Girls and boys competing
Well, it was an interesting weekend for the rivalry of the sexes. Rachel Alexandra, known as the super filly (young female horse) of thoroughbred racing, stood shoulder to shoulder with the 3-year-old stallions in the Preakness Stakes and swept the field. And interestingly, there was a period when a number of the owners of stallions openly discussed taking advantage of an obscure racing rule to make it impossible for her to compete. However, eventually--and because one owner said he'd withdraw his horse if the filly was barred and thus make it possible for her to run--better sportsmanship prevailed.
And on another television channel, the story of G.I. Jane unfolded to reveal the toughness and determination of a woman who aspired to make it in the military, and who beat all the anger, threats, abuse, and intimidation to succeed.
Loved the quotes from the owners of Rachel Alexandra. The one who didn't enter her in the Kentucky Derby said he'd never do that because fillies should run with fillies, and stallions should run with stallions. The next owner, who purchased her after the Kentucky Derby, made this profound observation: "Champions should run with champions."
What else can we say? Except, oh, by the way, if you want to be a champion like Rachel Alexandra--to get yourself as fit and sleek as possible----I'm going to recommend a health/fitness guru who gives the best advice I've ever seen.
Mike Geary openly shares amazing tips on things like healthy snacks, what goods are most nutritious, different types of exercises, and more. I've been getting emails from this guy for about a year--I read every one of them religiously because there's always something valuable in them.
You can get his ebook, The Truth about Abs, and get his unique insider secrets about losing weight, eating healthy, exercising to get the best figure and to be strong like G.I. Jane (have you seen the shots of Demi Moore working out in that movie? Yikes.) click here!
Labels: exercise, healthy eating, Kentucky Derby, lose weight, nutrition, Preakness, Preakness Stakes, Rachel Alexandra
2 Comments:
This comes just as I'm reminiscing with an old friend about the sexism we experienced working for Anheuser Busch in their zoo departments years ago. I worked at a small park in LA for a year and half selling hot dogs and popcorn, because women were not allowed to work in the zoo. A woman in the brewery sued the company over a similar issue, and I got my transfer. I spent the first six months in the zoo kitchen, preparing animal diets. Occasionally, I and two other women would be allowed to go out with the guys and watch them mend a fence or something. One day I said, F*** this (zookeepers talk like sailors and I was on board), and I walked off to do a job on my own...and then another, and another. Within a year, we had more women in the department then men, largely because we had a very forward thinking director (who now runs the Sand Diego Zoo)who appreciated our competence. When that park closed, I was transferred to the Tampa park, where I started at square one, with the added difficulty of working with men who were honest to goodness, very sexist, cowboys. Though I had been the Assist. Curator in LA, I was told I couldn't supervise in Tampa because I wouldn't be able to wrestle an ostrich to the ground if necessary. In case you're wondering...nobody can. Still, I did well in the bird department, proving myself by putting up 100# bags of feed and so forth (which you know I regret today). Meanwhile, women interested in mammals faced their own challenges. At a management meeting, the "veldt" supervisor said he'd never allow women to work there because it would get too "hot and steamy" behind the bushes what with mixing the sexes and women being what they were. Having broken the law by saying that, the company had no choice but to put women in the veldt, post haste...where they, of course, excelled. What I want to say about all of this is that, yes, women are built differently physically (duh!). But we are great problem solvers, good at using leverage and so forth as necessary. And what Anheuser Busch/Busch Gardens learned is that we are also well organized and efficient. Even without the impetus to work harder than the men just to be treated equally, we often do a better job because we can multi-task and bring a lot of passion (emotion) to our work. This was back in the 70's, but the biases remain in place today. I was talking with a friend the other day...long story short, about Barbra Streisand's reputation as a controlling bitch. I wondered if a man in her position would be considered at all aggressive for behaving in the exact same way, or merely competent. We still have to work twice as hard to be considered equal -- though our incomes don't reflect that -- and then we're considered aggressive just for being assertive.
Wow, what a story. Seeing no end in sight, at least in my lifetime, for the general pattern of discrimination and sexism in the workplace, I keep telling myself that when we get to heaven we will understand why it was this way--what purpose there is in having women, and people of color feel this sense of frustration so often in their lives.
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