“I Just Want To Play Ball”

Posted by random olio

Nike truly is amazing at marketing to their consumers. This past weekend Nike launched a new video that will air on NBC, ABC Family and ESPN through July 26. It is called “Voices” or I have also referred to it as: “I Just Want to Play Ball.” It features: Marlen Esparza – Olympic Boxer, Diana Taurasi – Professional Basketball Player, Joan Benoit Samuelson – Olympic Marathoner, and Lisa Leslie – Professional Basketball Player.

After my post last Friday on Title IX this video is so very appropriate and brought tears to my eyes. It is effective at hitting the emotion of a woman. My favorites lines are:

“People are not used to women being so passionate.”

“I’m a girl. It doesn’t mean that I have to wear a skirt.”

I also wanted to share this article about women in Saudi Arabia being allowed to compete in the Olympics. This is a long time coming, and I am so grateful it has come to fruition.

So, thank you again, Nike, for making us think differently about women and girls. I will leave you today with the words of Joan: “I am fifty-five years old, and I run close to 70 miles a week.” Even if I am not doing 70 miles a week, I hope to still be running.

“The Me I’ve Become”

Posted by random olio

Last week I wrote about the book: “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by Jenny Lawson in this blog post. I wanted to share another good quote from her book that really inspired and resonated with me.

Do you know how you look back on your childhood, or maybe your high school or college years and remember embarrassing moments that you know you will never forget? I can think of plenty. There are times when I look back on those moments and cringe. Maybe I cringe because it was not my fault that we could not afford the trendy clothes, that I often had hand me downs, or that my mom would attempt to make my clothes. I think what embarrassed me most was my mom making my clothes as I always felt it was obvious that it was homemade. Now I appreciate so much what she was trying to do. Other times I look back and know that I survived many embarrassing moments and that they actually made me stronger. Which is why I really loved this quote from Jenny’s memoir:

“But most important, I see me … or rather, the me I’ve become. Because I can finally see that all the terrible parts of my life, the embarrassing parts, the incidents I wanted to pretend never happened, and the things that make me “weird” and “different,” were actually the most important parts of my life. There were the parts that made me me. And this was the very reason I decided to tell this story … to celebrate the strange, to give thanks to the bizarre, and to one day help my daughter understand that the reason her mother appeared mostly naked on Fox News (that’s in book two, sorry) is probably the same reason her grandfather occasionally brings his pet donkey into bars: Because you are defined not by life’s imperfect moments, but by your reaction to them. Because there is joy in embracing–rather than running screaming from–the utter absurdity of life.” page 308

Do you remember those embarrassing moments of your life? Or the ones when you just felt completely awkward? I still have them. Do you? These days I am a little more bold about those embarrassing moments. Like the other day at work, I pronounced challah bread with the “Ch” at the beginning. I pronounced it phonetically. Does that ever happen to you? Where you may sometimes say something and then realize what you were thinking and what came out of your mouth are different things. And, then I started laughing at myself, when I heard my mistake. I brought it up again later in the week, making fun of myself. I think it is good to do that once in a while. It keeps us on our toes and reminds us that life is funny, people are funny, and even if it is slightly embarrassing (trust me I embarrass myself all the time) to go with it, have fun with the moment, laugh, and move on with your life.

So I leave you with a reminder to be YOU in all your bizarreness, and in Jenny’s words: “Because you are defined not by life’s imperfect moments, but by your reaction to them.”

Ms. Magazine Turns 40

Posted by random olio

I am a feminist. I believe in any initiative that fights for and honors the rights for women. I first became passionate about women’s issues in college, and that is when I started reading Ms. Magazine. There were times when I might have considered myself a feminazi. For those of you that have not heard that term, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as: “an extreme or militant feminist.”

I no longer consider myself a feminazi, I no longer have a shaved head, and I do not talk about women’s issues in every other conversation, but the passion is still deep inside me. I crave equality for all women. I want a world where a woman feels safe, has the right to decide what to do with her body, receives equal pay, is not abused, is not owned, and is not discriminated against. I appreciate the work that The Girl Effect, National Organization of Women (NOW), Girls, Inc, to name a few do to help empower women and young girls to grow up and stay strong women.

Ms. Magazine was created to bring the women’s movement to print, and I think the fact that it is still in print may mean women still need the printed word to inspire and invigorate their daily life. A quote from Gloria Steinem explains a bit of why Ms. Magazine started:

“I realized as a journalist that there really was nothing for women to read that was controlled by women, and this caused me along with a number of other women to start Ms. Magazine.”

So Happy Birthday Ms. Magazine. Kudos to having Wonder Woman on your first cover. Hopefully over the years all the hard work you have put into publishing Ms. Magazine have inspired women to be powerful superheros and badass wonder women!

Cheerleading, Wax, and Spiders

Posted by random olio

I have a confession to make. Yes, you may laugh as some folks do when I tell them. Okay, I will just come out and say it: “I was a cheerleader.” Gulp. I said it. Have you stopped reading? No, okay, good. Ready for the rest of the blog that might mention cheerleading?

I just finished reading “It’s Not About the Pom-Poms: How a 40-Year-Old Mom Became the NFL’s Oldest Cheerleader–and Found Hope, Joy, and Inspiration Along the Way” by Laura Vikmanis. At the age of forty, Laura is the oldest NFL cheerleader. When I first heard of her book, the idea intrigued me. How did she do it? How did she make the team, and how did her body handle it? You can find the answers and so much more in her book.

Laura went through a horrible and abusive marriage, and came out stronger, more independent, and in control of her life. It is a must read for anyone that might be in a tough marriage (she gives you a picture of how she made it through her divorce), as well as a view into NFL cheerleading. NFL cheerleading is definitely not as glamorous as it may look on the outside. AND – they make no money at all! Laura was a Cincinnati Bengals (called the Ben-Gals), and the pay was $75 a game. They only cheer at home games (about 10 a season) so that equals $750 a year. They do not get paid for the hours they practice (they spend more time in practice then the football players do). They are not paid for manicures, highlights, hair cuts, waxing, etc. yet they are expected to ALWAYS look perfect on and off-season. Wow. Is it really worth it?

While I did not make note of any specific quotes from her book, I did write down this quote in her section specific to body waxing. As said by Jerry Seinfeld:

“I will never be able to understand how a woman can take boiling hot wax, pour it on her upper thighs, rip the hair by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.” Page 124

I guess I am not that kind of woman because I can handle hot wax and spiders, although I know some men that cannot handle either. From my view of Laura I think she can too.

Go Away I’m Reading

Posted by random olio

Such a clever title for a book: “Leave Me Alone I’m Reading” by Maureen Corrigan. I was intrigued by the title, but found that the book itself was not as interesting to me. The author went between her own life and then experiences of characters from other books. I was more engaged when I read the parts about her life, her father and mother, and of course reading.

In my own life, reading has been a way to go into the world of others. Which is why I loved these quotes from her book:

“In our daily lives, where we’re bombarded by the fake and the trivial, reading serves as a way to stop, shut out the noise of the world, and try to grab hold of something real, no matter how small.” page xvii

Later on the same page she says:

“Reading offered companionship as well as escape.” page xvii

and:

“…but constant reading kept pulling me away from the world of my childhood, the world of my parents.” page xxviii

Lastly:

“Words can summon up a skyline from the dark; they can bring back the people you loved and will always yearn for. They can inspire you with possibilities you otherwise would have never imagined; they can fill your head with misleading fantasies. They can give you back your seemingly seamless past and place it right alongside your chaotic present. page 184

I can relate to all these quotes. There have been times when a good book has offered companionship while my husband was away on business travel, or when traveling on an airplane myself. At other times the story in a book has reminded me of my parents and grandparents and the experiences I had with them. Other books take me into the life of someone else and then jettison me back to my own childhood where I uncover experiences I did not ever remember. I then begin to piece together a memory that had never before surfaced. There are many ways to engage in a book, and countless ways to experience the story and memories – past, present, and future.

How do you experience books in your life?

Oh, shh. I am off to finish my book. Okay, I wish. I have to go to work instead.