I’ve set a fundraising goal of $250.00, and thanks to very generous donations from my mother and A.C. Thomas, we’re closer than ever to achieving it. You can get involved by donating online, or simply by spreading the word. If you’d like to join us, it’s not too late to register.

Thanks, guys! Watch this space for updates and more information, and be sure to tune in on Sunday for a look back at the walk.

It was a stupid thing to say, and it would be easy to call Newstalk a bunch of misogynists and be done with it. But if we did that, we’d be passing up a chance to learn a fun and important lesson about diversity and representation!

There are a lot of people in this town, many of them women, who think the departure of Jaye Robinson’s uterus from Ford’s executive committee is a bad thing. They be all “representation in government” this and “Ford’s proven ineptitude with women” that. And because women make up something like half of this city, we’ve at least got to hear them out.

Over at Newstalk 1010, it’s a different story. Women don’t make up half of their ongoing discourse. They don’t even make up half of a half of a half of a half of it.

Take a look at their program schedule, and you’ll find only three female hosts. Adrienne Batra hosts three hours on Monday morning, Gail Vaz-Oxlade hosts two hours on Monday night, and the delightful Pay Chen hosts an hour on Sunday. I’d have linked to their shows, but only Vaz-Oxlade’s show has an actual web page.

That’s a total of six hours of airtime each week. That may not seem like a lot, but don’t forget that the mayor and his brother only get two. And I’m pretty sure it’s not because they’re at the office the rest of the time.

Now, I’m assuming each of these women has a uterus. But don’t fret, faithful Newstalk listener! Despite the persistent “contributions” of these three women, Newstalk 1010′s airwaves are still a whopping 96.4% uterus-free.

So it’s no surprise that they would feel free to bellow things like “Take that, Jaye Robinson’s uterus!” whenever they want. I mean, it’s not like they’ve actually got a significant number of female broadcasters. They might want to clean up their act if they want to maintain a significant number of female listeners, but that’s another story.

As for me, if I’ve learned anything from this lesson in representation, it’s that Newstalk 1010 is Toronto’s best source for the real story on the Ford scandal. The Star, the Globe and Gawker can speculate all they like about local mayors with alleged crack problems. But do any of them actually have one on the payroll?

UPDATE: Commenter T minus 3 was kind enough to note that Batra’s not a regular Newstalk 1010 host; she was filling in for Jerry Agar yesterday. So female hosts account for three hours of Newstalk’s content per week, not six, making their schedule 98.2% uterus-free. Agar himself gets five times as much airtime than all – well, both – of Newstalk’s female hosts combined.

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I’ve set a rather modest fundraising goal of $250.00, and I could really use your support to achieve it. We’re already a quarter of the way there, thanks to generous donations from my wife and my good friend Toby. You can get involved by donating online, or simply by spreading the word. Better yet, if you’d like to join us, it’s not too late to register.

Thanks, guys! I’ll be sure to keep you posted throughout the week as we get closer to the goal, and to give you a full report once the walk is done.

All the best today, Jon. If the year ahead is anything like the year you’ve just enjoyed, it’s going to be a great one. I can’t wait to watch it unfold!

Well, what do you want from me? I got two out of three, and as the old saying goes, that ain’t bad. Hell, it’s better than my wife did.

It’s also a bit of a break, because the office has been very hectic lately. Lots of competing priorities, and lots of calls to drop everything and take care of something immediate. Today, one of those calls might come from the daycare.

Which is kind of nice, in the sense that it reminds you who you’re really working for. There’s a lot of work my bosses want me to tackle today, and the nature of that work could change at any minute. But if I get a call about my kid, then that’s going to take immediate priority – at least until I can hand her off to her grandmother.

Knowing that, and having those priorities in your mental foreground, is a pretty great state of mind. When you’ve been mired in the details of your job for a while, it’s nice to reconnect with the big picture. Plus, it has a funny way of renewing your work ethic.

As far as the work is concerned, today won’t be that much different from any other. I’ll tackle the same jobs, and I’ll stay as focused as I can. But when I need to take a break, I’ll clean my kitchen.

My wife was at the centre of two of those things. Thursday was her birthday, and Saturday was the eighth anniversary of the day we met. She hadn’t had much time to think about the first, and she’d all but forgotten about the second until I mentioned it.

Which is fine, because it’s not like we make a big deal out of it these days. Once you get married, that’s your official anniversary, and the others have a way of falling short. You kids today can enjoy your three-week anniversaries with my blessing, but my wife and I will stick to the main dates, thank you very much.

Frankly, I’m just amazed and proud that I did remember it. As much as I’d love to gloat about the fact that I gave her a gift to celebrate an anniversary she didn’t even remember, the truth is that I had an unfair advantage. I remember the day because it’s two days after her birthday, and all I had to do as far as gifts were concerned was set aside one of the things I’d bought for her birthday.

Anyway, we had our fun, and now we’re into a new week. I’m planning to leave a lot more of my job at the office after five, for reasons that deserve their own post at a later date, which means I’ll have a lot more time for more of my own stuff. I’m planning to make the most of that time, and when it comes to this site, I hope you’ll stay tuned for the results.

The rest of you, listen up. This is going to help you lose a lot less of the fights you pick with women.

Let’s say you’re on the web, and a woman says something that you think is unfair to men. It might be something about sexism, rape jokes, equal opportunity, whatever. And let’s say that instead of asking yourself why it makes you uncomfortable, or just ignoring the comment altogether, you decide to engage her on it.

Chances are, that conversation doesn’t go well. Maybe the woman gets a bit defensive, and maybe you mistake that defensiveness for proof that her argument is totally sexist and weak. She’s probably really just tired of dealing with strange dudes who want to know why she hates men, but that’s not the point. Not to you, anyway.

Things escalate, and pretty soon, one of her male friends steps in to back her up. By doing so, he’s giving you a second chance to pause and consider the argument. And it ought to be easier to accept the argument coming from him, because he’s a man.

But what do you do? You assume the only reason he’s butting in is because he wants to impress the woman so he can sleep with her, and you call him out for it. You call him a white knight.

When you look back on this argument later, focus on that last part. That’s the part where you threw in the towel and made an ass of yourself. You might as well have called everybody Hitler.

“White knight” is one of those insults that always says more about the accuser than the accused. I can’t speak for women – I’m married, after all – but I can tell you what the rest of us dudes think when someone calls us a white knight.

“Here’s a guy who doesn’t know how to relate to women,” we think, “except as people who either will or won’t sleep with him. He’s so hopeless, in fact, that when he sees a man taking a woman’s side over his, he assumes it’s just because he’s trying to get into her pants. He can’t wrap his head around any other possible motivation.”

Now, you’d never describe yourself like that. Hopefully, it’s not a fair description of you. So you need to do yourself a favour and stop throwing “white knight” around, because that’s what you’re saying about yourself when you do.

By the way, if you’re one of those third-party guys who injects himself into these arguments, keep doing so. Be respectful when you do it, of course, but speak your mind. You won’t be standing up for a woman; you’ll be standing up for the principles you share with her.

For added fun, trying making the exact same argument that the woman already made, and see if the guy says you’ve got a good point. I’ve pulled this off a few times, and it’s always hilarious. Bonus points if you repeat her argument word for word.

“Your audience is brilliant. You sometimes know something they don’t. But treat them as though they are masterful and brilliant, as though you’re just sharing this information in case they want to brush up. You’re not a god. You’re a communicator.”

It’s a thoughtful and considerate approach, but it’s also a sensible one. It boils down to putting yourself in your reader’s shoes, and that’s a good idea when it comes to any kind of communication.

I try to bear this tip in mind whenever I sit down to write a new post. I want what I’m saying to resonate with you, and I want you to feel like the time it took to read it was time well spent. As a reader, I appreciate when other writers and bloggers do the same for me. We’re all busy people, after all.

I took a few days off from blogging last week, for reasons I’ll get into later. I thought I’d start the new week by pledging to get back on track with this rule in mind. I hope you’ll stick around to see if I do a good job (and if you don’t stick around, I’ll know I haven’t).

By the way, another thing Brogan likes to do to encourage engagement is ask a lot of questions at the end of his posts. What do you think of this strategy? Have you tried it? Do you think it would work in this case?