swim beyond the imagery

Celtics pride

From the mid-1950's to the mid to late 1980's, the quintessential American professional sports team was the Boston Celtics. Sorry, Yankee fans, but their achievements during this time eclipse the Yankees achievements. Do the math.

Normally I do not write of sports doings, though I have once or twice. My writings are usually tethered to what goes on in my life, to feminism, lgbt issues, to politics. Something happened last night that leaves me compelled to write on that occurrence.

The Celtics were playing the Timberwolves; the Celtics with the league's best record, the Timberwolves with the worst. The two teams now shared intertwined history - the Celtics traded several players to the 'wolves last summer for our best player, Kevin Garnett.

The Timberwolves came quite close to beating the Celts last night. They were stopped by the efforts of Garnett, who simply willed the Celts to the win.

Winning the game is not why I chose to write. As the game wore on, the play carried an increasingly chippy edge. Players were talking trash, technical fouls were called. At the game's conclusion, Garnett awoke the long dormant ghost of Celtic's pride I grew up with - he pulled out his jersey at the chest, out as far as it would go, emphasising the embroidered letters: CELTICS. He turned and proudly held his jersey out to his team, to the opposing team, to the fans.

It is rare to find an athlete today who thinks team first, who plays with reckless abandon. My favourite player of all time, Dave Cowens, played that way. And here he is again, in Kevin Garnett. What a pleasure to watch this gifted human being ply his craft.

Photo is from The Boston Globe.

Things that interest me...

We generally go about our day putting thought into how to accomplish something, but rarely into what makes us stop and take notice. When scrolling around the internet, or when out and about, what catches your attention?

Here is my attempt to try and sort through what my mind does automatically...

History, all kinds of. The traditional kind some of us love to study, and some of us hate to study. The little visited and or suppressed kind, like women's history. Personal history - please share what makes you who you are, I'll listen. My family history, or personal history. History was a co-major for me, along with Sociology.

Feminism and feminist issues. I've been interested in social issues most of my life. This one is near and dear to me, likely rendered more significant by virtue of my taking the long, winding road to womanhood. Whether the information is an article on actual issues, a specific person, or a novel that touches on and perhaps incorporates a feminist element, I'll be interested. If only Bitch  were monthly, sigh.

LGBT issues and community - shut out and away for so much of my life, the connections established here were like finding where I belonged for the first time.

Politics - I've voted in every major election since turning 18, and have read newspapers since I was in middle school. Not going to change now.

Science - closet science junkie. OK, I'm no science wizard, but the thought of reading through Discover, written for the average lay person like me, is a very pleasant one.

Sports - almost a lifelong Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins fan. Of the four, I'm most naturally drawn to the first two, my real sports passion. If only we had a WNBA team. In the doing? It has been years since I've sailed, but it always appealed, the peacefulness of gliding along in the water. Cross country skiing was always fun, now not done since say... 2001 or so, the last years of marriage.

My daughters - this is no ranking of importance. They and their doings will always be of utmost and primary importance.

Our pets - their unwavering  love and loyalty has meant much along the way. Candy, Cinder, Logan, Sparkles, Licorice, Wellington, and Bailey.

Music - without music, it is difficult to imagine where my life would be. When most everything else would leave me clueless, a pathway would most often be found through music, a language my mind somehow understands.

Spirituality - a late comer on such a list, over the last several years it has become vitally important to me. And we'll leave it there.

Writing - I love to write, but have let my skills atrophy a tad over the past year or so. Separating work from play is sometimes difficult, concise writing versus painting a picture writing.

Communication - Living so much of life with feelings bottled and capped, removing the containers and walls opened up a whole new world.

Travel - flying used to scare me silly. I now miss it. And driving? Commuting almost 100 miles a day for 28 months still has not curbed my love of the drive.

Weather - another long time passion. As with science, there is so much fascination to be found in weather. And that is in terms of subject matter. I love rain, used to love snow, love warm, detest cold, love a warm summer breeze.

Gender - this one is tricky. I don't often seek to read books related to gender dysphoria, but shorter, online news and articles will generally interest me.

Shopping - OK, I love to shop. End of story.

Refreshments - For the love of a good beer.

Food - can you say 'enchiladas?'

Language - UK English, please.

Reading - a great passion, lost to me for a few years during the worst of my dysfunction. It is nice to have it back with me. A subset of this is what I choose to read. At one time, Clancy was a must read. Now... reading a Clancy novel through a whole new set of eyes, and the the right wing, misogynist pov reeks from the pages. And working on borrowed time, I look for the works of women first.

There are lots of things undoubtedly omitted, ah, but editing is a very useful feature at times.

So I can't play

Big deal. As I set here watching th WNBA on ESPN, sipping on an increasingly scarce margarita, I am also smiling over the move made by our local basketball team, in fact... the most storied basketball team of all time, the Boston Celtics.

I've been a Celts fan for almost 40 years now, and have seen probably much more than my share of good and great basketball teams and games. And I was - yes, I was - at the fifth and last game of the 1992 playoff game between Indiana and Boston, wherein Larry Bird dove for a ball, looked to be significantly hurt, and then returned to play can't miss with every shot he took. It was the final moment of glory for one of the games greatest ever.

Little did we know that was it for 35 years of superb basketball, with 16 world championships in that time. I can recall six of the 16.

Since that time, the Celtics have wavered between bad and awful, with a year of two of mediocre play. Over the last several years, they have drafted well, but the team was young and inexperienced. In the last six weeks, they have acquired two all star players, and have suddenly become a viable contending team again. My favourite basketball writer, Jackie McMullen, as usual summed up how I feel. If you wish to see what Jackie had to say, you can read Move Is Just The Ticket For Once Proud Team.

Invitation list to an imaginary salon 2007

Last March I ran a post on an Invitation list to an imaginary salon.

It was rather fun pondering who was worthy of the invite, trying to stay true to Natalie Clifford Barney's ideal of only the most interesting and uninhibited.

We did 20, and well... we cannot invite the entire same group of 20, what fun would that be? First I'd have no post to write, having to share my thoughts on my enjoyable enperience with the good med students at Dartmouth, and well... we'll go slow on that story. Anyway, it is March, so I can do a second annual with this salon thing.

And the invitations go to...

Brooke Shields... anyone who can stand up to Tom has to have more going on than what she has shown in the past. A feminist in the making? Let's find out, shall we?

Hillary gets to come again, hey... she's running for president and has a chance to win the nomination. Of course she has to be here.

Yanno, the founders of BlogHer should be here, they have demonstrated prescience in assembling a library of the voices of thousands of women in one location. So let us welcome Surfette, aka Lisa Stone, along with Elisa Camahort. Since Elisa has multiple blogs, we've linked to her BlogHer one, where you can follow the trail if so inclined.

People like to be entertained with song and laughter, so I'm inviting someone not well known, yet nonetheless worthy. Cheryl Wheeler, singer, storyteller, dyke... you've had me singing along in my car, and I've laughed at your stories when you were on NHPR... please join us.

We cannot bloody well invite Anna Nicole, now can we? Well, maybe... is she buried yet? OK, that is tasteless, but not as tasteless as the idiots around her who sent her careening to her demise.

Where were we? Um... Jodi Picoult, you live in this state, so no excuses... we will pick you up at seven. What day? Um... dunno yet. Jodi has earned her place here, with hard hitting writing and subject selection that most every other person would run from. If one has the presence of mind to sift through horrific possibility and share the human intricacies of the possibilities... she belongs.

I did not invite Beth Orton last year. Surely I was feverish. If you are a Beth fan, you understand why. If you know me, you know why. Bring your guitar, Bethy... but I also know you have great belief in trust and honour, and you will be a fascinating person to chat with.

Steve Stanton, you've not yet transitioned, but perhaps you would like to make the salon your first day. Come on out, come on in... friends, here.

I'd love to ask Helen Thomas to join with us. I'd bet she is a whole lot of fun, and can you imagine the inside political history she carrries in her head? This salon might last a week, I could easily listen for that long.

If you've not read The Effects of Light, please do so before chatting with our next invitee, Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. Everyone I know who read this book uttered a three letter word at the conclusion: wow. If you like books that leave you thinking long after you've read it, give this one a read.

Here is someone I would love to chat with... Janet Marie Smith. Never heard of her? Ever hear of Camden Yards? Or Fenway Park? Hint... she designed the former, and redesigned the latter. She is an architectural giant in the game of baseball.

As the third most powerful person in Washington, and an excellent Speaker in the making, surely Nancy Pelosi will honour us with her presence.

Made a terrible mistake last year. Not making it two years in a row... Charlize Theron, she of the greatest performance in movie history in Monster, share how you prepared for this role.

Since Ayan Hirsi Ali is now in the US, I'd love for her to join us. So what if her background was found to be a bit different? I'd love for her to present her side of things...

For some intriguing talk on divine feminine from a historical and personal standpoint (does that read correctly?) an invite goes in the mail to Kathleen McGowan, author of The Expected One. Nice read, fascinating subject.

If my count is correct, five more invites to send out before I can rest easy...

it goes without saying my former boss is coming, but she needs no invitation. Back to the formal list...

Catherine Crier has to make an encore appearance. And the rest of us have to talk her into running for president. Really. Why? Ever hear her present her cogent analysis and opinion?

Patti Davis, who writes on occasion for MSNBC, always writes right to the point and in away that leaves me nodding in agreement. I'd love to chat with her.

Phyllis Lyons and Del Martin... partnered longer than I've been alive, this in a homophobic society. Can a salon last a month, not one day?

And that leaves one more to go. Who should get the last invite?