I just got off the phone with my boyfriend, who's sweet enough to support anything that I feel like doing. This week it has been Roller Derby.
When I was little, my family and our neighbors went to a friend's roller derby match. It was definitely a culture shock, but my god did I have a good time. Unfortunately I was the only one that did. Parents didn't approve too much of watching women beat each other on the track. Did I want to do that at the time? Heck no, those girls could break me, and I was like 10 or something, and I just shoved the into a memory, not a wish.
Recently I watched a movie called Whip It! and it got me thinking again. Now, I'm a fan of any sport that allows beating like Rugby or Hockey. So as I was watching this I thought to myself, now there's a sport that's for chicks AND I get to beat people. THIS IS AWESOME. Boyfriend hasn't been to a roller derby match, so I got in contact with the daughter of the friend who was in that match from forever ago and she gave me the poster from the website about the championship match. But, we weren't able to go.
Last night, Boyfriend went to a concert and who was at that concert, but THE ROLLER DERBY TEAM, saying that they were holding try-outs for next season. In the middle of talking to him on the phone this morning, mother walks in and asks what we were talking about. I said, "We were talking about trying out for the Roller Derby team." Her face sunk, her eyes got wide, and I got a firm "No, Aila. That's gutter." I really didn't know what to make of that. "Don't let him drag you into the gutter." I just can't believe how hypocritical she was being. This was the woman I looked up to for guidance and whom I thought a woman should be.
I really hate choosing sides. It's simply something that isn't in my nature. I also don't see people as gutter or rich snobs. What i'm trying to say here is that we have one life that's way too short to be worrying about social class, staying true to a certain group, or trying to be the perfect ideal person. Dye your hair pink, backpack across Europe, and go make a stand... I just wish I was brave enough to take my own advice.
