ohlovesosweet

[ohlovesosweet]

i was watching testimonies by survivors of sex trafficking, and a lot of them talk about how their captors referred to them as “sex workers” and kept telling them they had to “work” and generate profit if they wanted to eat, if they didn’t want their relatives killed, if they didn’t want to be hit. if a “client” paid for a “service,” they had to give it to him.

work work work work work never rape never prostitution always work, to little girls who had heard of prostitution but never “sex work,” who didn’t know what was happening was illegal, who were told that what was happening was normal, that it would stop hurting eventually because “it’s just work, look at all these other women doing it.”

there was a testimony by a pimp, who admitted to having kidnapped girls off the streets. he said he liked the power of bossing people around. he said he liked having so many “employees.”

normalizing prostitution and using “destigmatizing” language is not a new tactic to “empower” (prostituted) women. it’s something perpetrators of sex trafficking have been doing for years to hide the realities of the sex industry from young girls and keep them from seeing themselves as victims of a crime.

don’t call yourself a feminist if you’re unwilling to see the parallels between sex trafficking and “consensual sex work.”

[ohlovesosweet]

[ohlovesosweet]

Satoko got a standing ovation || 2018 Japanese Nationals SP

[ohlovesosweet]

家主は…オレがしょうじにシワをつけたと？

Hey landlady, do you say I crinkled this paper slide door?

むー……

Hmmmm……

そうですよ！オレですよ！オレがやりましたよ！

That’s true! I did! I crinkled this!

[ohlovesosweet]

Coach Rafael Arutunian is introduced by Marin Honda to Pikachu after the SP (Internationaux de France 2018) 

[ohlovesosweet]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Takahiko KOZUKA,OLY (@takakozuka)

Today’s

#axel #zushaaaa (slide) #gorogoro (roll) #bata (flop) #still working on the 3A #it’s not back yet #underrotated

[ohlovesosweet]

Mao has a column called “pleasure on ice” in the weekly sports magazine, Sports Graphic Number. This was in Number Issue #963 10/25. Her eighth column described her birthday surprise and introduced Mara (Mongolian skater, Maral-Erdene Gansukh), a member on the Mao Thanks Tour.

- - - - - - - - - -

Mao Asada: pleasure on ice my love for skating

#8: An unforgettable day

For the two days of shows in Yamanashi beginning September 22, all the members of the tour skated so well. The show had a different feeling from the others so it gave me comfort to know it was a success.

During the Saitama show on September 8, (Asada) Mai and Mara (Gansukh Maral Erdene) collided and were both injured. To be honest, I thought they were unable to perform during the Yamanashi shows, but the two of them gave it their best and persevered through the pain. I was so in awe of them. Mai wasn’t able to jump yet, so we changed her solo program, “Scheherazade,” to Muracchi and Erni’s “Nocturne.” It was a sudden extra load to carry, but it went well without any issues.

There were feelings of concern and anxiety lingering over us, but being able to get through the shows strengthened us as a team. The accident increased the burden of responsibility for the tour’s presider—letting everyone know to be more careful otherwise it could be even more serious if it were to happen again. I also have to pay more care. I say that, but I haven’t had a big injury so who knows!

The Yamanashi show is a memory I will never ever forget. After my solo program on the last day, the tour members and the audience surprised me and wished me a happy birthday! “When did they have the time to prepare this?” I was so surprised and immensely happy.

I started skating when I was 5 years old—and it’s because of my fans, my skating friends, my family, my coaches, and all the supporting staff who supported me through these 23 years that I was able to compete as long as I did. My gratitude for everyone runs deep. The tour members surprised me with video messages of well wishes. It was played in the venue, and I was so overwhelmed, the tears wouldn’t stop. Doesn’t it feel like everything makes you cry easier in your 20s? Though, in the middle of that intimate moment, Erni’s message was intense (lol).

“In a crowd of thousands, there was you, whose light within shines magnificently, and transforms pain and sadness into joy. A great friend, someone who is adored, a dependable person—my memory of you is what keeps life worth living.”

…was his message… The delivery and word usage was interesting, I couldn’t help but laugh and didn’t fully process everything that was said (lol). I’m so happy to be surrounded by such unique tour members! 28 will surely be a year deeply immersed in skating.

I would also like to introduce another tour member in this column. My Chukyo University kohai, from Mongolia—it’s Mara. She and I met in the locker room of Chukyo University’s skating rink. Mara is a member of the university skating club so when I was still a student, we had opportunities to talk and practice together some times. When it came time for the tour auditions, I saw her name on the roster and recognized her, “It’s that girl!,” and was really happy. Mara said to me, “I was so excited to see an opportunity to skate with Mao, who I admire! I put my name in without hesitation!”

Mara is a really hard worker. She’s touring with us even though she’s studying for graduate school exams and preparing for competitions—she’s always gives her best. Even when she was injured in the Saitama show, she finished without any complaints. She really is a strong girl.

Born in Mongolia, Mara is her country’s only competitive figure skater. She said there isn’t an indoor skating rink. But, it seems like Mongolians are delighted that Mara is participating on the tour and there was concerted efforts to build a skating rink in Mongolia. And with the cooperation of the Mongolian government, construction plans for the rink has begun! I’m so delighted to see the tour bring something like this to life—it’s so rewarding. I hope I can bring our tour to the rinks of Mongolia one day. A start to another new dream.

(TN: Here is Maral’s instagram post about Mao’s intro, and an update on the Mongolian rink: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo4AxrTB6zQ/)

Each show of the Thanks Tour is a chance to tweak my old programs. In the Yamanashi show, I skated to my Sochi Olympics freeskate, “Piano Concerto No. 2” and attempted a 5-combination jump. So happy when my grandmother, who came to see the show, said, “Mao-chan, that was my first time seeing jumps like that!”

Although I spend less time skating now that I did when I was competing, I feel like I now spend more time skating in front of everyone. That makes me so happy. I’ll keep on getting better—so everyone, please look forward to it!

---

Maral’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mararunrun/ Maral’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/marachika8 Maral’s ISU profile: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00013197.htm

[ohlovesosweet]

Legend on Ice 2018.11.11

[ohlovesosweet]

Fear and Gibson + choreographed slide

[ohlovesosweet]

Rika Kihira & Satoko Miyahara NHK Trophy 2018

[ohlovesosweet]

Whenever you’re in trouble Won’t you stand by me? Oh, stand by me Oh, stand now Stand by me Stand by me

[ohlovesosweet]

the most universally sacred childhood experience for milllenials was listening to breakaway by kelly clarkson as we dramatically stared out the window during long car rides

[ohlovesosweet]

Back rub

#It’s Master Yoda. #Who does #this look like? #No one would say #Nobu osen… #I have #actually #purchased #Yoda souvenirs #about two times. #The turtle #in the back #is laughing at me. #If I use the force #will I be able to #land a #sextuple~ #Next thing to do is #get souvenirs for #Demmy-san. #TDL #Tokyo Disneyland #Star Wars #Figure skating

[ohlovesosweet]

kavanaugh was confirmed to the u.s. supreme court after all.

i wish i had more to say about it. i wish i could even be surprised, but i’m not. so many of us aren’t.

who do you think hurts worse, the women blindsided by this betrayal, or the women who see this as one more piece of evidence that this is not a world meant for us?

it was inevitable. i don’t know why i hoped against hope. i don’t know why i believed that maybe justice could be served. they may use a woman’s face to represent justice, but they spit in a woman’s face when she tries to enforce it.

it’s gotten so hollow, this heart of mine, but it still aches when i see the grief upon the faces of women i love, as we know exactly what this means: we mean very little in the eyes of society.

this is a country that hates women. this is a country that cannot stand the very notion that women are people, and will do its best to remind us at any time that what rights we have are tenuous and unstable and could be revoked whenever.

and even with rights, our social standing means nothing. our word against his? his will always win out. our spaces over theirs? theirs will always win out. we are told, in no uncertain terms, that it’d behoove us to hide ourselves in the shadows, or to run away completely.

but the worst part is knowing we can never run away from misogyny, for there is no country to flee to, no land where we’re safe. there is no utopia where women can be protected, only places where women are sometimes treated a little better - depending on the woman.

we will always be targets. always, always, always.

and people will always celebrate our destruction. always, always, always.

there is that saying that goes around, that many women take to heart: we are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn.

what about the daughters of these witches? did they ever think the world would be like this? when they bore daughters of their own, swaddled and sleepy-eyed, did they ever fear that another era of witch hunting would be in their futures?

maybe they believed in the resilience of women, across time and history. times where women had to poison themselves to be free of pregnancies, where women had to invent languages of their own to be able to read and write, where women were kept in harems and in shackles and in marriages to men too old to walk when they themselves had just started bleeding.

i, too, believe in the resilience of women - but i hate that our strength must come from bearing a hundred crosses. we are formidable, but only because of what we withstand. when will we be recognized on the merit of what we built, rather than what we survive?

it’s a dark day for women, but no darker than any other day, i think. it’s easy to forget that women suffer everywhere. so many crimes against women that go unnoticed simply because who cares?

who cares about the girls in villages, only ever seen as the cup half-empty compared to their brothers, these daughters valued less than their dowries?

who cares about the women in brothels, with their heads on their pillows, in a constant state of dreaming so they can get through the nightmare of reality?

who cares about the elders in nursing homes, abused and abandoned by the very children they helped create, their milk and their blood meaning nothing in the end?

are they really crimes when you don’t even consider us human enough to be victims? are they really crimes when they’re so commonplace, you can’t imagine putting down laws to prevent them?

i don’t know where i’m going with this. i write and i write and i write, and i never feel closer to answers. i never feel closer to a deeper understanding, a peace of mind; i only feel closer to rage, as if my despondence is a seed preparing to break free of the soil.

i stop and i ask myself, is my rage pointless? is my rage impotent? is my rage hopeless? i am only one woman among many.

but when i write, i like to believe that i reach out to these many women, and i join them; and as powerless as i feel and as crushed as my spirits are, they will help heal me.

they weld the pieces of me back together until i am whole again. when their hearts fracture, i use the same technique that i was taught, from one sister to another.

when i see new faces around, sore and bleeding, i will begin the cycle anew and show them that our strength isn’t only in whatever pain we can endure: that we can build things, too. wonderful things, that need not matter in the eyes of men to be good.

we have never built a country of our own, but instead we build connections. we hold group meetings, make mailing lists, call each other and write to each other and form our own homes within each other.

under shrouds of darkness, we’ll light each other’s candles. to lead each other, to honor each other, to serve as signals to each other. when we are lost at sea, we will find the beacon, one way or another.

they will always try to bring us down in any way they can. always, always, always.

but against all odds, we’ll always be here.

always, always, always.

[ohlovesosweet]

Good morning

#How does #everyone #drink #their coffees? #Option 1 - Through the lid #Option 2 - Drill a hole #A lot happening #early in the morning lol #But this oversight? Lol #It was so close. #Kinda disappointing. #No drinking hole.

[ohlovesosweet]

(x)

[ohlovesosweet]

“No matter how delicious the bread is, if I’m asked to eat it every day for the rest of my life, the answer will have to be ‘No.’” | 義母と娘のブルース, ep. 09