Women in Sport

Growing up in Australia

Sport was ubiquitous 

Sport on television, in the news, in the papers, school sport, weekend sport 

Women's teams weren't prominent

Or even there at all

Men in sport was just 

Sport 

But we had plenty of prominent women

Athletes like Cathy Freeman

Johanna Griggs

Liz Ellis

Louise Sauvage

Nova Peris

Susie Maroney

Susie O’Neal

Zali Steggall

Were in the public eye

As positive role models of their sport

And nation

The Sydney 2000 Olympics torch relay

Blazed into the stadium and

Celebrated a century of women’s participation in the Olympics

Dawn Fraser, Susie Maroney, Betty Cuthbert, Raelene Boyle, Shirley Strickland and

Cathy Freeman

Between them, the winners of 15 gold medals,

Household names admired and loved.

To have women literally carrying the torch

As the pinnacle of the relay

Said to sixteen year old me

Women in sport are important

Women in sport matter

But I have come to realise

That while I would like this to be true

At the present moment in time

Women in sport, for the most part,

Are second class citizens 

Still viewed as inferior

Not worth funding, promotion, or care

It wasn’t until 2012

That every participating country

Had at least one female athlete present

At the Olympic Games

That was last year. Not last century.

And even then,

The Australian women’s basketball team,

Winners of three silver medals over three Olympic Games,

Flew Economy Class to London

While their male counterparts,

Winners of zero medals over three Olympic Games,

Flew Business.

They weren't alone. The same treatment was accorded to the 

Japanese women's soccer team. 

Women around the world still require permission to participate 

As athletes 

The Super Bowl, World Cup, Grand Prix, Tour de France

All bar women from participating in the main sporting event

As competitors

Today, in the 21st century

Women’s sports are rarely written about

And when they are

The players are referred to as

"The Girls"

The coverage shows women uncovered 

Because “sporty women”

Can still be “sexy women”

Look at your television

Look at your newspaper

How many women’s sports teams

Are represented?

The statistics are abysmal

ESPN has launched a dedicated women's channel 

And held a summit 

A UK group have launched a new magazine

The UN wrote a report 

Grassroots movements are popping up all over the place

Despite fierce resistance 

The fact that we need to “raise the profile” of women in sport

In 2013

Underlines the problem 

I would love to see a day

When dedicated women's channels

And magazines

Are no longer required

When "sport" is not synonymous with “male” and

Instead means people, of any gender

Being active and competitive

At all levels

From backyard games to professional televised world events

Women and girls play sport

Let’s celebrate their success

In equal measure to the way we celebrate the men's

Let women participate at the top level

In any sport of their choosing 

And as participants or spectators 

Let us rejoice in the human ability

To move and play and compete

Across the world

The end. 

The Big Issue

Every week

If I can 

I try and buy 

The Big Issue

I'm struggling myself 

Two-thirds of my paycheck

Is spent on rent

The other third covers

Food, bills, and a weekly train ticket

There's not much left 

If anything

Once it's all paid for 

But I realize 

How lucky I am

To be healthy

To be surrounded by

People who look after me

Treat me to dinner

Or a show

Or even a holiday 

I have a roof over my head

And food in my belly

And in the middle of a recession 

I have a job

That I enjoy

Brings satisfaction

And fun

Even if sometimes

It is exhausting

To be part 

Of the daily slog 

Today between Leicester Sq

And Covent Garden

I passed no less than 9 vendors

In a journey 

That takes 5 minutes by foot 

And I see these vendors

And men and women

Who are homeless 

Literally every. single. day.

People

Who for a myriad of reasons 

Have not been so lucky in life 

And need an extra hand 

And I just wish

I could offer every single one of them

A bed 

A cup of coffee 

Lunch 

A chance 

And if my £2.50 

Can make the tiniest difference

In someone's day

And allow them

To be one step closer 

To their own 

Eudemonia 

It's a difference 

Worth making   

The end. 

Happy New Year!

'Tis the Year of the Snake
And combined
With the thirteenth year
This new year
Is considered by some
To be an omen of bad luck

But in some traditions
The snake is representative of
Inner power
And thirteen is the number
Of enlightenment
And change

Today
Despite the cold and wet
Londoners were out
En masse
Celebrating the Chinese New Year
Chinatown was packed
With queues out the door
Of every restaurant
The pedestrianized streets
Filled with people
Waving paper dragons
And popping crackers
And even with the dreary weather
The mood was festive and bright

Tonight it snowed
The cold weather
Finally paying off

To choose
To not buy into fear
And superstition
To choose to believe
It can and does get better
To make sense of
And make use of
One's own inner power
To learn
And seek
And grow
And be at peace with myself
That is the new year
I want to celebrate

The end.

Inspiration v. Despair

I love messages that are inspiring and full of hope and leave me feeling positive
It's why I'm fascinated by A is For and Occupy and No More Page 3, and V-Day
And all the A-Z of organizations who in their own way
Are just trying to make it better, easier, nicer
For people.
Because that's what we all are in the end
Whether we're writers or artists or bankers or plumbers or dentists
We. Are. People.

It's why I love artists like Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
Not just artists
Writers and composers and historians and entrepreneurs and builders and all the souls just trying to make a difference.
People who say,
Let's make this better
Let's make this nicer, more beautiful, more inspiring
A less harsh place to live in.
Like Eve Ensler, like Martha Plimpton, like Anne Summers.

It's why I loved reading Obama's book.
He has the audacity to hope for something better
A time, a place, a now that doesn't tread on people
And why is it so audacious to want hope?
Shouldn't it be utterly audacious to only see the bottom line, to hurt, to lie, to steal, to see a world devoid of beauty?
Imagine a world where people were actually nice to each other.
Imagine such a thing
"Hippy" John Lennon.
If you believe in peace and love and nicety, you're a damn communist.

We are a rock revolting.
There is so much anger and hate and sadness,
But it can be different.
We must speak out.
We must appreciate each other.
We must not be afraid.

I've been afraid.
I am afraid
Of my own voice.
So afraid I haven't written, I haven't sung, I'm scared of dancing in public.
I'm scared of my own body.
Because the people who speak out
Are laughed at, trolled, vilified, shot.
People are miserable, living on the street, dying horrifically.
God, it can all seem so awful.

And I shift between total inspiration
And total despair.
What can I do?!
Breathe. Just breathe.
And trust that it all gets better. That change IS possible.
And get on with what I have to do.

The end.

Go West

Imagine Two-years-ago-me
Sitting in her room
In suburban Sydney
Wishing hoping for something different
And following Amy Krouse Rosenthal
And being inspired by what she had to say
Her interactive works of art
And flashmobs and acts of kindness and moments centered around
The Bean, Chicago.
And finding
Today Me
Sitting on the grass opposite
The Bean, Chicago
And feeling like
Oh. My. Goodness. Look where we have come!

And sitting in the public park
On a glorious late summer's day
And people watching
There's a family on a picnic blanket
Mom and two sons
All reading books,
There's a grown-up mother and daughter
Just lounging on the grass
Looking up at the sky, the clouds, the shimmer of trees
The mother has white hair and permanent wrinkles around her mouth
The daughter has brown hair and similar, though less pronounced wrinkles,
And every so often the daughter turns her head to her mother.
There's a mother and baby,
The baby is old enough to sit up on her own, but not yet old enough to be forming words
She can hear the band in the distance, but can't quite figure out where the sound is coming from.
The music excites her and she points to the sky and smiles and exclaims,
"Oh!"
She toddles around on the grass, smiles shyly at strangers who smile at her, and occasionally stops to bop along to the distant music-
She is distracted by another baby, a boy a few months older than her,
He is oblivious to her existence but she smiles and waves at him anyway,
"Look at us! We. Are. So. Clever!"

And then finding Today-Me
Sitting in a car
With a patient, loving boy
Driving across the vastness that is America
And seeing all the corn and soybeans and giant billboards
And literally driving into the most glorious of sunsets
Where the sun is an impossible giant orange ball

And suddenly you are in Colorado
And there are mountains in the west
And the streets are wide
And the sky is so incredibly blue
And bands are playing in the small parks
And the lady who sells chocolate honey at the farmer's market is an actual witch
Who knows how to brew concoctions that taste like heaven
And the man from the winery is willing with his samples
And the fruit tastes so good you can't believe you ever lived without it
And you breathe in the warm dry air
And you wonder
What is next on the adventure?

The end.

Story of Change

A little while ago
Gandhi said
Be the change
More recently
Annie Leonard said
We are living in an economy
That is toxic at every level
And she actively worked to make change 
And made a movie called
The Story of Stuff
And uploaded it to YouTube
And it was very inspiring
And immensely popular
But she, and her team, didn't stop there
They kept investigating

"How do we make this place better?"

And now, in her new movie
The Story of Change
Annie Leonard talks about how to make the world less toxic
It's not just about changing our shopping habits
That's a start, yes. But action needs to be bigger.
It's about
An Idea + We + Action = Change
It's about
We Can Make a Difference
We Can Make the World More Livable

At the end of the film there is a quiz
What kind of Changemaker are you?
And I took the quiz
And it said,
I am a Resister
Which ironically, I resisted.
I'm not a resister...
I do want the world to be a better place
I want to live in a world that is not toxic
I want to be part of an economy that is not destructive
But aside from my own personal habits
Recycling, eating organic produce where possible, using natural products where possible,
I haven't spoken to any corporations
I haven't protested out loud
I haven't named names
I haven't stood in front of a CEO and said
Please stop what you're doing.

But perhaps now is the time for me to change
So that I may be the change
I want to see

The end. Or not.