Quote of the Day

I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

-- Thomas Edison

Quote of the Day

Needing approval is a female cultural disease, and often a sign of doing the wrong thing.

-- Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road, p. 165

Quote of the Day

But the acrimony of the campaign reaffirmed something I knew instinctively: sports for women still smacked of revolution to a lot of men, especially in the South.  There was a deep resistance to Title IX.  I saw and felt it every day.  When I took the junior national team to Mexico City for the Pan Am Games, the men stayed in a comfortable hotel, while we were assigned to a dilapidated old dormitory from the 1968 Olympic Games that was so filthy our players wouldn't get under the bedsheets, and the showers had standing water in them.

-- Pat Summitt with Sally Jenkins, Sum It Up, p. 131

Quote of the Day

Assumptions and animosity are the evil cousins of prejudice and extremism.

-- Dawn Elizabeth Waters, Switching Teams, p. 150

Quote of the Day

I am a fan of getting people together.

-- Ellen DeGeneres

Quote of the Day

Women are always better liked if we sacrifice ourselves for something bigger -- and something bigger always means including men, even though something bigger for men doesn't usually mean including women.

-- Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road, p. 165

Quote of the Day

To summon the competitiveness to work every single day for a goal that was months and even years ahead was the most invaluable lesson I'd ever learn.

-- Pat Summitt with Sally Jenkins, Sum It Up, p. 114

Quote of the Day

I believed I was still Dawn.  Being a lesbian was one small part of me.  I thought once the initial shock of the situation had worn off many who reacted negatively would circle back because they would realize I was still me.  After that first year, it became clear to me how naive I was.  I had failed to truly consider other people's opinions about this "lifestyle" I now subscribed to.  For some, this is a deal breaker of sorts.  I felt very confused by this and wondered what in the hell was going on.  I had many individuals who were very supportive, friends and family alike, however, there seemed to be a definite change in a lot of people after this information came to light.  I thought long and hard about the reasons and kept coming to a point where [I] was looking around and wondering where everyone went.

-- Dawn Elizabeth Waters, Switching Teams, p. 62

Quote of the Day

What I advocate is that we take seriously the genuine feelings that have been suppressed since childhood and that go on eking out an existence in the cellar of the soul.

-- Alice Miller, The Body Never Lies, p. 221

Quote of the Day

The most widespread and lasting impact of the [1992] Senate Judiciary hearings was not the Year of the Woman -- and perhaps not even the ascension to the Supreme Court of a very right-wing and young Clarence Thomas, likely to be there for a long time; it was the new national understanding of sexualized intimidation as a means of keeping females in a subordinate place.  The whole country learned that sexual harassment was illegal.  Millions of women learned they were not alone in their experience of it.  The use of sex to humiliate and dominate would never seem normal again.

-- Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road, p. 156

Quote of the Day

When you set a goal of such distant possibility and reach it, you gain an insight into what it takes that lasts the rest of your life.

-- Pat Summitt with Sally Jenkins, Sum It Up, p. 114

Quote of the Day

I also noticed I suddenly found myself listening to taxicab type confessions from those who had just learned I was a lesbian.  A number of people shared with me their stories of their secret same sex experiences.  One went so far as to describe their participation in an online porn site.  I checked for the "tell me your dirt" sign that someone must have placed on my forehead.  I wanted to believe that because I had shared something personal they felt the green light to do likewise.  I suspect it had more to do with the overall negative opinion the world holds with regard to homosexuality.  I was naive to be optimistic that they saw a sympathetic soul rather than a deviant one.  Many equate being gay with living in a way that is not in alignment with what is believed to be the right way.  Instead of being upset and offended, I concluded these conversations were merely a way to relate to one another and a way to reassure ourselves we are not outcasts or deviants.

-- Dawn Elizabeth Waters, Switching Teams, p. 58-59