Posts from — July 2009

Two articles on women and sports today:

A favorite topic of mine that we discuss in my intro classes is the impact of Title IX and the growth of girls’ and women’s sports on American culture.  Critics have long argued that women’s sports like the WNBA are simply not as economically viable as men’s.  This New York Times article offers an interesting argument that the reverse is true for young girls’ sports – that girls’ participation is more likely to involve entire families’ – and therefore be more economically viable.

The second article points to how women’s sports is constructed so as to be economically viable – specifically, how it caters to society’s homophobia.  Mike Wise at the Washington Post asks why a staple of  sports coverage – the “kiss cam” is not used at Washington Mystics games.  The Mystics manager says it’s “not appropriate” because so many kids are at the games, which directly touches on the double standard by which heterosexual family values are worshipped at a sports event which takes for granted its substantial lesbian support base.

On girls’ sports

Ten members of Kirsten Grant’s family converged here last week to watch her play in a major youth softball tournament. Her mother, father, sister and brother had driven 13 hours with her from their home in suburban Toronto. Other relatives had traveled from as far as Salt Lake City. During lulls in play, they all went shopping and visited local attractions.

But last year, when Kirsten’s older brother, Erik, played on a traveling baseball team, the experience could not have been more different. Parents rarely accompanied the team, he said, and the coach frowned on anything that distracted from the game. “No leisure activity,” said Erik, 19. “It was eat, sleep and drink baseball.”  More here

On the lack of “kiss cams” at Mystics games

“Why don’t they have a KissCam at Mystics games?” a young friend asked last week, which preceded an awkward pause and an even more awkward answer.

Really, why doesn’t the inclusive WNBA franchise in the nation’s capital, of all places, send their video cameramen and camerawomen to find unsuspecting couples in the stands during timeouts and capture their mugs for all of Verizon Center’s crowd to see? And wait for the couple’s reaction, which usually involves a polite, if awkward, peck on the lips.

Just like they do at NBA games and other sporting events in which the participants are men.

“We got a lot of kids here,” Sheila Johnson, the Mystics’ managing partner, said when asked last week at a game. “We just don’t find it appropriate.” More here

Also see story at Out Sports

As several hundred students shouted “Vote no!” outside the chamber door, California State University trustees Tuesday approved a student fee hike of 20% and agreed to furlough most faculty and staff, including college presidents, for two days each month.

The fee increase, a response to what board Chairman Jeffrey Bleich described as a fiscal “tsunami” powered by the state’s dire budget cuts, will bring average annual statewide charges for Cal State undergraduates to $4,026 a year, not including room, board, books and separate fees charged by each campus.

[Read more →]

Submitted by alumni Lindsey Mansfield:
Two weeks ago outside Philadelphia, sixty-five children from a summer camp tried to go swimming at a club their camp had a contract to use. Evidently, the club didn’t know the kids were largely Black.

When the campers entered the pool, White parents took their kids out of the water, and the swimming club’s staff asked the campers to leave. The next day, the club told the summer camp that their membership would be canceled and that they would refund their money. When asked why, the club’s leader said the “kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club.” [Read more →]

A 15-year-old Los Angeles girl who navigated a single-engine Cessna through thunderstorms in Texas and took in breathtaking aerial views of Arizona’s sunsets landed her plane to cheering crowds at Compton Woodley Airport on Saturday. She is believed to be the youngest African American female pilot to fly solo across the country.

Kimberly Anyadike took off from Compton 13 days ago with an adult safety pilot and Levi Thornhill, an 87-year-old who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. They flew to Newport News, Va., making about a dozen stops along the way.

Anyadike learned to fly a plane and helicopter when she was 12 with the Compton-based Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, which offers aviation lessons to at-risk youth and economically disadvantaged students through an after-school program. The organization owns the small plane Anyadike flew.

Read full story at  Los Angeles Times.

Asian Pacific Islander – Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Domestic Violence Study Announcement

The Domestic Violence Program at Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) (San Jose, CA) will by conducting a study on people’s attitudes on intimate-partner violence in Asian/Pacific Islander (API) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) communities. We are looking for adult members of the API-LGBT community in Santa Clara County to participate in our study.

Participants must meet all the eligibility requirements below.

1. Must self-identify as API-LGBT.
2. Must be at least 18 years of age.
3. Must reside in Santa Clara County.

Complete a confidential 10-15 minute survey. As thanks for your valuable feedback, you’ll be entered to win two roundtrip airline tickets donated by Southwest Airlines!

Date: June 2009 to August 15, 2009 (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays)
Time: 12:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), 2400 Moorpark Ave., Suite 300, San Jose, CA 95128
All interested API-LGBT persons may drop-in or make an appointment at dvcomed@aaci.org or call 408.975.2730 x223. Upon arrival, please ask the receptionist for the Cultural Competency Project assistant.

Alice Saelee, Community Educator
Domestic Violence Program – Asian Women’s Home (AWH)
Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI)
2400 Moorpark Ave., Suite 300
San Jose, CA 95128
Office: 408-975-2730 x223
Fax: 408-286-7492
DV Hotline: 408-975-2739 (24hr)
http://www.aaci.org/dvprogram

Here’s a great story about Fruitvale artist Favianna Rodriguez from the East Bay Express.  (See her artwork here)

…Her slides showed a fierce but very considered body of work: Bright tints, bold outlines, weighty political slogans. A “sex positivity” poster featured an orange-brown woman with pink hair and squiggly facial features. A green-collar jobs graphic featured pictures of immigrant workers — one wearing a gas mask, another at a sewing machine — and the message “Green Is Not White.” [Read more →]