In this day and age, both girls and boys like to wear dresses, and both are socially acceptable, and welcome. The same people that do so, are not choosing to do so at the same time in which they are participating in a competitive sport. Instead, they would choose to attire themselves in whatever clothing and demeanor befit the task at hand; sweat-wicking under wear, breathable and stretchy overwear. If they did take the field in dresses, it would make mockery of both themselves, and the sport in which they are trying to compete as the clothing would not fit the task.
This is the humour in John Gibbons' comment this week about his team 'taking the field in dresses' in response to the perceived 'soft' call at second base that ruled that Jose Bautista interfered with Logan Forsythe's play around the 2nd base area. Yes, he said it in the heat of a testy moment. Yes, he almost certainly didn't think it through. But, why are so people quick to the trigger on things like this?
I am sure that Gibbons, and the entire team, understand that there are women and those identifying as women who play baseball, and are damned good at it. But there are also many people, both men and women, who would never put themselves infront of 100 MPH fastballs, or quick one hoppers at 3rd; never lay their body out at full stride in an attempt to catch a seamed leather sphere, or brace their body mass against another charging for the plate in an attempt to score a run.
Even if there is money or contract on the line, there is always a line. Gibbons was not saying that 'dress wearing' or, by poor extrapolation, that women are inherently soft, just that there is an implied level of physicality within the game, and that to engage with that level of play, most people are not wearing dresses to their day at the ballpark, and that the game is engaged by those that love it willingly.
From pro to amateur beer league player, the body is sacrificed, bruises are taken, all within the rules of the game. We take bumps and bruises and the rashes from awkward slides.We all, sometimes literally, take it on the chin. We all dress for the game in which we are playing. If Gibbons had only said 'maybe we'll show up tomorrow in business suits' there would have been no controversy at all.
April 09, 2016
February 04, 2016
Please Pack Your Things
I packed up my office and left today. Even did it on my terms.
The day of our big office relocation is finally here, and there was to be no messing around. Everyone I've talked to is 100% on board with the move, despite the longer commute for a lot of people in our group in particular, but the lack of windows, and forever service calls were just too much.
On Monday morning, we'll be in shiny new'ish' digs in Waterloo (a building given up when a local former tech giant had to go through some re-structuring a few years back). Apparently people in our own office were involved in the design, before my time, so at least there will be people that can be answerable to any complaints we have. Given what I've seen, I don't think there will be many.
I actually watched the final 4 months of construction on the building from a research site set up by a long time buddy of mine for his PhD thesis which I helped along with instrumentation and data collection. It will be a welcome return to a nice area of the city.
That's not to say that downtown Kitchener hasn't really been revitalized over the past 5 years. And many of us are going to miss the quick 5 minute walk to a number of homegrown great restaurants; but there are plenty of other great restaurants within walking distance if we're willing to extend our lunch breaks, and driving distance if we're lazy. We've also been told there is a regular food truck schedule featuring some of the great restaurants in town. We won't be lacking for choices.
And there will be daylight. All day long. Through windows. I think many of the people that don't get to go out and do field work regularly may be dazed and squinty for the first few weeks in the new office. I have suggested sunblock samples also be given out. We'll see what happens.
And to my end, I'm trying to treat this all as a big refresher to get reinvigorated about my work, before I go ahead and pack up my things and leave for real.
The day of our big office relocation is finally here, and there was to be no messing around. Everyone I've talked to is 100% on board with the move, despite the longer commute for a lot of people in our group in particular, but the lack of windows, and forever service calls were just too much.
On Monday morning, we'll be in shiny new'ish' digs in Waterloo (a building given up when a local former tech giant had to go through some re-structuring a few years back). Apparently people in our own office were involved in the design, before my time, so at least there will be people that can be answerable to any complaints we have. Given what I've seen, I don't think there will be many.
I actually watched the final 4 months of construction on the building from a research site set up by a long time buddy of mine for his PhD thesis which I helped along with instrumentation and data collection. It will be a welcome return to a nice area of the city.
That's not to say that downtown Kitchener hasn't really been revitalized over the past 5 years. And many of us are going to miss the quick 5 minute walk to a number of homegrown great restaurants; but there are plenty of other great restaurants within walking distance if we're willing to extend our lunch breaks, and driving distance if we're lazy. We've also been told there is a regular food truck schedule featuring some of the great restaurants in town. We won't be lacking for choices.
And there will be daylight. All day long. Through windows. I think many of the people that don't get to go out and do field work regularly may be dazed and squinty for the first few weeks in the new office. I have suggested sunblock samples also be given out. We'll see what happens.
And to my end, I'm trying to treat this all as a big refresher to get reinvigorated about my work, before I go ahead and pack up my things and leave for real.
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