When women... sorry, people stand together

Unfortunately (or, sorry, but fortunately in my case), this
is the world I live in. Happy guy up front, happy little play
castle behind him. No one get hurt. No one cries. No one
feels pain. Turns out it's a made-up world. Reality is not.

I may be the absolute wrong guy to write about this.

But I'm going to, anyway. Not because I'm fearless or anything like that. I'm not. I'm stupid - seriously, man, dumb as a goddamn post - but I guess I try to do the right thing. Because I kinda have as a parent. We'll get to that in a second.

This is a story about women - or more specifically, women in the Ontario craft beer industry - standing together. Standing up. Speaking out against shit I had no idea was even happening. Again, please refer to the previous paragraph. No idea. Dumb as a post.

But again, while not knowing is not a great excuse, not speaking out when you DO know? There is no excuse for that. I seldom tread these murky waters. Today, I'm going to.

There are reasons I seldom tread these waters and lemme lay them out for you. I am old. I am white. And I am male. If you look at the world today, I pretty much look like a spokesman for absolute dickheads. Total assholes. People who have power but who shouldn't.

And Bingo was his name-oh. Just because something is
not a problem for me does not mean it's not a problem.
I have never personally faced sexism. I have never
personally faced racism. But I would be an absolute
idiot to say it's not a problem. It is a daily reality for
many. I get that I'm in a fortunate position. I really do.

You see, we now live in a world where I watched a very credible woman - a doctor - speak out against a candidate for the American Supreme Court for, and I will say, "alleged" past sexual misconduct. Did I believe her? Every word. Why? Lemme tell you. This goes to the actual candidate himself. He screamed like a damn banshee up there. All he had to say was "No, I didn't." That's it. He's already a federal judge. Establish that fraction of a doubt is the credo of the court-room and by extension, a Senate judicial hearing. However, he decided a better approach would be to have a tantrum most of us would not accept from a two-year-old. His words did not tarnish her credibility in my mind. It added to her case, if anything.

So the end result? He got his seat on the US Supreme Court. Justice for all? Not a chance. His case, oddly, seemed to hinge on the fact that he used to hang with Frat Bros named Biff and Jiff and Wiff, good ol' boys just drinking beers. And questioning a female Senator over the amount of beers she drank. All I saw was the epitome of White Male Privilege sitting there.

And lemme tell you something else for free, that phrase means two very different things... depending on the white male.

I saw these two women down in Las Vegas. I have absolutely no
idea where or why they got these hats. I was just thrilled they
were happy to pose for a stranger. Perhaps it was because I
was laughing so damn hard when I spotted them. Too funny!
Also they really speak to what I'm saying along here today...

To guys like that, it's means "I can act however I want with impunity." To guys like me, it simply means I've never been punished, neglected, denied or put upon because my skin happens to be a certain colour or I'm a different gender. What it does not mean is that I'm allowed to act like a colossal asshole!! (And if I do inadvertently act like a colossal asshole, I hope the only one ever hurt by that is me.) So I guess my life's been perfect, right? Nope. Life is filled with ups and downs. Like everyone reading this, I've had both. Life can, at times, be a tough ship to navigate for most of us. None of us are exempt. But I would be the first to admit the waters can be far choppier for many, many others.

Now before I get to what this is really about, it's full disclosure time. And it's simply this. I'm far from perfect. No one's gonna offer me any sainthood. Thirty years ago, I don't think I was the guy that I hope I am now. But the times have changed from 30 years ago. I think I have changed with them. For the better, I hope. That's for others to decide.

My motto in the 2020 Presidential race would be
simply, "No, I'm a different Donald. Also don't
call me Donald. Donny will do. Oh yeah, I'm
also giving big tax breaks to craft breweries."
This, people, is how politics should work but...

A large part of that was having a special needs son 27 years ago. That seems to quickly instill within a parent a real sense of protecting the vulnerable. Though special needs or not, every parent has (or should have) that protective urge.

But over time, you begin to realize that many others are also vulnerable. Last week when I was in Las Vegas (being Happy Carefree Donny), I took a bite of a nasty reality sandwich. I noticed all sorts of people being critical of the Ontario Beverage Network and I had no idea why. So I did what I always do.

I asked my old pal, Drunk Polkaroo. He's far more plugged into the Ontario Craft Beer industry than I'll ever be. He told me simply, "Go to Robin's Facebook page." Robin would be Robin LeBlanc, the co-author of The Ontario Craft Beer Guide, Vol. 1 and 2.

So I did. There was a post about no longer using the OBN as a resource tool. So I followed the post and it turned out it was about a man who was physically and emotionally abusive to his partner. Both he and she were in different wings of the Ontario craft beer industry. She worked for Side Launch Brewing and he was an OBN founder. I didn't recognize his name.

While my son, David, was always be my hero, these four fill the
bill nicely as well. Clockwise from top left, that's Robin LeBlanc,
Jordan St John, Robert aka the Drunk Polkaroo and up front,
his awesome partner, Kat. Robin's hero status is a little higher
these days as she did a pretty important thing. Please read on...

But my stomach turned when I recognized hers. Jen. You see, Jen was the Side Launch beer rep for my Beer Store not long after I started this blog. I loved when Jen came by. We would talk about craft beer, the craft beer industry and actually our expectation for that very industry. As I was maybe a year into this, she was an invaluable inside source. Open, honest, friendly, very informative and just genuinely nice. I got fun tid-bits of info on Side Launch and other craft breweries, which numbered maybe 150 and change back in those 2014 days. I think that she liked that I had a working knowledge of the Ontario Craft Beer industry, something I suspect wasn't really expected at that time from a Beer Store employee. Anyway, I just called her Side Launch Jen and was immediately alerted if she came into the store. I was, apparently, deemed to be the best person in the immediate vicinity to talk to craft beer reps.

So anyway, on her Facebook page when Robin stated she would no longer be using OBN as a resource, the inevitable "Why? What's going on?" questions came up. Which was good. Because I sure didn't have a clue. And then Jen came on and told her story. I'll tell you this, it was not a fun read. It was pretty horrible. Just disgusting, to be more accurate. And that was reading it. Imagine living it like Jen did.

Apparently, this was known by a healthy handful of people and kept hush-hush. They did a good job of it, I'll give them that.

Because if we don't ALL stand together, then
we fall apart. I will always believe that it's
better to link arms, rather than raise them.

When I returned home from Vegas, I sat down and wrote Jen a private message, not entirely sure if she'd remember me. We haven't seen each other in years. She responded. She did remember me and without giving away too many details of a private conversation, she graciously thanked me for my support.

I also messaged Robin privately and thanked her. Again, without too many details of a private talk, I will say that I told Robin that I got the sense that Jen was trying to let people know but because this man was well-connected, the ugly ordeal was, more or less, kept under wraps. I think Robin LeBlanc took a sledgehammer to the Asshat Cone of Silence and handed Jen a platform. And here's the thing. Robin is one of the best-known beer writers in Ontario. Her social media platform is not tiny. It's extensive. But here's the other thing. Not everyone has a Robin LeBlanc so we all, women and men, have to be more like her. To stand up and speak out against the really shitty things. Yesterday on Twitter, Robin said I was "one of the more vocal cheerleaders of the people and the drinks in this industry." I'm not sure that praise is deserved but today, Robin, I got vocal. We all need to be Robin LeBlanc when necessary. Today, for me, it was. Ladies, if you don't mind an old, white guy beside you... we stand together.