This is no way to make history. First Kamala Harris becomes the first female president of the United States while Joe Biden goes under for a colonoscopy. Her presidency lasted 90 minutes. Then Sweden’s Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson wins last week’s election to become the first female prime minister, and that lasts just one day. Andersson resigned after her coalition partner withdrew its support and her first budget didn’t win parliamentary support. But hey, after the Hillary Clinton debacle when the dream of a super bright, compassionate, and eminently experienced woman as president morphed into a four-year global nightmare, we’re not above celebrating the technicality of a 90-minute presidency. “Just to be clear to everyone who has ever said Vice President #KamalaHarris will never be President…you’re wrong. I will be saying Madam President all day, tweeted political commentator Reecie Colbert. Happily, celebrations resumed in Sweden and beyond after a new vote on Monday led to Andersson’s reappointment as Prime Minister.
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Half Baked
Trans actors on a role
Actor Eddie Redmayne says he was wrong to portray a trans women in the movie The Danish Girl, for which he won an Oscar. He was reproached for playing Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo surgery to change gender. Out of concern for marginalized actors, “there must be a leveling,” he says. His point, of course, is that a transgender actor should have gotten the role. But I hope that we don’t stop at the realization that trans actors should be the preferred choice to play a trans person. Just as cisgender men and women should be eligible to compete with trans actors for trans roles, trans actors should be considered for any role — cisgender, trans or gay. Trans actors may in fact have a slight edge, says Jezza Donovan of Gendered Intelligence in Spotlight News. “We live in a world where trans people know far more about non trans people than the other way around. A trans actor is far better placed and informed to play a cisgender character than vice versa.” When casting, directors and producers must be continually prodded to consider all possibilities. Tunnel vision shouldn’t get in the way of an Oscar-worthy performance.
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(Not Even) Half Baked
Extra Extra…Fourteen shopping days left til climate collapse
It’s hard not to question world leaders’ commitment to ending global warming when what is being touted as a make-or-break-it summit is itself contributing mightily to the problem. Even knowing that private jets are one of the most harmful ways to travel, hundreds of big wigs opted for luxury-in-the-sky to get them and their staff to Glasgow. According to Matt Finch of UK’s Transport and Environmental campaign group, the average private jet emits two tonnes for C02 for ever hour of flight, about one quarter the yearly carbon footprint of the average citizen including all their travel and all they consume. In the meantime, it’s hard to fault Greta’s activist followers from indulging in some nihilistic humour, reading readily-on-hand mock newspapers headlined Don’t Panic: We’ve Still Got 23 Trees Left and Relax: We Still Have 14 Hours To Save The Planet. As for the actual negotiations, we all are watching for signs of real action versus more blah blah blah blah blah!
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COMMENTS
A Leacock farce but with deadly consequences
All we ask is that climate change leaders do what they say they are going to do. As noted by Queen Elizabeth in October, It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.”
The Glasgow Climate Summit brings to mind Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches, where he describes the Whirlwind Campaign to raise money for a good cause in the town of Mariposa. Each day the notables meet for a free lunch, encourage each other to make pledges, each pledge conditional on reaching an ever- escalating sum. In the end, all are well fed but that’s it.
Ever attuned to folly, Leacock anticipates the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow: prominent people meet, encourage each other to make aspirational statements, and escalate the date to really doing something. In the end, there is much saying but no doing.
Leacock’s 1912 Whirlwind Campaign is a fictional and harmless farce. But the COP26 farce is far from harmless. Leaders like to give the impression of acting, but that’s all they are doing.
Bill Cooper, Kingston
Nov 12, 2021
Half Baked
More freedom from the ticking clock
While some U.S. states are doing all they can to limit reproductive choice for women, the UK government is moving to increase their reproductive freedom by extending the length of time frozen eggs can be stored. Under proposed legislation, a ten-year limit would increase to 55 years, giving women a lot more choice and flexibility over when they can start their families. “By making these changes, we are going to take a huge step forward – not just for giving people greater freedom over their fertility, but for equality too,” notes UK Health minister Sajid Javid. The U.S. government is also assessing the 10-year rule. In Canada, women can keep their eggs frozen for as long as they want but guidelines recommend using them before they turn 50. While the baby boom that many predicted has not materialized, fertility clinics including in Canada have seen an upsurge in the past year in the number of women wanting to freeze their eggs.
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Fully Baked
Diesel women in high demand
Women may be hitting the glass ceiling when it comes to corporate boardrooms, but they are increasingly hitting the highways as truckers. and making up to $100,000 a year. With the pandemic seriously escalating demand for shipping, the trucking industry in both Canada and U.S. is experiencing a severe shortage of drivers. With only 3.5% of professional truck drivers in Canada being female, the federal Ministry of Transport is funding initiatives to remove barriers. In the U.S., which expects to be short about 100,000 drivers by 2023, incentives by organizations and companies to recruit female drivers include free tuition for certification (up to $7,000) and openness to husband and wife driving teams. In just two years, the industry has seen the percentage of women grow from 6.7% to more than 10%. Says one woman who has had a long career as a trucker: “My steering wheel doesn’t know the gender that holds it, and it really doesn’t care,” she said. “It’s just always been labeled a man’s world and always been labeled a man’s job.” Women, start your diesel engines.
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Fully Baked
Unanimous ‘we’re sorry’ from psychologists
The largest organization of psychologists in the US has this week officially apologized to people of colour for its role in “promoting, perpetuating and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination and human hierarchy.” With its unanimous resolution, the American Psychological Association (APA), noted that the apology and willingness to accept responsibility is long overdue. Among other examples of how it has historically promoted racism, the APA acknowledged using models rooted in scientific racism; promulgated ideas of human hierarchy through ideas about racial difference; used psychology to support segregated and subpar education for people of color; used discriminatory tests; and took positions based on eugenics that supported segregation, sterilization, and anti-marriage laws.