#its also like. another community thing. if you support a local team or athlete and attend their games you will connect with other people!!

[laegolas]

unironically i think more people super deep into online fandom need to get into a team sport.

not like, actually playing. but supporting someone in a sport and experiencing the utter loathing of the opposition side during a match. For a very specific period of time you can fucking hate the people playing up against your blorbos and its normal!! and your team is the greatest and can do no wrong!

but after the final whistle is blown, whether you win or lose, you see them all shaking hands. they respect each other as fellow athletes. just because they play for a different team, it doesn't mean they represent a different moral faction. and there's definitely something to be learned from this for those who are so online they forget that the words on a screen are attached to a real life person.

[reddyanna98]

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[andy-the-8th]

Day Of and Day After - Sam (Part 5)

Part 5 of Creatures That Defy Logic

Read on AO3

That feel when you're 14 and your boyfriend turns out to be a merman, but you've still got things to get done this summer.

Sam's perspective at the end of the movie.

A/N: Sam was perhaps the least-developed character in the whole movie, so writing from her perspective was kind of a fun blank slate. I've given her a last name, individual background interests and information, and invented (mostly - Jennifer is Sam's friend who had like 2 lines) a whole supporting group of original characters for the chapters from her perspective - maybe they'll also be connected to other stories?

Sam got home about an hour after leaving the marina and Cody's parents behind. Hot from the long walk and summer air, she went immediately to the kitchen and downed two glasses of water, letting the coolness spread throughout her body as she sat and calmed down at the kitchen table.

It had been a good plan to walk back. Sam was as much an athlete as Cody or Sean or any of the boys they hung out with - her mind and muscles were connected, and one always worked better when the other was engaged.

With the open air and time to walk with purpose, she had managed to calm her emotions about losing Cody. She hung on to the mermaid's silent promise to have him back before school started, somehow communicated to Cody's mom via telepathy. God, telepathy. Another ontological thing to adjust to. Would Cody have telepathy when he returned?

She'd managed to stop crying about halfway through her walk. She knew it would come again that night, and probably the next several nights. She could hear her friend Jennifer laughing at how silly she would look crying over a boy going away for the summer, even a boy as socially desirable as Cody Griffin. Sam and Jen connected on a lot, but in the boys department she sometimes wished Jen could be a little less shallow. As far as Jen was concerned, a boyfriend only needed to be cute and popular - emotional depth, socializing, deepest-darkest secret keeping was for girl friends. Sam agreed on all the latter, but had always thought romance could be about something more.

She hadn't been attracted to Cody for his popularity. If anything, she was drawn to his drive, his energy when he would compete, the charisma he had among his teammates and with his friends. The way being one of the popular guys hadn't turned him into a cocky prick like Sean and some of the other boys on the team.

Sam felt like they were meant for each other, even if they'd only been going out since spring break. She thought Cody felt the same - Cody was like an open book, which was something she'd always loved about him. He was terrible at lying, and you could always see every emotion on his face. She had never doubted his feelings for her.

Which was part of why she was still not over him not telling her about this sooner.

Sam's older sister Jackie had come home from college last summer, talking about all the drama of dating in college with her high school friends once they were all back in town. The new thing she kept talking about was love languages - the way people show each other they care. Sam honestly thought most of her sister's talk was needlessly dramatic, and hoped that the boys she knew would grow up to be a bit less vapid and out of touch than all the boys Jackie seemed to encounter. Regardless, Sam took the little checkmarked quiz in the back of Jackie's magazine, and which said her love language was trust - being able to tell each other anything.

When she'd told Cody on the beach that she wanted him to be able to tell her anything, she could even hear Jackie's or her mom's voices in her head, saying that she was being a bit demanding for a three-month relationship in 8th grade. She didn't care. She knew she loved him, and to Sam that meant complete honestly.

So having to find out after Cody sprouted fins, apparently blew up the scoreboard (?),  and ran away from the meet was justifiably infuriating. To be fair, she didn't really expect this to be what Cody was keeping from her. Part of her was relieved that it wasn't him seeing some other girl. She didn't think he would do that, but this was junior high after all. She only now slightly regretted storming out that day - she may have been sad to lose Cody, but he had hurt her too with his lack of trust and uneven expectations.

The fact that she had to learn about the details from that Josh kid only exacerbated the issue. Apparently they were close friends or something now? Then again, he looked at Cody like a science project - like he was something to study. Still, she could tell that he was important to Cody, and had clearly helped him out when the problems had started - even if she would rather have been the one to do it, the kid's science background probably helped a lot more. Even if Josh insisted they weren't problems, they were steps of Cody's metamorphosis, it sure still turned into a lot of problems for everyone else involved.

Josh's - no, Jess's - weird-ass comment about her "kissing" him after performing mouth-to-mouth was probably the part of the day she least wanted to remember. Like, sorry for trying to save your life. Thank God for junior lifeguard training and boyfriends who can apparently shoot lightning out of their hands.

Still, as she was thinking about school the next day, Sam realized it was going to be weird to not be able to talk about where Cody was with anyone. She was his girlfriend, after all - "the most popular girl in school" as Jen naggingly kept reminding her - and had always been an extrovert, wanting to talk things over with people she cared about to make them all make sense. Jess was now in the weird position of being her only peer she could be fully truthful with about what was going on her life.

That would make for an interesting summer.

God, and Sean would no doubt have a million questions after whatever he might have seen at the swim meet. It was bad enough that he still attempted to flirt with her whenever possible - him getting into a fight with Cody that had to be broken up by Josh Jess of all people surely was going to make him all the more insufferable.

Getting up from her chair, Sam tied her hair back and got up for another glass of water. She was reminded of Cody's weird sudden thirstiness at all times over the last several weeks, and how that finally made sense, and (thankfully, maybe) wasn't diabetes, as she'd repeatedly warned him. He'd  insisted it wasn't, with the excuse that his mom wouldn't want him to go to regular doctors to get tested anyway. That part at least was true, even if only half of the story. Diabetes would have been a bit more normal, but imagining Mrs. Griffin dealing with insulin shots was almost scarier than her dealing with merpeople.

Merpeople of all things. She didn't doubt Cody's promise to her this time, but still: there'd better not be any mer-girls to hear about come the end of the summer.

Putting her glass in the sink, she stretched back and decided to put all the drama of middle school girls and boys - human and otherwise - behind her for the rest of the afternoon. She slid open the glass door next to kitchen table and stepped out onto the small porch in the backyard, lined with shelves of potted plants all sorts of colors and shapes. Sam had always loved her plants - succulents, aloe, bromeliads, spider plants, dracaena trees - things tied to the earth. Her room and the back porch had become her container gardens, where she'd retreat to care for them and decompress. She gathered up her watering cans - large spouts for rainlike streams, small bottles to directly water the soil - and the various pump bottles of plant food for each variety. As it was the beginning of June, it would be time to refresh the fertilizer in all of the soil. She filled the watering cans at the sink and moved smoothly and slowly from plant to plant, dabbing drops of liquid plant food to the soil, carefully parting leaves and stems, watering just the right amount for each species. The work was perfect, slow and relaxing - Sam focused on the diverse needs of each individual plant as well as appreciating its beauty and growth progress.

Sam was actually quite a good biology student herself, though she had always been more inclined to studying plants, both aesthetically and via agriculture, than anything to do with the oceans. Land management and endangered species conservation were at the top of her extracurricular interests - she had been president of the middle school environmental club the last two years, organizing recycling drives, local beach cleanups, and nature walk days for the elementary school.

This summer she had managed to get a part time job at one of the local greenhouses, which served both the florist shop and a few of the garden centers around town. Her job would start two weeks from the end of school. The prospect of spending the summer caring for things of the earth was far more comforting and appealing than tomorrow and dealing with people again.

Sam mentally noted the irony of her caring so much for things of the land, with her boyfriend turning out to be a literal sea creature.

She finished all of the care and cleaning for the plants on the back porch, then carefully went upstairs with the smallest of the watering cans and repeated the process with the small collection of indoor plants in her room.

After finishing up, she laid back on her bed, staring at the musician posters on her ceiling - Backstreet Boys, TLC, and Destiny's Child - trying to let her mind zone out. She reached into the bottom drawer of the dresser next to her bed for her CDs, finding what she had been looking for: TLC's FanMail, new just last winter. She popped the CD into her small player and put her headphones on, closed her eyes, and focused on following the rhythms of the drums and harmonies in the voices. The music worked - she found herself drifting off to sleep, exhausted physically and mentally from the rest of the afternoon.

It was almost dark outside when she woke to her mom coming in the front door downstairs. Sam quickly got up, taking a few seconds to reorient herself in space and time. Quickly trying to pull herself out of the weird fog of falling asleep midday, she made her way downstairs.

"Oh hey! Were you asleep?" Her mom rarely missed anything. Like Sam, she had long red hair, pulled back into a bun over her black dress shirt and blue blazer. Her mom was a lawyer, one of the only ones in their town who worked in environmental protection policy. Most of her days were spent with documents and plans from the various touristy planners, boat charters, and other industrialists looking to exploit the town's oceanside location, circumventing whatever environmental protection laws as they could. Ms. Lindsey Brathwaite was the main champion of the environment standing in their way.

Sam consciously widened her eyes and slightly shook her head to wake herself up. "Only a bit. Had a busy day earlier, lots going on with tomorrow the last day of school."

"Oooh, any plans for tomorrow night? Two weeks still til you start work, anything going on in the meantime with ze boyfriend?" Her mom always had a good sense of humor when discussing Sam's social life, even if it got a little annoying sometimes with not taking things quite as seriously as her daughter would like. If only she knew this one.

"Actually I was just going to maybe hang out with Jen and the girls tomorrow. Cody's, uh, Cody's going to be going away for the summer."

"Oh really? Family vacation? I would have thought they'd stay around, tourist season and all." Lindsey never missed a thing.

"Uh, no, he's going away by himself. Swim training thing, out in Australia." At that Lindsey turned right around from where she was busy taking plates out of the cabinets. "Australia? Really?"

Sam did her best to nod nonchalantly. "I think he has something going on there for like, potential Olympic training maybe? And Mrs. Griffin's sister lives there too." Sam turned away, slightly bit her lip, worrying she might be laying it on too thick. Best to avoid too many details with the story, in case she or Jess or anyone else couldn't remember them all if they had to. That said, a training camp for the Olympics wouldn't be too out of the ordinary to be in Australia - the next actual games were in Sydney next year anyway, and as she said, Mrs. Griffin had a sister who lived somewhere on the north eastern coast.

Lindsey was still no less surprised but at least seemed to buy the story, frowning at her daughter slightly. "Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, I'd imagine you'll miss him, especially with such little notice!"

"You have no idea." Sam's tone accurately indicated to her mom that she was annoyed but also wanted to drop the subject for right now.

"Well we can get on making dinner right now, then if you want to call Jen later tonight you can set up your plans and talk things over? I won't be needing the computer tonight so the phone'll be all yours." Sam really loved her mom, especially how she knew when to give her space to work things out socially. "Jackie will be coming back next week too!"

The thought of her sister showing up again for the summer made Sam even more glad to be out of the house at her greenhouse job. Jackie was alright, but ever since Sam had grown up enough to be dating, her sister was only too interested in being helpful - and prying - in that department. There were only so many details Sam would be able to give about the boyfriend she'd already told Jackie about.

"OK, thanks Mom! I'll call Jen after dinner." Sam walked over to the salad bowl Lindsey had already put out on the table, and began carefully mixing in croutons and putting the dressings out from inside the fridge. After the day she just had, something as simple as making dinner was an appealingly normal event.

[csykora]

[A tabby cat curled up in the middle of a bubble hockey board. Or you, being comfortable in an athletic community that’s good enough for you]

Hiiiiii! I’ve been looking at ice hockey and it seems a cool sport and something that I might want to do as a hobby. Only Im disabled. Do you think I could still do the thing? Do you have ideas on how to start doing the thing? Ive often found it hard to do sports because coaches or trainers don’t know shit about disability and so have no clue how to teach you things or what you may or may not be capable of and telling them is useless because they make assumptions about your body and gah. Cheers

Hey—

Yes. Do the thing. Please go do it! I am not your coach, not your trainer, only friendly local bone witch—which I am very annoyed to have to say because you are a great athlete to work with.

Can I point out a couple things you just said?

You’re offering to do a trainer’s homework for them.

The early game didn’t have coaches. People milled on and off in whatever situations they felt like. Coaches and trainers came onto the scene so that someone was keeping track of who was actually good at what, when they needed support, and how to use them to best effect. That’s their whole gig.

Talking to folks on this blog, I’ve learned lots of people have this impression that capital-A Athletes have some factory-settings-standard body, any deviation a disaster (and they themselves can’t be athletes because they don’t.)

I think it’s very useful to smash this idea. Every athlete is a grab bag of weaknesses and weirdnesses, from old injuries down to handedness. Every coach longs to have three right-shot defensemen, and has made peace with the fact they’re not going to get them. Their job is to play with all the mismatched pieces they do have until they fit into a team.

If you present a coach or trainer with information about your abilities, and they don’t want to use that information, the problem you got right there is a shit coach.

Despite what the National League believes, there are more than 32 coaches in the world. 

Throw a stick up here and you’ll hit another amateur coach. When we’re little, if we get a shit coach or PE teacher, we get stuck. That does real and lasting harm, which I am happy to go on at length about, but to flip it around:

Now, you are a big Zee, who wants to learn to play as a hobby, with the goal of having fun. That’s a powerful place to be.

I won’t say there aren’t stakes: you could get hurt, physically or emotionally. Sharing information about your body with other people to try to keep yourself from getting hurt all the time can be hard. Playing can make you feel physically accomplished and capable in your body, which is a deep need I think we all have, so having to back away if a team does turn out to be shit is hard. So I don’t say “you can always quit a team” lightly, but…there is no threat if you quit a shit team, no one (who matters) will get mad or make you go back.That means you can advocate for yourself, and if a reasonable shot at advocacy reveals that a coach isn’t just unfamiliar with how to do their job for someone with your disability but uninterested in doing their damn job for a disabled person, you can wave them farewell and find another.

Now, our goal is for you to find a good trainer, who just needs to be given information about what you (not someone with the ‘same’ condition, but you specifically) have got going on.

I’m going to tell you to look up an adult learn-to-skate program. Most rinks will have regular learn-to-skate and learn-to-hockey programs spaced throughout the year (often paired so you spend “first semester” on skating before the people who want to move up to hockey). Look up different rinks, talk to people about the rink culture and the coaches there. If you have the time, maybe spend a while hanging out there watching the open skates, local team practices or public classes, getting a sense what it’s like and telling yourself you have as much right to be in that barn as anyone else. Then sign up for a class. But first I want you to be devastatingly, Hepburn-ishly confident in talking about what your disability means for you.

From the information you’ve just given me, I don’t know almost anything I would need to work with you. You may or may not know that information about yourself already, but you can figure it out.

“Mild hemiplegia” is not a super-medical phrase. Hemiplegia is complete paralysis on one side of the body, where you are unable to move those muscles on purpose. A mild to moderate loss of muscle strength on one side is hemiparesis.

These terms are, to be honest, mostly used to organize medical literature. They describe very specific signs that might happen for a variety of reasons. Other symptoms like loss of sensation, loss of range of motion, involuntary muscle spasms, or loss/delay of involuntary motion (reflexes), which may or may not occur with plegia/paresis, have to be specified and described. If I were treating you I definitely wouldn’t describe your case as “hemiplegia”, I would call it “hemiparesis” with a lot more descriptive words around that (and I probably wouldn’t use either when talking to you).

It’s not that you used a word wrong. I’m concerned that 1. people have made you think you have to use A Medical Name for your disability for it to be taken seriously, but also 2. because the stroke happened so early, you’ve actually been denied care and opportunities to learn about it.

1. First, for the record, you don’t have to justify your disabled identity to me. And while I really (really) understand the self-protective urge a lot of us have to try to say, “my condition is really real and serious, it has a Real Medical Name, please believe me”, I think that (outside of a legal context where you’re seeking protected accommodations) that strategy often isn’t as useful as we hope it will be to communicate with other people in our daily lives. The people who demand to see your Really Medically Serious card before making accommodations will always find something else to demand, while people who aren’t trying to be assholes will be better able to help you if they know exactly, practically how.

It’s not that one way of talking about your disability is wrong, but I want you to talk about it in ways that are useful to you, that help you connect with other people and get you what you want.

2. I’ve worked with a lot of elders who have paralysis or hemiparesis from strokes later in life, after being able-bodied for most of their lives, and doctors and therapists jump right up in there teaching and training them to “recover” that “lost function”. They/their families can’t not know all the medical words just from hearing them over and over. But what often happens when a person is disabled since childhood is that…they aren’t seen as having “lost capacity” that can be “saved”, but as having a baseline “low level of function” that’ll never change, so much less attention is payed.

I’m using the air quotes because many people’s disabilities are present throughout their whole lives, and someone’s disability or disabled identity is not just a “problem” to be solved or gotten rid of. But people with disabilities grow and change, especially when we’re, you know, children. What often happens is that parents/authorities encourage able-bodied children to play, practicing motions and building up their bodies’ ability to move, while children with disabilities get benched from practice, benched from not just one activity but from being active at all, which means being benched from developing their bodies in the ways that might actually work for them, and from developing relationships with their bodies.

Proprioception, for example, is a combination of some fundamental ability/capacity/threshold/potential/whathaveyou and skill developed through experience that changes in context. Ever seen a baby? None of them know where the hell they are. A baby that can crawl is let loose to explore the world and bump into things that trigger their nerves until their body learns to fit all that sensation information together and use it. A baby that doesn’t crawl for some other reason often doesn’t get a chance to explore, to experience those sensations or train up that skill. And a kid that has a different threshold for stimulation, who naturally seeks out more or less or a different sort, is often stopped from stimming in ways which would provide their body information they could process.

As an adult, you get the chance to look at what you want to do and how your body can do it again.

So…

I want you to go throw a ball at a wall. Try to catch it. If you do any exercises already, sit-ups or pushups, do some of those. Run around the block, jump around on your bed. Stretch or just swing your arms and legs around. Find some small objects to use as weights and lift them, with either arm and then either leg (or set them on the floor and see if you can push them).

Work your way up your body one limb at a time, first thinking just about that limb on its own and then comparing the two sides after you’ve done them both. Don’t put a value judgement on anything yet, just pay attention: if your feet feel okay after running around, if you had more strength in one spot than you expected, if you had fun jumping, if there was a time you thought you might wobble but were able to correct, count that too! Think about each activity you did, the sensations around it, and whether that stim was satisfying, overstimulating, or not stimulating enough.

I want you to be able to go to a learn-to-play program, ask to talk with the coach at an appropriate time during the application or orientation, and say things like, “I have this condition. This is what it means: I have less strength with one arm, but I can move it as fast as the other, and with the same range of motion. I don’t grip items as well with one hand, or I tend to grip very hard. I don’t feel this type of sensation in this area, but I do feel that”.

Your coach is then going to recommend exercises to build strength in particular areas, or modifications to exercises so that you can do them without needing to use a particular area; they might have you try different equipment (find a tape job or adapted hand position that helps you keep hold of your stick, etc), and they may also encourage your towards and start training you for a particular position where you could do the most. When it comes to sensation, they’ll know to watch you closer for injuries in that spot that you might not notice.

This came in while I was applying to go back to university, and I bribed myself through the short essay section by pausing every hour to eat chocolate and sketch out what I would have you do for hypothetical positions and exercise plans. That’s still a long way off, but I’m very invested, so a couple things I want you to think about as you work towards the goal:

Keep sled hockey in mind. It’s not always a fit for people whose disability involves their arms, but it’s a cool community and most rinks will offer clinics where you can try out a sled and get a sense of the game.

How do you feel about getting hit with a puck? From your description, stickhandling and shooting may not be super fun for you. They may be, but if you give them a fair try and start to fee discouraged, try picturing yourself as a defender focussing on positioning or shot-blocking, or a goalie. Some people never ever want to do it, which is fair, but if you’re at all interested I’d love to see you try some time in goal! Everyone’s different but some folks the weight of the pads and the focused role can be really good stimulation. If your handling or footwork doesn’t feel great, goaltending would let you focus on moving your body more naturalistically as a whole to position in front of shots. And everyone else will love you for volunteering!

Write back and tell us how it goes!

[judefan852-blog]

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Folks could line up after the game for player autographs. And we were all invited to join the players at the San Francisco Zoo the next night for some sort of hockey/zoo activity. It occurred to me that minor league athletes must be tasked wholesale nfl jerseys from china with participating in lots of awkward marketing events.

Animals working in a circus are tortured all their lives. They are forced to perform on stage for an audience who is least bothered of their pain. Wild animals like tigers, lions, elephants, etc., are forced to perform shows and look fierce to keep the audience captured with awe.

With the past of 2010, we welcome for the new beginning of 2011. Hey, girls, it seems it the time to update your wardrobe with New Year dresses and 2011 spring dresses. No matter what you like to wear and what the styles you like, your wardrobe is never wholesale jerseys from china complete without a couple of these sexy casual dresses.

Most aren winners, so they cranky. I arrived just after the running of race 8, and I got to enjoy one particular drunk who felt the jockey of the losing horse he bet on had phoned it in yelling and cursing derisively at the jockey as he slunk back to the paddock area. Aqueduct has an overhang that allows fans a balcony right over the paddock area, so this guy had an unobstructed stage to hurl abuse down on the Dominican jockey who probably didn understand the words, but clearly got the sentiment..

It was a very interesting tournament for me. I have always been able to get people to step up and push themselves. But understanding what I have to do nfl jerseys to get them to push themselves was the big learning part for me. Nike treasurer Blair (DonBlair) informed source for this article analysts when it comes to June during the past year, this agency by grand toward end of the money yr in the Cheap Jerseys china first city district arrant space could be fell 50 percent of an area, having said that the physical state of affairs in the dead can be obscene profit fushia that will help forty seven% out of 46.2% last year. Nike and cautioned "advice overhead augment, employing complimentary time unit of one's des affaires year termination around December, this agency coarse perimeter degree then a lot more www.cheapjerseyssalesupply.com than in 2009. Greek deity announced general profit surge can be the biggest source of entire sales and profits multiply lessen typically the deal objects.

[kvjff-blog]

Joshua Ojonuba

Professor Robert Lunday

ENGL 1301

10 October 2019

The Beautiful Game

Two sprained wrists, at least four ankle sprains, couple of cuts and at least a dozen splinters: those are just some of my injuries over the last six or so years of playing competitive soccer. My injuries are on the minor side as many others suffer worse injuries that often require surgeries and months of physical therapy. Professional soccer is played by approximately two hundred and fifty million players in over two hundred countries and dependencies all around the world, making it the world's most popular sport. This does not include the millions more who play for fun, in semi pro clubs, and in amateur leagues all across the world. It would be almost impossible to imagine the amount of injuries they sustain as well as the extent of them. Seeing as the consequences and pain are so substantial, the question as to why so many people like myself play and get influenced by this sport on such a grand scale. The answer is: I don’t know, I don’t think anyone know to be fair. We all just play no matter the cost; the game is all. I remember reading an article about Ada Hegerberg, who is regarded as one of if not the best women’s soccer players alive. In the article she was asked why she even played since she had opted to sit out the women’s world cup for her country. She responded, "Playing football can be damn harsh, but every day is a fight.” reading this the first time I thought to myself, if it is as harsh as you say why not just quit playing? As I look back now I am able reflect on her statement, and I realize that we are similar. Never once while I played did I think about quitting, through the many injuries, through the long draining practices, through the failures and let downs, I fought through. Like Ada and many others I kept on going necessarily because I wanted to but more so because I had to; quitting never seemed like an option as least not one that crossed my mind.

Soccer has been a major factor in my life probably ever since I was a little baby especially after experiencing the major soccer atmosphere in Lagos, Nigeria, where I was born and raised. In fact my earliest memory of the sport was maybe in 2006 during the world cup. It was the qualification stages against Angola, and Nigeria desperately needed a win to qualify for the most famous and prestigious tournament in all of sporting history. When I was a kid in Nigeria, power outages were extremely common as Nigeria was and still is going through a power supply crisis. So it came as no surprise when suddenly in the middle of the game there was a power outage. Because this was an everyday occurrence we had a phase for it - “down nepa”, and when the lights would come back up we would yell “up nepa”. I had never witnessed a sense of community like I saw that day. As soon as the power went out, we immediately rushed out to the industrial generator out back like we always do. After about five minutes of tussling with the generator, struggling, trying to get it started, there was finally a spark visible through the window of the back room. By this time there had been a crowd formed behind us, seemingly the entire neighborhood was behind us cheering at the sight of light. Apparently we were the only household with enough gasoline to power their generator. “Ta lo fe wo ball”, my aunt said in her native Yoruba; she was asking who was ready to watch some ball or football. Which brings me to the question of why it’s called soccer in the U.S.A instead of football like it is everywhere else in the world, it’s like Americans always have to one up everyone else; anyway, I digress. Seeing as we were the only household with power and our TV was definitely not big enough for the magnitude of people that had now gathered expecting a game of soccer. Luckily one of the families in the neighborhood had a flat screen which in retrospect could not have been very big but it was definitely bigger than anything we or anyone within maybe the next three miles did. With our always reliable generator and the newly found TV, we were all ready to witness Nigeria do us proud and make it to the world cup for another year in a row. Even though the rest of the game was boring and disappointing with Nigeria losing one to zero to an admittedly much stronger and experienced squad in Angola, the moment of community and coming together is what makes it a memorable. Year after year, game after game, support poured in from all over the neighborhood. Nigeria vs. Ghana, Nigeria vs. Argentina, Nigeria vs. Brazil, Nigeria vs. Mexico, every lost seemly just as enjoyable as a win. These are the memories that I’ll keep forever, the memories of love, joy, peace and innocence during a time that would otherwise be considered bad or at the very least not ideal.

There is a famous quote that I along with numerous other soccer fans have heard that goes “you play soccer anywhere, you play soccer everywhere” the phase actually says “football” but for the purposes of this we’ll say soccer. The game is simple, right? Score and do not get scored on. The Truth is: yes, it is simple; but the difficult part is what’s left unsaid, the little things that make the game just so beautiful. The buildup, the passionate moments, the joy, the rivalries; these are all things that every fan and player all across the world can relate to. They have been numerous stories of soccer saving communities and bringing people together because as they say no matter how you’re raised or what culture you subscribe to, just like people are people soccer is soccer always. I remember reading a story about one of my favorite soccer players ever, Didier Drogba; unfortunately people from Africa are used to hearing stories of and even experiencing war or civil unrest. Even with him being from the Ivory Coast, where they had gone through extreme civil unrest, he was always representing his home country. "Come to Abidjan, Alex. You will not be disappointed.” he was quoted as saying to a reporter asking about his native country.   Civil war had been happening for five years in the ivory coast when, right after leading his nation to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany back in October 2005, he picked up a microphone given to him by a reporter in the dressing room and, surrounded by his team-mates, he fell to his knees live on national television. He begged both fighting sides to lay down their guns and, within a week, his wish had been granted. "It was just something I did instinctively," he said. "All the players hated what was happening to our country and reaching the World Cup was the perfect emotional wave on which to ride." Didier Drogba proved exactly what I have been saying about the power and passion soccer brings into the lives of its fans. In front of everyone in the world and his native people, he got on his knees and pleaded for peace. I can’t think of any other sports that could possibly do that, five years of deadly civil war, ended just like that. As a fellow African watching this unfold on TV, this further inspired me as well as other young African kids to play.

In 2011, when I moved to Houston, I went from merely watching soccer being played to actually playing it. Besides the occasional after school sessions of just the kicking of a peeled over leathery ball, I was never able to fully experience the true essence of the sport. Because not only was it hard to find a suitable environment to play but finding a ball was also almost always impossible as well. Going into middle school I knew that although we did not have a proper team I wanted to be a soccer player, if not professional (I knew at this point I surely could not be a professional player) then at least I could be competitive within the local club or school scene. After I somehow survived three long years in middle school without a sport to play it was finally high school and I would get a chance to play. Quotes like Tony Adams’ - “Play for the name on the front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back” played back over and over in my head. At the time it almost seemed like making my high school JV b team was at all comparable to the years of years he spent on top of the sport.

Who is Tony Adams, you may ask? Well my dear, dear reader, Tony Adams is without a doubt the best captain arsenal football club has ever seen in all its 133 years of being a top tier team.  He was not only one of the reasons I became an arsenal fan but he influenced almost every part of my soccer career. I found myself studying almost everything he did in his prime, looking to emulate even the slightest bit of success from his greatness. I guess looking back now I think it’s clear to me that I desperately wanted to become someone better than I was. Someone more confident, more secure, maybe even just someone different than I was. I essentially tried copying every aspect of his playing style, even incorporating his celebrations as well. If I’m being honest I still sometimes have that feeling of wanting to be someone else other than myself, although not as much as I used to. Honestly I believe playing competitively really forced me to legitimately discover who I was and be comfortable as myself. That being one of many reasons why I would recommend everyone participating in some kind of sport or physical activity. Not to mention the atmosphere and relationships I created along the way.

I find that there is a certain unique sense of community with soccer that just isn’t present in any other activity on the planet, or at least not one I have participated in. Now I do not claim to be some sort of super athletic multi-sport champion but I have played my share of sports and been in quite a few communities. I have played basketball and football, been involved in concert band, art club and even science club. In my humble opinion, in terms of love and support expressed in each community they all pale in comparison to this beautiful beautiful game. In fact the only good comparison that I’ve found seems to be within the jujutsu and kickboxing community which oddly enough is less violence orientated as you would think by just taking a glance in. predictably I have been enjoying the martial arts mainly for the community to the point where it has begun to be almost a religion like soccer was and still is.

Soccer or football (as it’s more commonly called in other countries) is of course a way of life in almost every country all over the world, but more than that I would say it is a religion of sorts. The U.S. is one of the very few places soccer is not hallowed so it is perfectly understandable that some people do not understand the extent of the love people have for this sport. This is the part where I would try drawing a connection to another sport, American football or baseball maybe? Truth is I would hesitate to compare soccer worldwide to any sport as a matter of fact, not just popular American sports. In my experience American football and baseball defiantly have an extremely loyal fan base, but the fans are naturally fickle at times even sometimes changing and switching over between teams. However soccer fans, real soccer fans at least, are often born into their respective team and stay loyal all the way till death. Just like any other religion switching over to another religion (or club in this case) is highly frowned upon and potentially even dangerous. Like most all religions throughout the history mankind, intense rivalries are an ever present theme usually dependent on proximity to the rival club as well as any minor disagreements that may or may not have occur somewhere buried deep in the history of both clubs. As an arsenal fan, of course I despise our rival club, the Tottenham Hotspur, although I will admitted that there are a couple of Tottenham players I enjoy watching and sometimes even root for. I think the first time I ever thought of soccer as like a religion was when I randomly ran into a you tube video comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two players widely considered two of the best to ever play. The video creator spends the beginning portion of the video comparing both their stats for the past 12 years as well as their respected following. He then goes on for what seemed like eternity talking about sportsmanship and how well they have both individually represented the sport. Finally, at the end of the video, he comes up with the conclusion that although the two players are absolutely the best to ever lace up their boots and step onto the field, Messi is the greatest. In his words, “Messi in all his glory is the God of football, with Ronaldo sharing his glory as Jesus or Muhammad”. This seems to have stuck in my subconscious, only revealing itself now after a couple of years after going mainly unnoticed by me at the time.

Before I started writing this memoir I would have never thought that I had this much to say about soccer especially since it is not as much a part of my life as it’s been in the past. I guess in a lot of ways I have changed and evolve into what I would consider a better, more self-actualized version of myself. With that being said, I think it makes sense that soccer isn’t as important to me; it has served its purpose in my life and I���m sure it will continue to. I am forever grateful to this beautiful game and all the wonderful memoirs it brought into my life.      

 Afterword.

The honest truth is at the beginning of this memoir I was not really going to try as hard as I maybe could have. I was procrastinating, only waiting till the last minute to finish each installments that was due. I think I was thinking about it just as a class project I just had to get done instead of an interest project. After the turning in the first installment of this memoir and getting back the feedback, I began using my free time to write and combine the texts. It is amazing how much I've retained over my many years of playing and watching soccer. it was really interesting bringing back the memories and ideas I had lodged somewhere in my mind. I think by actually caring about this project and the subject, I was able to not only dive deeper but also articulate better.    

[village-skeptic]

on “having it both ways”: thinking about S2 and looking ahead to S3

So apparently once a year I end up latching on to Riverdale pre-season promo and having WAY TOO MUCH to say about it.

Image analysis, pop-culture riffing, S2 criticism, meditations on resistant reading, my own discomfort with “wrongfully accused” narratives in this particular historical moment, and some hopes on the literal eve of the S3 premiere, below the cut...

So, last week when this piece of promo dropped, the very first thing that I thought of was the visual reference to Chicago and the Cell-Block Tango.

(I didn’t do it! - but if I’d done it? - how could you tell me that I was wrong?)

HOW perfect is that homage? The red lighting, the raised arms? The promo still just FEELS like a snapshot from a Fosse dance routine. (A little more on legendary choreographer Bob Fosse here.)

It’s a defiant pose, right in the center of the frame, but a slightly vulnerable one at the same time. There’s nothing hidden here; everything’s on display. The pose draws the viewer’s eyes inescapably to the body - a muscled body, but one which here seems like a gymnast or dancer’s body: lithe figure, tapered waist, power that is channeled into performance.

(this is tasty; this is plenty; this is hungry work)

So, on a first pass, insofar as it puts this demonstrative male body on display, it’s a little bit of a subversive image, I think. And that’s well in line with the way that Riverdale so often courts the female (and/or gay male) gaze, and at its best does some really unusual stuff with masculinity. 

I thought about all of this - and then, silly me, I saw that this piece of promo was NOT a still, but is, instead, a short clip. 

Archie doing pull-ups on the prison bars, as another heavily muscled dude saunters behind him, reads to me like a completely different type of performance! To the degree that it invites the eye, it sends the message: don’t fuck with me. In motion, we have purely the pursuit of greater strength, the purging of weakness in favor of the means of self-protection. 

Instead of Chicago, my mind jumps to 3x01′s title source: Fortune and Men’s Eyes. Dominate or be dominated. 

Realistically, I’m willing to believe that the ambiguous interpretation here between “still” and clip is just a quirk of how it happened to be uploaded to Twitter by a social media intern. 

Still - the interpretative gulf between the still image and the image in motion got me thinking how often Riverdale seems to want to “have it both ways,” and what that does to the audience’s experience and expectations of the show.

For instance:

Other people have written at length about how Riverdale’s pursuit of aesthetic homage or plot contrivance has created character inconsistencies that occasionally baffle. Cheryl is alternately a tragic Gothic heroine and a lacquered, ruthless Mean Girl; Jughead is both a sensitive loner writer and also a bad-boy gang leader; Betty is both Betty and Dark Betty. (GOD.)

Other folks have discussed how the show needs to really play out the consequences of conflicts between the characters. It’s not that the show shouldn’t drop bombshells like the Bughead breakup(s) or the conflict between Betty and Veronica/Jughead and Archie, but it seems all too willing to reset back to milkshakes in a booth at Pop’s without doing enough work to explain WHY things are okay again. (See also: resolving major conflicts between characters literally with a song.)

The desire to “have it both ways” also really shows up in the show’s tendency to engage complicated issues (racism, sexism, colonialism, the prison-industrial complex) on a shallow level - thus getting credit for mentioning them, without really taking the time to explore them meaningfully or to explain the characters’ investment in them. 

The result of this, in terms of storytelling, is that you leave a lot of room for resistant (even combative) readings of the text to emerge. To name a few of my own:

frustration with Jughead’s acceptance of what feels like a suuuuper patriarchal role as “the Serpent Prince” (and later King)

the fact that it’s really hard to sympathize with Veronica throughout entire swathes of season 2

a profound opposition to a storyline that sexualizes Betty’s mental health issues in a really exploitative fashion

And then... there’s Archie.

In the “Cell Block Tango,” the murderesses of Chicago (bar one) get to justify their crimes. Conversely, as we open the third season of Riverdale, the audience knows that Archie’s being blamed for something he didn’t do. Despite bragging about it (!!) to a bunch of mobsters (!!!!), Archie is not guilty of the murder of Cassidy Bullock. 

...but he IS guilty of so! many! other! things! across Season 2. I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but aiding and abetting a criminal, covering up a murder, blowing up a car, and forming an extralegal vigilante militia group - TWICE - all come to mind. 

The last bits of S2 offer us a version of Archie’s amends-making that comes in the form of defending the Serpents, turning on Hiram, supporting his father, et cetera. And then the very last image of S2 - Archie being clapped in cuffs right at the moment that he’s supposed to be sworn into office - is meant to distress us.

But a season of watching Archie embrace fascism leaves some marks, y’all. And a not insignificant portion of the audience, still frustrated with the character’s choices, couldn’t help but say - well, he had it coming.

So, yeah. It’s been a few months between the close of S2 and the open of S3, and in most cases that would be enough time for me to sit with the story in and of itself, to consider more broadly where it had failed or succeeded, and to allow some of that “resistant reader” response to drain away.

But real talk, you guys: I’m finding it really hard right now, at this moment in American history, to connect emotionally with the story of a young man trying to fight the charges of which he has been wrongfully-yet-ever-so-plausibly accused.  

[Please note, I am NOT trying to say that RAS is somehow trying to weigh in explicitly on the SCOTUS debacle. The S2 finale laying the groundwork for this plot aired this spring, and S3E1 has (presumably?) been in the can for a while now. And, to its credit, Riverdale has in both seasons explicitly criticized a sexual culture that objectifies young women and reduces them to “points” (the football team’s playbook) and to prey (Nick St. Clair).]

But, for me personally, I can’t help looking at this plot and hearing echoes of “It's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of.”

Here’s the interesting thing: I think RAS knows this, and I think the promo around this plot is partially designed to try to dispel these connections. 

(For me, at least, it’s having mixed results.)

(source)

For instance, I can’t look at this still (young man, formal suit intended to project good character and youthful vulnerability, sullen face, flanked by counsel) without thinking, “Wow, this feels....Brock Turner-y.” 

I don’t know if anyone’s written about courtroom photos and sketches as a genre of visual composition, but I feel like I’ve seen variations of the Riverdale still a million times, often printed on the front page of the local university newspaper, discussing the controversy over the conviction (or NON-conviction) of a promising young athlete accused of something awful that no one who knows him EVER would have suspected he would do. (Nice boy, nice family, so many extracurriculars, such good grades!)

Of course, there’s a major difference between the photos above: Archie’s defense team is entirely female. 

Obviously this makes sense because Mary Andrews and Sierra McCoy are both major supporting characters who are also lawyers - but it also makes sense in trying to dismantle some of the potential gut reactions to this visual framing. There’s some “innocence by association” going on here, I think. And after all, Archie IS innocent of this particular crime!

This still lands with mixed effect for me though, because any defense strategy that suggests the intentional composition of a visual tableau feels inherently cynical, even when the character is sympathetic or innocent. 

For instance: I just watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which features a scene where the main character shows up in the courtroom in full Upper West Side respectable regalia to try to get the obscenity charges against her dismissed - she fails and ends up having to plead guilty, because she mouths off at the judge. Anyone who’s familiar with Amy Sherman-Palladino’s work will recognize this bones of this plot point in the courtroom scene in Gilmore Girls: Rory’s grandparents’/lawyer’s attempt to portray her as a naive little angel backfires, and she ends up getting a ton of community service as penance for stealing a boat. It’s important to note that the characters are both guilty of their charges - although, as another favorite show of mine might note, “the situation’s a lot more nuanced than that.”)

(source | source)

Another way in which the pre-season promo is distancing Archie from both his actions last season, and the present context external to the show, is to emphasize his profound contrition. In this teaser from Riverdale 3x01, we get Archie declaring that “whatever happens to me in the courtroom on Tuesday - that is what I deserve.” This a statement of universal guilt and responsibility (one might say martyrdom?) that goes well beyond the scope of his actual infractions.

Now - I really, really appreciate that we’re getting a sad Archie rather than a mad Archie. And I want to acknowledge that he’s so definitely a kid here, trying hard to “man up” and to grapple with the fact that he screwed up big time and that there are consequences for his actions. After a season of doing the wrong thing over and over and OVER again, he’s trying to do the right thing. 

But here’s the thing: Fred responds to this confession of near-universal guilt with what (in this snippet) feels like a pair of universally-exculpatory statements: “You are a good kid. You got manipulated by a mobster.” (Mary is more nuanced: “You do not deserve to be framed for murder.”)

Archie does not deserve to be framed for murder, and he certainly did get manipulated by a mobster. In fact, I would like to formally start a petition to have Archie not fall under the control of an unscrupulous adult in S3!

However. 

Instead of accepting guilt for anything and everything and being immediately absolved for non-specific sins because of his inherent “goodness,” I really want to know that Archie understands what he actually DID do last season. He climbed wholeheartedly on board with the plan to Make Riverdale Great Again, and in that process, he did things that were NOT AT ALL commensurate with being “a good kid.” I think both the character and the show would benefit from a more explicit meditation on exactly why Hiram’s manipulation was so effective, and why Archie moved so quickly past being merely Hiram’s pawn, and voluntarily embraced the role of Hiram’s very ambitious accomplice. 

One of the specific preconditions of restorative justice is that the offender has to acknowledge their actions and the hurt that they caused. Reconciliation and vagueness are incompatible for so many reasons, but one of them is because a BIG part of learning from your mistakes is thinking precisely about what you did so that you can choose not to do it again.

I read a bunch of the new Archie comics over the break, and I think I now have a greater appreciation for the trope of Archie as a schlemiel. Despite his best intentions, the Archie archetype keeps making the same goofy, klutzy mistakes over and over again. This is fine, even funny, when it means that Archie just keeps accidentally ending up with a bucket on his head. Whoops! 

It is super not okay if it means that Archie just keeps finding himself supporting fascists. ...whoops?

(At present, my entire country is being “manipulated by mobsters.” Clearly, I have some feelings about this.)

I don’t actually know how to wrap all the loose ends of this analysis up meaningfully and coherently at the finish here - but then again, that probably puts me into good company with our showrunners. Optimistically, I’m going to hope that that’s intentional - that I’m judging in media res, and that plotlines and character arcs in S3 will weave together in a way that will surprise and delight me! 

But mostly, I’m going to reiterate my hope that S3 makes meaningful choices. That the people in charge don’t waste their actors’ time filming oodles and oodles of material that gets sliced and diced to ribbons. That they make choices EARLY about major plot points; that they stick to them; and that they let the rising action and falling action of your narrative reflect those choices, and the consequences that naturally accompany them. 

I hope that the people in charge of S3 will resist the ever-present temptation to “have it both ways” - which ultimately works out to really no definitive way at all. Telling a sturdy story is risky in a totally different way than courting controversy - but it’s so, so worth it. 

[thezodiaczone]

June Forecast for Aries

Spread your wings, Aries. The Sun is flitting through Gemini and your social third house until June 21, putting you in communicative and convivial spirits. Synergies will appear at every turn, and you won’t have to go far to find them. The third house rules local activity, and with the energizing Sun here, RSVP “yes” to barbecues, casual hangouts and industry Happy Hour events. It’s the best time of year to meet like-minded people whose skills complement your own.

Who knows? You might team up on a trial project to test your chemistry, especially around the June 13 Gemini new moon. This is an excellent day for brainstorming, creative work (especially if it involves writing, media or teaching) or pitching one of your dynamic ideas. Put the word out! Through mutual friends and colleagues, you could meet the coding genius who can build your e-commerce concept store or the dream DJ who will spin at your neighborhood cleanup fundraiser.

Has rivalry riddled a relationship? Your bond with a sibling or close friend could also turn over a new leaf at the Gemini new moon, which presents an opportunity to heal any rifts. With la luna in your communication center, you’ll have to talk this one through—and patiently. Try the Imago dialogue technique, a four-step exercise in which one person speaks uninterrupted, then the other mirrors the message back (“What I HEAR you saying is…”) until you both feel thoroughly heard and validated. It’s amazingly effective, and one that we (as twins and business partners) employ often.

Intentions planted at the Gemini new moon will unfold in the coming six months. Send out pitches, proposals, budding ideas. Reach out to an influencer or a person you admire with a DM on social media or by contacting them through more formal channels. Ask a mutual friend to introduce you or spread the good karma yourself by playing superconnector and hooking up two people you think would be compatible. Just get their permission before you go surprising them with a “Meet each other!” email or group text; make sure everyone is briefed ahead of time.

Father’s Day is on June 17, and if you’re celebrating, try to keep it fun with minimal drama. The moon is in Leo this year, so an over-the-top gesture might actually work. We’re not talking about anything flashy and bank-breaking (unless that’s how Daddio rolls)—more like meaningful and heartfelt acts that speak to a cherished memory between you and your favorite father figure(s). A video montage, an autographed artifact from a favorite artist or athlete, even a handwritten card expressing your gratitude could get your dudes misty-eyed this year.

If you gather with loved ones, leave the disruptive divas OFF the guest list. Peaceful Venus is forming a close opposition to combative Mars, dialing up the tension. Those attention-seeker types could be hellbent on making Dad’s special day all about them.

The rest of the month takes a different tone as Neptune and Mars turn retrograde, bringing the total retrograde planet count to five by the end of June. (Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are already in their slowed-down cycles.) The mood gets a bit more somber and sensitive, especially once the Sun starts a four-week voyage through watery Cancer on June 21.

Cancer rules your fourth house of home and family, making this your annual time to dial down the ambitions and reconnect with your roots. Slow down, spend more time with your clan or let your lesser-seen domestic side have a few weeks to play. Creativity is heightened now because you’re so emotionally receptive, making Cancer season ideal for working through any complex feelings. You might find catharsis through reading novels, DIY and art projects, decorating or cooking—or in some way turning your nest into a sanctuary. Women will play a prominent role now, and you’ll crave quality time with the nurturing people in your circle. Your own “maternal” side could make a strong showing now too.

As for those retrograde planets, foggy and imaginative Neptune is the first to start its backspin on June 18. Neptune will reverse through Pisces and your twelfth house of closure and healing until November 24, a transit that happens around the same dates each year. Neptune rules compassion and creativity, but it also reveals where we can be gullible and easily deceived. With the fog thinning, you may actually see MORE clearly now, making the summer ideal for ascertaining who’s a trustworthy member of Team Aries.

Use this cycle to do forgiveness work, heal from a heartbreak or mourn a loss that you haven’t wanted to deal with. Neptune retrograde can be a numbing agent—kind of like when the painkillers kick in after surgery. But rather than check out or go into denial, be brave and delve into places that were too tender before.

On June 26, your ruling planet Mars—the arbiter of ambition and assertiveness—turns retrograde until August 27. Mars makes this U-turn every two years, and this time it will largely backtrack through Aquarius and your eleventh house of teamwork and technology. A digital or collaborative venture could hit a pothole, or you may have to navigate some in-fighting with a group (whether at work or socially).

It’s a good time to develop projects behind the scenes and to work out the kinks—then go full-force in the fall with your big debut. Impatient Mars wants everything yesterday, but you’ll have to grit your teeth and wait it out. With Mars retrograde, some of the people involved in your endeavors could be maddeningly out-of-sync, yet you won’t be able to bypass them or just do it all yourself. Set aside that Aries urge to seize the wheel and take over dictator-style. That will only burn bridges and tarnish your reputation for the long haul.

A sobering moment could arrive on June 27, when the confident Sun forms its annual opposition to cautious and constricting Saturn. With the Sun in Cancer and your emotional center head-butting Saturn in your career sector, you could have a moment of doubt that shakes you to the core. Perhaps you open your heart or share an idea that you’re all lit up about only to be met with a chilly reception from someone you hoped to impress. A creative idea could seem to be blocked by bureaucracy, and in frustration, you may consider abandoning the project.

With the Sun and Saturn in your “parent houses,” some mommy and daddy issues could surge up—hello, repetition of a childhood wound! Remind yourself NOT to take it personally, hard as that will be. This is a short-term transit, and the pessimism it brings WILL pass. If you’re thinking of pitching an idea, you might want to choose another date—or at least know that you might not hit a home run on your first at-bat. Come prepared with facts and figures, not just enthusiasm, and know that you may have to wait for a decision.

Luckily, some of this will be offset by the Capricorn full moon the next day, on June 28. This once-a-year lunar lift will land in your tenth house of public recognition, career and success. Saturn’s strain will still be felt since the moon and the ringed planet are in close cahoots. A potential upside: You could land a leadership opportunity or a job that comes with greater responsibility and long-term benefits. The catch is that it could be a weighty role that will demand a LOT of your time and energy if you step into it.

The tenth house rules men and fathers, and this full moon could bring a sobering moment with an important guy in your life. You may need to summon serious maturity and do some “adulting.” It’s an excellent day for clarifying your boundaries and priorities. Working with a mentor or leaning on a wise and experienced guide can help you navigate anything that feels daunting now.

Love & Romance

Thanks to amorous Venus parked in Cancer and your sentimental fourth house until June 13, you’ll be in high spirits—and fine flirting form! The first couple days of the month are especially heart-opening. On June 1, the love planet forms a flowing trine with optimistic Jupiter in your eighth house of merging, and the next day, she fist-bumps enchantress Neptune in your twelfth house of fantasy and surrender. You might reach the conclusion that being in control is overrated—at least for now, under these receptive skies. From mind-body-soul connections to mind-blowing intimacy, you’ll be tingling right down to your marrow.

But don’t give away ALL your power! You may have second thoughts about someone or something on June 5, when Venus spins into her annual, one-day opposition to domineering Pluto in your tenth house of boundaries. Don’t let the wall go back up!

Meantime, lusty Mars is touring Aquarius and your social eleventh house all month, turning retrograde on June 26 until August 27. Not all your friends will be supportive of your relationship or dating choices, so be selective about whom you share juicy deets with.

On June 13, Venus cranks up the action when she vamps into dramatic Leo and your flamboyant fifth house. Regardless of your relationship status, this is sure to heat up your romantic life as well as the glamour quotient. Venus will stick around until July 9, so get some fun plans on the books, ideally things that include serious playtime and maybe some music festivals, since this realm rules creativity and the arts.

But note: There will likely be a few choppy moments along the way as Venus collides with less lighthearted planets. On June 14, the love planet faces off with unruly Uranus in Taurus, bringing up the issue of stability and security versus freedom. On June 21, Venus opposes Mars, adding to the tension. And then on June 25, Venus will clash with expansive Jupiter, which could leave you questioning someone’s integrity. Navigate your way through this obstacle course and you’ll come out with a clearer idea of where you stand.

Key Dates

June 5: Venus-Pluto Opposition Your emotions may go on an extreme seesaw ride today. Part of you wants to connect on a deeper level, yet old buried fears—of abandonment or vulnerability—could form a wall around your heart. Feel your way through this; you don’t want to project YOUR issues onto loved ones.

Money & Career

Teamwork makes the steam AND the dream work this month, as fiery Mars continues racing through Aquarius and your eleventh house of group endeavors and technology. A collaboration or online project that began heating up in May could gain even more momentum as June rolls along. Your influencer status is on the rise, and the public may embrace your cutting-edge ideas. With clever Mercury in Gemini and your articulate third house until June 12, you’ll be wit and charm personified, whether in a morning meeting or as a social media feed favorite. The June 13 Gemini new moon is especially favorable for putting your concepts out into the world, signing up for a class or teaming up with a kindred-spirit type.

That could come to a halt—or at least downshift noticeably—starting June 26, when Mars starts its once-every-other-year retrograde backspin until August 27. The red planet will reverse through Aquarius and your future-forward eleventh house until August 12, then it will crawl backward through Capricorn and your career sector until it turns direct (forward).

A summer slowdown doesn’t sound like what you had in mind, Aries, and there could be some frustrating obstacles to navigate, especially when other people are involved. Your first impulse might be to lean in to your independent side and break from the herd. But taking a rash “I’ll just do it myself” stance will not only burn YOU out, it could burn bridges and earn you a rep as a reckless renegade who doesn’t know how to be a team player.

As a straightforward Aries, you really don’t “do politics,” but learning to play the game could turn out to be an invaluable lesson from your retrograde ruler. Rather than damage key relationships during Mars’ retrograde, work on team-building and strengthen any weak links in the chain. Retrogrades are a perfect time for reflection, repair and rethinking. Use the time to course-correct so you’ll be ready for a big splash in September. With Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and Neptune all retrograde by the end of June, making careful and well-planned moves is in your best interest.

On the flip side, if you’re the kind of Aries who teems with brilliant ideas that you never give voice to, Mars retrograde is a time to move past those insecurities and start sharing openly. When the year’s only Capricorn full moon illuminates your tenth house of ambition and success on June 28, you could rise into a leadership role or finally make a long-desired career change. Since full moons can signify transitions, you might change paths or leave a role that no longer satisfies your soul.

Key Dates

June 27: Sun-Saturn Opposition Sure, it would be nice to have it all, but this once-a-year cosmic clash of the dynamic Sun and cautious Saturn brings a needed reality check. You can load up your schedule as much as you like, but that doesn’t mean you’ll actually get to enjoy any of it. Choose quality over quantity. Less can definitely be more!

Love Days: 17, 21 Money Days: 11, 29 Luck Days: 8, 26 Off Days: 19, 23, 6

[orbemnews]

Fact, or Corporate Fiction? Facts and foolishness Announcing phony news on April Fools’ Day is one of corporate America’s favorite occasions for shameless publicity stunts. But when stonks, Dogecoin and $69 million JPG files are real things that warrant serious business coverage, the risk of jokes being taken seriously could hardly be higher. Some say that’s a good reason to skip them, not to mention the gravity that a pandemic has cast over things. With that in mind, can you spot the prank among these recent announcements? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.) A: To celebrate National Burrito Day today, Chipotle is giving away $100,000 worth of Bitcoin. B: Volkwagen’s U.S. operation is changing its name to “Voltswagen” to emphasize the company’s push into electric vehicles. C: Robinhood is nixing a confetti animation when app users make a stock trade to reduce “distraction.” D: Krispy Kreme is giving anyone who shows proof of Covid-19 vaccination one free doughnut per day for the rest of the year. E: Managers at Goldman Sachs are giving junior bankers gift baskets with fruit and snacks in response to complaints about burnout. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Business groups challenge President Biden’s proposed corporate tax increases. The Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among those that praised Mr. Biden’s plan to spend trillions on infrastructure. But they rejected his idea to pay for it by raising taxes, saying that doing so would endanger the economic recovery. The latest setbacks in quelling the pandemic. Johnson & Johnson said it would delay future shipments of its vaccine after a mix-up at a manufacturing plant. A top E.U. official said the bloc would allow “zero” shipments of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to Britain until the drugmaker fulfilled its commitments to Brussels. And France announced a third nationwide lockdown as its cases mount and inoculation efforts lag. A tough day for initial public offerings. As Deliveroo had “the worst I.P.O. in London’s history,” other offerings also struggled. In the U.S., the SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass priced at the bottom of a reduced range, while the low-cost airline Frontier sold at the low end of expectations. And in Canada, the space tech company MDA priced below its range. Microsoft wins a huge contract to make augmented-reality headsets for the U.S. Army. The tech giant will receive up to $22 billion for equipping soldiers with sensors based on its HoloLens technology. It’s another big defense contract for Microsoft, which beat out Amazon to provide a $10 billion cloud computing system for the Pentagon. Executives get a ‘sense of urgency’ in Georgia A day after 72 Black executives signed a letter calling on companies to fight restrictive voting bills more forcefully, executives have begun speaking out more directly about laws that limit ballot access. But their statements came too late to affect a sweeping law passed last week in Georgia that added new requirements for absentee voting, limits on drop boxes and other restrictions that have an outsize impact on Black voters. Today in Business Updated  April 2, 2021, 3:58 p.m. ET Delta and Coca-Cola reversed course. Ed Bastian, Delta’s C.E.O., told employees, “I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.” James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s C.E.O., said he wanted to be “crystal clear” that “the Coca-Cola Company does not support this legislation, as it makes it harder for people to vote, not easier.” The statements by the Atlanta-based companies angered local politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp. In the past, corporate stands on controversial issues have led to political retribution: In 2018, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stripped a tax break proposal from a bill that would benefit Delta after the airline ended a promotional discount for N.R.A. members. The State House passed a similar measure yesterday, but the Senate didn’t take it up before the chambers adjourned for the year. Retaliation also goes the other way: In an interview with ESPN, President Biden said he would “strongly support” moving Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game from Atlanta, scheduled for July. “It is regrettable that the sense of urgency came after the legislation was passed and signed into law,” said Darren Walker, the Ford Foundation president, who is a board member at Pepsi, Ralph Lauren and Square. Others companies based in Georgia remained circumspect. A UPS spokesperson said the company stood “ready to continue to help in ensuring every Georgia voter has the ability to vote.” A spokesperson for Home Depot reiterated the company’s stance that it believes “all elections should be accessible, fair and secure.” A spokesperson for Inspire Brands, the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Arby’s, said that it “values inclusivity” and believes that “every American should have equal access to their right to vote.” “The argument is they are recruited, they’re used up and then they’re cast aside without even a college degree. So they say, how can this be defended in the name of amateurism?” — Justice Samuel Alito, assessing the “stark picture” painted by college athletes in an antitrust case against the N.C.A.A. that the Supreme Court heard yesterday. The Red Sox sold a stake to private equity. Now what? RedBird Capital Partners confirmed its deal to buy a stake in Red Sox parent Fenway Sports Group, a transaction that values the company at $7.35 billion. DealBook spoke with RedBird’s founder, Gerry Cardinale, and Fenway’s chair, Tom Werner, about what happens next. Buy and build. RedBird plans to acquire more teams: Mr. Cardinale noted that his company doesn’t own teams in the N.B.A., N.H.L. or M.L.S. For its part, Fenway plans to tap new opportunities in ticketing, sponsorship and media. (As part of the RedBird deal, the N.B.A. star LeBron James bought a stake in Fenway.) In media, Fenway controls NESN, and RedBird owns a stake in the YES network. “You should expect that we’re going to continue to look for ways to innovate in that area,” said Mr. Cardinale, who helped create the YES network. Deepening ties with online gambling is also on the table. “We do have an excellent relationship with DraftKings,” Mr. Werner said, “and we’ve already had some conversations with them about partnerships.” The deal was a better fit for the private market instead of a SPAC, the executives said, after talks to take Fenway public via a blank-check firm fell through. “In the middle of Covid, with the mandate to re-underwrite the next wave of growth for Fenway Sports Group, we probably would be better off doing that privately and then give ourselves the option down the road,” Mr. Cardinale said of going public. He also called the current SPAC market “very frothy.” What worked at WeWork WeWork was founded in 2008, rose spectacularly, reached a $47 billion valuation and famously crashed before a planned I.P.O. in 2019. (It announced a deal last week to go public by merging with a blank-check firm that valued it at roughly $8 billion.) A new documentary, “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” tries to find lessons among the ups and downs. It streams on Hulu, starting tomorrow. Jed Rothstein, the director, told DealBook that he believes what’s most compelling about WeWork isn’t what went wrong, but how it initially succeeded by turning strangers into a kind of tribe. “We still need that,” he said. “The core idea of WeWork met a real need for community,” Mr. Rothstein said. “The voids people were trying to fill have only become more real.” After a year of social distancing, he likes the notion of curated communal spaces, which is what WeWork offered. Talking to early WeWorkers who bought the vision and later felt betrayed, he was surprised to find how much the company gave its devotees, notably a feeling that they were part of something bigger. That is worth acknowledging in a world where people will increasingly work remotely and for many different companies in their careers, Mr. Rothstein said. WeWork’s co-founders, Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, both had communal childhood experiences. Mr. Rothstein said he thought they sincerely wanted to replicate the good in group life and inspired people who hadn’t seen that before. But Mr. Neumann also focused on what he didn’t like — sharing equally — and emphasized an “eat what you kill” mentality. Ultimately, his hunger turned the community dream into a nightmare for many. After the director talked to people who followed the initial vision, his perspective changed. “People in the film experienced real growth and fulfillment mixed with their anger,” he said. “I realized the story is much more nuanced.” THE SPEED READ Deals The media conglomerate Endeavor filed to go public for a second time, while raising $1.8 billion to buy full control of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It also added Elon Musk to its board. (WSJ, CNBC) Vice Media is reportedly in talks to go public by merging with a SPAC. And the S.E.C. issued two notices for companies looking to go public via SPAC. (The Information, S.E.C.) Junior bankers aren’t the only ones feeling burned out. Young lawyers are, too. (Business Insider) Politics and policy New York became the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana. (NYT) Efforts by aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hide New York State’s Covid-19 death toll coincided with his efforts to win a multimillion-dollar book deal. (NYT) An accidental disclosure by the I.R.S. revealed a $1 billion tax dispute with Bristol Myers Squibb. (NYT) Tech Best of the rest The ad agency Deutsch is doubling referral bonuses for Black job candidates. (Insider) Amazon wants its employees mostly back in its offices, while the Carlyle Group and IBM favor hybrid working models. (Insider, Bloomberg) Paul Simon is the latest musician to sell his entire back catalog: Sony Music Publishing will buy the collection, including classics like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” for an undisclosed amount. (NYT) Feeling burned-out? As more workers consider a return to the office, our colleague Sarah Lyall is writing about late-pandemic anxiety and exhaustion. Tell her about how you’re coping. April Fools’ Day quiz answer: B. If you were fooled by Volkswagen’s prank, you’re in good company. Volkswagen reportedly told journalists that a draft of the announcement was not a stunt. It later called the stunt just “a bit of fun.” Source link Orbem News #corporate #fact #Fiction

[andrewuttaro]

State of the Support (S2-Ep.3): Boom

State of the Support is a reoccurring series on American professional soccer written from a fan perspective. This series will follow the ups and downs of Soccer Support in Rochester, NY and the surrounding region in one of its most trying times in decades.

American Sports have come back slower than European Soccer. COVID-19 has been largely brought under control in Europe while the pandemic continues to grow here in the United States. So far the most successful return-to-play plans from North American Sports have been those secluded within self-contained bubbles. First the National Women’s Soccer League came back to their bubble in Utah with the NWSL Challenge Cup. The first league back to the field demonstrated how it could be safely done.

After a tournament that did great numbers on broadcast and streaming considering how limited access to it was, the Houston Dash won their first title. With July came Major League Soccer’s return to the Field with a bubble in *checks notes* Orlando, FL. As of the writing of this blog the simply-named MLS is Back Tournament has also managed to limit spread of the virus in spite of their location. Two teams had to be jettisoned beforehand but they are now prepared to have a Final. NBA and NHL have also taken the bubble approach to their return-to-play and are *crosses fingers* doing well at this point. If MLB’s return to play has shown us anything: Bubbles are the safest option.

What if a bubble isn’t an option? While NISA held the first “Independent Cup” as if it was a special year regardless of the pandemic, USL Championship regionalized their clubs for an abridged season essentially functioning as a seeding tournament for playoffs they hope to hold in the Fall. On the amateur side it’s a whole different story. With the annual attention-driver of the Open Cup unofficially cancelled the NPSL essentially cancelled their season opting for a second Member’s Cup to include… a handful of teams they could get together for a few weeks. UPSL opted for an abridged season. I’ll save my opinion on all this for later.

That brings us to the ROC City Boom debut on the field… and a team named Berlin in Buffalo, NY.  

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The UPSL began playing their Spring Season in July. With the precedent of the USL ecosystem deeming playing in markets outside a bubble as safe, UPSL decided they could follow suit. Similarly to the pro league, UPSL have passed along social distancing, limited capacity, and sanitizing procedures to their member clubs with the hopes of not becoming a negative headline themselves. All the while remember that one of the great super-spreading events in Northern Italy a few months back was a Soccer Game.

The ROC City Boom were doing all the right things to launch their team before the pandemic hit. They hit all the social media ques right for an amateur side. They even were somewhat interactive on social media during the quietest parts of the Lockdown here in New York State back in March and April. As May and June gave way to July the Pandemic has been largely brought under control in this State. The Boom, a new team in a new conference of UPSL, opted to come back given the conditions.

Their first three games back were road games against Binghamton, Utica and Syracuse. All three games were either draws or a loss for the Boom. Then the Boom came hope to Rochester Community Sports Complex (the name the City of Rochester gave to the Downtown Soccer Stadium after they kicked the Rhinos out). This past weekend the Boom shutout Syracuse 2-0 before going back to Syracuse the following day to beat them 4-1. The Boom boomed. Sorry, I had to.

A source who went to the Saturday home game said he felt comfortable doing so given the safety precautions. While my source who wishes to remain anonymous said concessions and seating were limited he said the gameplay was on par with the NPSL Rochester Lancers. Moreover single tickets are $8, a full seven dollars cheaper than a comparable ticket to a Rhinos game and two dollars cheaper than what the Lancers charged for a comparable ticket last summer before they started giving them away for free. The Boom have four more games on their schedule before August ends.

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Meanwhile UPSL’s new Western New York division looked for their own Boom in a world of coronavirus. Yes, they have brought teams back to their home markets, but they’ve also brought in another new team for a new division first announced in January. FC Berlin will come into UPSL next season playing at Sahlen’s Sports Park in the Buffalo suburb of Elma, NY. Why Berlin FC? Good Question.

The Berlin Football Academy is a Canadian Soccer Academy based out of Kitchener, Ontario. The organization was founded by former College Soccer star Santiago Almada whose hope is a UPSL team in Buffalo could be an asset to his growing organization. Almada wants his organization to truly have a pathway into the pro ranks and that starts with this UPSL squad. Gabriel Almada will coach the side while Juan Almada is the media director making this new team a family affair.

There are no quotes as to what Almada’s thoughts are on entering a market that has an NPSL amateur side in FC Buffalo and may have a professional USLC side in the years to come. What Almada is quoted as saying in the official league release is that he wants his UPSL team to become known as “…America’s Canadian Soccer team.” The side hopes to come in for UPSL’s Fall season.

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It’s hard to say anything new about the Rochester Rhinos situation since our last SoS column in June. It would appear that organization is fully content to sputter along in silence for the time being. If public opinion turns against leagues coming back outside the safety of bubbles they stand to dodge any negative press. For me personally I’d rather athletes, staff and others involved in sports not risk their lives for our entertainment. Even if a club’s survival depends on it I just don’t think its worth it in these crazy times. Bubble or not I’ll pay attention but don’t pretend to me that it’s the ethical thing. I can’t justify that for you.

That’s it for this State of the Support update. I’m always open to thoughts and insights @Pastagut on Twitter and right here at uttarosports.tumblr.com. I wouldn’t anticipate another column like this happening until well into the Fall unless something very notable on the Local Soccer front happens. Not only is there no Pro Soccer in upstate New York right now, there isn’t much sports at all. In the meantime, please stay safe.

Thanks for Reading.

[saucylittlesmile]

In the course of looking up something else, I came across an old copy of an interview with VM that I had saved but is no longer available.  It looks like it was done before the Vancouver Olympics, and published afterwards.  It was for Trulife magazine, and is a rather odd mix of questions, LOL.  Please excuse any typos.

What age did you start skating?

T - I began skating at the age of 6.

S - I started skating at age 3, originally for hockey.  I didn't get put into figure skates until age 6.

Who was your role model or personal hero growing up?

T - My mom has always been my role model.  To me, she is the epitome of strength, intelligence, poise, competence, dedication and elegance - and she is very funny!  What is impressive is that she worked full-time and yet never missed a ballet recital, gymnastics meet, skating competition or any hockey, basketball, soccer or baseball game of any of her four children.  She also somehow managed to return to school and graduate with an MBA when I was young.  She is a true hero and an inspiration to me.

S - My role model was my older brother Danny.  He was also an ice dancer and I wanted to do everything he did.  He took me under his wing and taught me everything he could and tried to keep me on the straight and narrow path. 

What do you feel are your personal strengths?

T - Describing personal strengths is always tough - I am a perfectionist so I tend to be quite critical of myself!  However, I will say that I am a very diligent person who is willing to work hard to pursue my goals.  I am extremely competitive, which is definitely an asset when it comes to my career as an athlete!

S - Well I hope we have a lot of strengths.  I think our ability to work together so well on the ice and really love skating together sets us apart from the competition.  We are lucky to be people who love what we do and love working together.

Tessa, in the summer and fall of 2008, you suffered from chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) on both shins and underwent surgery in October, which kept you off the ice until the beginning of December 2008.  How was it trying to recover from this both mentally and physically?

T- Dealing with the injury was extremely discouraging, especially knowing that Scott was healthy and able to train - I felt like I was letting him down big time.  Physically, recovering from the surgery was an all-consuming, every-day battle for several months.  I needed to teach my body how to walk again for starters, and then eventually, get in shape to take the ice.  It was so frustrating mentally telling my body to do something that had previously been so easy to accomplish and not have my body respond!  I was used to movement coming naturally to me, so it was a real shock to the system when I was so debilitated!  It was certainly a challenge and, in hindsight, I am grateful for the learning experiences being sidelined provided.  I learned a lot about myself and most importantly, I remembered how much and why I love doing what I do.  It made my passion for skating even greater.

Being form the local area, how does it feel to be a local hero watched all over the world?

S - I have travelled all over the world with sating but I always feel best when I am at home in Ilderton.  I fell very fortunate to have grown up in this area.  I love the community and Tessa and I definitely feel the support from everyone.  In a small town everyone knows everyone so I don't think I am much of a hero.  Hopefully I have inspired kids to enjoy skating and sports, that makes me happy.

How does it feel to have the chance to represent Canada in the 2010 Olympics?

T - Representing Canada t international events is the beest feeling - when our names are announced with our country as we take the ice, there si such a sense of pride and honour.  Having the opportunity to compete at a home Olympic Games is really the ultimate dream for an athlete.  The support we received from Canadian audiences is unparalleled, so to know that everyone will be cheering for us is a very comforting and inspiring feeling.

S - I am very excited!  It will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.  It has always been a dream for me to represent Canada at an Olympic games but for it to happen in Canada is just perfect.  I thank God every day for the opportunity to live out my dream.

What advice can you give to the youth of today, who want to be in your skates?

T - I would tell any young person to find his or her passion and pursue it!  If the passion comes from within then you can find joy and fulfillment in what you do!  Or, I would tell any young person that it is imperative to maintain a balance in life and not to invest exclusively in any one activity.

S - The advice that I would give to young skaters would be to dream big and follow your dreams.  I think so many people are so scared of failure they limit themselves from becoming all they can.

What are your nutrition guidelines prior to big competitions?

T - I always try to maintain a balanced, healthy diet.  I love fruits and vegetables so I tend to load up on those!  Also, protein is very important so I lie to eat lots of eggs, meat and beans.  That said, I am also a HUGE chocolate fan so I do treat myself quite often!  WE work out so hard both on and off the ice, so I don't feel so guilty.  It's all about balance!

S - Obviously nutrition is important to any athlete.  I try to focus on eating proper proteins before and after training in order to help my body recover quickly and be at its best for training.  I don't have any crazy nutrition guidelines to follow but I try to eat healthy and stay away from junk food.

What is the difference between ice dancing and figure skating?

T- Ice dancing is, simply put, a discipline of figure skating that doesn't include jumps!

S - Ice dancing is a category of figure skating.

How many years have you both been ice dancing partners?  Do you feel this gives you an advantage competing against other dancers?

T - We have skated together for 13 years and have always shared common goals.  The longevity of our partnership is a real advantage because even though were young, we've already had a lot of experience competing and training together.  We have always been able to work together productively - but for me the fact that Scott and I are so comfortable with each other on the ice is key!  We always know what to say to one another, no matter the circumstance!

S - Tessa and I have been skating together since 1997.  Though we were very shy in the early years, I fell that being together for so long definitely has an advantage.  We know what each other are thinking without saying any words.

How does it feel to be the first Canadian ice dancers to win the ISU World Junior Championships (in 2006)?

T - Canada has produced many great ice dance teams - I'm surprised we were the first t win this title!  However, it is such an honour.

S - That was a huge goal for us to be Junior World Champions.  We were very excited to have a place in the record books and hope to be among the other great names and role models who have come before us.

When you both competed in Kitchener this past November, you managed to come back with great scores despite a slight slip up.  How does it feel to be such a strong team that even if you have a slip up you can still achieve great scores?

T - The original dance in Kitchener, though definitely NOT our best performance, afforded us a great opportunity to learn.  Unless Scott and I experience something like what happened, we would never know how we would react.  Mentally, it was good practice to learn how to compete as the favourites in front of an 'almost-hometown crowd'.  We were able to re-group and re-focus for the free dance and come back strong with a solid skate!  at the time, we were disappointed in ourselves (well, mostly me), but in retrospect it was the perfect place to sort through something like that.  It's how to grow and get better!

S - I think that is the reason why we train.  Things go wrong sometimes, so you have to be able to focus on the elements and not let the points suffer.  We love to skate in Canada and it was disappointing to not skate our best in the original Dance.  We were very happy to lay down a great skate in the Free [Dance].  It was an experience we learned from and will us later this year.

What do you both prefer, compulsory dance, original dance or free dance?  And why?

T - I prefer free dances, as there are fewer restrictions in terms of expressing yourself and they allow for more experimentation.  We have always loved trying new styles and coming up with new moves - free dances are the perfect place to really explore!

S - I prefer both the original dance and free dance.  I like the way we have those two disciplines right now.  Both give us the opportunity to be creative and show our strengths.  I think the compulsories can be limiting and are out-dated.

What kinds of off-ice training do you do?

T - Depending on the theme of the program, we bring in various off-ice dance professionals to help with the flavor, authenticity and mood of the dance, be it ballroom, classical or modern.  This is especially fun for me, as dance has always been my number one passion!

S - It depends on the year and the theme of the programs.  There is an advantage to dancing off the ice.  For us it isn't limited to just ballroom but we also do ballet, modern dance, flamenco and others.  If we have a program like a waltz, we will bring in a ballroom professional to help us perfect and transfer the movements onto the ice.

Thank you's:

T - My skating career has undoubtedly required many sacrifices from my entire family.  I would be nowhere if not for the unwavering support from my parents an siblings - this is as much their journey as it is mine!  Something I've learned to rely heavily on is a strong support team.  I am lucky to have positive people surrounding me.  Mary Brannagan tops that list as my physiotherapist!  As you can imagine, I've spent quite a lot of time with her over the past year.  She is the reason I am able to train and compete at this level again!  But more than just physically getting me in top shape to skate, she has become a confidant, friend and stand-in sport psychologist.  I am so fortunate and eternally grateful.  Coaches like Carol Moir, Paul MacIntosh and Suzanne Killing, who really gave us our start must be mentioned.  Building a solid foundation of fundamental skills is essential 0 we are the skaters we are today because of their knowledge and expertise.  The Ilderton Skating Club and Skate Canada have offered Scott and me tremendous support.  I mentioned my 'support team' - it is made up of so many selfless, generous people who have never given up on helping me achieve my dreams.  This list includes coaches, trainers, rink staff, pilates instructors, dedicated team leaders, mentors, advisors and most importantly, my close friends.

S - First and foremost, my support team that keeps the wheels going in my athletic career.  My personal trainer Maria Mountain as well as Brian Gastaldi, Earl Wenk, Dr. Mike Ware, Igor Shpilband, Marina Zoueva  Johnny Johns and John Vickers.  Also my family who believe in my dreams and have supported me every single step of the way, as well as my friends who have kept me out of trouble and got be into a little.