Today is March 8, big for a number of reasons:
1. Big East Championship. UConn vs. Notre Dame Part III (of IV? Stay tuned).
2. It’s Fat Tuesday, and I’m celebrating by consuming Shammy #2 of the Shammy Season. Yassss.
3. Lasers. I don’t typically buy albums (the last one I bought was “Kaleidoscope Heart”, but I really, really don’t remember what came before that), but it’s my guy Lu (not to be confused with my other guy Lu), so y’know.
4. It’s International Women’s Day! And the 100th anniversary, no less!
I don’t plan on getting (too) preachy or (too) sappy or (too) long-winded here, so let’s hope I stick to the plan.
The theme this year is “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.” But my theme, and don’t act surprised, is going to be basketball. Long story short, I grew up with basketball. Playing it, watching it, loving it, living it. I grew up watching the Bulls, and that team is central to so many of my childhood memories. And then came the 1999-2000 UConn Huskies (I feel hell of old watching UConn games now and seeing Shea on the bench, when I used to watch her on the floor). It was January 8, 2000, and I turned on the TV and saw UConn at Tennessee. UConn won that game 74-67. I was won over on the spot. It wasn’t the fact that they won, and it wasn’t the fact that their jerseys were blue (blue is my favorite color, obviously) — it was how they played. I loved the way they played as a team, and I loved how hard they fought. I loved that I could see the heart and the toughness with which they played.
More than that though, they came at a critical time in my life. I had just started playing organized basketball around that age, and it was incredible for me to see girls, like me, playing. Not that it was so terrible to grow up watching the Bulls, but you know what I mean — it just felt more relatable. They became my role models — the people and the players that I looked up to — and even now, I still remember those teams and players of yore and revere them just the same as I did when I was 10 years old. I think it’s great that little girls wanting to play basketball now have women like Maya Moore to look up to. She’s an incredible athlete, an exemplary student, and a phenomenal person. And it’s not just basketball players — little girls have so many positive role models nowadays. You can look in politics, science, entertainment, literature, and so many other places and find great women. Really, one has to look no further than their own home — my mom is and always will be my greatest influence in life.
Point is, we all have women we look up to and women that have inspired us. I think it’s important that we do the same for the young bucks, too. You know, set good examples, just be generally awesome. I don’t believe that feminism is about hating men, not shaving, or sharing a pair of pants and crying together about it (or whatever that book/movie is about, I never read/saw it). I believe feminism is about being proud of the person that you are and not letting others define you for you, you feel me? For me, it’s about knowing that women are capable of doing and being anything, really.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
-Maya Angelou
