On the eve of International Women’s Day, Sophia Bush and a panel of inspiring businesswomen that included her Detroit Blows co-founder Nia Batts, senior vice president of whiskies at Diageo North America, Sophie Kelly, and Axios CTO Jess Szmajda, motivated a captive crowd gathered to view the Signs of Progress exhibition at the New-York Historical Society hosted by Jane Walker by Johnnie Walker.

Jose Silva

After 15 years in the entertainment industry, it’s no surprise that Bush can hold her own before an audience. But it’s not a curated performance when the One Tree Hill alum takes the stage — it’s a passionate call to action.

“We’ve been sold this story that there’s not all that much room for many women,” she tells the crowd. “We’re all talking to each other and we’ve woken up to the lie that we got sold — like, Ohh you want us to compete but we’re not buying that anymore. All we’re doing is collaborating and we’re coming for your house.”

“I know what it feels like to be oppressed,” she continues. “It can be suffocating … and I know that people I love with every fiber of my being have it even worse. When I advocate for myself, I know I’m advocating for women; when I advocate for other women, I know that that rising tide will also lift my ship.”

As a social activist-cum-actress, Bush is eager to collaborate with progressive brands and “quick to suss out who wants to do something as a marketing ploy and who actually has plans to truly support women as a core initiative.” Johnnie Walker launched its Jane Walker bottle last March, which gives the iconic Scotch whisky brand’s titular mascot a gender swap. Along with the packaging alteration, Jane supports women’s causes including She Should Run and Monumental Women. “I was so struck by, first of all, taking this cultural figure — everyone knows Johnnie Walker, you see the label, you know what that is — and to take a cultural kind of icon like that and make him female, but not only make him female as a celebratory thing, but use the proceeds and profits from that female iteration of an icon and support women’s groups that are changing the landscape of this country for women … I was like, oh, these are my people. Excellent.”

Jose Silva

Dovetailing with her social and political activism, Bush has been vocal about her own experiences in toxic and abusive working environments.

Last June, she spoke out about One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn’s impropriety, and in December she opened up about the “barrage of abusive behavior” she experienced on the set of Chicago P.D., likening it to “standing butt naked, bruised and bleeding in the middle of Times Square, screaming at the top of my lungs and not a single person stopped to ask if they could help me.”

Having experienced those traumas, things need to work a little differently now before she immerses herself in a project.

“It’s incredibly complex, the ecosystem of creating content, especially when you’re talking large scale — you’re making movies, you’re doing television shows. I think, regardless of industry, it seems to be a real truth that so many women are cultured to make excuses for bad behavior — to be nice, to not be difficult, whatever the ‘bad’ term is we’re told we’re not allowed to be,” she told InStyle.

“For me, I’ve had to learn to not make excuses for bad behavior, in any arena, and to be OK with my judgment when I determine that someone is a bad actor — when I don’t trust someone or someone seems to not have great intentions. And that’s OK. You don’t have to like everyone, not everyone has to like you. And for me, it’s about, ‘What’s the material? Who’s making it? Who’s producing it? Who’s directing it? Who wrote it? Who are we hiring as a showrunner? Who are we staffing as writers?’ … It’s a massive question, but I’m finally able to have a seat at that table where those questions are being answered.” 

“It doesn’t just start there,” she went on. “Young people in any industry aren’t in the rooms where the decisions are being made. I’m very, very grateful, and again, I’ve busted my ass to get in that room, and now that I’m in it I’m asking all of those questions and I’m making sure that everyone I’m working with is asking all of those questions too. And I don’t assume that means I’m never going to run into a difficult person again, but I’m trying to make the likelihood of that decrease and the likelihood of just having a joyous working experience increase. I’ve had that, and it’s glorious, and when it isn’t it really isn’t.” 

RELATED: Sophia Bush on the Golden Globes Blackout: “Women at Awards Shows Have a Platform”

As for having it all, Bush is happy not to confine herself to a title or career.

“I don’t think it’s a problem to be a multi-hyphenate,” she tells us, “men have always been allowed to do that, and women are constantly put in boxes and they say, ‘What are you?’ It’s really sort of surreal to me that we’re meant to still pick. I love storytelling, I love my job. I am an actor and I’m proud to be an actor. I believe that entertainers are responsible for so many cultural shifts because we can embody and humanize ideas and put them on people and remind people that everyone’s just a person.”

However, she adds, “I don’t think I could be a storyteller if I wasn’t so deeply engaged in my community as an activist. I understand the importance of those stories in shifting how people look at each other. I’m an actor, I’m an activist, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m an investor, I’m a philanthropist — there’s a lot of hats that I wear that I’m proud to wear, and I bust my ass to be able to wear them all. So I’m like give me the really long business card, you know?”

Jose Silva

Could that lengthy business card one day include the words “Madame President”? Bush isn’t ruling it out. Sophia campaigned “hard” for Texas Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke in 2018, and was active in recruiting voters ahead of the midterms, but don’t expect her to announce a 2020 run.

“It’s honestly so sweet the number of people online who are like ‘Please run for president,’” she says. “I don’t think I would just do that tomorrow, but I don’t also think in terms of ultimates like that. I don’t think I would have to throw my hat in the ring to run for president. I think maybe eventually I’ll run for local office. That feels cool. That feels like a great idea, eventually. But right now there’s things I’m developing and scripts, and movies, and stories I want to tell and that’s what I want to do for me, and I’m not ready to give up on any of that to commit to doing one thing fulltime … Maybe when I have grandkids I’ll be like ‘I’m running for governor!’”

In lieu of a major political run, she’ll take some sleep, and maybe a bowl of Pho.

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“It doesn’t come naturally to me to sit still,” she says. “We’ve kind of glamorized this ‘never stop; never rest’ idea, but that’s not how anyone performs well or has good ideas, so I think it’s very much OK to say ‘Oh, I just can’t do that’ and take care of yourself. [Last night] I ordered Pho to my hotel room on Postmates. I ate noodles in my bed and I was asleep by 8:30 — it was an actual dream.”

Here, here.

Meghan Markle hasn’t let her pregnancy slow her down from doing her Duchess duties (not that we expected it to), traveling about England as well as overseas. And thanks to her dedication, we’ve been treated to some truly inspirational maternity style moments, and yes, we’re definitely talking about that red coat/purple dress situation. 

So far, the mom-to-be has been a fan of the tried and true coat + dress + pumps formula — her maternitywear signature for the chillier U.K. temps.  

That said, on the final day of her visit to Morocco with Prince Harry on Monday evening, the Duchess of Sussex was like, “thank u, next” to her usual knee-length dress options in favor of a loose-fitting floor-length Carolina Herrera gown with fluttery ruffled sleeves. The whispy periwinkle material featured an allover pattern that resembled wheat.  

RELATED: Meghan Markle Transforms the LBD Into a Maternity Wear Staple

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The gown draped gracefully over her bump, cascading into heavy folds at the hem that seemed optimal for twirling. (Does this dress make anyone else want to take up salsa dancing ASAP? No? Just me? K.) She kept the ensemble looking fresh and unfussy by tying her hair back in to a low bun. 

Royal photographer Tim Rooke reports that Harry and Meghan arrived at the residence King Mohammed VI for an audience, and were met there by Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco.

Earlier today, Meghan was out in a pleated LBD, which she topped with a breezy white coat, matching black pumps and gold chandelier earrings. Her ponytail, however, was what caught Prince Harry’s attention. The dad-to-be was seen lovingly playing with Meghan’s hair by a photographer, and you can bet we all collectively “awwwed” until we were hoarse. These two. 

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Two incredible outfits and one hors d’ouevres stash? All in a night’s work for J. Lo.

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Will Smith has a brand new acting role, and while we’re thrilled that at least he won’t be painted head-to-toe-blue à la Violet Beuregarde this time, not everyone giddy about the gig. 

On Monday, Variety reported that the 50-year-old will play Richard Williams, as in, father of Venus and Serena Williams, in a new project based on his life titled King Richard. Some critics immediately took issue with the casting because Smith has a much lighter skin tone than Williams. 

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“Colorism matters,” tweeted sports columnist Clarence Hill Jr.

Others echoed the sentiment: 

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Another user commenting on the news made reference to Scarlett Johansson. As you’ll recall, the actress drew backlash for her role as Major in Ghost in the Shell (a film based on an anime series) because critics believed the part should have been portrayed by an Asian actor. She was also briefly set to star as a transgender man in the film Rub & Tug before backing out following outrage. 

Smith’s casting calls to mind a similar situation last year, when actress Amandla Stenberg said that she stepped away from the audition process for Black Panther because she didn’t think that, as a lighter-skinned black woman, she was right for the role. 

“These are all dark-skinned actors playing Africans, and I feel like it would have just been off to see me as a bi-racial American with a Nigerian accent just pretending that I’m the same color as everyone else in the movie,” she told CBC. “That was really challenging, to make that decision, but I have no regrets. I recognize 100 percent that there are spaces that I should not take up and when I do take up a space it’s because I’ve thought really, really critically about it and I’ve consulted people I really trust and it feels right.”

RELATED: Regina King, Amandla Stenberg, and More Reflect on 4 Years of #OscarsSoWhite

Similarly, Zendaya has spoken of feeling like “Hollywood’s acceptable version of a Black girl” because of her biracial background. “As a Black woman, as a light-skinned Black woman, it’s important that I’m using my privilege, my platform to show you how much beauty there is in the African-American community,” she said last spring at BeautyCon in Los Angeles. “I am Hollywood’s, I guess you could say, acceptable version of a Black girl, and that has to change.”

Erik Svab sale in flash di “Mix isch fix” M10+ la via di Kurt Astner e Christoph Hainz nella falesia di dry tooling nella Grotta di Landro (Dobbiaco, Dolomiti)

Erik Švab, nella "sua" stagione "secca" dedicata al dry tooling (vedi news), ha centrato un’altra salita con la realizzazione, in flash (e senza speroni), di “Mix isch fix” l’M10+.

Proprio da questa ripetizione della via di Kurt Astner e Christoph Hainz nella grotta di Landro (Dobbiaco), Erik Švab coglie l’occasione per presentarci una delle falesie top per il dry tooling in Dolomiti, una Grotta che merita sicuramente una visita.

MIX ISCH FIX IN DOLOMITEN
di Erik Švab

In una delle falesie più conosciute del misto moderno in Dolomiti, la grotta di Landro, si riesce ad arrampicare anche in questo inverno così povero di ghiaccio. Si tratta di una grande cavità con alcune stalattiti ghiacciate dove sono state salite alcune tra le vie più impegnative dell’arco alpino nella disciplina del dry-tooling.

Ci sono tornato dopo tre anni di assenza per provare “La Via è bella” M11 dell’amico Bubu e per vedere come sono le altre vie che non avevo ancora salito. Infatti in questo inverno mi sento in forma e voglio riuscire a trasferire l’allenamento accumulato nella nostra grotta a Trieste anche sulle vie di dry-tooling naturale, ovviamente e sempre senza speroni, continuando per la mia strada a prescindere dalle mode e dalle convenzioni.

Con l’amico triestino Igor Žerjal e due ragazzi sloveni ci siamo recati in grotta di Landro dove Igor è riuscito a salire l’M8+ di “Stille Erinnerungen”, la sua via di misto più difficile finora. Io invece ho fatto un giro di prova su “La via è bella” che ho trovato molto poco adatta al mio stile e sinceramente un po’ troppo marcia.

Invece un altro dei nostri compagni di viaggio – Vili Guček, uno dei migliori arrampicatori sportivi sloveni degli anni passati che ora si è convertito alle varie discipline dell’alpinismo (tra cui anche il misto moderno), ha provato a salire la recente via di Kurt Astner e Christoph Hainz dal nome “Mix isch fix” M10+.

Dopo averlo visto salire e approfittando delle informazioni fornitemi ho pensato di provare a farla nello stile “flash” che bene si adatta all’arrampicata su misto moderno, dove vedendo un altro salire e con un po’ di esperienza si possono ottenere dei bei risultati. Sono partito su questa via strapiombante che a tratti diventa un tetto e dove la mancanza degli speroni si sente eccome.

Dopo qualche incertezza dovuta alla roccia non proprio magnifica, sempre con il timore che qualche aggancio si possa rompere e, con una "acciaiata" mostruosa sull’ultimo strapiombo dove non riuscivo a piazzare i piedi in nessun modo, sono riuscito a spuntarla moschettando la catena dopo 20 metri di fatica bestiale e in un caldo spaziale.

Una bella soddisfazione e probabilmente la prima salita in flash senza speroni di una via confermata e conosciuta che si aggiunge alla lista delle mie salite di questo inverno povero di ghiaccio ma per me ricco di soddisfazioni.

Erik Švab
CAAI – Club Alpino Accademico Italiano

Info Grotta di Landro
La Grotta di Landro si trova sulla strada che congiunge Toblach – Dobbiaco con Cortina d’Ampezzo a circa 3 km da Toblach sulla destra. Si parcheggia sulla strada (attenzione a non lasciare niente in macchina dato che a noi l’hanno svuotata!) e si sale direttamente in 10 minuti alla grotta che è visibile dalla strada. Le vie da sinistra verso destra e seguendo la numerazione della guida di Cappellari sono:
4) Stille Erinnerungen M8+ (allungata M9), 20 m
5) Mix isch Fix M10+, 20 m
6) Fly in the wind M10/10+, 15 m
7) Höllenstein M9, 12 m
8) La via è bella M11, 20 m
9) Collegando La via è bella (in salita) fino in cima e poi scendendo da Mix isch fix nasce un concatenamento di 35 metri con il nome di “Big Ben” e il grado di M12.

Le indicazioni sono tratte dalla nuova guida Ghiaccio verticale di Francesco Cappellari che, aggiornata a dicembre 2006, testimonia oltre 1.200 linee invernali tra ghiaccio e misto, di cascata e in montagna, tenendo anche il passo con le tendenze moderne del dry-tooling. I gradi delle vie citati nell’articolo sono leggermente corretti proprio a causa dell’assoluta novità dell’area descritta. Ringrazio la Grivel, La Sportiva, Montura e KONG per il supporto tecnico.

Il 20/07 François Legrand e Martina Cufar vincono il Master internazionale di arrampicata sportiva di Serre Chevalier.

E’ stato istituito un fondo benefico in memoria di Galen Rowell, fotografo ed alpinista americano recentemente scomparso.

Silvio Mondinelli, insieme a Carlos Pauner , Norbert Joos e Jakob, è partito oggi per un tentativo che dovrebbe portarli in cima domani.

Il 26-27/04 Luisa Iovane, e Christian Sordo vincono la prima prova della Coppa Italia Difficoltà disputata alla Fiera di Bolzano.

Il 5/4 The North Face, in collaborazione con alcuni dei più importanti centri di arrampicata indoor d’Europa, promuove una giornata dedicata al bouldering.

Sabato 5 aprile è tempo di A5 Day! Ovvero la prima giornata giornata Europea dedicata al bouldering e all’arrampicata, promossa da The North Face in collaborazione con alcuni dei più importanti centri di arrampicata indoor di Italia, Francia, Belgio, Danimarca, Gran Bretagna, Spagna, Olanda, Svizzera e Germania.