Diana's Blog: Quirky Words and Book Reviews

October 20, 2008
Just finished reading THE POCKET DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS: WISDOM & WONDER, and, yes, it's been a long time since I was a Girl Scout. This lavender handbook -- with font that calls back to books my mother had -- brings forward intriguing histories of women I never knew. At first, I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, had all this stuff in school -- cumulus clouds to elliptical galaxies, Bill of Rights to Life-Changing Books.
Then I read the chapters on female spies and pirates and military leaders!
Actress Hedy Lamarr, chef Julia Child and African-American singer Josephine Baker were all spies! And, the story of Joan of Arc -- who at twelve declared she was hearing divine voices, had a unique destiny. As a teenager, Joan led captains and commanders -- often when she led her troops onto the battlefield, enemy soldiers would flee! She is the reason we have two separate countries -- England and France. What daring and self-confidence!
The book refers to the Rosie the Riveter movement, women inventors, and amazing athletes throughout history.
What occurs to me as I read -- what a rollback the mothers of Boomers took! They -- and for awhile their daughters -- had few options other than to be homemakers, secretaries, nurses and teachers. Where was the adventure? In the kitchen? When these women politely folded up and stayed inside, we lost a lot of momentum.
It has been thrilling over the years to see freedoms won. And terrifying to see some lost. The vote for women is not even one-hundred years old. I was in a lecture hall in college when professors announced that the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated. Medically, the Pill came along, liberating women. Roe v Wade -- tenuously hanging on, depending on the Administration -- offered desperate women the legal sanctity to not perish at the hands of kitchen-table abortionists. Honey, this is not so long ago!
I was a natural athlete in high school, but I was a girl, so what. It was just after that that Title Nine came to be -- after a huge fight over what it would or would not do. And, thankfully, what was truly promised has come to be -- young women working alongside men, without apology and without taking a back seat, and fearlessly starting their own businesses. The Glass Ceiling beginning to shatter.
When I started in radio, I fought to be the second woman on the air against management comments like "we already have one" and "women don't like to hear women on the air." I began as the second woman at three consecutive radio stations, finally seeing a breakthrough as women and men were hired according to talent and experience. I applied at one radio station four times during those early years -- hearing those bogus reasons. Finally I was hired -- and stayed thirteen years, while raising two young sons. I got up at 2:50am, anchored morning drive radio, and was home most of the day with them. At one point, I discovered that my male co-anchor made ten-thousand dollars more than I did for the same job. I typed up the facts in a non-confrontational letter, and got a big fat raise.
Maybe the reason THE POCKET DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS got to me is my fervent belief that every girl deserves to lead her destiny, to not have to fight just to sit at the table, and to be challenged only to bring forth the best of her talents and capabilities.
And I don't want to see another rollback.
Beliefs come in all sizes, shapes, races and gender. Listen carefully to what is said. And then vote. Vote to broaden our freedoms, that we all embrace passionately vital lives, loving and bringing forth the best we each have. It's all to the good of our World.

Labels: abortion, Andrea Buchanan, book review., Equal Rights Amendment, Miriam Peskowitz, radio, Rosie the Riveter, THE POCKET DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS, women's rights

I scored free tickets to see the Portland Beavers play the Albuquerque Isotopes -- thanks, Boss -- and invited a girlfriend to go with me tonight. Dana and I had met a couple of years ago, randomly talked at Dinner Grrl events, and this was an opportunity to just relax and enjoy.
Immediately Dana says "I don't know anything about baseball." "Yes you do." I replied confidently. What is there, anyway, a baseball -- well a couple of dozen baseballs the way the Beavers and the Isotopes kept hitting them into the stands -- three bases and a home plate, a scoreboard, an American flag, roaring beer-drinking fans, a mascot dressed in a big Beaver outfit -- Lucky for him, the weather was in the low 60's. What is this! It's August second -- it's supposed to be hot during baseball weather. That's what I recall from Yankee stadium, near where I grew up. Actually, what I remember is feeling really, really small, and the smell of beer everywhere.
What else could there be to baseball, I ask myself when I get home. A new book beckons -- THE SMART GIRL'S GUIDE TO SPORTS: AN ESSENTIAL HANDBOOK FOR WOMEN WHO DON'T KNOW A SLAM DUNK FROM A GRAND SLAM. And I open it to the chapter on baseball -- in it Liz Hartman Musiker has listed famous baseball players -- nearly all Yanks. (If you're not a Yankee fan, please don't throw anything hard at me.)
Liz has got all the facts. I remember one of my first radio jobs, where the woman anchor who was training me emphatically showed me her reading stand, on which she had posted "runs, not points." By the way, the Beavers had a killer fifth inning, amassing five runs through hard hitting and even harder running. The inning was so long, that I thought we'd missed the seventh inning stretch. Liz says that act emerged serendipitously from President William Taft, who, at 300 pounds, was very uncomfortable in his small wooden chair, and stood during the seventh inning. Respectfully, the crowd stood, thinking he was leaving. Taft sat. The crowd sat. And, that's how the seventh inning stretch came to be. We got to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Didn't miss it after all.
I spotted Liz's list of DIAMONDS ON THE SILVER SCREEN -- favorite baseball movies, realizing they are nearly all among my favorite movies -- THE NATURAL, BULL DURHAM, FIELD OF DREAMS, and especially A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN.
At the game, Dana mentions how much travel these Pacific Coast League players must have to do, and how short their season. "Ah, but the dreams of a Triple-A farm team!" I add. Nearly all want to be called up to the majors. I tell her what I said to my older son who loves baseball, "Live every moment like it's bases loaded, full count, two outs and you are up." His smile grew huge at that metaphor.
Tonight, at the game, a special treat -- the legendary Jerry Mathers, the Beav. I interview him by phone in between newscasts a few hours before the game. He tells me then that he's been an actor for 58-years and that he is blessed.
Favorite movie line: "There's no crying in baseball." Yeah, there is. Tears, chills, smiles. I tell Dana it feels like everything vanishes but the ballpark. The Beav, the Beavers -- they represent dreams, swinging for the fence, legacy. No wonder baseball and the Beav keep their magic.

Labels: A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, America Pastime, baseball, Dinner Grrls, Jerry Mathers, radio, The Beav, THE SMART GIRL'S GUIDE TO SPORTS

My friends generally don't give me books -- they know that through my career I will receive most books worthy of being read. But on my birthday yesterday -- July 28th -- Grainne presented me with a book I truly wanted in my hands, but it hadn't happened until then. The gaily-wrapped book is THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch, who sadly passed on a few days ago, leaving millions who had viewed his lecture on Oprah and through links via emails in tears. His courage -- knowing he would be leaving this world soon, leaving his wife, leaving his three small children -- was palpable. His earnest desire to allow his impending death to be exquisitely public that we -- and his children -- may receive meaning -- was beyond powerful. It was authentic. Pausch was authentic. I remember watching him on my computer monitor doing one-handed push-ups -- how could this vital man be sick, let alone dying? He lived every moment of his remaining days -- how many days, we only knew that they were not many -- with every sense heightened to the rarest of calibrations. His integrity shows up in the book when a police officer pulls him over for speeding, and he tells the officer the awful truth. Doubt in the officer's eyes, Pausch pulls up his shirt to expose his scars, and doubt is replaced by stern realization. The officer lets him off with a warning. The terrible truth will set you free, Pausch says. He pursues every drop of his remaining life with a fierce passion.

Maybe Pausch's raw human emotion is in the same vibration that has made A CHORUS LINE a tremendous, long-running hit. I saw the show tonight -- that's why I'm writing late -- I began writing on the 29th, and it is the wee hours now. I saw the show for at least the third time. I took Andrew -- whom I met at K-Lite and spent every morning from 4am on, shares the same birthday, but a vastly different year. He is a good friend; a fabulous escort. It is important I find the right person to share my free tickets with -- a gift from another friend in the radio biz. And Andrew is happy to celebrate our birthday this way, a day after.
I saw A CHORUS LINE when I was a teenager in New York City -- the Schubert Theatre if I remember correctly. I got the tee-shirt -- black, cap-sleeves. I saw the show again in Chicago when I moved to Iowa. I got the tee-shirt -- a pale yellow shirt that faded and had to let it go, too, when it became too worn. And tonight, the show in Portland -- watching it as an adult. Got the tee-shirt -- a spaghetti-strapped tank with gold sparkles on the lettering. Perfect for a Leo.
The show is about Passion -- What I Did for Love. I love to dance, and the freedom in dance has actually visited me very recently, just this past year. Joy! And I have a passion for being on the air, and for writing. I show up with my passion and walk into a space where I let viewers, readers, listeners in -- as purely as possible. It is what I love about the show -- talented dancers who want to truly be seen, and they become fabulous when they drop their fears. They show up as they really are, and everyone in the audience silently roots for them, rooting really for the silent passion packed inside their own beings. It takes a lot of courage to show up, and leave any excuses, the constricting past, the raw desire to be chosen on the floor. And it is an imperfect pursuit.
I was in college, thinking about that first real job I would have, the first time I saw the show. The second time, I was working in TV -- I named a file folder "What I Did For Love" and I stuffed into it every story I wrote. And now I am in all media, but over the years, I would sing -- when I was alone -- the lyrics "PLAY ME THE MUSIC,GIVE ME A CHANCE TO COME THROUGH. ALL I EVER NEEDED WAS THE MUSIC, AND THE MIRROR,AND THE CHANCE TO DANCE FOR YOU." I am still open to that chance, but graceful, not grasping, which makes Today quite lovely. "KISS TODAY GOODBYE, AND POINT ME TO TOMORROW."
It is tomorrow, and I will fall asleep soon, my own passions renewed.

Labels: A CHORUS LINE, dance, Passion, radio, Randy Pausch, THE LAST LECTURE