. If you've been like me and were somehow hiding in a cave on Mars for the past six years, I'd highly suggest going to their website, watching their videos, and feeling awesome about what these guys are doing.

I remember as a kid being told "girls can't do [this or that]." It made me mad and I would usually do that thing (climbing the tall tree, throwing to second from home base, push ups, algebra) as much as I could just to prove whoever said that wrong. The joy of accomplishment was immense. The sense of eurphoria and excitement from mastering something with your body and feeling an endorphine rush made all the bruises and sprains worth it. I can only imagine that under the circumstances these girls face, the joy must be x1000.

Afghanistan's Girl Skaters – Kabul 2012 from Skateistan on Vimeo.

I had words hurled at me for sure, as many girls did in North America, but none of us were ever shot at for saying: "I can do that too."

Show some support. Head on over to their store and throw down some cash for their amazing first book, or some other sweet swag.




SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo.

Love, Love, Love...

Another amazing Kickstarter project about women and bikes!

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan began in 1979. For ten years, the war raged on, and was considered a "Proxy War" of the Cold War. After the Soviets pulled out, the impoverished, traumatized country was ripe for the control of the Taliban. Then 911 happened. Even before this modern history, Afganistan has been in dispute and a strategic region of Britan and Czarist Russia, then the US and Stalinist USSR. Basically, no one has "won" anything in Afghanistan, especially Afghanis, with instability and unspeakable injustices still rampant, specifically towards women.

What can a caring person do to help today? There are many ways. One way Mountain2Mountain has been creating change has been through it's programs that advocate for women in sports, specifically with mountain biking.  Through empowering women on equity issues like transportation and sports, they are giving voices to women and children in conflict zones, and creating an international community of support and advocacy. They are telling stories, and creating the world they want to live in through their work. It's possible. We as human beings created this mess, and we can love and create our way out of it.

Mountain2Mountain was founded in November 2006 by Shannon Galpin.  Shannon took action on her deep conviction that all women and girls deserve the same rights and opportunities as her own daughter. She walked away from her career as an athletic trainer and used her own limited funds to launch M2M and "be the change" she wished to see in the world.

Now, this Kickstart project in question is about funding Afghan Cycles, which is a film about 12 brave women that dare to ride on the Women’s National Cycling Team of Afghanistan. This production is in association with other amazing women Sarah Menzies of LET Media, Whitney Conner Clapper of Side of the Road Sessions.

Still thinking "something should be done, but what can I do?" Here is Shannon Galpin to break it down for you.


"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"- Leo Tosltoy

Celebrate the Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade's Success!

 
We'd like to extend a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the incredible force that is the Ovarian Psycos Brigade! Last week their Kickstarter campaign raised $13,028 towards their documentary project.  Who are they you may ask?

... "are a ferocious and unapologetic group of young women of color, cycling through the barrios and boulevards of the Eastside, committed to collectively confronting racism and violence, and demanding and creating safe spaces for women."

These women are incredibly inspiring. (I am really upset I only heard about their kickstarter after it closed.) Their brand of emancipated, grass roots, independent, healing form of community based activism is what is going to change the world. For years we have been hearing about the huge social and economic problems associated with LA and various groups working on change, but never has there been such a clear, assured, and action based voice from the women of the streets of LA. Follow them on Facebook to see all the incredible events they are putting on and supporting.


photo from LA Streets Blog

There are rumblings in Toronto about bringing Luna rides to Toronto. Stay tuned and we'll bring you updates.

One Billion Rising on Valentine's Day

Back in the day St. Valentinus was a Martyr for marrying Roman soldiers in Christian ceremonies. Today is his feast day. It became wildly popular in the Romantic era as a courtship thing, and wildly over commercialized in our era. Not being a hallmark girl, I don't take this as a day to do the traditional things while in a relationship or do Bridget Jones lamenting if I am single. F that noise. Right now I am going to reflect on what loving in a difficult time means. How can you practice love in a time of oppression and difficulty?



One Billion Rising to me is just awesome. Women and men from around the world are standing in solidarity against a culture of fear, power and violence. It's awesome, check it out. You can get a live stream from events all over the world, and check out uploaded videos from previous years.



Love, love, love...

The Right to Cycle

From June 26th to the 30th I was fortunate enough to attend the keynote sessions of Velo-City 2012 held here in Vancouver, BC.

For three days I was truly blew me away. There is a steep hill to climb and a lot of work to be done to make the rest of the world like Copenhagen, but with such brilliant and hard working professionals dedicated to this task, it's going to happen and it's going to be amazing.

I love Notable Quoteables, so took some of the best from the international speakers and submitted them Toronto's lovely Biking Toronto and Australia's Treadlie.  Broken down into four parts, (seriously so much good came out of those presenters) they are meant to inspire and inform. Follow the links wiki-styles and dive deep into the world of cycling politics and infrastructure.

“Creating cycle friendly cities. It’s child’s play.”
Dr. Paul Tranter- Associate Professor in Geography, University of New South Wales

This year the European Cycling Federation and Velo-City presented The Charter of Vancouver, which is a call to the UN and all nations to acknowledge the right for children to cycle. Biking improves so many aspects of a child's life; their health, independence, personal mobility, cleaner enviornment, and the list goes on and on.... You can read the notes from the Children's Keynote in Part 4 of the Biking TO segment. 



The closing of the conference called for all to sign the charter in suport. I was a privileged to ad my name, and signed on behalf of the Deadly Nightshades. It's not just NGO's who are working to make this world a better place to live and bike, us #girlbikegangs have a role too.

1Love.

xo

Pale Blue Dot

I was once told that the opposite of war was not peace, but creation. As a designer, I take that to heart. Our hearts go out to ALL families that are affected by the tragedies going on in the Gaza Strip. My personal hope is that our world leaders will find the wisdom and strength to end hatred and build a world based on mutual respect and love of life on this pale blue dot.