Ladies I Love: S is for the Amazing SCALD EAGLE, My Roller Derby Super Crush!

Posted in Blogging, Events and Courses, Role Models, Roller Derby by Marci

I am Super Stoked to write today’s “S” post for the A to Z Challenge! Today’s Lady I Love is the magical Scald Eagle, or Hillary Buscovick, as the non-roller derby world knows her. But for those of us who play roller derby, Scald Eagle is probably at the top of most of our derby crush lists! Scald Eagle plays for the Rose City Rollers, a league out of Portland, Oregon. There are four “regular” teams in the league, and she plays on Guns N’ Rollers. In addition to that, she’s on the Rose City Rollers’ all-star travel team, Wheels of Justice. AND, in addition to THAT, she’s on freakin’ TEAM USA, a collection of 32 of the best derby players from across the United States. So Scald Eagle is definitely the cream of the crop, y’all! Team USA will compete with other derby teams from all over the world this December in Dallas for the Blood and Thunder Roller Derby World Cup…an event NOT to be missed by anyone remotely interested in derby!

Click to enlarge!

But let’s get back to Scald Eagle. Below is a short video taken from Team USA’s Stars vs. Stripes Exhibition Bout just this past February. Now, if you don’t know anything about how modern roller derby is played, I’m going to give you the very basics; otherwise, the video might look like chaos. But there’s a surprising amount of skill and strategy involved in derby, which I hope will become clear in a minute. First, a bout (or game) is divided into two periods, each made up of several jams that can go on for a maximum of two minutes. There are two teams, and each team has five players. Each team has one jammer, and the rest of the players are blockers. The jammers are the only ones who score points, and they do this by passing members of the opposite team (so if the jammer passes all members of the opposite team, that’s five points). The 8 blockers make up the pack, which has to stay together on the track. Members of the pack are trying to block the opposite team’s jammer from getting through the pack and scoring points, while at the same time, moving the other team’s blockers out of the way so that their own jammer can get through and score points. So you can see where this can get complicated!!!

So in this exhibition video, you’ll see Scald Eagle do her magic; she’s number 50, and is wearing a white jersey and white helmet with a star on the side. The star on her helmet means that she’s her team’s jammer. Watch as she easily passes through the other team’s blockers, almost as if she’s invisible to them! And remember, this is not easy. This is Team USA here, and still, Scald Eagle flies through like it’s nothing! Check it out:

I also found this older interview (from 2011, I think) of Hillary talking about what it’s like to play derby. She seems down-to-earth, goofy and modest. And she was just this way when she guest-coached my league, the Storm City Roller Girls, a few months ago! I remember her saying something to me, but honestly, I don’t know what it was because I think I was just completely star-struck (and I know I wasn’t the only one). She was an amazing coach, but the thing I remember the most from her was that she seemed so nice and authentic…I can’t imagine her playing dirty or being anything other than upstanding…she seems to have a lot of integrity! It’s no wonder she’s a hero in the derby world!

4Apr2014

Ladies I Love: D is for Drew Barrymore, because I’m a Drewbie!

Posted in Blogging, Entertainment, Events and Courses, Movies and TV, Role Models, Role Models, Roller Derby, Women by Marci

Ten reasons why I love Drew Barrymore

Today’s A to Z Challenge post is brought to you by the letter D! I know it’s kind of silly, but I’ve had a girl crush on Drew Barrymore for as long as I can remember. She’s only a year younger than me, and I’ve always admired her because she seems like a real person – she’s definitely had her ups and downs, and even though she’s Hollywood Royalty, she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s not afraid to be dorky or play real people in her movies, people who aren’t always beautiful and perfect. I don’t know – maybe I’m projecting my admiration onto someone without really knowing who they are, but from what I see, I’m proud to be a Drewbie! Here are only ten of the many reasons why I love Drew Barrymore:

Drew is a great sport, and seems to be without the Hollywood snobbery that many movie stars are afflicted with. Watch My Date with Drew, a documentary produced by a guy with a huge crush on her, who has one goal: a date with Drew Barrymore.
Drew is the godmother of Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of the late Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love.
Drew is the youngest person to have ever hosted “Saturday Night Live”; she was only 7 years old at the time! She then went on to host SNL five more times.
Drew (born Feb. 22, 1975) and I (born Feb. 25, 1974) are both Pisces, the best astrological sign to be.
Drew doesn’t seem to care about being dorky, and even makes being dorky awesome.
Battling world hunger has been an important cause for Drew in the last several years. In 2008, Drew donated $1 million to fund the Word Food Programme’s school food projects in Kenya.
Drew is undoubtedly beautiful, but in many ways, she doesn’t embody the typical Hollywood beauty standard of being impossibly thin with perfect features. Yet she was crowned the No. 1 Most Beautiful in People Magazine’s annual “100 Most Beautiful People” list in April 2007.
Drew’s struggles during her childhood were very public when it came to drinking, drugs, addiction, family instability, and recovery. She survived a lot of turmoil and came out on top, writing a book (“Little Girl Lost“) about her challenges at a young age, then continuing on to have a very successful career in film and directing with her own production company, Flower Films.
Drew is an animal lover! She has been a strong supporter of the work of Southern California’s Wildlife Waystation.
Perhaps the number one reason I love Drew Barrymore (even though this is listed as No. 10) is because she’s a fan of roller derby, as evidenced by the fact that she made her directorial debut with the movie “Whip It” and even did a lot of her own skating for the film!

6Jan2014

On girl crushes and body image

Posted in Healthy Perspectives, Role Models, Roller Derby, Women by Marci

Happy New Year! Very briefly, it’s a new year and this is a new blog. I hate resolutions, but I resolve to transform this blog into one that’s not so torturous to write (and perhaps read, I don’t know how it is for you). Writing long posts to catch up was just killing me, so I put Marcilicious on hiatus (as well as Brainy Girls, but that’s another topic). I want short, random posts! You want them too (maybe)! So here’s the first one. Boom.

As you may know, I skate with the Storm City Roller Girls (and I also manage the website, so please visit – I just provided you with the link, see?). Throughout my entire life I’ve struggled with my own body image – being overweight, not pretty enough, blah blah blah. My girl crushes have been (and continue to be on) the fabulously dorky Drew Barrymore (although I feel our connection is diminishing now that she’s on the having-kids-being-a-mom kick, but perhaps it’s a phase) and the Hermione-esque Emma Watson. Oh, I’ve envied them and other women in the media like them for so long! Why can’t I be more like them? Skinny, pretty, perfect.

The truth is, I never will be like them, and I’ve got to learn how to accept that about myself. I’ve known this for a long time and have told myself this a million times. But here enters derby and ALL THE GIRL CRUSHES!!! Here you could not ask for a more diverse group of women in terms of body shape, size, appearance, and style. And I want to be like so many of them! I found myself wanting to be just like girls who had very little in common with Drew Barrymore or Emma Watson (both physically and otherwise). And once I realized this, it was like, daaaaamn…if I think these girls are so awesome, maybe other people think I’M awesome, and maybe I can think I’m awesome too. Mind blown.

High-five ladies – I think you’re incredible!