Flat Track Side-Tracked: My Other Life and Blog

There's been long term radio silence on this blog, largely due to a busy school schedule, a new puppy and very little skate time. Also, I have another blog, but we'll get to that. Though I'm currently out with a recent ankle injury, once I'm cleared, I'm planning to rejoin the ranks of the rolling. ...Again.

Though I feel like I spend a great deal of time trying to get back into derby after recurring absences, I have high hopes this time. Why? For one thing, after hearing that along with physical activity, derby offers a weekly chance for me to work on my social anxiety, my psychiatrist is very firmly on the derby bandwagon and the opinion of the person prescrbing your SSRIs can have something of an effect. Also, my partner Antonio will be joining me: now that cricket season is winding down. he'll be volunteering with FCDG and hopefully attending skate practices. And frankly, I feel so sluggish lately that I'm really craving a chance to reconnect with my body and health. As is often the case, derby is the answer.

With those high hopes in mind, I thought I would introduce my other home on the internet: my gaming blog. Coming into the third year of my PhD, I decided to start up a blog that reflected my academic interests. It's still pretty fresh, but any readers of this blog looking for fresh content and willing to talk games should check out The Bagatelle.

In the mean time, despite the long quiet, TPE has not been abandoned, but awaits new skating experiences to feed it. Jam City Rollergirls, alas, does not count. But I should probably blog about it somewhere.

Featured Blog - BeLEAGUEred: Adventures in Roller Derby League Administration

Today's featured blog is BeLEAGUEred: Adventures in Roller Derby League Administration. This new blog is the work of a good friend of mine who has written a great guest-post for our own TPE previously. BeLEAGUEred focuses on the ins and outs of league administration, straight from the source.

BeLEAGUEred addresses an important gap in derby blogging - you can't swing a pair of skates on the internet without hitting a (sweet) player blog, but league administration just doesn't have the same online resources. It's essential to tell derby stories from all sides of the sport - sharing the ideas of players, refs, NSOs, fans, and administrators too. Without the folks who run leagues, we're just skating in circles. League administration blogs like this one also offer key insight for readers interested in how your your derby sausage gets made: new admins and experienced admins looking for ideas on how to make the roller derby machine run deserve support. With BeLEAGUEred leading the way, it's my hope that we'll see more of that conversation spread.

Knuckle Slamwitch of Toronto LOCO has a clear, (leg)whip-smart writing style that makes obvious her intelligence, pop-culture sensibility and passion for the game. With multiple league experiences under her belt, she's qualified and smart, making her a great voice to lead discussions on league administration.She's already listed some future topics and is casting her nets wide for informed voices to interview (it could be you!). Get in contact via her blog to share your experiences and help start a great new blogging project.

In the mean time, thank your league admins for their time and effort. Those people work hard.

So, You Want To Start a Roller Derby Blog...

As lovers of derby, we have a lot of ways to stay engaged with our sport. But blogging can be a special way of critically engaging with roller derby. Derby's DIY aesthetic is particularly blogging friendly. This sport is powered by human passion and blogging can be a direct way of sharing what you love, what you think, what you absolutely must say about roller derby with the world.

So, here are my top tips for starting and maintaining a derby blog.

My hypnotic type-writer compels you.

The Starting Line

1) Consider your angle. Are you a newbie? A coach? A derby widow? Your specific relation to the sport can provide a fresh angle on derby and will likely draw readers in your position or curious about it to your blog.

2) Be prepared. Get ready with a list of possible topics, ranging from personal essays to bout reviews to possible interview subjects. Have a list to fall back on if you find your creativity flagging (as it may).

3) Focus on your passions. What do you love or hate about derby? What gets you excited or pissed off? Dig deep into what gets your emotions fired up. That's where inspiration comes from.

Keeping Up Your Pace

1) Commit. Publicly commit to a blogging schedule. You can even start small and then increase your writing load. Committing publicly will encourage you to maintain your pace, even if you drop off as I did in the past few weeks.

2) Read other derby blogs. Check out other parts of the conversation online. Respond to them. Reach out to them. If you disagree, do it politely. You are part of a conversation that crosses the world. Get involved and stay involved.

3) Don't be afraid to come back after an absence. The internet can occasionally be a forgiving place. The important thing is to not feel embarrassed or guilty for not blogging. You still have a right to have your say.

Blog on.

Stitches in Time: The Roller Derby Quilt

Behold, the Roller Derby Quilt!

This week seems to have inadvertently become Awesome Blog Week, because today we're talking about the Roller Derby Quilt. The brains (and needle and thread) of the operation is Jessica Young, also known as Dreadnought of the Boston Derby Dames' team, the Nutcrackers. 

Dreadnought's project is simple but brilliant: send her  a quilt square between 5" and 10" with enough seam room that she can sew your square to the roller derby quilt without sewing over your design. Any material goes! Dreadnought suggests showing your name and number if it's a personal square or your logo if the square commemorates your team or league. It's that simple. Just email her at rollerderbyquilt (at) gmail (dot) com to get the address to mail your square to. In the mean time, check out the project on Twitter.

Though Dreadnought doesn't address this on her blog and it may not be part of her intention at all, the quilt recalls a number of amazing community textile pieces, including the simply astounding NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which memorializes lives lost to AIDS in what is apparently the biggest piece of folk art in the world. Whether Dreadnought was inspired by that quilt or not, the Roller Derby Quilt is a great idea for a number of reasons. 

Female artists have used textiles to amazing effect, such as Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. Quilting, as a stereotypically feminine practice gets reclaimed as a collaborative art medium in projects like the Roller Derby Quilt. And happily for those who want to contribute to the ongoing history of derby culture, being a part of this project isn't necessarily expensive or time consuming. You (or a talented team-mate) just need to get out your sewing needle and get creative.

Another Day, Another Dame: Roller Derby Girl of the Day

Recently, the blog Roller Derby Girl of the Day was drawn to my attention. Still fairly new, the blog features individual roller derby girls, nominated either by themselves or friends, from around the world. Written by Hijinx of the Rollergettes in Toronto, Canada, the blog draws attention to the faces of derby and not just the ones that grace WFTDA's top teams, lovely though those faces are. The blog, wonderfully, aims to feature women who inspire you, for any derby reason. Whether they got you into the sport or they are your secret derby crush, the women featured on this blog are there because they make a difference in the world of derby.

There are a few key reasons that a blog like this is important. We can all benefit from role models. And it's crucial to remember that role models don't just skate the hardest or block with the most elegance and force. Though the blog already features immensely talented players, it's about more than athletic ability. Hijinx's request for nominees called out derby shop owners, bloggers, and any woman who inspires her fellow players to work toward being their best and to get all they can out of this amazing sport. This blog works much the same way that derby does, but on a bigger scale, using the internet rather than sweaty osmosis (inspiration is soluble, you see). There is so much power in the inspiration players give each other and because of blogging efforts like this one, that inspiration can go so far beyond the bench, beyond the rink and all over the world.

Frankly, I wish I'd thought of it myself.

So, my challenge to you is this - nominate someone. Flood this awesome blogger's inbox with a bevy of amazing women, because they are the lifeblood of our sport. When we remind ourselves exactly how someone inspires us, they buoy us up all over again. Do yourself a favour and take the time to be inspired. You are surrounded by sources of strength. Share them.

Some of my heroes - the LOCO VPs, plus our capital P Vansterdamn, who is rather delightfully the very  first Roller Derby Girl of the Day