everything i know about basketball i learned from space jam

first of all, i'd like to announce that i just made some highly delicious curry squash fritters. i am announcing this to balance the recent sardine tragedy. i am indeed quite skilled and creative in arranging and heating and mixing foodstuffs most of the time.

i have actually been doing a lot of asserting my skills and abilities here, obviously in work, but also in leisure. probably because of machismo here, i've noticed that women tend to spectate instead of participate. certainly this happens in the states too. the guys i've been hanging out with aren't saying things like "you can't do that," nothing of the sort. they are just a bit surprised when i am good at something it seems. we went bowling a bit ago and the other girls kept saying "i'm so bad at this." who cares. is bowling really about being good at bowling? there are a whole slew of activities of this ilk - recreational things that you never really practice often, so no one is skilled at them particularly. later i played pool with two male friends and one of their girlfriends. she wanted to just watch. i let her for the first game and then i forced her to play (in a friendly, new friend way). she was my partner. she got one ball in and i got the rest in and we won and it was glorious in all ways.

it is important to me to be able to hold my own in such activities, especially playing against males. you might be saying, oh, it's because i grew up with 4 brothers. not really. we were not competitive, we were quite harmonious, right, brothers? i'm not particularly competitive, but when it comes to these activities where i see a lot of women apologizing for being bad, or not wanting to participate, i feel i have to demonstrate that yes, i am quite good at this and i enjoy playing and i will crush you without mercy. especially here in el salvador where gender divisions are more stark, i have something to prove. yeah - i just beat you at ping pong - don't look surprised. after twiddling around on the guitar in my house for the last three months, i can play some songs. this has been useful at parties where a guitar comes out. i am not watching the whole time, i am playing too, i am improving my skill.

yesterday i even accepted an invitation to play basketball. it's true. i played in a four on four game. i was marking an old man who was wearing blue armwarmers or whatever those are. at one point he was smoking a cigarette while playing, but he was nimble. i took shots, maybe a dozen of them, and got zero in, but many hit the rim, so that's close at least. i made sure i did not apologize or make apologetic faces. no apologies. the guys i were playing with were about as welcoming as i could expect, and only occasionally did not pass to me when they should have. but mostly good, fun, highly participatory, and a bunch of little girls in the park cheered for me. next time no cheering from the sidelines, niñas. get out there and block that old man's sneaky loop shot, even if he smells kinda weird.

most of the women i'm talking about are from the city, went to good schools, middle class families, etc. i was out with two guy friends last night and one said, i like going out with you because i don't need to watch you or take care of you. um, of course not. who do you need to watch, i asked? he said, well a lot of the girls i go out with are shy or wouldn't know how to deal with it if, for example, some guy was bothering them, but i know you would handle whatever on your own. uhhhh yes, i am fierce obviously, but i am concerned that you think the rest of your female friends can't handle it. i find the idea that women need to be protected or supervised hidden in many other attitudes. and i bring them out and challenge them, to women and men alike. in many of these sporting activities, i find men telling me encouragingly "don't be afraid" and i quite emphatically say, i am not afraid. there's nothing to fear here except fireballs in my oven, electrocution in my shower, earthquakes, and hurricanes. ping pong? no problem.