We have finally arrived in Winnipeg, the last leg of the tour.

Well good peoples, it’s been a long haul on the http://blog.becauseiamagirl.ca/ tour but every moment has been worth it. As the journey winds down, I wanted to visually update everyone with pieces from the road. We have now arrived in Winnipeg, the last leg of the tour. Along the way I have been bumping into students, either at the supermarket, restaurants or local stores that have seen the Girls Rights presentation. I have received such great feed back with regards to the presentation, and sincerely thanked that I have, as an artist, taken the time out of my schedule to help promote such an important message. I wanted to say thank you to all the wonderful people the crew has met on this tour. You all are the ambassadors to educate those around you about issues that effect girls around the world. Stay proud, rock your LIONESS and WARRIOR swagger you hear? One Love.

Paid a visit to Winnipeg's STREETZ 104.7 FM playing 40% Canadian Hiphop! Big Up! Support independence.

Giant Tomahawk in Cut Knife

Drawing for Kyle of his dog Bruiser that misses him!

Nana works so hard hosting the show and keeping y'all informed! She deserves to knock out in the tour van!

YES LIONS!!!

Who needs a Blackberry or iPhone when we have CALL CENTRAL!

Gotta love Kyle in Kyle, Saskatchewan!

I can't believe Tamara is smiling after 6 hours of driving!

Did I mention we saw Moose in Kyle, Saskatchewan? My first Moose sighting ever

Good night beautiful people! One Love from Winnipeg!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/4118571529_f97886353e.jpg

I had a great day visiting schools in Thunderbay!  The girls out here were so LIVE and friendly!  In the morning we heading out to Goreham Ware and followed that up with Winston Churchill in the afternoon.  I found the Q & A portion of the show very interesting today as many of the girls asked really great questions and shared stories of challenges they faced as girls growing up in the community of THUNDERBAY.  Everything from being told they couldn’t play football, to facing domestic abuse in the house hold to even being discriminated against for not only being a girl, but for their race and culture.

I definitely faced a lot of discrimination when I was growing up in Vancouver as a kid whose family had immigrated to Canada at the age of 9.  I spoke English with a SINGAPOREAN ACCENT (SINGLISH), had the nerdiest clothes (my brother’s hand me downs) and was the biggest tom boy (my hair covered my eyes most of the time).  At a pretty young age I got into Hiphop culture and this became my escape and private way of expressing myself.  I used to bump PUBLIC ENEMY at the loudest volume my Sony Cassette player could muster and jump frantically up and down on my bed singing a long and venting my frustrations of how no one could relate to me.  Soon after I discovered a Graffiti writer named LADY PINK, and I couldn’t believe a woman was allowed to do what she was doing…tagging up walls and creating pieces (WILDSTYLE BURNERS) with the guys.  I started drawing on EVERYTHING!  My school books, binders, tables…and this became another creative outlet for the isolation that I felt.  I remember at a high school dance in grade 6, I would dance the way I wanted to and some of the kids would look at me like I was a total freak.  At this particular dance I was wearing size 40 neon red jeans with a matching neon red shirt.  Everyone else dressed much more conservatively.  The DJ of the dance had brought a crew of Bboys with him, and I noticed they were dressed in a similar fashion to me for the first time in my life!  Midway through the dance, one of the bboys approached me, told me he appreciated how different my style was and asked if I wanted to learn to break dance.  I had recently discovered a female break dancer named ASIA ONE and was thrilled to learn to do what she could do.  Long story short, I met up with these bboys after school every other day and learned how to uprock, 6 step and do some basic freezes!  They used to kid around and call me MASIA ONE because I looked up to Asia One so much!  All these years later, I would never think that I would be making a living as a rapper with the stage name Masia One, but all great stories have to start somewhere…you just have to be willing to take the first step and be unafraid of who you are.

I want to encourage all the girls I met today to support one another and not buy into the “catty, gossipy, bullying” image that reality TV always portrays of women.  In the end, it’s such a waste of time.  If you’re being picked on, please be strong and learn to develop your unique beauty.  Maybe right now it feels like no one understands or picks on your for who you are, but learn more about what you love, develop your skills and share with those who will listen.  It’s always best to keep focused on the positive and let the bullies, bigots and negatoids wallow in their own unhappiness.  Lionesses have no time for such riff raff. Big up all my warriors!

ps: As promised, pictures are posted below!

One Love

Masia.

Loved this display of music products! Did you know the castte tape was not invented until he could sell them for $100

Everyone at Goreham listening to Miss Eternia speak!

Tweeting back stage! www.twitter.com/masiaone

Churchill girls 1

This girl was so pretty and shared with me that she was discriminated against.

Thanks for buying a LIONESS shirt guys!

Check out my blogs every Wednesday on the www.becauseiamagirl.ca website!  Here is my latest update!

MASIA ONE BECAUSE I AM A GIRL BLOG

3am and got to be up in 3 hours…better get some shut eye before tomorrow’s show.

one love.

Sometimes 6am mornings hurt my brain...

November 16. 2009 We hit the road driving up North from Toronto.  The first school, Hillcrest was a great attentive crowd of kids.  I unfortunately was not yet ready to switch from L.A. life to student schedule waking up around 5:30am and arriving at the school shortly after 7am.  I couldn’t believe Nana had woken up early for a run, and Eternia was her usual morning efficient self.  I am always pleased to share a room with tour manager Tamara, as she is subtly assertive and keeps me in check (ie: up and out of bed!)

Boys Change room reads: Because I am a Girl

1 hour later it still hurts! (Masia hiding in the Girls Change room pre show)

In direct contrast to Miss Morning Sunshine NANA! xoxo

Tamara is the den leader and always holds it down!

Caught DJ Kyle sleeping on the job! HAHAHA!

Nana hosting and interviewing the MTV Canada hosts about their trips to Columbia, Haiti and South Sudan

Say Yeah Yah!

Eternia says "You have Power, You have Choice! So...no one on the corner got swagger like us..."

Brechin Boogie!

We headed out to our second show in Brechin, where we met up with a principle that we performed for last year that has since transferred to another school.  Backstage I had the pleasure to parlay with some guys, curious as to why they had been excluded from the Girl’s presentation.  I asked them what they thought the show was about, and they giggled and said it was probably about girl stuff and sex ed.  LOL.  I asked them who they would like to meet and a string of names poured out including Hannah Montana, Brad Pit and The Rock.  Go figure…pretty random Hollywood bunch if you ask me!  I promised them that I would shout their names out on the mic (especially Trent who indicated his girlfriend was in the crowd).  6 schools of girls had come together for the presentation, and their energy was really wonderful.  The autograph line was long.  Eternia and I received the most random things to sign including stinky sneakers, posters, bags and one request for her face!  Thanks Brechin…had a blast!

My homies backstage Trent, Austin & Hank! (sorry last dude you joined at the end) Reppin' for the boys the support Girls Rights!

Go Nana!

Autograph line up

Autograph session after was CRAAAAZY!

This girl was the sweetest and the happiest!

Music is My Life! Music IS Life!

Photo ops for the LiONEss & Eternia!

How do autograph sessions turn into Masia One Shoe Customizations?

This girl's shirt said "California, Blue Skies, Hot Guys!" BAM BAM! It's true.

November 17. 2009 This morning was especially painful to wake up.  I have to cut down my 3am email work nights before waking for 6am!  We arrived at Mary Mount school to a pretty skilled Volleyball team occupying our set up time.  We got things underway for set up, a quick sound check and I disappeared to the bathroom to splash ample amounts of water on my face.  I returned to find out my show CDs disappeared!  We searched, asked the teachers at the school for a blank CD (so I could burn a new show disc) but no luck.  One of the teachers even offered me a casette tape instead!!!???  We finally located a blank disc at the neighboring school, Macguiver’d a new show disc and away we go!  I was really impressed at the questions the young ladies at Mary Mount asked…One girl asked me if I would ever stop believing in what I did.  It’s hard question to answer as I would immediately like to retort NOOO WAY!!!  There are so many choices to be made in the music industry both on the creative side as well as with business, that sometimes it gets difficult to stay grounded to what first inspired an artist to write and create.  I have to say, doing the school tours, and reaching out to young people that have that innocence of spirit, and warrior energy is always an inspiration for me to keep believing in what I do.  Thanks Ladies!

Made it on stage in time, with a new show disc burned!

Participation! Great questions Regal Ladies!

Inside joke on the tour! Thank you Tamara for humoring my obscure humor!

Took my braids out in the tour van after the show and rocked some Lion Hair!

My traveling Gnome, Pink Hello Kitty!

Bailed hay? We a long way from Hollywood Toto!

DJ Kyle buys some Stunna Shades for the drive to Sault Ste Marie!

Giant Loonie in the middle of no where! Had to make Kyle pull over for this pimpin' photo opt!

Nana reppin' the Queen Side!

KLAX at the hotel? Super old school.

Nothing says "comfortable in my masculinity" quite like seeing DJ Kyle in his "Because I am a Girl Shirt!" LOL.

Good night world! Don’t forget to enter the competition to win a school dance with DJ Dopey, Masia One & Eternia.  Text “GIRL” to 25252 or go online at Because I am a Girl online contest!

1:30am and I have to be up in a few hours!  One Love.