March Badness / International Women’s Day, from Columbia SC to NYC #solidarity #labor #womenstrike2020

Scenes from Whipit and  March Badness

 

Savitrid.nyc writes:

Join us Sunday, wash square park, nyc. At 12 Un Violador en tu Camino and then more festival at 1. I’m helping with a public performance at 1:15 and again at 2:30 but the main thing is to come out and be with the women. #solidarity #labor #womenstrike2020

MargoGregory is with Benjamin Heim Shepard at Washington Square Park.

Gotham Girls Junior Roller Derby had a tournament in Columbia, South Carolina.

Unlike the usual March Madness rite of Spring,  with 64 basketball teams playing a tournament my Grandmother and I used to watch in Thomasville Ga, in between games of solitaire, chatting about the defense, this was roller derby, a sort of rugby match on skates my kids adore.

We got hooked after watching WhipIt, an honage roller derby and growing up outside Austin.

Be your own hero, the skaters remind each other.

But South Carolina is an entirely different space.

Full of monuments to Civil War generals and a conflict we never quite get beyond, it can be a little scary. 

Some hundred and twenty miles from Ft Sumpter, where the conflict began, this capital only recently stopped hanging the confederate flag here.

You see a lot  of confederate monuments here.

What you don’t  ever see is a sign saying we’re sorry. 

You don’t see plaques acknowledging the horror  as one sees in Germany.

You don’t ever see contrition.

Its an ambivalent space being in  this state where our family once lived.

I love the  trees here, but its not quite as wondrous as the those near Edisto.

The landscape is more suburban here, less Piggly Wigglies, more  plastic.

After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, our first stop is Southern Belly BBQ.

With buttered toasted bread and pork bbq, it is delicious.

Spanish moss hangs from the trees along the Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park.

I walk there  all afternoon as the kids practice, rivers crashing together along the canal.

Up to main street I stroll to the museum, I walk. 

It’s Alive, an exhibit of horror movie posters, is the main attraction.

Seems apropos for the zombies and residuals horrors in  control right now.

Main  Street  is alive, full of music and people, and the Good Life Café where we drink some local beer and have dinner, getting ready for the next day:

“The future of Roller Derby takes the track in this Juniors Tournament!

Columbia Roller Derby

South Carolina National Guard Recruiting

1225 Bluff Rd, Columbia, SC”
“She thinks my tractor’s sexy.
It really turns her on.”
That’s one version of courtship. 
Still,  there are other stories  out there,  as  Derby reminds us,
of women taking  care  of women,
Midwives, heroes, organizers, and advocates.
Every time I watch the kids dig in,  jam, and defend I’m proud. 
Back in NYC, activists celebrate international women’s day.
“We’re not hysterical,  we’re  historical,” declares one sign.
“Here’s to strong women: May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”
Savitri is making handprints of women  who have been killed.
At Theater 80, the Squatters Opera fill the space.
“Work day, work day,” we sing. 
Elizabeth M says it was this portal to another world.
Fly talks about a few of her Peops in her squat, built from sweat equity.
“Spring 1992 I moved into 209...building burning...no ceiling....it was a lot of work…
At the time everyone was living the opera...a lot of drama...so many types of people...” she recalls.  “Some of the disputes were a little unruly...  .. A lot of our conflicts required a little empathy....we need more of it to save the world...”
We certainly do.
Outside, the street is full of people, Music, people playing banjo.
Back in Brooklyn, the Cannibal Girls are practicing,
Getting ready for their March 20^th gig at the Knitting  Factory.
The little one and I play baseball for hours, running into everyone we know, Jim, Joss,  Greg,  Wylie.
All Brooklyn was alive. 
Happy International Women’s Day everyone.

Saturday, we get up early for the big day, two matches, one at  11 AM,  another 7 PM,

Chick Whips! – Gotham!

 Carolina Crush vs. Gotham!

We start off slow, giving up 30 unanswered points, skating to catch up, losing the lead, gaining by half time, falling  behind again,

Rough  start, the parents moan.

The refs are rough, calling Slammie for running into one, when her stopper came off. 

Elbows  are  everywhere, bodies flying, the lead in question.

New jammers and defense holding, Gotham catches up.

Everyone’s going  to the penalty box.

“That’s it, eight  of our kids are out,” says one of the dads from the Chick Whips!

“Looks like we are not going beat in time,” he says, referring to his daughter  who  we’ve skated against for five years now. 

Lots of tears from the Chick Whips.

Still everyone poses for a final group  photo.

A bunch of us make our way to the Waffle House across the  street.

I’m thinking of our late friend Anthony Bourdain, who paid a special trip to The Waffle House, when he visited South Carolina a few years prior, where he gushed:  "It is indeed marvelous-- an irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts; where everybody regardless of race, creed, color or degree of inebriation is welcomed."

Grits and hash browns, waffles and lemonade, its just delightful. 

The staff are hilarious and friendly.

The bill is wonderful.

I’m not sure how Bernie Slammers or anyone else is going to skate after the emotional ride of the morning  game. 

Carolina Crush is number eight in the country.

And they are more  than ready for  us.

Gotham starts off slow,  but this time it doesn’t look like they are going to  catch up.

I walk around the rink, looking at the no concealed firearms and suicide prevention posters.

Life is tough here.

Certainly no gun control or apologies for the history of violence or civil  war  inflicted  on the rest  of us from this place.

Gotham finally succumbs to  the  Crush.

Its rough.

“Lets  pose by the Trump photo,” declare several  members,  giving the real estate developer prez the finger.

Use it or lose it,  the first  amendment still lives  for the Gotham Girls.

“I agree with you,” says another parent.

“White supremacy is not ok.  We need to talk about that.”

“This is a president putting kids  in  cages  on  the border,” I reply.

Thanks for having us Carolina.

Words from a country song play as we leave after dinner.