Let's Row Together

A deep dive into my book manuscript, an act of civil disobedience against our climate crisis, and the inequities in women's sports 50 years after Title IX

I was in the emergency room at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge when the email from my editor at Rutgers University Press arrived telling me that the final payment for my book was on its way to me. That moment I knew that one day my words would be a book. After a decade of research, then writing and rewriting it many times, and then seeing lots of rejections before hearing, “yes,” I should have leapt for joy.

But I couldn’t.

I was grounded.

Earlier that morning I’d fractured my left fibula near my ankle while carrying a crew shell with three other women. Soon after we’d started moving the boat out of slings, I discovered that my left foot was trapped in the coil of a hose under the boat. As my fellow rowers sidestepped the boat towards me, as they should have, I twisted my body to try to get out of its way. I fell, immediately feeling a sharp pain and nausea.

This is not me, even in my younger days of rowing at Wellesley College.

This week, five months later, my copyedited manuscript showed up in my inbox – with a warning:

“Please note that this is the last time you will be able to make substantive changes to the text. Now is the time to make sure that your manuscript is as you want it”

As I want it?

Those words send shivers down my spine. This is MY story, and in telling it I decided to write about things that happened in my life that I have not shared before. After waiting a half century to tell the story I know, I am feeling the weight of the promise I made to myself - and, in turn, to YOU, as readers. I need to get it right and tell it well. These thoughts will guide me during my laser-focused re-read of my book’s 400 pages. My changes are due February 1.

THINKING of YOU:

After publishing my Scrabble photo with the last names of people who generously opted for a paid subscription to my Substack, several others joined in. So, here is my second display of gratitude.

THANK YOU

Climate Note

We’ve lived through the warmest year on record – and the warmest not by just a tiny rise in temperature. Maybe you are ready to play a part in stopping the insanity of this catastrophic situation propelled by the wealth, greed, power of the fossil fuel industry.

Boomers feel guilty for being asleep at the wheel when our climate crisis exploded. Millennials are not having children because of the crisis’s run-away consequences, and Gen Zs, angry at political leaders, threaten to stay home on Election Day.

Reining in our climate crisis

If YOU want to get involved, here’s how: At a time when the nations of the world finally agreed at COP 28 to “transition” away from fossil fuels, it’s wrong for the U.S. to be constructing more LNG export terminals, This would be the biggest fossil fuel expansion project in the world today. By exporting this methane gas, we’d produce more greenhouse emissions than all of Europe.

To join those trying to stop it, YOU can participate in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Department of Energy from Feb. 6-8. If you cannot be in D.C., check out the many ways you can make your voice be heard on this vital issue.

Click HERE.

Weekly Women’s Sports Wanderings

AN EMAIL, PRESTO A BOOK, A FRIEND AND A MODERATING GIG:

Last week I raved about email. Another reason why I did: In July, Aime Alley Card sent me an email. I didn’t know her then, but on Tuesday I will moderate her Grub Street debut as we talk about her book, The Tigetbelles, at Porter Square Books in Boston’s Seaport on the evening of January 16th.

In her first email, Aime introduced her book to me:

“E.B. Bartels suggested I reach out because of your strong history and focus on promoting women in sports. I have an upcoming book release about the story of a women's track team from my hometown, Nashville, in 1960 and their path to Olympic gold. I know it's terribly last minute, but I am hoping you might be willing to consider my book for a blurb.”

I read The Tigerbelles and wrote this blurb.

Now, Aime and I will talk about these remarkable women athletes and their superb coach as we explore how racism and sexism combined to conceal the runners’ record-setting accomplishments from much of the American public.

Join us if you in the Boston area on January 16.

50 YEARS AFTER TITLE IX: GENDER INEQUITIES ARE STILL IN PLAY:

Another summertime email arrived in my inbox, this one from book editor Pamela J. Creedon. She was inviting me to contribute a chapter to an academic book, Media, Women, and the Transformation of Sport: From Title IX to NIL. I agreed to write 6,000 words – for no pay. That was in July when the January 15 deadline was a long ways off. Now, it’s upon me, and I’m scrambling to finish my chapter, “Messaging with Voice and Body: At Last, Women Find a Comfort Zone in Sports.”

Let’s Head to Oregon

And circle back to Oregon basketball player Sedona Prince’s memorable video about the absurd “weight room” that the NCAA set up for the women players in its March 2021 tournament.

Prince’s video went viral, resulting in a major investigation of NCAA policies and practices. Unsurprisingly, the NCAA was found to have systemically disadvantaged women athletes … and reforms followed.

Jump to 2024, courtesy of Lindsay Gibb’s Substack, Power Plays, and we discover the relatively unknown legal case in which 26 varsity female athletes at the University of Oregon are charging their school with gender inequities more than 50 years after Title IX was passed. For decades, that powerful legal lever has been used to rectify problematic sports practices at educational institutions. The disheartening news is that these female athletes whom Oregon recruited find the need to fight in court to receive the equal treatment and opportunities that their university should provide.

Back at the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon

Last week I spotlighted two women sports bar owners. Now I have updates to share. In this week’s PBS NewsHour’s seven-minute video story about the huge growth in women’s sports, there is terrific coverage of Jenny Nguyen’s Sports Bra in Portland and the similar one that will open in March in Minneapolis. Take a look!

WOMEN, STRENGTH AND WEIGHTS

Let’s go out on an upbeat note. Earlier we watched Sedona Prince shine a spotlight on the pathetic “weight room” set up for the women collegiate basketball players to use three years ago. As a comparison, I’m sharing this photo, below, of weight equipment put into my recently renovated all-women’s gym in Cambridge, MA.

Looks like the message about women and weights is getting through!

At Healthworks, Porter Square facility in Cambridge, MA

Strength training is gaining adherents among women, especially among older women as we deal with aging diseases like osteoporosis. I’m one of them!

Until next week. Melissa