The Fight Continues

Dark clouds hung over the Whistler ski area this weekend as rain pummeled British Columbia. Ski hills sat wet and vacant, awaiting champions to fly from their slopes come winter. These same hills will host the Olympic athletes in 2010... but only the male athletes. Or will they?

In Canada and throughout the women's ski jumping community, the fight continues to persuade the IOC to change their decree that women can't compete in the Olympics in the ski jumping event. Despite the fact that ski jumping has been am Olympic sport - for men - since 1924, the IOC maintains that the sport (for women) is too new to be included in the Olympic lineup. This, while snowboard cross was added for the Torino Olympics in 2006 and ski cross - a freestyle event that was conceived in the 1990's - was given the nod for the 2010 Vancouver games. Ski jumping and Nordic Combined, which includes ski jumping as well as cross country, remain the only Olympic events in which men are allowed to compete, but women are not. And the women aren't happy.

Appealing to the Human Rights Commission, Canadian skiers are challenging the committee's apparent gender bias. They are in the fight of their lives - many of these women athletes will reach their peak performance by the 2010 Olympics, so the committee's condescending pat on the head as they suggest that perhaps a women's ski jump event may be considered for 2014 effectively takes them out of the running.

It should be noted that not all IOC members are against women's ski jumping. In the words of Anita DeFrantz, an American member of the committee, “We’ve worked very hard to establish gender equity over these last 15 years, with great success,” she said. “It seems to me we should finish the work.”

Amen.

THE FINNISH LINE!!!!

It's here!!!! After much ado, I am happy to announce the release of my second book in the S.A.S.S. series, The Finnish Line. Here's the official Blurb:

When Nordic ski jumper Maureen “Mo” Clark set foot in Finland, she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, escape from her famous skier father’s shadow and a chance to jump in the renowned Lahti Ski Games. But Mo quickly realizes that balancing practice and classes is more challenging than she expected. So when a gorgeous bad boy teammate offers coaching assistance—for a little publicity in return—how can she refuse? Surely she can work in a few extra practices somewhere between studying for calculus and sightseeing in Finland? Amid snowmobiling and dog-sledding, ice hotels and Northern lights, Mo begins to discover what strength and perseverance—the Finnish sisu—is all about. Now it’s up to her to take that final jump and cross the finish line in style.

Aerial Ski Gold Medalist Nikki Stone calls it "convincing, intimate, stimulating!"

I hope you'll enjoy reading Mo's story as much as I did writing it!

Cheers!

Gerb

There are no words

I opened this page some time ago, intending to write a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Many of us know people who lost loved ones or were lost themselves. What words could adequately capture the grief, the anger, the deepest sorrow imaginable? I don't know of any, so I'll be silent now, and remember.

*image: uis.edu

Puppy Love

Introducing Kali, our new little Jack Russell bundle of love...


Here she is at only nine weeks old. We kept trying names for her, but nothing really seemed to 'fit' her. Finally, after two and a half weeks of watching her personality emerge, we have settled on the perfect name: Kali. (Kali is the Hindu Goddess of Destruction. For those of you with Jack Russells (and especially if you've gone through the puppy stage with them) you know why!) :)

Buckeye Country

Another reason I love being back in Ohio...


There's nothing like a football game in the 'shoe and NOTHING like watching the OSU marching band at halftime. Especially on the alumni day. A friend, Mark Baird, marched with the alumni band and he got to dot the I in the Script Ohio! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about... During the halftime performances, the band spells out OHIO in script, and then one band member high-steps over to be the dot on the I. It's a great honor to be able to dot the I. And Mark got the honor Saturday. Congratulations, Mark!

Back to School, Back to Reality

So... schools back in.

Friday night we went to Coffman High School's first football game. Wow. I mean, wow. We went to ASIJ's football games while we were in Japan, but it's been years since I've been to a real live American high school football game! It was fantastic, including the fact that Coffman won.

In Japan, we didn't have the stadium lights, no marching band, no big bleachers. In Ohio, football is a big deal. There were news crews, bright lights, halftime shows, you name it. Oh, and some pretty spectacular football. They've got guys on the team who have already been tapped by Big Ten colleges before they've even played their senior year. Impressive.

And you should have seen the band. We live in the shadow of OSU, where the marching band has a long history and tradition for being the best. (I remember going to my first OSU football game - I actually choked up when I saw the script Ohio in person!)

It's been a long, busy summer, but there's a new kind of energy in the air. School has started. It just feels right.

Confessions of a Bad Blogger

I don't know how they do it.

You know, the blogging authors who chat online every day and churn out books like (insert cliche here.) They write, they blog, they update their myspace/facebook/bebo every day, and I assume they have lives outside the writing realm as well. I am in awe of them all.

Me, I am an inconsistent blogger. I know and I apologize. Thanks to those of you who have asked where the updates are. Here's what's going on with my life right now...

We are settled in our new house for the most part. I know where the mall is and we've got the pizza place on speed dial - what more could we need? Oh, yeah. Furniture. Soon. I hope.

I'm finishing up the final edits on Death By Bikini. I got a peek at the preliminary cover art and even though I can't share it online yet, I have to tell you - it's perfect! Just wait 'till you see it. You'll have to have it on your bookshelf, it's that cool.

And that's about it. Lots to keep me busy, not much exciting enough to write about. But I promise, I'll update more often, especially as we start getting closer to the Finnish Line release (October.) Believe me, I have a lot to say about the future of women's ski jumping. Once I get started, you may not be able to get me to stop.

Oh, and now that I am kind of caught up, I'm leaving you again. My Dear Husband and I are going on a cruise to Alaska for our anniversary (awwwww....) I promise to post pictures!

Meanwhile, thanks for your notes!

Ciao for now,

Gerb

Class of 2007!

The school year is drawing to a close. Saturday is graduation. It's exciting, but kind of sad at the same time.

We've lived near ASIJ, where my kids attend school, the past several years. I've subbed and volunteered on campus. Spent hours at sporting events, plays, concerts and special events. In that time, I've gotten to know a many of this year's graduating class, and become familiar with many more. I get teary thinking of how I won't be seeing them any longer. (Of course, since we're moving, we won't get to see any of the other kids, either, but it seems to be especially poignant with the graduating Seniors because they, too, are off to bigger and better things.)

The students at ASIJ hail from all over the world. After graduation, the Class of 2007 will literally scatter across the globe. Most of them will attend university. Some of them will travel. All of them will be taking a piece of my heart with them.

Congratulations, Class of 2007! Gambatte!

A Culture of Beauty

On May 28th, Japan's Riyo Mori was crowned Miss Universe in Mexico City. No, I didn't watch the pageant, but the fact that Miss Japan won has been a topic of some discussion here in the Land of the Rising Sun the past few days - the perfect lead-in to my assignment for this week - to write about beauty.

Actually the elusive question of beauty has been something I've been mulling over for some time, since reading Scott Westerfield's UGLIES. (I highly recommend his books in this series: UGLIES, PRETTIES and SPECIALS.) In Westerfield's futuristic world, children are raised to think of themselves as ugly until which time as they can undergo an extensive operation that will make them beautiful. The books give rise to the question: exactly what is beauty?

In Prettytown, beauty is defined as having clear skin, symmetrical features, silky hair and perfect, nubile bodies. This ideal is drilled into the heads of pre-operation children ('uglies') so much so that they willingly submit to giving up their individuality in order to become pretty.

Though the technology in Westerfield's world is more advanced and the emphasis on beauty taken to an extreme level, I couldn't help but draw parallels as I was reading to the very real pressures our societies place on being beautiful and the artificial lengths we will go to to achieve that beauty.

We may think we have come a long way from the old Chinese hobbling of women to achieve a dainty, small foot, or the Victorian corsets that displayed an abnormally-small waistline, but we still pander to our societies' definition of what Beauty is. In the Western world, we paint our faces and lacquer our nails, poke holes in various parts of our bodies to display jewelry, prick dye into our skin to adorn ourselves with art, inject toxins into our muscles to eliminate wrinkles and even submit to the knife to change our appearance.

What does this have to do with Ms. Mori?

Interestingly, when she was awarded the crown in the largest beauty pageant in the world, reactions here in Japan were diverse. Naturally, many are proud to see Asian beauty on display. Others question whether Ms. Mori, who attended school in B.C., Canada, is simply an Asian version of a Western ideal.

The latter I find very interesting because exactly what the ideal for beauty is in Japan these days is very confusing. Gaijin (foreign) models are often used in commercials and advertisements. Dolls and posters feature children with round, light-colored eyes. Many younger women bleach their hair. My daughter, who has blonde hair and blue eyes, was the darling of her Japanese elementary school. "Big eyes" are considered beautiful - eyes very unlike the traditional Japanese almond-shaped eyes. To what Asian ideal was Ms. Mori to aspire?

What differences in what is considered beautiful have you noticed in various societies/parts of the world?

What do you consider beautiful?

Does it even have to do with looks?




*(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Nearing the End

Another sleepless night...

Ever tried to sleep, but there's so much going on inside your head that you can't shut it off? That's been my weekend.

I'm wrapping up the anthology piece and having way too much fun reading all the warrior references. I keep getting sidetracked or caught up in figuring out how I can fit a certain bit of information in the piece. As soon as I finish that, it's back to the Death by Bikini revisions, also fun, but completely consuming.

Had a sad realization this morning while helping the second grade class with a research project at school. Mr. Laleman (librarian extraordinaire) mentioned that it would be the class's last research day this year.

Another last.

There's been a lot of those lately - the last trip to Oriental Bazaar, the last vocal jazz/choir concert, the last tutoring session. Before long, we will have run out of lasts and we'll be on the plane, bound for the States.

*sigh*

Meanwhile, the thoughts keep churning as I try to forget the mounting list of lasts and chip away at writing deadlines, end-of-year activities and moving tasks one by one.

Maybe in July I'll sleep.