Giants Got Heart!

So I have always had an affection for baseball boys, but these amazing men are truly inspirational. Anytime an athlete actually stands up for something true, it touches my heart. These men, who participate in a world of misogyny and homophobia are actually talking to kids about how the teen years are tough and it'll all be okay. And mostly I find that these are the heroes of LGBT kids' bullies so if they are supporting the kids that are being bullied it might make the bullies think twice.

The Instruments of Sexism

I am determined to become a riot grrrl and therefore I need to learn how to play an instrument. I picked the guitar. Well my acoustic sucks and I want an electric so I went all over town to pawn shops and music stores looking. The pawn shops were fine, but the music stores I felt very out of place in. All of them had men working in them. The first showed me some guitars, not really telling me much and they were all very overpriced. The second place only had two electrics and he looked at me like I was a freak. The third place where I got my guitar, I talked with both men. The first was probably in his 30's and he showed me some stuff, and was giving me a piece of guitar/music history and basic knowledge. I had planned to get a Fender and then at this place I was told that they tend to be foreign made, which doesn't go over all that well with me. The second man was quite a bit older, I would say 60's and he couldn't understand my not wanting an acoustic. I felt that this was definately a gendered expectation. It wasn't until the woman who also worked there came in for work that someone believed I could play an electric and she never questioned it. She said that I would have no problems and that I was already on the right track. She also went and got a guitar that she said she loved and handed it to me to try. It ended up being the one I bought. It just felt right. Its a bit beat up and its not as pretty as the pink one I really liked, but its a silver sparkle and it plays nice. I love it. It was a good fit. I just felt like the many women who came before me when they wanted to break into a male dominated passion.