Tag: Larry Nassar

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Simone meets the pizza guy

“The Olympics,” tweeted the tweeter, “would be a hell of a lot more interesting if every event final included one random average dude. Just for comparison. Some guy who just finished his pizza and hopped up off the couch, and now he’s out there doing the thing.”

God I love the Twitter. 

Just for comparison, it said. Just to show the rest of us how goddamn amazing it is — and how lucky we are to park our lazy, overcritical asses on the couch, watch, and complain — when someone performs at an elite level of sport.

Hey Marvin! You’re up next on the vault.
(pizzamarketplace.com)

Continue reading “Simone meets the pizza guy”

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Courage… Step by Step

What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth About Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics – by Rachael Denhollander

Available from Amazon in hardcover, Kindle version, and audiobook.
Or from your local library.

The specifics of what he did… Horrendous. Enraging. It’s all laid out in the book. The callous disregard for the well-being of the very athletes he was famous for treating. The brashness to violate girls right there in the exam room with their mothers a few feet away. The manipulation of their minds to believe he was doing nothing wrong, that they were twisted if they said something about it. The sheer numbers of girls and women he assaulted. Continue reading “Courage… Step by Step”

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Sex Ed and the Senator

It was the sign. That’s what did it. That, plus this one kid I know…

Everything else was pretty innocuous. Like he intended. Without the sign, Senator Ron Muzzall’s Legislative Review might have earned no more than a quick once-over on its way to the recycle bin.

But there was the sign. And then there was the email.

Ron Muzzall is a Republican serving Washington State’s District 10, appointed in 2019 when his elected predecessor had to step down. Seems like a decent guy. A Whidbey Island farmer and businessman, and a stand-up community member.

And Senator Muzzall thinks sex education grooms our children like a predator. Continue reading “Sex Ed and the Senator”

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Abuse looks like this

This is what abuse looks like, and it’s not even about the abusers.

Where would abusers be without their enablers?

Will we ever have the courage to look in the mirror and realize who the enablers are? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s circle back to that in a minute. Meanwhile grind your teeth at a few examples.

Kathie Klages, comfortably retired. Maybe.

Michigan State University has been front and center in the Larry Nassar scandal. But how did he get away with it for so long? Continue reading “Abuse looks like this”

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Target Practice

Readers: This piece is full of metaphor. Please don’t go shooting anyone. Thank you.

Where’s the bad guy?

Been going to the gun range once a month. Not in a flag-waving, Second-Amendment, don’t-tread-on-me way. Just a nice thing to do with friends, then we go out to dinner, talk about our kids, families, stuff that really matters. It’s a better Friday date night than a movie or a church potluck. Continue reading “Target Practice”

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The Magic of Looking the Other Way

Our man our hero Chuck Wendig has proposed writing on “The Danger of Undeserved Power.” Which of course is what this site and “Diamonds and Dirt” are all about.

While we’re busy thrashing about and challenging the obvious, an insidious poison still creeps through our land. While we puff our chests and claim vigilance, the evil of undeserved power struts by unchallenged.

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Safe in the pool? Maybe not.

The Parents.

To her, they weren’t My Parents. They were The Parents. Aloof, dismissive, self-absorbed, the dividing line was a fine one but oh so clear. They didn’t give two shits about her. She knew it. She’d given up wishing long ago. She tried her damnedest not to care either. Continue reading “The Magic of Looking the Other Way”

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Dear Aly Raisman’s mom…

Dear Lynn Raisman,

That interview blew us away. Not just Aly demanding to know why USA Gym continues to let her down, but the face-to-face with you… Sixty Minutes in your kitchen, millions of Americans peering at you as TV guests in your home, and you were so matter-of-fact. There was no rage there, no clawing at the camera demanding blood for what that man did to your daughter.

Where did you bury it? What little lockbox in your brain was holding all those thoughts in there, just for safekeeping? You had to stay proper. It was an interview, and you had to be honest, but you were still the hostess. And you’re still… well… you’re Lynn Raisman. You’re that lady…

Sweet, sensational, viral. Mom and dad can’t keep still while Aly Raisman competes. photo: Today Show, NBC

Continue reading “Dear Aly Raisman’s mom…”