Tag Archives: Wonder Woman

Early spring grumps …

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Early spring grumps …

Okay, I admit it.  I have a case of early spring grumps.  We’re talking ridiculous, right?  There it was 70+ degrees when I walked out of work yesterday and was I happy?  No.  I was decidedly grumpy.

Okay, it wasn’t terminal grumpiness or its cousin irascibility and certainly hasn’t drifted to chronic grumpiness, at least not yet, although the cat might think differently after getting soaked with the water sprayer this morning after waking me up at 5:00 AM, yet again.  I know, I know, I should love the little kitty and say, how cute as she scratches at the dresser with her paws to say, “wakey, wakey!” … but really, 5:00 AM?

That little discomfort aside I do admit to craving chocolate cake and bags of potato chips: two seriously never, ever eat again foods in my lexicon of things to eat and things not to eat.

Saying it, however, doesn’t mean I have to like it. And while I “get” that in the immortal words of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, “… the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world,”  aka, my larynx, my esophagus and my stomach, I still want to complain.

And that’s the rub.  The complaint thing.  Sometimes I just want to complain!  You know, the old, “why me?” or a personal favorite around my house, “it’s your fault.”

So, meanwhile, back in the real world, the antidote is, as always, those sixteen hard pounding rounds at Gleason’s Gym where lately, the workout has come to mean that space where I can truly say my two favorite chestnuts:  “its good to hit things” and “work it out on the bag.”

In the scheme of things, my out-of-sorts mein will right itself (say by the end of this post?), but the space for working things out will remain and whether it’s in my own head, on a walk where I pause just long enough to recognize that 70+ degrees in the middle of March is truly great (while forgetting the climate change thing that could get me to spiral backwards again), eating a truly delicious stalk of asparagus (of the fresh spring farmer’s market variety) or pounding on the double-ended bag, life really is a miraculous experience — even when the grumps get you down.

13 Reasons …

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13 reasons …

"I'll finish this fight now."

Wonder Woman, "I'll finish this fight now."

 

My mother was born in the Depression and grew up during World War II.

In 1942, she moved with her family from the shtetl-like life of her Bronx neighborhood to Providence, Rhode Island where her father had taken a job as an engraver at the shipyard that built Liberty Ships.  Providence was a tough and forbidding place for a young Jewish girl in those days, and she and her siblings fought many a battle against kids yelling anti-Semetic jeers at them and worse.  In those instances, my mother’s favorite and only superhero was Wonder Woman whose dark beauty and formidable strength gave my mother the courage to stand and fight.

Wonder Woman stood out as a beacon for her — because of course, in my mother’s mind, not only was she a woman, but she had to be Jewish!   And unlike Superman or Batman; Wonder Woman in her Red, White and Blue costume was American to the core.  This took on a lot of meaning for my mother’s 10-year-old soul. Not only could Wonder Woman keep her safe from the worst of her fears, but the Wonder Women of her comics kept her country safe from the horrors of war.

The image of Wonder Woman still stands out as one of the very few where a woman can knock the crap out of someone without it being stigmatized, belittled or sexualized — and that’s saying something.

I bring this up because Girlboxing friend Lisa Creech Bledsoe over at The Glowing Edge, is hoping to win a spot to participate in this year’s Ignite Durham evening with her presentation “How to Win a Fight in a Bar.”

Last year’s “13 Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing,” garnered 253 votes — and is very funny indeed!  Her presentation ends with a Wonder Woman slide — an image we might all want to take to heart.

To help Lisa win a spot at this years Ignite Durham presentations please click here.

 

PS – Due to the weather, Alicia “Slick” Ashley’s Brooklyn Explosion, “Main Event” bout has been rescheduled for January 19, 2011.

For further information contact Gleason’s Gym or Global Boxing Gym.

‘Hope to see you there!