Storms!

Thursday, June 03, 2021   (June’s fullest moon [“Strawberry”] rises in 21 days, on the 24th.)

I planned to describe last night’s storm, an incredible thundering and downpouring, sudden and on the heels of a blisteringly hot day. Even just sitting around I wiped dripping sweat that threatened to invade my eyes. Several times, I went out to give hay to the horses, they also drooping in the heat. Mostly, I sat fiddling and trying to repair a bicycle tire, and sweating.

Anyway, you get the drift. That storm turned the stale heat to hot humidity. Today is dawning cooler.

I’m being sidetracked by current events in women’s sports.

Yesterday, Namoi Osaka, a tennis world champion and highest-earning woman in sports, refused to participate in after-match interviews at the French Open. She accepted a huge fine as penalty and then dropped out of the Open. Today, other women athletes who’ve not spoken up before, or have without having been listened to, are telling their stories.

They tell about being coached by men who are accustomed to coaching men and don’t understand what happens to women’s bodies and minds when forced to lose weight, while exercising and performing to their fullest capacities. Along with unexpected physical changes, women athletes may feel depressed. There’s not enough space to write all the details, but an added link sums many problems.

This story will continue to grow. Another big emerging issue is whether to allow transgender women to participate in women’s sports. Plus, the ongoing story that top women athletes earn less than top male athletes. The attached article notes that Osaka, the highest-paid woman athlete lags behind fourteen men.

From the referenced link: “…the tennis legend Billie Jean King [writes], ‘In our day, without the press, nobody would have known who we are or what we thought. But for a young player like Ms. Osaka, the traditional media is no longer necessary for the world to know who she is and what she thinks.'”

Women’s sports have gained in traction, for example women’s basketball increasingly rivals men’s sports in popularity. We’ve heard about controversial “routine medical exams” that young women athletes have been forced to undergo. We understand why many women athletes leave top training camps for more understanding and supportive environments.

These stories reflect the growing controversies about today’s women working outside the home. Remember, these norms didn’t exist prior to the sixties when birth control became available. Today’s women participants in careers and sports venues, and today’s social and religious issues vis a vis birth control, all will be on the line soon. America’s now conservative Supreme Court’s upcoming schedule includes reconsidering legal birth control.

Last night’s storm symbolizes today’s social storms. Storming not only about women in America, but also dissidents in Russia, controversial leaders in South American, Arabic, and African countries, and about anticipated technologies like fossil vs. electrical fuel, and human paid-passengers into space.

Dear Friends: While watching the news and waiting, we wipe sweat from our brows. Diana