Tag Archives: derby

Art of the Listen - Bench Talk, Scabs and Other Body Parts, True Derby

SKIN IS ONLY SKIN DEEP

We all have it, you know.

Skin.

Derby girls know it because it is easily bruised, scraped (especially when in touch with velcro or the track) and painted.

It makes up about 16% of your body weight and is comprised of about 64% water. It is your largest organ.

It is waterproof and i insulates the rest of your body from temperatures, sun, chemicals. All the many nerve endings in your skin keep your brain in touch with the world around you.

We need skin. And yet it is only .5 mm thick at its thinnest point (the eyes, as in crows feet) and 4 mm thick at its thickest parts (palms and soles).

So why do we make such a big deal deal over what the top part of those millimeters actually look like, as in making it the biggest part of one’s identity?

White skin, black skin, yellow skin, and so on.

Good skin, bad skin, wrinkled or smooth skin.

Thin skinned people, thick skinned people.

Tight skin, saggy skin

Skin is only skin deep. There’s a lot of stuff going on under it. And it pretty much looks the same for everyone.

I say we quit looking at skin as our identity.

Skin is only skin deep.

SKATE ON!

Darla

(See what’s under this painted bench in Santa Fe, NM. Just a bench.)

Art of the Listen - Bench Talk, True Derby

THE FUTURE FROM BEHIND

(photo credit: Hanna Dymytriieva | Dreamstime.com )

More bounce per ounce, I say.

Recently I met with a group of derby girls from Seattle, Washington. I asked them about the future of derby.

“It’s the junior skaters,” they said, all in agreement. “They can do all kinds of things we can’t.”

“They fall down and literally bounce right back up. “

“They take chances we didn’t take. They come up with moves we didn’t think about.”

“They are redefining the sport from behind us.”

Seems to me that pretty much sums up life, I thought to myself later.

While we are fretting and arguing and trying to plan the future, maybe we should be looking behind us. To the next generation of chance takers, dreamers and bounce-back-uppers.

They may just sneak up behind us with some answers.

In the meantime, SKATE ON!

DARLA

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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