If Attacked — Fight Back! [BftP]

A new feature: BftP (Blast from the Past). This was originally published September 26, 2006, on the original planetpooks.wordpress blog. Since much of my history didn’t forward properly (which I am sure was due to my own ineptitude) you have to go back to find the oldest posts. But I’ve decided that some are worth repeating. Let’s start here:

~*~

This was originally published September 26, 2006, on the original planetpooks.wordpress blog.

If you’re a woman who cycles or runs or hikes — if you love a woman who cycles or runs or hikes — I hope you’ll remember this tomorrow.

If you’re a woman.

If you love a woman.

I hope you remember this tomorrow.

When we were camping at Rocky Mountain National Park this summer, we had to take precautions against black bears. Possibly because of the drought conditions, bears have become a danger. This is our first trip (out of five or six) where it was an issue.

As I stood outside the latrine (not to be confused with the actual restroom with toilets and running water a bit farther up the road) waiting for someone to come out, I read the warning sign, which ended:

IF ATTACKED — FIGHT BACK!

Perhaps you recall hearing advice such as, “Play dead.”

In Bill Bryson’s fabulous A Walk in the Woods he explains that actually nobody knows what really works with bears. In fact, if a bear wants to eat you, chances are nothing works. But maybe the experts at Rocky Mountain National Park know more these days than was known when Bryson wrote his book.

But that’s not what was on my mind when I read that sign. When I read that sign, I thought:

“Like Jenny.”

I never knew Jenny. I’d never heard of Jenny, until someone on Team Estrogen posted that a woman cyclist was missing in Atlanta. Hours passed … her body was found. Worst fears were realized.

But as I read the reports and felt sorrow and rage for a woman I didn’t know, I also felt a surge of pride.

Police say she fought her attacker every step of the way.

And they caught him, because she fought back.

”(Michael Ledford) went to the Dallas Police Department around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, bleeding profusely from a wound in his genital area, according to investigators. Police say Ledford claimed he was negotiating with a prostitute for sex when she bit him on his genitals.”

Go, Jenny. Go, Jenny, go. I hope when you were fighting, biting, clawing, kicking — I hope you heard a chorus of voices giving you strength, roaring in your ears, your blood — the voices of strong women who went before you and will follow in your footsteps and fight like hell. I hope you felt a surge of power, of strength, of rage.

I hope you weren’t afraid. I hope you didn’t feel alone.

The story doesn’t quite end there. The women on Team Estrogen wanted to do something to honor Jennifer, to honor someone we didn’t know. We knew there would be a memorial ride. We thought about riding wherever we lived, in our own private rides. We thought about taking pictures of us, riding, and sending them to her family from all over the world.

And someone came up with the idea of t-shirts.

Her family was consulted to find out which charity would be appropriate for donations and for proceeds from the sale of t-shirts. Family members showed up on the boards at Team Estrogen. They were grateful, enthusiastic, helpful.

The t-shirt was designed, and the number of people who wanted them was overwhelming.

Susan Otcenas, who owns Team Estrogen, the best place on earth to buy women’s cycling gear, offered to take over. Her shop did all the shipping and paid all the postage and made a sizeable donation, as well. Last I heard, Jenny’s family had ordered 89 t-shirts to wear to Jenny’s memorial ride tomorrow. The bike clubs in Atlanta ordered t-shirts. And the women on Team Estrogen ordered them. They sold out.

I hope you see one tomorrow. Or several. But even if you don’t, wherever you are tomorrow — whether you’re riding, walking, hiking, running, shopping, driving, eating, playing — remember Jenny.

And remember what her t-shirt says.

A woman should never be afraid to ride alone.

Take back the trail.

Fight back.

~*~

Added today, 3-4-13.

Something my husband taught me, by teaching my sons when they were young: It doesn’t matter if you win the fight. It matters that he never wants to fight you again.

Think about it. If attacked, don’t think about the fact that you’re smaller, weaker, older. Think about the fact that you are going to hurt them, too. Whatever it takes. They will not walk away from you unscathed.  That difference in attitude may make the difference in how the fight ends for you, as well.

Janine made me do it.

I just did something I haven’t done in many years–bought a contemporary romance novel. Not historical. Not set in the UK. No magic or fantasy around.

And I freaking hate the cover.

Why did I buy the kind of book I don’t read with a cover I hate?

Janine on Dear Author made me do it.

You see, I often like what Janine likes, and she has pointed me to some really good books. Even if it’s not the kind of book I ordinarily read.

Even if I hate the cover.

But.

Cross-country bike trip with camping*?

Janine liked it?

I am so in.

Ride with Me: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance. It’s a Loveswept Romance, which is what two of my romances were, back in the last century.

Some of you have been around long enough to remember back when I was a bike-riding person*.  I need to get my bike fixed so I can ride again. But that’s a different subject.

Do you have a reviewer or friend who can convince you to read something even when it’s something you don’t usually like?

$20 Amazon Gift Certificate to one lucky Amazon reviewer!

 

And I have to remind you–it’s here! The chance for you to win a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate for leaving an Amazon review of Scandalous (available at Book View Cafe, Amazon, Kobo and BN) before February 14. Details here.

 

 

Pretty and Affordable

So what if you really don’t want to spend a kilobuck (or two or three or six) on a bicycle?

Well, you don’t have to. I still recommend going to your LBS (local bike shop) instead of Walmart or Target or the like. Go to where there is somebody who can really help you find one that will be comfortable for you, and will know how to adjust it for you.

But I saw one of these at my LBS and have you ever seen anything so sweet?

The ones I saw were blue & white and red&white and cost a little over $300, and other Raleigh Retroglides come in yellow and periwinkle and even purple!

I think this would be a fabulous budget bike for somebody wanting to get more into the urban cycling scene. You know, pretending you’re in Amsterdam!

(And okay, I’ll admit it, it’s a way of getting you consider being just a little bit greener!)

Get out there and look around. Your LBS is usually your friend. Or check out REI. Just skip the discount warehouse stores.

Now. I’m on my way out to ride, maybe even to stop by Starbucks!

 

I love living in Seattle!!!

Okay, I am going to gloss over the floods and tragedies that have been happening in recent weeks due to the weird rain we’ve been having in North Texas — every single day.

Instead I’m just going to say that I have not missed the sun and the heat, that I have loved opening windows and hearing rain, and today since there was no lightning I had a fabulous bike ride. I set out to go to the post office in the rain. Light rain, so I figured, big deal, so I get wet, I’ll just come home and get dry again. I was just desperate to get on my bike.

And the sweet, soft rain was so lovely — I rode for an hour. Then I went to Starbucks and got a cappuccino (not a latte — I’ve switched) and their new (old) fruit and cheese tray (that I love-love-loved when they had before and they’ve now brought back) and it was a lovely-lovely-lovely afternoon.

If this is what Seattle is like, I could get used to it really fast.

Genes don’t lie. My Irish/English DNA may have been in Texas for five generations, but it still longs for the old country. This is proof.

ETA:  My cell phone is possessed.  When it rang at Starbucks, it kept ringing even when I tried to answer it.  No matter what button I pushed, it kept ringing.  Now that I’ve been home awhile, it is beeping at me.  The little beep it makes when it’s going in and out of network service.  I turned it off.  It turned itself back on.

Now, I just sit and watch it beep.

If only my microwave worked, I’d pop it in for a few secs.  (Maybe it got damp when I was cycling?)  But my microwave is sending off sparks for no reason when I use it.  So I don’t use it.

I don’t understand why these electronic thingies don’t like me.

‘Tis the Season

Movies of the season. (My faves, anyway.)

In which movie did Clarissa say, “Diz, here we go. ”

In which movie did we witness the debate between “inalienable” and “unalienable” (and which won)?

In which movie were we saved by Morse Code?

And in other news,

Has it only been a year?

( And I don’t know where he got it, but I got that wonderful projector image from this guy.)

(I’m watching the action at Wembley and wishing Di were there with her sons, dancing in the crowd. On the other hand, maybe she is….)

(And are y’all seeing all those Dallas Cowboys stars behind Joss and Tom? Wooo!)