True Derby

FAST GIRLS

Just how fast do you have to be in order to qualify as a “fast girl”?

Dear, that’s been the proverbial question throughout the ages of high school locker talk, has it not?

(Ok, if you’re too young to understand that term, try “easy”.)

Well, now the question has evolved away from hallway whispers into some hard, fast rules for qualification as a roller derby competitor.

Oh, yes. I know you skated as a kid. But can you……..?

…Skate 27 times around a regulation track (think skating rink) in 5 minutes?

…Skate backwards at a good pace around the entire track?

…Hop over a 6 inch object while skating at a good pace?

….Turn 180 degrees while skating, both clockwise and counter-clockwise?

Or meet any of the other qualifications set by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association for approved competition?

Didn’t think so……(unless you have already graduated from derby “fresh meat” bootcamp!)

Hope that gives you a whole new way to look at these truly fast girls…

SKATE ON!

Darla

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Art of the Listen - Bench Talk

WHY WE SAVE OLD LOVE LETTERS

(See the love story below behind this Chimayo, New Mexico bench)

Every bench has a story or two (or probably many more!) that you just don’t know until you strike up a conversation. Certainly the bench isn’t talking!

The owner of the coffee shop/art gallery in Chimayo explained this is a bench his father made by hand for his mother as a wedding present. They would sit looking out at the mountains, the sanctuary across the road and the neighbors who lived on the dirt square—all of whose ancestors came together from Spain to settle in New Mexico.

His parents now look only from their framed photos on the wall. Their son says he doesn’t know how to make benches, even though he is an artist himself. But he will never throw this one away, no matter how old it gets. He will put a fresh coat of paint on it, maybe replace a cushion, but it will stay in the family that still lives on the square.

So, that made me remember a bench conversation with Susan. We shared that each of us had box of old love letters hidden away. Neither of us had looked in the boxes for a long time. The authors were for the most part gone from our lives. No one is meant to read them.

“Why do we keep them, these old love letters?” I asked her.

She answered.

“We keep them because there are some days you just need to be reminded that you have been loved.”

I think that’s a lovely reason, don’t you?

SKATE ON!

Darla

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Art of the Listen - Bench Talk

PINK FEBRUARY….

(One of my favorite benches in Glacier National Park, Montana)

It’s a Hallmark thing, you know. The February theme of pink hearts.

Candy hearts. Paper valentines in homemade, elementary school boxes. Restaurant reservations, pink and red flower bouquets and the renewal of unwavering love between couples.

The pink heart thing in February also reminds us to eat better and keep the blood flowing through our pink veins.

Personally, I like all those things! I like hearts. I like paper valentines. Most of the time I like pink, except when it is completely overdone!

But there are the Februaries when maybe it’s not so pink. The times when you think you may be the only one without a sweetheart or flowers. The sole bench in a vast, brown field of being alone.

And you sort of want to go tear up all those pink Hallmark things that are winging their way through February, yes?

That’s why I like this bench so much. Right in the middle of brown, dried nowhere, L amd M found time to carve their initials here.

Who are L and M? Lovers? Friends out for a hike? Giggling teenagers high on graffiti?

You know, my dear reader, it doesn’t really matter because obviously L and M found love in the moment. Maybe in a conversation, a shared laugh, a commitment to each otherness, or just some quiet time together on a park bench.

So this February when it gets too pink for you, open up your heart in the moment to someone. Share a feeling, a memory, a dream. Because in the moment is really the only place love lives.

And, it’s a whole better feeling than a restaurant reservation, I tell you.

SKATE ON!

Darla

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Art of the Listen - Bench Talk

to swim or not to swim..

(bench overlooking river in Glacier National Park, Montana)

As you know, I am a great respecter of Bench Time. Bench talk. Bench reflection.

I am an even bigger fan of sitting and watching the water. Lake water. Ocean waves. Babbling creeks.

Looking at water soothes the soul. Makes you one with nature. Gets you back in rhythm.

And if you can combine the two…that is, bench time and water watching, what could be better?

But at some point you have to get off the bench and back into life.

And life is a contact sport. That’s the only way you learn anything. Get physical. Come into contact with the world. Learn to push forward and take your hits with grace.

Take it from Austin roller derby girl Auntie Venon who wrote several years back about her experience as “fresh meat”, a derby wanna-be in training.

“Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes you will get sore/bruised/broken/devastated. Derby is not a sport where you can avoid everything. If you want to avoid contact, try swimming.”

I like it.

SKATE ON!

Darla

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True Derby

POP QUIZ #2 – HOW did DERBY GET STARTED?

(1953 Photo of the New York Chiefs)

Time for another quick derby question to test your knowledge of the sport.

How did roller derby begin? Pick one:

A. Roller derby is a sport invented by the roller rinks in the 1950’s to increase business.

B. The medical community in the 1940’s recommended that girls skate together in a controlled environment to burn off excess energy in a genteel manner.

C. Roller derby began in the 1930’s as a spin-off of the popular dance marathons.

D. All of the above.

Drum roll, please, my dear.

The answer is C.

Skating marathons grew out of the American craze for dance marathons. In 1933 Leo Seltzer of Chicago devised a marathon on wheels whereby men and women skated around a rink for up to 12 hours. By 1940 derby had become a contact sport with co-ed teams and a set of rules, a kind of traveling show across the US.

The sport of roller derby had its ups and downs (so to speak) and was somewhat dormant until 2000, when a group of women in Austin, TX brought modern day roller derby back to life. Derby today features teams across the world and its own World Cup competition.

Now you know, just in case someone asks.

Skate On!

Darla

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