One weekend I went shopping at a mall in downtown Boston—and was transported into another culture. A hotel, connected to the mall, was hosting an Irish dancing competition (or “feis”). My friend turned to me and asked, “Wait, is this a child beauty pageant, or something else?” With the bobbing heads full of Shirley Temple-like [...]
Back in March I started a monthly feature on my blog: Shrinking and Pinking. This series focuses on female athletes, who often have to fight against the literally shrinking and pinking of their sports, uniforms, and professional lives/opportunities. The past few months a different definition of “shrinking” has been creeping into my posts– child athletes. [...]
I admit that I am a Scrabble tournament virgin. I’ve only ever seen a Scrabble tournament while watching the documentary Word Wars, and I’ve read about this particular subculture in Stefan Fatsis’ delighful Word Freak. But in many ways the Scrabble tournament world doesn’t seem to differ too much from its intellectual cousins, or “sports [...]
Earlier this week Forbes ran an article entitled “The Secret to Being a Power Woman: Play Team Sports.” The piece has certainly struck a chord with many women– and it struck a chord with me as it dovetails nicely with some of my research on girls and competitive afterschool activities. In my work I find [...]
During the summer of stage mothers, Lifetime’s Dance Moms emerged as a breakout hit for the network. From its debut in mid-July 2011 to its season finale this past week, the show steadily attracted more viewers (up 62% since its premiere). With about 1.6 million watching each episode, it’s not surprising that the network has [...]
You may recognize her from her pitching in the Olympics. Or from the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Or even from The Apprentice. Now you should also recognize her as an author. Softball great, and Olympic gold medalist, Jennie Finch, has just released her first book: Throw Like A Girl: How to Dream Big & [...]
If you missed Atul Gawande’s recent New Yorker piece on personal coaching, you should check it out (“Personal Best”). I think writers/academics have understood some of these ideas for some time (even tenured profs get regular feedback on their work from colleagues and in seminars, for example), but he presents a lot of interesting insights [...]
Second post over at orgtheory– this on compensating players in the Little League World Series. Did you watch the Little League World Series last month? It’s possible you missed it in the wake of other news stories, like Hurricane Irene. But this year’s winners (a team from Huntingdon Beach, California) were also overshadowed by coverage [...]
Please check out my first post over at orgtheory– on the back-to-school/afterschool industry. If you’re a parent you’ve likely spent a lot of time lately preparing for the start of the school year. Pictures on the front porch of the house with child in first-day-of-school attire (posted to Facebook, of course)? Check. School supplies purchased [...]
No, those girls aren’t in white face. They have just slathered on sunscreen to protect their skin from the sun as they spend upwards of eight hours a day training outside in a swimming pool. And, no, they aren’t addicted to Jell-O. Instead,they are buying boxes of gelatin in order to slick back their hair [...]
