Scott Hammell, one of the folks down here at Me to We in Toronto, jumped out of a plane at 11,000 feet last month. To make it even better, he was handcuffed to his waist and had to break free using lock picks while blindfolded in time to deploy his parachute before he hit the ground. He did all of this for a school in Ecuador. Watch the video to see how it all went down.

If reasons behind watching Glee couldn’t get any better, Diana Agron who play’s Quinn is also Harper from a much loved American Eagle/MTV mini show called It’s a Mall World from back in the day. When I say back in the day, I mean the summer of 2007 before American Eagle sold black clothing.

I had no idea that both characters were played by the same character. When It’s a Mall World was out, AE played the trailer for the show over and over again in store to the point where you had it memorized word for word. You even had the option of buying Harper’s outfits on ae.com and they dressed her completely in the 2007 back to school line. I owned the outfit she’s wearing in the first episode (posted below). I’m unable to find the trailer online (if anyone can, I’d be eternally grateful if you sent me the link) but you can still find the episodes around on YouTube.

For some reason, when I logged onto YouTube, Alejandro was recommended for me because I watched the BP Spills Coffee video? I don’t see the connection. Do you? No? Okay.

This is a billboard currently posted in Oakville, Ontario. I like the other marketing campaign of Greg’s Ice Creamery giving out 2,000 free samples on June 25th to make people a little bit happier on the day of G20 doom. Good choice since 6 schools have cancelled classes for the day because of the world leader’s hang out session.

and they took away all of our trees.

I’m knee deep in all things G8/G20 here in Toronto. Free The Children’s Craig Kielburger is the special correspondent and humanitarian for CP24 who will be giving hits every half hour about the madness that is consuming the city. His hits just started this morning and I can’t think of a cooler experience than being Craig Kielburger, driving around in a CP24 news van, and trying to chase around protestors in Toronto. I’ll be playing a small part of the Craig/CP24 madness here at the office and on the field. Internships rock.

So besides our trees being taken away, a fence being built in the middle of the street, and Craig having a CP24 news van, Mirvish Productions (the people behind Rock of Ages and Mama Mia) have cancelled all performances during G20. Say what? Even better, Tony Lepage from the cast of Rock of Ages made this spoof video of the decision to cancel the shows stating that “regularly scheduled believin’ will resume on June 28th.”

I like when men say they break into David Mirvish’s office to make YouTube videos. Also, his chair swivel is cute.

Currently, I am attending the G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto as a part of the Free The Children delegation. G(irls) 20 brings together one delegate from each of the G20 countries who is between the ages of 18 and 20 to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and issues facing girls and woman in the world today. For more, please visit girlsandwomen.com. I’ll be providing coverage from the summit and posting it to this blog. Also, check out my Twitter for photos and more. Enjoy, Thunderbirds.

Japan’s delegate at the inaugural G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto is a nineteen year old university student named Aiki Segawa who believes that, “education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.” Segawa’s actions stand behind her words after being a part of  her Free The Children group in Japan.

Segawa has spent the last two years raising funds to build a library in Mongolia with Free The Children, which now stands with 1,000 books for children to read. With her strong belief that education makes us who we are, Seqawa challenges the G20 leaders to take their arms expenses and put it towards opportunities for education across the globe.

Through role modeling, she hopes that other girls learn from her experiences and learn how to live life to it’s fullest. She currently serves as this years delegate from Japan and is ready to inspire other young girls to take action in the same ways she has with Free The Children and through opportunities like the G(irls) 20 Summit.

Currently, I am attending the G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto as a part of the Free The Children delegation. G(irls) 20 brings together one delegate from each of the G20 countries who is between the ages of 18 and 20 to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and issues facing girls and woman in the world today. For more, please visit girlsandwomen.com. I’ll be providing coverage from the summit and posting it to this blog. Also, check out my Twitter for photos and more. Enjoy, Thunderbirds.

What is the biggest issue that is facing woman today and how do we tackle it? This was the big question presented at the G(irls) 20 Summit on June 16th in Toronto to a panel consisting of 5 distinguish women’s rights activists. One panelist, Pamela Shifman of the Novo Foundation took the lead and stated that girls today are not safe from violence and the entire world suffers because of it. She provided three concrete recommendations on how to change this major issue.

Her first recommendation was to change the equation that girls and women fit into. Shifman advises that we give girls economic assets like a bank account and an income. In many nations, women do not receive the proper education to obtain a job or marry young and bcome a housewife under her husband.

Secondly, Shifman told the G(irls) 20 Delegates and guests that the next step would to be provide girls and women with social assets to be girls. What does she mean, to be girls? In Canada, it isn’t a struggle for girls to embrace who they are. In many countries though, girls cannot act like girls because they are not provided with safe spaces to socialize.

Shifman’s last point stands strong, stating that boys and men must be engaged to become allies to girls and women. The issues against girls and women that still stand today cannot be fixed if only girls and women take action. It is a conversation that both men and women need to be a part of to correct the issue of violence against women.

Currently, I am attending the G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto as a part of the Free The Children delegation. G(irls) 20 brings together one delegate from each of the G20 countries who is between the ages of 18 and 20 to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and issues facing girls and woman in the world today. For more, please visit girlsandwomen.com. I’ll be providing coverage from the summit and posting it to this blog. Also, check out my Twitter for photos and more. Enjoy, Thunderbirds.

At nineteen years of age, Kartika Nurhayati, the delegte from Indonesia at the G(irls) 20 Summit recognizes the struggles of overcoming cultural norms to obtain an education in her country. Nurhayati believes strongly that education will forever change the future of a young girl for the better but identifies that most parents do not see the value in education or how it will change their children’s future.

Through her personal testimony at the summit, she stated that parents believe that all girls will marry at a young age and become a housewife under their husbands’ power. That is the cultural norm in Indonesia but Nurhayati sees the fight to change those opinions and to let all young girls be in control of their future.

Nurhayati brought up a strong point that education adds to a girls ability to be a mother, to support their family, to provide additional income and doesn’t want cultural norms to stop such an opportunity. Katherine Blake of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) believes that education is crucial to making issues against women the past.

“School is not easy, but we choose the hard road because we know what we want to become,” says Blake who works towards addressing human rights on a national and international level with LEAF. It is not easy to tackle such large issues like access to education and humans rights but Blake takes her strength from Joe Opatowski, Free The Children and Me to We facilitator and motivational speaker who killed in a car accident on his way home from a speech in New York in 2004. He was only 21 years old.

Blake’s son, David, was friends with Opatowski. Blake recals Opatowski eating breakfast in her kitchen one morning while telling him that there were so many big problems in the world and asking him if his actions to change the world seemed like it was one discouraging drop in a big bucket. Opstowski told her that yes it is just a small drop in a big bucket but that’s what it is all about. One drop at a time.