lupita!!

this week, people magazine made oscar-winning actress
lupita nyong'o the cover girl for its annual 50 most beautiful issue.

she may not be the first person of color to hold this particular honor,
but she's definitely the first person of this particular color.

"what is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself & for those around you,”
nyong'o said early this year. "that kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.

“i hope my presence on your screens & in the magazines may lead you, young girl,
on a similar journey [as mine], that you will feel the validation of your external beauty,
but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside.
there is no shade to that beauty."

i hope ms. nyong'o knows it is not only young girls of dark beauty
whom she inspires. this middle-age white mama is moved by her, too.

love s'more.

last month, honey maid began airing an awesome commercial celebrating
the diversity of families, the blessed blindness of love & what wholesome really means.

haters hated, like they do.

honey maid responded with perfection.
authentic, beautiful, creative, meaningful perfection.

just watch – while i go add "honey maid graham crackers" to my weekly shopping list.

call me point b.

if i should have a daughter, instead of “mom,” she’s going to call me, “point b.”
because that way, she knows that no matter what happens,
at least she can always find her way to me.

& i’m going to paint the solar systems on the backs of her hands, so she has to learn
the entire universe before she can say, “oh, i know that like the back of my hand.”
& she’s going to learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face,
wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach.
but getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs
how much they like the taste of air.

there is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by bandaids or poetry,
so the first time she realizes that wonder woman isn’t coming,
i’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself.
because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers,
your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal.
believe me, i’ve tried.

“and baby,” i’ll tell her, “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that.
i know that trick. i’ve done it a million times. you’re just smelling for smoke
so you can follow the trail back to a burning house, so you can find the boy
who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. or else, find the boy
who lit the fire in the first place, to see if you can change him.”
but i know she will anyway, so instead, i’ll always keep an extra supply
of chocolate & rainboots nearby.
because there’s no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix.

okay, there’s a few heartbreaks that chocolate can’t fix.
but that’s what the rainboots are for. because rain will wash away everything if you let it.

i want her to look at the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat.
to look through a microscope at the galaxies that exist on the pinpoint of a human mind.
because that’s the way my mom taught me. that there’ll be days like this,
“there’ll be days like this,” my mama said.
when you open your hands to catch & wind up with only blisters & bruises.
when you step out of the phone booth & try to fly,
& the very people you want to save are the ones standing on your cape.
when your boots will fill with rain, & you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment,
& those are the very days you have all the more reason to say, “thank you.”
because there’s nothing more beautiful
than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline,
no matter how many times it’s sent away.

you will put the “wind” in “winsome… lose some.”
you will put the “star” in “starting over… & over…”
& no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute,
be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.

& yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting, i am pretty damn naive.
but i want her to know that this world is made out of sugar.
it can crumble so easily, but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out & taste it.

“baby,” i’ll tell her, “remember, your mama is a worrier, & your papa is a warrior,
& you are the girl with small hands & big eyes who never stops asking for more.
remember that good things come in threes, & so do bad things,
& always apologize when you’ve done something wrong.
but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.
your voice is small, but don’t ever stop singing.
& when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war & hatred under your door
& offer you handouts on street corners of cynicism & defeat,
you tell them that they really
ought to meet your mother.”


sarah kay is a spoken word poet – half-japanese, half-jewish, all new york. & 100% amazing.

this performance was the opener of her talk at the 2011 ted conference.
click here for the whole talk
[it's only about 20 minutes & includes another poem performance.]

happy birthday, ms.

happy happy birthday to my fellow feminist + writer, ms. gloria steinem.

she turns 80yo today, & i must say, if this is what being an octogenarian
looks like, then i'm happy to be over halfway there!

she is spending her birthday riding elephants in botswana.
seriously – isn't that how we all want to spend our 80th?

inspirational as ever, ms. s.
cheers to you – keep on keepin' on!

"the truth will set you free,
but first it will piss you off."

"i have yet to hear a man ask for advice
on how to combine marriage and a career."

"writing is the only thing that, when i do it,
i don't feel i should be doing something else."

"like art, revolutions come from
combining what exists into
what has never existed before."

"we've begun to raise daughters more like sons;
but few have the courage to raise our sons
more like our daughters."

"i'm keeping my torch, thank you –
& i am using it to light the torches of others."

"the future depends entirely on
what each of us does every day;
a movement is only people moving.
to feel its warmth and motion around us
is the end as well as the means."

"a feminist is anyone who recognizes
the equality and full humanity
of women and men."

find a way . . . to dance.

i lurve me some dancing . . . with the stars.

yep, hubs & i have been fans since season one.
we've got our fave pro dancers [derek! cheryl! tony the bologna!],
our pro-dancer nemesis [mark – boo.], & a huge host crush
on hilarious zen-master of ceremonies tom bergeron.

we're appalled at the elimination of harold wheeler & his amazing orchestra,
unsurprised at the elimination of co-host brooke burke-charvet
[well, a little surprised that she lasted seven seasons], &
annoyed at the inclusion of olympic-champion ice dancers
meryl davis & charlie white as contestants ... ringers much??

all of that aside, one of the things i love about this show
is that the celebrities i start out supporting are rarely the same
ones i end up rooting for. something about this competition –
it is, despite all the sequins & spray tan,
physically, mentally & emotionally grueling – 
brings out people's true colors, & they're often unexpected.

for example, a couple of seasons ago, i went into the show
thinking kellie pickler was an overhyped hick idiot,
but by the finale, i was 100% team kellie; i was thrilled when she won.

so here's my "team kristen" short list going into season 18;
i'll let you know how i'm feeling mid-season & toward the finale
to see how – & why – my choices might change . . . [listed alpha by surname]:

:: funnyman – & now skinnyman – drew carey [dancing w/cheryl burke]
:: wonder years winnie & mathematician danica mckellar [w/valentin chmerkovskiy]
:: marathon swimmer diana nyad [w/henry byalikov]
:: paralympic snowboarder amy purdy [w/derek hough]
:: beyond descriptors billy dee williams [w/emma slater]

how about you – are you a dwts diehard?
are you outraged by the orchestral ousting?
& who are your picks this spin around the dance floor?

the 'frozen' covers i just can't let go.

oh, i could just go on & on about the hilariously inexplicable
john travolta | adele dazeem gaff at the academy awards.
but the rest of the interwebs has beat me to that punchline
about a thousand times already. or almost 23 million [!] times,
according to a current search of google. oy.

while ms. dazeem did a wonderful job at the oscars
of performing the winning empower ballad let it go,
there have been countless covers of queen elsa's showstopper
bouncing about the same interwebs ...
some of them magnificently memorable & shuper share-worthy:

a musical parody from ohio traffic man bob herzog, urging cincinnati viewers to take a break from being cincinnati drivers during extreme winter weather:


a frozen/passenger mashup by youtube sensation sam tsui:


an amazing "africanized" version from nigerian singer alex boyé along with utah’s one voice children’s choir:


the incredible vocalist/impressionist christina bianco's diva mashup:


& last but most, the original, extraordinary idina menzel along with jimmy fallon & the roots – with kiddie instruments:

celebrate a woman.

what happens on a mama blog
when international women's day
happens during spring break . . .

we honor! we celebrate! we sing! just a dozen days later.

a pair of iwd items i must share,
both courtesy of the huffington post:

she's the reason:

a call to honor the unsung women who have helped shape us,
the ones who changed our life path in some essential way,
who made an important difference for us with their
presence, words, works, kindness or example, but might not know it.

huffpost requested readers to submit their "she's the reason"
stories via email & twitter for future publication up on the website.

but i'm going to go much more personal with mine.
this month, i will write a personal note to three such women in my life
to let them know they're the reason for something i cherish . . . & thank them for it.

wouldn't it be amazing to receive a letter like that? i think so, too.

one woman, y'all:

25 songstresses from 20 countries around the world
come together to sing a song of solidarity.
"one woman" was written for un women,
the international organization for women's rights.

it's beautiful & moving & available for download internationally:




image source: brazilian artiste bebel gilberto.

atx: keeping pets alive!

a day late & a short shoutout
to austin pets alive!,
a key force behind my hometown's
no-kill badge of honor . . .

february marked austin's second anniversary
of being a no-kill city,
continuing our run of being
the biggest no-kill city in the u.s.

apa! alone saved over 6,000
dogs & cats just last year.

atx: keeping it weird, keeping pets alive
& keeping me proud to be an austinite!


image source: nicole mlakar photography.

malala goes on.

last october, a taliban terrorist
boarded 15yo malala yousafzai's pakistani schoolbus
& shot her in the head
because she spoke publicly about
the right of all children — girls
included — to an education.

malala survived.

& now, she is following through with
her project to create an organization
to get girls worldwide out of domestic labor & into school.

the malala fund has been established
on behalf of malala & her family, &
is working together with supporters —
including the united nations foundation —
to realize malala's vision of education & empowerment
for all girls everywhere.

here's malala her own amazing self, talking about it:



the first grant of the malala fund will provide
a safe educational space for pakistani girls,
resources for a positive learning environment
& an incentive program for families.
following a needs evaluation & final design,
the project is expected to be up & running this spring.

malala survives, she thrives & she continues to give.
you want to give like malala? no gunshot headwound necessary.
just click here.


image source: the malala fund.

american woman proud.

oh, what a night . . .
what a ladies' night!!

last night, american women — voters & candidates alike —
kicked some serious patriotic ass, & yes, gentlemen — we took names.

on election day 2012:

:: women made up about 54% of the electorate.

:: 55% of women voted for barack obama. 44% of women voted for mitt romney.

:: the total gender gap added up to 18% in president obama's favor —
an expansion of over 30% since his 2008 election.

:: the 113th u.s. congress will include 20 women senators,
the most ever in u.s. history [we're currently at 17].

:: 5 new women senators were elected — 4 democrats + 1 republican —
while all 6 democratic women incumbents were re-elected.

:: a record number of women candidates ran for both
the u.s. senate & the u.s. house of representatives.

:: in massachusetts, democrat elizabeth warren became her state's
first woman u.s. senator, winning over incumbent republican scott brown
in the most expensive senate race nationwide — at more than $70 million.

:: in new hampshire, the first-ever all-women delegation was elected —
their 2 women u.s. senators [1 dem, 1 rep] will be joined by
2 democratic women congressional representatives, as well as
governor maggie hassan, who will be the only woman democratic governor in 2013.

:: in missouri, democratic senator claire mccaskill won re-election
against republican representative todd akin, who infamously said
pregnancy rarely results from a "legitimate" rape.

:: in indiana, democratic representative joe donnelly won a senate seat
against republican richard mourdock, who infamously called
pregnancy resulting from rape "something god intended to happen."

:: in nebraska, republican deb fischer became her state's
first full-term woman u.s senator, winning over democrat bob kerrey.

:: in wisconsin, democratic representative tammy baldwin became our country's
first openly gay senator & her state's first woman u.s. senator,
winning over republican former governor tommy thompson. her house seat goes to
assemblyman mark pocan, also an openly gay democrat.

:: in hawai'i, democrat mazie hirono became our country's
first asian-american woman u.s. senator, winning over
republican former governor linda lingle.

:: also in hawai'i, democrat tulsi gabbard became our country's
first practicing hindu ever elected to the u.s. house, winning over
republican kawika crowley. gabbard intends to take her oath of office next january over
a bhagavad gita, a sacred text for followers of the vaishnava branch of hindu.

image source: women for obama.

more medaling moms.

ok, folks. my final post honoring the women of the xxx olympiad.
it's been over for 34 days, so i guess it's about time.
i just had to offer appropros props to a sampling of these
amazing women athletes. & i'm just about ready to turn the corner.

but first — & last — the remaining american moms who medaled
[aside from kerri walsh jennings & kristin armstrong] @ the 2012 london summer games:

danielle scott-arruda.
event: women's indoor volleyball.
won: silver — her second; she also won silver in 2008 in beijing.
age: 39yo.
olympics: five. scott-arruda was the team's youngest member in atlanta in 1996 @ 23yo, & is the first u.s. volleyball player — woman or man — to play in five olympics.
mom of: 2yo daughter julianne.
other tidbits: scott-arruda plays professionally for the brazilian league sao bernardo.

tayyiba haneef-park.
event: women's indoor volleyball.
won: silver — her second; she also won silver in 2008 in beijing.
age: 33yo.
olympics: three.
mom of: 2yo son ajani.
other tidbits: haneef-park is 6ft, 7in & the tallest member of the u.s. women's team. she plays professionally for igtisadchi baku in azerbaijan, but intends to retire in 2013. her name, tayyiba, is arabic, & she's married to a u.s. air force pilot.

christie rampone.
event: women's soccer.
won: gold — her third; she also won gold in 2004 in athens & in 2008 in beijing, & silver in 2000 in sydney.
age: 37yo.
olympics: four.
mom of: 6yo daughter rylie & 2yo daughter reece.
other tidbits: this was rampone's second olympics as the u.s. team captain; america won all six matches it played at the games, finally winning over japan for the gold. rampone has never finished lower than third place in any of the olympics or world cup competitions she's played in.

candace parker.
event: women's basketball.
won: gold — her second; she also won gold in 2008 in beijing.
age: 26yo.
olympics: two.
mom of: 3yo daughter lailaa.
other tidbits: parker plays professionally for the wnba's los angeles sparks & the ummc ekaterinburg of russia. she was the first woman to dunk in an ncaa tournament game & the first wnba player to dunk in consecutive games. she's the younger sister of nba player tony parker, & the wife of brooklyn nets player shelden williams.

lashinda demus.
event: women's 400m hurdles.
won: silver — her first.
age: 29yo.
olympics: two — she competed in 2004 in athens, but didn't advance to the final. she failed to qualify for the 2008 games in beijing, but went on to win the 2009 & 2011 u.s. championships.
mom of: 5yo twin sons dontay & duaine.
other tidbits: demus is the american record-holder in the 400m hurdles, & trains with her mom, yolanda rich. she comes from a family rich with twins: her grandfather was one of twenty kids, eight of whom were twins.

other olympic sister acts.

besides serena & venus williams, five other pairs of siblings
competed at the london games for team usa —
three of them were sisters, & two of them earned olympic medals.

jessica & maggie steffens, 25yo & 19yo respectively,
both helped the u.s. women's water polo team
win gold over silver-earning spain,
with maggie scoring 21 goals of 27 shots during the final.

the steffens' dad, carlos, played water polo
for the university of california, was a member of the
1977 ncaa championship team, & was a three-time all-american.

steffens sister #3, teresa, also plays water polo,
& their brother, charlie, made the usa youth team.

swimming sisters alyssa & haley anderson, 21yo & 20yo respectively,
both medaled separately — alyssa as a member of the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team,
& haley on her own in the 10km [6.2-mile] open water marathon.

alyssa swam along with missy franklin, allison schmitt & dana vollmer
in the preliminary round, qualifying the u.s for the final.
shannon vreeland replaced alyssa for the third leg of the final,
helping the americans win the gold with a new olympic record.

haley narrowly missed competing in the pool with her big sister,
finishing third in the 800m freestyle at the olympic trials.
but she finished first at an olympic marathon swim qualifier,
& earned silver behind hungary's eva risztov & ahead of italy's martina grimaldi.

the andersons' mom, colette, swam for the university of hawai'i,
& their younger sister, jordan, also swims competitively.

serena & venus williams, olympic sisters.

serena & venus williams — the strong-arming sisters of tennis —
swung through the 2012 summer olympics & shimmered like gold.
exactly like gold.

the powerhouse pair won the women's doubles in a three-peat performance,
becoming the first pair ever to win women's doubles three times —
having won in 2000 in sydney & again in 2008 in beijing.
[serena was injured during the 2004 athens games;
venus played with another partner, but didn't medal.]

playing against the czechs on a rainy afternoon,
the williams women also became the first tennis players
to win gold indoors since 1912.

a day earlier, little sister serena had matched her big sister's three gold medals
by winning the women's singles against russia's maria sharapova.
venus won the women's singles in 2000 in sydney.
with the singles win, serena joined steffi graf as the only women
to complete the career golden slam — olympic gold plus wins at the four majors:
australian open, french open, wimbledon & u.s. open.

only three women tennis players ever have won two gold medals at the same games —
serena, venus & fellow american helen wills moody in 1924 in paris.

with the doubles win, the sisters each reached
a record four olympic tennis gold medals.

both of the williams women have been playing tennis since the age of four.
at 30yo [serena] & 32yo [venus], while still in spectacular shape,
the pair is feeling their quarter-century+ of on-court wear & tear:

venus has suffered strained abdominal muscles, knee tendonitis,
a separate knee injury, wrist injuries in both arms, & last year,
was diagnosed last year with incurable autoimmune disease —
sjogren's syndrome — which causes fatigue & swollen joints.

serena has suffered a lower back injury, a shoulder strain, a leg injury,
a knee injury, an ankle injury, & two years ago, underwent emergency treatment
for blood clots in her lungs due to a pulmonary embolism.

nevertheless, this dynamic duo of tennis titans is nowhere close to done,
both asserting they're ready for rio 2016, & a fourth gold medal together.

heather stanning, olympic military.

captain heather stanning of the 32nd regiment royal artillery,
along with her rowing partner, helen glover, won the host country's
first gold medal of the london games &
team gb's first-ever gold medal in women's rowing.

five days into competition, brits were growing rather anxious
about their lack of golden olympic awards.

but then along came stanning & glover, with a time of 7.27:13 in the coxless pairs,
besting not only the silvering aussies [great band name, yes?],
but also the bronze-earning new zealanders, who had beat them
out of the gold at the world championships in 2010 & 2011.

stanning began rowing in 2004 at the university of bath,
where she was attending as part of the university officer training corps.
she went on to the royal military academy sandhurst &
was commissioned into the royal artillery in 2008.

in 2009, she was paired with 26yo former pe teacher glover,
who had never rowed until 2008, when she entered the
national lottery-funded sporting giants talent identification program.
sporting giants identified glover's talent as rowing. they were spot-on.

with stanning temporarily released from her army duties
in order to train full-time for the olympics,
the two won silver medals [behind new zealand, remember]
at the 2010 & 2011 world championships, & have been unbeaten this season,
gaining gold at all three world cup races &
setting an olympic record with their winning heat time.

the captain's army colleagues were permitted to take a break from training
exercises to watch her & her rowing mate win the gold 3,000 miles away.

stanning, whose parents were royal navy officers &
whose brothers are both in the british military,
returns this month to begin training for a future post in afghanistan,
a source of national pride, twice over.

the royal mail has issued a stamp in tribute to the golden twosome.

dana vollmer, olympic comeback.

dana vollmer spent the 2008 summer olympics in fiji,
thinking about why she wasn't in beijing.

the native texan — who had competed in her first meet at age 4,
who at 12yo was the youngest swimmer ever to compete in the u.s. olympic trials,
who in 2004, at 16yo, helped set the world record &
won gold in the 800m freestyle relay at the athens games —
hadn't even made the team for the 2008 games.

vollmer had a history of health issues — supra ventricular tachycardia,
a racing-heartbeat arrhythmia she'd had surgery to correct,
followed by back, shoulder & knee injuries.
but her biggest challenge was her mindset: she was just too focused in
on other people's expectations, & she had buckled under the pressure.

over the next four years, vollmer graduated from college,
changed up her training, changed her diet upon discovering
she was suffering from an allergy to gluten & eggs,
& got married.

& she came to the 2012 olympic trials lifted up with energy & excitement,
rather than weighed down by others' expectations.

& she went on to win a gold trifecta.

the 24yo set the world record & won gold with a time of 55.98
in the 100m butterfly, despite losing her outer swimcap during the race
[the inner cap covers hair; the outer cap holds goggles & smoothes bumpiness].
lu ying of china was almost a full second behind vollmer for the silver,
while australia's alicia coutts earned the bronze.

vollmer proceeded to win gold medals in the other two events in which she swam —
the 4x200m freestyle relay, where she swam the second leg, with
missy franklin, allison schmitt & shannon vreeland, &
the 4x100m medley relay, where she swam the butterfly leg, & helped set
a new world record with missy franklin, allison schmitt & rebecca soni.

dana vollmer, with her spectacular butterfly stroke, soared in london —
thanks to a little necessary cocoon time in fiji.

yi siling, olympic opener.

yi siling, the 23yo chinese woman known as "shooting beauty,"
was the first athlete to qualify for &
to win gold at the games of the xxx olympiad.

eleven hours after queen elizabeth officially opened the london games,
yi got her gold in her first-ever olympic competition, with a 10+ score
on all 10 shots of the women's 10m air rifle shooting event.
poland's sylwia bogacka earned the silver, &
yi's chinese teammate dan yu earned bronze.

yi tried track + field & dancing before she began shooting in 2007.
she debuted internationally in 2009, & in 2010,
won the world championship in the 10m event, setting a new world record &
becoming the first person worldwide to qualify for the 2012 olympics.

known for her unflappability as well as her good looks,
yi wept with relief in her coach's arms following the final.
she intends to defend her gold medal at the next summer games, she says,
but first, will spend some well-deserved time with her family —
her father has been ailing while she's been training for the past year.
time with his champion daughter is sure to be a shot of joy for a proud dad.

wojdan shaherkani, olympic beginner.

wojdan ali seraj abdulrahim shaherkani, a 16yo judoka,
has been termed both a progressive & a prostitute by her fellow saudis.

but regardless of what they might have called her via twitter,
one title for wojdan is irrefutable: she is the first female athlete ever
to compete at the olympics for saudi arabia.
& it's for this distinction that she's been both damned & praised.

wojdan was one of two women selected to represent the kingdom of saudi arabia
at the london games — following intense pressure from the
international olympic committee upon the saudi arabian olympic committee,
& months of negotiations between the two entities, to include women on the the team.

saudi arabia has a sort of "gender apartheid" of sports,
effectively banning women from athletic activity.
girls do not participate in sports at state schools, &
women athletes must fund themselves & arrange their own training elsewhere.

of course, sports is just the tip of saudi arabia's laws for women —
women are required by law to wear a black abaya [cloak] &
a hijab [headscarf] whenever they're out in public.
saudi women may not drive, run a business or enter main government buildings.
women may not travel abroad without official permission
from their guardians & authorization from their government.

a product of her culture, wojdan shaherkani had never left her home country
until she came to london. & she was woefully underqualified for
olympic competition, having practiced judo for only two years
at home with coaching from her father, a judo referee.

while at the olympics, both wojdan & her fellow saudi female —
19yo runner sarah attar — had to agree to dress "modestly" [hijab,
long sleeves, long pants], always be accompanied by a male guardian,
& never mix with men.

competition clothing had to comply with islamic law, too —
but no headwear is permitted in judo. scandal erupted.
wojdan threatened to withdraw from the event
if she wasn't permitted to wear her hijab during bouts.

the ioc, saoc & the international judo federation went to work,
& together, came up with a special design for wojdan:
a tight-fitting cap-style head covering, rather than the typical
draping headscarf, which might prove a strangulation hazard.

so wojdan competed in the over-78kg judo event,
the lone blue-belt judoka against a sea of black belts.
she lost her first match — against puerto rico's
melissa mojica — in 82 seconds.

but wojdan's spirit & perspective were undefeated:
"i am happy to be at the olympics," she said following the match.
"unfortunately, we did not win a medal. but in the future, we will,
& i will be a star for women's participation."

her saudi teammate, sarah attar, fared similarly.
though sarah has spent much of her life in the u.s.
& is currently studying at california's pepperdine university,
she hadn't raced competitively since high school

wearing a white hijab & black leggings,
sarah finished a distant last in the final heat
of the women's 800m. yet she smiled & waved to the cheering crowd
as though she'd won the gold.

because for the women olympians of saudi arabia,
it's really not whether you win or lose,
or even how you play the game —
it's just getting a chance to play the game at all.

fierce five, olympic stars.

seven u.s. women's teams — gymnastics, basketball, soccer,
swimming relays, track relays, rowing & water polo —
won the gold at the summer olympics.

but the "fierce five" — the u.s. women's gymnastics team —
won the bulk of media attention. & i confess, it worked for me;
i found the 2012 gymnastics competition captivating.

the fierce five is comprised of 17yo jordyn wieber, 16yo gabrielle douglas,
16yo mckayla maroney, 18yo team captain alexandra raisman, & 15yo kyla ross.
& yes, "women's gymnastics" is rather an oxymoron.

but these young women won the team gold medal —
the first for the u.s. since 1996 & the second for the u.s. ever —
by 5.06 points over russia's silver & 7.82 points over romania's bronze.
gold defender china earned fourth place.

gabby douglas was the only team member to compete in all four events
[vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor] during the team competition.
aly raisman was the final american to perform; she had tears in her eyes
as she completed an incredible floor routine, cinching the u.s. win.

gabby & aly also competed in the individual all-around —
jordyn, the reigning world champion, was denied, as only the top two team
members from each country are allowed into the all-around competition.

gabby douglas became the first african-american ever
to win the all-around gold; aly came in fourth place following
a tie-breaker for the bronze with russian superstar aliya mustafina.
but a tie-breaker broke the other way for aly at the individual balance-beam event.

aly's overall score originally came in beneath romania's catalina ponor,
but u.s. coach martha karolyi requested a review of aly's routine,
based upon its higher difficulty; the judges rescored, tying aly with ponor.
aly's higher execution score gave her the edge, & she took the bronze.

aly raisman also became the first american woman to win
the individual gold for floor exercise. aly, who is jewish, performed
her practically perfect routine to the hebrew folk song "hava nagila."
next spring, she'll be inducted into the national jewish sports hall of fame.

mckayla maroney, the reigning world champion in vault, aced her first
but fell on her second vault during the individual event.
the up-ender ended her 33-vault streak in competition, & earned her the silver.

during the medal ceremony, mckayla's expression briefly revealed
a scowl of disappointment; someone snapped the shot, & the image
quickly became associated with an internet meme called "mckayla is not impressed."

mckayla is not impressed with democrats' one-word slogans.

mckayla is not impressed with the republicans' ticket.

mckayla is not impressed with princess fascinators.

mckayla was surely unimpressed with the absurd social media kerfluffle
over gabby's hair. as gabby was making african-american olympic history,
african-americans were taking to twitter to kvetch about her "messy" 'do,
& its apparent overabundance of clips & gel. gabby's response?

"nothing is going to change. i'm going to wear my hair like this ...
you might as well just stop talking about it." done & done.

i still don't understand what the issue was with gabby's hair —
especially considering many of her teammates & competitors
were rocking almost the exact same style. additionally,
they're olympians — who cares what their hair looks like?

regardless of scrunchie usage, i was duly impressed with the fierce five.
way to represent, girls! & way to represent girls!

kim rhode, olympic straight-shooter.

kim rhode [pronounced roh-dee] did at the london 2012 games
what no u.s. olympic champion had done before:

she became the first american athlete to win
an individual medal in five straight olympics.

the 33yo native californian won gold in skeet shooting,
tying her own world record & setting an olympic record
for the finals with an almost perfect score:
she hit 99 of 100 4-inch clay targets flying at about 60mph —

which was eight shots better than silver medalist wei ning of china,
nine shots better than bronze medalist danka bartekova of slovakia, &
seven shots better than the prior record of 93 targets.

rhode's lone miss came 65 consecutive hits into the finals, during a rainstorm.
she had also set the olympic record in the preliminary round, hitting 74 of 75.
her win means she is the first woman to earn three gold medals in shooting,
& the eighth u.s. woman to earn five or more individual medals.

rhode won the gold in double trap shooting at 17yo
— the youngest person ever to medal in the sport —
in her first olympics in atlanta, 1996.
she earned the bronze in barcelona in 2000,
& recaptured the gold in athens in 2004.

in 2008 in beijing, double trap was replaced with skeet shooting.
rhode switched sports & earned the silver.

during her first four olympic games, rhode had used "old faithful,"
her competition shotgun for 18 years.
but just after beijing, the gun was stolen from her truck.
anonymous donors bought her a new gun within weeks of the theft.
eventually, old faithful was found in an unrelated search of a parolee's house,
but rhode had already adapted to her new shotgun, so she retired her older weapon.

that wasn't the only stumbling block between beijing & london:
rhode had a benign two-inch tumor removed from her breast two years ago, &
earlier this year, her husband lost his passport & had to have it replaced,
& her dog ate her airline boarding pass to europe [for realz!].

but rhode, who began shooting at the age of 6yo &
began competing at 10yo — coached by her dad, richard rhode, then & now —
wasn't about to let those speedbumps slow her down.
she trains 6-8hrs daily, spending up to $700/day for shells & targets.

& this one-of-a-kind olympic champion — who, in addition to shooting, also
collects rare children's books, is a gourmet cook & restores classic cars —
isn't about to call it quits at five games/medals.

noting the oldest shooting medalist, oscar swahn of sweden,
won his last gold at 64yo & his final medal at 72yo,
rhode quips, "i feel i've got a few more left in me."

zara phillips, olympic royal.

zara phillips is an excellent olympic equestrian . . .
& queen elizabeth's eldest granddaughter.

so all british eyes — including her cousins', princes william & harry —
were on 31yo phillips & her 10yo horse high kingdom
during the three-day team eventing competition at the london games.

& the gasps were heard 'round the british isles
when phillips' horse clipped a fence during the showjumping section,
docking her seven points & narrowly losing her team the gold.

but team gb rallied to earn the silver,
& phillips finished third-strongest of the five-member team,
& ranked eighth overall.

phillips comes by her "horse sense" honestly — her mother, princess anne,
competed in the same equestrian event during the 1976 montreal olympics,
& her father, mark phillips, won equestrian team gold at the 1972 munich games.

it was zara's first olympics — she missed the past two games
due to injury of her now-retired horse, toytown
[she did ride toytown earlier this year while toting
the olympic torch at cheltenham racecourse].

& it was princess anne who presented her only daughter
with her first olympic medal — a silver. bob's your uncle, zara!!