Teresa Valdez Klein
361° of geekdom
Singer, Songwriter, Pianist. Also feminist, geek, subvertiser, thinker, doer. #music #tech #feminism #politics
TwitterFacebookFlickrYoutubeCaught my pullover shoot tonight at @ectrapeze
Not to brag or anything, but this is not a trick you catch your first day. This was my first day...
Working on Form: Getting my back-end split "right, not wrong."
I've been spending some time to get my back-end split into more polished condition. Yes - I'd caught the trick before, but I was still using my left foot to set the trick, rather than just bringing my hips through using the momentum from my swing.
Last week, I bashed up the back of my knee right proper by doing the trick - in the words of my legendary instructor Brian Flint - "wrong and not right..."
I noticed how the flyer in this video pulls her knees up almost into her chest - both together, before locking her back thigh onto the bar and then extending her front leg as she arches through and splits. I had been trying to split much too soon, and letting my back leg pull me down, rather than push me through.
So I came back on Saturday and worked the trick again - and guess what? It just popped:
This is a trick I hope to smooth out even more over time. This week was an important step.
Bonus: Here are a couple of additional videos of me working on form at the TSNY rig on the Santa Monica pier last weekend. Was absolutely fantastic flying weather - sunny 73 degrees with the sun setting over the ocean while we flew.
Another Day, Another Engagement
Another day, another friend announces their engagement on a certain social networking site whose name rhymes with "Macelook." Some days, it seems like I'm the only person in the world who doesn't get to post big flashy ring pictures, followed by big flashy wedding dress pictures. And if you're a heterosexual or heterosexual-leaning woman between the ages of 25 and 40 in the U.S. today - there's one thing you've been conditioned to want since before you could walk: DIAMONDS, WEDDINGS, MARRIAGE...followed by millions and millions of babies.
Sometimes, all the social pressure makes me want to - in the words of a good friend - just stick a pen in my eye. It takes all the strength in the world to remind myself that marriage - while often lovely on a case-by-case basis - is a truly broken institution.
Four out of ten Americans now say marriage is becoming irrelevant. Marriage discriminates based on social class, gender identity and sexual orientation. But marriage has been carefully packaged and sold to the female half of our species as the only way our lives will ever feel really complete - and that we really ought to just compromise our desires and needs in order to find an acceptable male and settle down. And so there's this nationwide panic attack taking place among most of the women I know - including, occasionally, me - surrounding when "The One" will magically appear.
So. So. Broken.
What isn't broken is the lifelong commitment that so many of my friends are choosing to make to one another - and for that, I'm profoundly happy. I just wish that those commitments could be celebrated in a social and political environment that wasn't so charged with consumerism and inequality, and that wasn't designed specifically to make us single women feel so blisteringly inferior.
The best myTouch 4G commercial yet
ZOMG! I love this! Yes, I know, I drink the magenta kool aid....
In case anyone wonders what I mean when I talk about rape culture. (via @feministing)
This is rape culture: Girl Kills Self After Being Bullied Over Rape Allegations
Other students had harassed her and called her a liar after they learned that she was the accuser in the case against Joseph Tarnopolski, 18, a senior at the school.
"They all took sides," Sheila Little, a 17-year-old senior, told the Detroit news. "Her friends left her because they said she was lying. It's obvious this pressure had a real impact on her."
Tarnopolski was arrested last month and charged with third-degree criminal assault. After he was released on bond on Oct. 12, he returned to Huron High School.
On Twitter, Tarnopolski had blamed "liars" for his treatment.
"All girls are, are liars and backstabbers! I hate you all. Way to ruin my life. Seriously, now this will be on my record for life!" he tweeted on Sept. 28, according to the News.
H.S., then 16, attended a party in her hometown of Silsbee, Texas, in October 2008. She said she was dragged into a room, thrown onto the floor by several youths and raped by Rakheem Bolton, a star on the school’s football and basketball teams.
Bolton and a teammate were arrested two days later, but were allowed to return to school after a county grand jury declined to indict them. They were later indicted on sexual assault charges, but in the interim came the February 2009 incident on the basketball court.
H.S. joined in leading cheers for the Silsbee High team. But when Bolton went to the foul line, and the cheers included his name, she stepped back, folded her arms and sat down.
When rape allegations are diminished, or made fun of by society and authority figures - that's a world that still sides with the rapists over the survivors. And that, my friends, is what we feminists mean when we talk about rape culture.
And now, for a view of the world as it should be.
Video and photos from yesterday's BACKEND SPLIT CATCH at @ectrapeze
This has to be one of the top moments of my life - truly. This is a trick I've seen thrown in the real, professional circus and often wondered how long it would take me to catch. Eventually, I want to bring this trick across out of lines, flawlessly, and then return to the board.
Thanks to Brian, Brent and David on the catch trap!
Our latest commercial takes our 4G network to the mat against @ATT's mere 3G - SWEET!
I love working for a company that is willing to mix it up in the marketplace because we know we can stand behind our product.
Caught a backend gazelle at @ectrapeze!
Another day...another backend trick.
Okay - okay. I know. I'm still flying on lines. I kind of monkey stamped my leg coming off the bar - but still.
Plus, I was caught this evening by the indomitable, incomparable Gravey Dave - upon whom I have the most epic trapeze crush in existence because I've never seen a sicker, more badass flyer.
