Touching the Sky: Keeping Tempo with Katherine Switzer

I started running again and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. It feels so free and powerful all at the same time. I’m working my way up to running a 5K and with time, hopefully, a marathon. I have a long road ahead of me but I’m looking forward to reaching a personal lifetime goal.

It’s nice that I have the opportunity to strive for this goal, of running a marathon. If this were 1966, I wouldn’t have the chance to strive for this goal. Women weren’t aloud to participate in such things. Until Katherine came along, that is. In 1967, she became the first woman to officially enter and run the the Boston Marathon. She didn’t do this as some grand statement. She just wanted to run the race and compete. When she was discovered, a race official tried to forcibly remove her. Her running mates (and competitors) actually created a barrier around her and pulled the official off of her… and she kept running. She stated there was a moment she considered bowing out but then realized if she did that, she would affirm the idea that women didn’t belong in the race– so she continued and finished, sparking a true change for women in sports.

Katherine has spent her entire life advocating for equality in sports and was a vital contributor in making the women’s marathon an official event in the Olympic Games (in 1984– can you believe that!? It took until 1984 for that to happen).

Every time I put my shoes on, she crosses my mind. I feel a lot of pride when I think of her– I picture her being yanked at while just trying to run. I’m glad she finished the race. I’m glad she kept advocating for women in sports. I’m glad that she was able to make such a huge change by simple doing something she enjoyed. And in doing so, giving us all the same opportunity for enjoyment and personal challenge.

When I run that marathon, I’ll be wearing a t-shirt that says, “Thank you, Katherine Switzer!”

Hello! My name is Courtney. I’m a graphic/web designer. I believe what we put out in the world will change the world for our future generations– so what I do, how I spend my money, and who I support are not choices to make without thought. I love drawing and painting and spending time with Haley, my beautiful Bouvier des Flandres, George and Felix, my two amazingly funny American short hairs, and Tim, my wonderfully loving and supportive partner in life. I drink copious amounts of coffee and tea and never go a day without a sweet, nor do I apologize for it! If you ask my opinion, I’ll give it to you with love and honesty. I like to smile more than frown. I like to laugh more than cry. And I can’t stand whiners!

Touching the Sky: What’s in a Name Anyway…

Some days I sign my name Courtney Brobst. Some days I sign my name Courtney Cole-Brobst. My legal name is Courtney Cole Brobst (no hyphen). I legally changed my maiden name to my middle name when I got married.

Before I married, I really didn’t think much of my last name. It seemed insignificant to me. I would cavalierly state my name is not my identity (often dramatically making a point– I have no idea what that point was but it was important at the time). Why do people get so hung up on a name, I would snorf… until the time came for me to relinquish mine. It was a weird experience.

I didn’t change my name right away… My husband jokingly asked me if I would be changing my name or if he would be changing his– I laughed but I thought, “Why is that a funny question?” My maiden name is Cole– much easier to spell and much easier to pronounce, so if we were being practical he should change his name… and I started thinking about my name. I guess the idea of “losing” it made me really consider what it meant to change it. I was uncomfortable about it. So, I chose not to “let go” of it. I chose to keep it as my middle name. But if I chose to keep my maiden name, that would have been legally possible even if it still isn’t quite socially acceptable.

It wasn’t always that way. Did you know that? It wasn’t until Lucy Stone came around and decided that she wasn’t going to change her name when she married. Lucy was one of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s lecturers and in 1850, she organized the first National Women’s Rights Convention. In 1855, Lucy married the Ohio abolitionist Henry B. Blackwell. She kept her maiden name as her last name, showing her protest against inequality between men and women. And when the Lucy Stone Law was instated, doing this became legal. Lucy went on to do many more amazing things for the advancement of human rights– that’s what we are talking about, not “women’s rights” but Human Rights. Unfortunately, when we put issues in the bracket of “women’s rights” vs. “human rights,” we can marginalize the issue before the discussion even begins. At least that’s how I see it.

So maybe some of you don’t think this is a big deal. I didn’t for the longest time but it really IS a big deal. Your name is tied to your personal history and your lineage. It’s hard to explain but when I was standing in the Social Security office filling out the paperwork to change my name, I felt like I was deleting myself. Deleting the life I had before my marriage and minimizing my lineage. It’s a weird feeling. And the fact that I had the right to choose how I would legally be identified made my choice, MY CHOICE. Thanks, Lucy for that.

Hello! My name is Courtney. I’m a graphic/web designer. I believe what we put out in the world will change the world for our future generations– so what I do, how I spend my money, and who I support are not choices to make without thought. I love drawing and painting and spending time with Haley, my beautiful Bouvier des Flandres, George and Felix, my two amazingly funny American short hairs, and Tim, my wonderfully loving and supportive partner in life. I drink copious amounts of coffee and tea and never go a day without a sweet, nor do I apologize for it! If you ask my opinion, I’ll give it to you with love and honesty. I like to smile more than frown. I like to laugh more than cry. And I can’t stand whiners!

Touching the Sky: History, Herstory, Yourstory

Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.'” -Angela Davis

My mom loves to read. She can read a book a day easily. I have fond memories of going to the bookstore as a young child with my mom. She would spend her time in the mystery section and I would wander around and look at various books. I was a very spoiled child when it came to books. These trips to the bookstore would inevitably end with both of us going to the counter with stacks of books. My mom really didn’t filter what I added to my stack. I would pick lots of poetry books. I really loved poetry. I would also pick books that seemed interesting but were a bit over my head. I’d bring home Kafka, Camus, Orwell… I was too young to fully grasp the concepts of the books but I enjoyed reading them– I liked the way they were written.

On one of our trips I came across a book about Angela Davis. I liked the cover and I trotted over to my mom to ask her who she was. My mom’s response surprised me. She told me she was just some radical Black Panther and dismissed her. This intrigued and scared me! A Black Panther, what’s a Black Panther? I added her to my stack. I felt like I was doing something naughty but I couldn’t resist. Again, she didn’t limit my choices and I got to bring Angela home with me. Angela sat on my shelf for a couple of days. I would occasionally pick her up and flip through the pages but not read it. For some reason the word “radical” and how my mom said it, frightened me. After awhile, I braved it and started reading. As I read, I was bewildered. Why did my mom think this way? Angela Davis was a progressive thinker, a feminist, and a woman that fought for social justice and equality– aspects that were right up my mom’s alley!

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I understood her reaction. The controversy around Angela Davis started at UCLA, the institution my father attended. This all started to make sense. During that time, Angela was also being pinpointed by the state government as being a negative, disruptive, influence. And she was (falsely) accused of murder due to her affiliation with the Black Panther movement (a movement that was more proactive rather than reactive, which ticked the US government off…a lot. A movement Angela Davis later separated from due to its sexists constructs). So the perspective of my mom was coming from her experience through UCLA and the media of the time. It was coming from her real life experience during that time.

So what’s the point of me sharing this with you? Well, for a few reasons… Knowledge is power. Knowledge is also subjective.

I was given a gift by my mother in many ways the day I picked up Angela’s book. First, she gave me the ability to make my own choice as to how I wanted to build my knowledge and perspective by giving me the chance to get the book about Angela Davis. Second, although her response about the book was dismissive, it helped me as a reader and critical thinker to choose to be courageous enough to make my own decision and develop my own opinion on Angela Davis. Third, it gave me the knowledge that we have to develop our thoughts through our own experiences and not those of others. We have to realize that everyone views the past in their own subjective way with their life experiences contributing to their own perception of the past.

Knowledge is power. Don’t limit your power. You can respect someone’s opinion but don’t let that opinion be your filter.

Hello! My name is Courtney. I’m a graphic/web designer. I believe what we put out in the world will change the world for our future generations– so what I do, how I spend my money, and who I support are not choices to make without thought. I love drawing and painting and spending time with Haley, my beautiful Bouvier des Flandres, George and Felix, my two amazingly funny American short hairs, and Tim, my wonderfully loving and supportive partner in life. I drink copious amounts of coffee and tea and never go a day without a sweet, nor do I apologize for it! If you ask my opinion, I’ll give it to you with love and honesty. I like to smile more than frown. I like to laugh more than cry. And I can’t stand whiners!