“With humor, empathy, and expertise, a Black, femme, disabled, and neurodivergent physical therapist retraces their journey through a weaponized fitness culture, sharing an alternative path to honor all bodies and needs.An inclusive, full-color guide to improving mobility, building strength, and increasing flexibility for every body and any size, shape, and ability.”
“Many of us grew up with implicit–and sometimes explicit–messages to be small, both in our physical selves and in our power. Now, as we hit midlife, we’re increasingly rejecting those BS limitations and seeing just how powerful we can be. That’s exactly what two-time Olympian Gabrielle Rose did in her mid-40s when she set her sights on the 2024 Olympic Trials, were she achieved personal bests in both the 100- (1:08.32) and 200-meter breaststroke (2:30.13), advancing to the semifinals as the oldest competitor on deck at age 46, exactly 20 years after her last Olympic Trials in 2004. We talk all about her history in the sport and how her training has evolved over the decades, as well as what led to her comeback and how it has completely lit a fire for her future.”
Elite athletes and insiders reflect on the Paralympic Games and examine how they impact a global understanding of disability, diversity and excellence.
When I am coaching writers or storytellers, I remind them, over and over again, that their stories matter. Not only is it important for all kinds of stories to be told in all kinds of ways to reach all kinds of people but individual stories hold universal relevance. And communicating a universal idea through one person’s story helps an individual reader or listener to connect with it in a deeper way.
In her book, Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes And The Road To Title IX, Sheri Brenden clearly helps the reader to make the connection between the experiences of individuals and the bigger story of the changes that were needed to help pave the way to improve girls’ access to sports (and all the related opportunities) in Minnesota.
An image of the cover of Sheri Brenden’s book ‘Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes And The Road To Title IX’ that shows the title in white on a grey background on the right side and two black and white photos, on the left. The top photo is of a young woman playing tennis and the bottom photo is of a young woman running in a race, both photos are from the 1970s.
Break Point recounts the stories of two high school students, Peggy Brenden (the author’s sister), a tennis player, and Toni St. Pierre, an endurance athlete, who couldn’t test their skills in competition because, in the absence of girls’ teams, their (very reasonable!) requests to compete on the boys’ teams were determined to be against Minnesota State High School League rules.
While the two athletes didn’t know each other, their lives were connected when the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union agreed to go to court to fight for the girls’ right to compete in their chosen sports. While Brenden and St. Pierre hadn’t set out to be trail-blazers (they just wanted to compete), when they won their case they did indeed blaze a trail for a new conversation around girls’ sports.
I really enjoyed seeing that conversation develop throughout Break Point. Sheri Brenden is an engaging writer who manages to be both matter-of-fact and friendly, whether she is recounting the ins-and-outs of a court case or describing her sister’s ‘Kill ‘Em With Cool’ tennis style.
Brenden did a great job of showing how the ‘small’ story of two girls who just wanted to compete in their respective sports is really the big story of how everyone deserves the same opportunities in sports, in work, and in every other aspect of our lives.
So, if you are interested in the history of girls sports, the application of Title IX, or if you want to see just how pervasive the myths and prejudices that attempt to limit women’s participation in sport can be, give Break Point a read.
*****
While things have definitely changed in the over 50 years since the events in the book, women are still dealing with blatant discrimination disguised as concern for women’s safety and we are still being asked to be patient and wait for equality (as if it will just naturally develop over time…sigh.)
I have to say that seeing that the same arguments, in slightly different form, have being going on my whole life has only made me more determined to stridently oppose them.
Week 1 9/2 Monday is Samantha 9/3 Tuesday is Christine 9/4 Wednesday is Mina Thursday is #tbt 9/6 Friday is Martha 9/7 Saturday is Stephanie 9/8 Sunday is Catherine
Week 2 9/9 Monday is Samantha 9/10 Tuesday is Christine 9/11 Wednesday is Diane 9/12 Thursday is #tbt 9/13 Friday is open 9/14 Saturday is Savita 9/15 Sunday is Catherine
Week 3 9/16 Monday is Samantha 9/17 Tuesday is Christine 9/18 Wednesday is Catherine Thursday is #tbt 9/20 Friday is Diane 9/21 Saturday Amanda Lynn 9/22 Sunday Catherine
Week 4 9/23 Monday Samantha 9/24 Tuesday Christine 9/25 Wednesday is Diane Thursday is #tbt 9/27 Friday is open 9/28 Saturday is open 9/29 Sunday is Catherine
Happy 12th birthday Fit is a Feminist Issue!
And if you want to guest blog for us (see those open spots?), drop me a line. It’s samanthajbrennan@gmail.com.
August is the month of big transitions. The weather is gorgeous. And then one August morning you wake up (here in Ontario) and there’s a chill in the air, the leaves are turning to red and orange, and you’re at the first of many welcome back to campus events.
I even have a folder on Facebook of photos that are August memes, it’s that bad.
August 1
I love August. But man it goes by quickly.
Luckily it ended in a party! I had a wonderful 60th birthday party. There were Toronto friends, Guelph friends, feminist philosophers, members of the blog team, family, sailing buddies, university friends. I loved seeing everyone and I loved watching everyone mingle.
Birthday bike ride and party invitesA crowd in Sam’s backyard celebrating her birthday
Here’s some of the bloggers at the party:
Back row left to right, is Tracy, Catherine, Susan and Kim. Front row is Ellen, me, Cate and Sarah. Front and center is Cheddar of course.
What else happened in August?
🎉 Catherine came to visit, and we had a blast swimming in the quarry and exploring the Badlands.
Swimming and hiking with Catherine
🎉 Sarah and I rode our bikes to the Celebration of Life of a bike rally friend who tragically died on the first day of the rally this year. That was sad and moving and a testament to the power of community.
🎉 Before the Pedaling for Parkinson’s Ride in Prince Edward County, it was just Sarah and me on our team this year. We’d love more of you to join us next year.
🎉 I read exactly one new book. Sorry, August isn’t a good month for reading it turns out. Good for bikes but not books.
🎉 I ended the month at 272 workouts so far in 2024.
🎉 By the end of the month, the leaves started to change colours. As they do.
Orange leaves
🎉 I love summer and I am never ready really for it to end. Luckily the warm weather continues for a few weeks at least and I’m going to try to extend my summer habit of fun evening things into September. Wish me luck!
There are no rules for birthday bike rides. I know. But I originally had plans to ride 60 km the day of my birthday with friends. You know, the traditional birthday bike ride. That’s your age in kilometers, the day of your birthday.
Still, one friend I wanted to ride with was new to cycling and nervous about the distance on her heavy hybrid bike. Another friend had a fancy new carbon bike but he’d only been back on the bike a month after taking several years off riding. One more friend hadn’t ridden at all this summer. My birthday would be her first day on the bike this year. And nobody was keen to ride at 9 am because first the friends had to get to Guelph and that’s a very early start. You get the idea.
As I thought about these friends backing out and coming to my birthday party and not the birthday bike ride, I realized, of course, that it’s riding with people that I love. Who cares about how far we ride? If I just cared about the distance, I could ride alone or with Sarah.
A new plan emerged. We’d ride 30 km on Saturday and 30 km on Sunday, and people could come on one or both rides. It didn’t work for everyone but more people were able to come for that distance.
How’d that shake down?
Terrific! I had a blast. I love being on my bike with friends. Happy birthday to me!
Part 1
Here’s our route.
Part Two
On Sunday morning a smaller group of us did a gravel ride.
We rode to Elmira on the Guelph to Goderich trail, stopped for lunch, and rode back.
Here’s the route.
Total: 69.37 km
We overshot our goal of 60 km but that’s just fine too.
Hi readers and Happy first day of September! It’s time:
Time to turn from vacation-mode to at-home-and-working mode
Time to shift (gently) into the fall season
Time to get back to work
Time to check out of this hotel where I’m speed-writing my blog post
It’s been such a fun week visiting Canadian friends, vacationing with American friends, and enjoying the refreshing water of (great) lakes, quarries and hotel pools.
Just this morning, Norah and I headed to our hotel pool before going our separate ways (me back to Boston, her back to her rental cottage on Lake Huron for another week– lucky duck!). But we couldn’t leave without trying out this pool and its big green slide:
In real-pool like, there were kids, parents, us, a nice lifeguard, and lots of sound effects from everyone going down this surprisingly fast green spiral slide.
I’ll be back on my regular non-hotel-pool beat for Fit is a Feminist Issue starting this week. But as I check out and roar down the New York State Thruway, please enjoy this post about the silliest hotel pool I ever experienced (thus far; I’m always looking for other contenders, so do let me know if you have intel).
