Manly whitewater

In my previous posting, when commenting on Stephen Colbert jokes about canoe slalom, I called the sport of white water canoeing and kayaking a manly sport.  By that, I meant that "it takes guts to do it" or that "it involves toughness and courage".  I did not mean that "women or girls can't do it" or that doing so can make you less feminine, if being feminine is your thing.  For example, take Ms. Nouria Newman, who started with slalom, but then she went for rougher venues and she is very very good at it: 🔗

She will go where others can't or won't.  That takes a great of amount of skill and guts.

So, nothing to laugh at, Colbert! 😼 🤣 

I would like to write more about gutsy women.  In a sense, being a woman adds another dimension to the protagonist of a story about intellectual (or other) achievement.  This is because, especially in the past, succeeding in anything physical or intellectual as a woman traditionally required to overcome very strong societal obstacles just to be able to proceed with your task.  Overcoming those obstacles is often a remarkable accomplishment on its own, worth noticing and perhaps writing about, too.

However, at all times, despite of the obstacles in front of them, there were always women that, somehow, found their path to notable excellence.  Thankfully, in more recent generations, the route to scientific and other accomplishments for females has been impeded with far fewer obstacles than ever before.  We all benefited from this "newfound" reservoir of human talent.

I will write my thought on the matter in future blogs.  For now I have to stop, because time rations are just running low today.