eastsider magazine may 2010

living in theclouds at the ascent

may 2010

eastside eats meets nerd alert:

the sous vide supreme

talk derby to meThe Cincinnati Rollergirls

We must remember,because if the world forgets evil,

evil is reborn.-W.E.B. DuBois

eastside eats + nerd alertthe sous vide supreme

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contributorslayout | phillip ryan

photography | steven thomas

columnist | laura arnold

columnist | geoff simmons

feature writer | brian dobbins

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notes from the front rowthe ascent, headtronics review, and alice in wonderland

talk derby to methe cincinnati rollergirls

Explaining the technique and advantages of sous vide cooking to those unfamiliar with it can be challenging. Cooking food in water in plastic bags? What’s so great about that? Why wouldn’t you just cook them in water? Or a crock pot? To get some idea of the benefits of sous vide cooking, I want you to think about a perfectly cooked medium rare steak. Two inches thick. Perfectly tender and pink edge to edge, with a seared, delicious crust. With sous vide cooking, steak perfection is just a baggie, a water bath and a push of a few buttons away. So why have so many people not heard about sous vide cooking? Well for starters, sous vide machines that regulate water temperature while circulating the water around food have always been so expensive (and in some cases, so extremely large) that they simply are not obtainable or practical for home use. Enter the Sous Vide Supreme. About the size of a large breadmaker, and costing considerably less that the thousands of dollars required for a restaurant grade machine, the SVS recently became available on the retail market. Nerd Alert: Sous vide is based on an interesting principle. Whether your food is undercooked or overcooked does not depend on the duration of cooking, but instead on the peak internal temperature. The reason why traditional cooking methods are so sensitive to timing is that the food is cooked with a source that is significantly higher than the desired internal temperature of the meat. For example, a steak will be perfect medium rare when it is around 130° F in the center. In comparison, boiling water is 212° F, a roasting oven is 325° F, and a skillet can be upwards of 450° F. Success in these cooking methods depends on snatching the food out of the cooking medium at precisely the right moment such that the internal temperature peaks at the desired target temperature. This is tricky at best. Even at $450-$500 retail, the decision to purchase the SVS is not one that many would take lightly. With that in mind, we’ve merged the culinary enthusiasm of Eastside Eats with

the analytics of Nerd Alert this month to test a unit out through several meals and meats to answer the question on many minds. Is it worth it? We cooked the following proteins in the SVS over the course of four days: steak, burgers, fish, and chicken. Nerd Alert: To continue our discussion, we pose the question: how is sous vide an

i m p r o v e m e n t from these traditional overly-hot methods? The answer is simple. The water bath in a sous vide machine is set to the exact desired peak internal temperature of the food. Since the food can never rise above the temperature

4 | may 2010 | www.eastsidermagazine.com

>>>eastside eats + nerd alertthe sous vide supremearticle and photos by Laura Arnold & David Arnold

of the water bath, it can never overcook. And in case you’re worried about the flavor of food cooked in a water bath, the vacuum-sealed pouches that contain the food lock in juice and seasonings, preserving full flavor.

Day One: Steak We had resolved to serve extra

thick steaks on Monday. The only problem ended

up being that we couldn’t

find thick

enough steaks at our

local grocer! Any premium steak

cut of beef, such as strip, rib, or sirloin will do. Tough cuts

like chuck or brisket also work well, but require very special cooking times (think days). We

ended up purchasing a strip roast and butchering it ourselves to get a nice, two-inch cut per steak. We vacuum sealed the steaks

with herbs and salt relatively easily, then placed them into the SVS after the water bath had reached the right temperature. Nerd Alert: The sous vide cooking time of food is mostly determined by the thickness of the cut, not the final internal temperature. For these massive two-inch steaks, we set the SVS to 56° C (medium rare for beef) and set a timer for three and a half hours. A more modest one-inch steak would only take two hours at this temperature. These cooking times take into account the amount of time it takes to significantly eliminate potential bacteria throughout the cut of meat (also known as pasteurization). In theory, a medium rare steak cooked sous vide is much safer than one cooked with traditional methods. When our guests were due to arrive, we got a message from them that they would be a bit late. Not a problem with the SVS. Throughout our week of testing, we had several late arrivals for dinner. An advantage of the SVS is that if parties are late for dinner, there is no risk of overcooking your meal or in the alternative, having it get cold and trying to reheat to its former gastronomical glory later. We pulled the steaks out of the SVS and took a look at them. A note about the appearance of food once it has been cooked: honestly, it’s going to look sort of odd, very similar to meat after it has been poached. There may be a “seam” or visible line from the vacuum bagging, and the color will most certainly not look like your food has just come out of the oven. To remedy this, just brown your steaks with a quick (30 to 60 second) sear on each side in a nice, hot skillet. Voila, perfectly cooked medium rare steak that is incredibly tender. A note on doneness: cooking a steak medium well or well is a waste in the SVS; the purpose of it is to keep the cut tender. There are more traditional ways to ruin a perfectly good cut of meat.

Day Two: Burgers We chose ground chuck that was about 80 percent lean. We had a last minute cancellation, some extra burgers and

www.eastsidermagazine.com | may 2010 | 5


asked some other friends to come over and give their opinions. They were more than happy to—but could not make dinner until almost an hour after we were planning to serve it. The SVS came through again, and we held their burgers until they arrived. The burgers were exceptionally juicy and tender. However, there were a few comments on how some would have preferred a more toothsome burger. Nerd Alert: Sensitive to some folks’ dislike of deeply pink burgers (despite the pasteurization that the sous vide method can provide), we prepared the burgers at a higher temperature of 60° C (roughly corresponding to medium doneness in beef) for one hour. Strangely, the very tender texture of the burgers was somewhat off-putting. The rubbery quality of well done burgers at fast food joints have set most people’s expectations for much chewier burgers. We are looking forward to experimenting with coarser grinds of beef to learn more about the effect of texture on sous vide burgers.

Day Three: Fish By far the most difficult to cook, we tried both red snapper and swordfish steaks.We chose to sear one red snapper filet after removing it from the vacuum bag, and even less than 30 seconds on each side caused the fish to toughen up significantly. If planning on searing the fish filets post sous vide, it is recommended you cook them on the lower end of the spectrum. Also, when using thawed cuts of fish that have been frozen, make sure that the fish filet is as dry as possible. If you suck water into the machine as you are attempting to vacuum seal the bags, the seal won’t work properly, or will be riskily weak. Nerd Alert: Fish has a unique texture, and requires much lower cooking temperatures to be palatable. Reaching pasteurization temperatures will destroy the quality of most kinds of fish, producing a dry, canned-tuna-like texture. Since the fish will not be pasteurized, it must be impeccably fresh and not left to sit too long in the water bath. We cooked our fish at 52° C for 45 minutes, but in the future we would probably try it at 48° C.

Day Four: Chicken We selected two fryers from a local meat shop and had them butchered there. We cooked the chicken sous vide, removed it from the bag, battered it, and then deep fried it. The chicken meat itself, after the flash frying, was perfectly juicy. The only disadvantage was that the fat in and under the chicken skin did not render properly, leaving it more rubbery than we would have preferred. Nerd Alert: The sous vide method solved the main problem of home-fried chicken, accidental undercooking. However, the skin was not the texture that one would expect for fried chicken. Although many sous vide cookbook advise removing the skin, crisping it in a pan separately, and the replacing it on the chicken, this method is impractical in deep frying. We would recommend simply discarding the skin before battering and frying. Setting the SVS for 60° C for three hours, followed by flash frying (one to two minutes) in 400° F peanut oil produced good results. Dark meat could even stand extra cooking time in the SVS, to allow the connective tissue to break down and tenderize. In summary, the Sous Vide Supreme cooks a superb steak, and has the potential to do so much more with some experimentation on the user’s part. A major advantage to those who entertain often exists in the fact that food can be kept ready to be served after a quick sear or seasoning for almost an entire evening. Cleaning and using the unit is extremely easy. While the unit is fairly large, it can easily fit in a cabinet when not in use.

Online ReferencesA Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking by Douglas Baldwin - http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.htmlPurdy Pictures: The Charts by The French Culinary Institute - http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/purdy-pictures-the-charts/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>You can read Laura Arnold’s blog, Cincinnati Nomerati,at Cincinnatinomerati.blogspot.com.

>>>eastside eats + nerd alertgreen clean: making your own non-toxic cleaners article by Renee Garner


The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge shows us the possibility of living in the clouds. The newest prestigious address in the Cincinnati area features distinguished high-rise living, a rarity in this area of hills, valleys and single-family homes. The Ascent presides on its small site in Covington, soaring above its dour postmodern neighbors, the Corporex towers, and takes its design cues (both in form and color) from the adjacent Suspension Bridge, designed by John Roebling. The bridge opened in 1866 and was a dry run of sorts for the Brooklyn Bridge, which Roebling designed but would not live to see completed. Daniel Libeskind created his design for the Ascent from a careful study of the waterfront area in Covington and the multiplicity of views in all directions. View: this was the genesis of the project, the possibility of giving every tenant a unique view of the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati, of Covington and I-75 to the south, of developing neighbor Newport to the east, of Park Hills and Devou Park to the west. The architect thoroughly studied the entire panorama in order to maximize the visual experience of living in each of the units, from the smallest 900 square

foot one-bedroom unit to the thrilling penthouse units at the top. No two views are alike, but all of them are stunning. Every tenant here gets a river view, an egalitarian touch uncommon to high rises. No one stares at a brick wall. The design is holistic; patterns and compositional attributes of the exterior are repeated on the interior, but

cleverly and in ways that a lesser architect would quickly drop into boring repetition. The pearl white hue of the concrete panels is matched by the color of the walls in the lobby and by the lush carpet in the penthouse we visited. The modular tile patterns of the concrete and glass panels of the façade are repeated in the tile patterns in the lobby’s walls and floor. The curve of the building is repeated by the shape of the outdoor pool and in the design of the patio and fire pit area. The concrete canopy at the main entrance is cantilevered just as the balconies are. And looking up, one sees

the sizes of the balconies are not uniform but changing in a pattern similar to that of the concrete panels on the façade. Form-wise, the curvilinear building takes its shape from the soaring cables on Roebling’s bridge and from

>>>notes from the front rowthe ascent, headtronics review, alice in wonderlandby Geoff Simmons

conceptual sketch by Daniel Libeskind

photo couresty of Bitterbredt


>>>notes from the front row


site conditions (a compact square block) in order to create the angled views. A metal frame within supported by concrete columns is enclosed by a curtain wall system (the exterior enclosure wraps completely around the structure of the building, like a curtain), in this case a syncopated rhythm of precast concrete panels and blue glass panels. I have never seen concrete look lighter; the combination of its smooth surface and bright color paired with the glass imparts a feeling of lightness to the whole structure, as if it could take flight. The east and west faces come to a common edge that sweeps to the building’s high point at the top of the curve (over 30 degrees above horizontal), which looks like the prow of a great ship slicing through the air. Just beneath this great arc of concrete and glass lies the Pinnacle, a 7800-square foot, three-story penthouse, the domus maximus, available at $5.4 million. (I’m hoping to put in my bid as soon as I can find a $5 million buyer for my $500 car.) Resident Steve Frank calls the Ascent “a social building” as tenants enjoy each other’s company for dinner, walks around the neighborhood or special events like the WEBN fireworks. He and his wife are representative of a number of empty-nester tenants who’ve fled the suburbs to live in the city, and to live in a signature building like this with its amenities and aesthetic status makes him “feel like I’m 19 again.” He feels a part of the community, which lesser high-rises can all but eliminate. He mentions the views, the sociability factor (“the unusual, gifted people who live here”) and the comfort factor in living in a modern building with warm, contemporary interiors, which the architect left neutral enough for tenants to customize in their own tastes. The east and west resident elevator banks (two on each side) separate the living units into smaller clusters and eliminate the need for long, institutional corridors. There are no more than three homes in any core lobby. This design move at once imparts a greater sense of privacy and enhances the sociability factor.

The ground floor double-height lobby is criss-crossed with steel strips in the tile floor, which are echoed on the ceiling by crossing strips of recessed lights. This is a signature move of Libeskind’s; force lines that repeat themselves throughout the building, serving in most cases to reinforce the geometric conditions, or forces, at work in the building’s design. At the top of the staircase in the lobby are the public spaces: meeting rooms, a dining room and catering kitchen, a billiard room, a theater/screening room, a children’s playroom, and guest suites. The amenities continue outdoors on the same level to a private patio/gathering area with a custom-designed fire pit and cooking grills. There is also around-the-clock concierge service and limousine service for tenants. Libeskind sees the Ascent as more than just a modern apartment block; for him the goal was to create a “cultural edifice”, a living member of the river front area that will help define the city and its people. “It has to be symbolic in its own way, and it is. We judge cities not just by their civic buildings. We judge them by: How do people live in those cities? What is the quality of their urban fabric?” To this point in time there have been precious few residential buildings designed by star architects, usually there is far more prestige and money involved in larger commercial projects. Libeskind’s awareness of the significance of the urban fabric of a city and the way its residents live is an encouraging sign that designers are increasingly aware of humanity as a whole, not just an opinionated few. What if America in the 21st century can be more than freeways, blacktop, bland office buildings and strip malls? Buildings like the Ascent show that it’s possible. It incorporates the basic elements: it’s of the earth in its integral connection to its site, it reaches for the sky and reflects the sky in its glass envelope, it presides over the water of the Ohio River, and it captures the fire of sunset from the west. It’s a work of art that provides a home for its residents. How I wish I was one of them!


photos by Steven Thomas


Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a new adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It combines live action and animation and the 3-D effects are a visual treat; when Alice falls down the rabbit hole we fall with her as she collides with the White Rabbit’s furniture and bookshelves on the way down. In this film Alice is nineteen years old and is revisiting the magical place she visited 13 years previously. She is destined to become an important figure in the destiny of the inhabitants of “Underland” (as it is really called) when she discovers that she is to slay the evil Jabberwocky on the field of battle (which looks like an enormous chess board) to release Underland from the evil Red Queen (or the Queen of Hearts) played beautifully by Burton regular Helena Bonham-Carter. On Frabjous Day the battle is fought (looking maybe a little too like Lord of the Rings), the threat is over and once again the dominion of the good White Queen is restored. Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen a little too broadly for film and looks stiff in her role, almost uncomfortable. Mia Wasikowska gives us a womanly and emotive Alice who pursues the

rabbit into his hole to escape an arranged marriage by her family in the society she lives in. Johnny Depp plays a wonderful Mad Hatter with a kind heart who helps Alice figure out what she must do to save Underland from the evil Red Queen. And a mad hatter he is; his personality changes from a proper English gent to a Scottish hooligan several times in the film as he accompanies Alice on her adventure. Alice also makes friends with the animals of Underland; Bayard the bloodhound takes her to the Red Queen’s castle and then helps her escape. The sword Alice must use to slay the Jabberwocky is in the lair of the fearful, sharp-toothed Bandersnatch (a character not seen in previous versions of the story). Earlier in the story this furry creature has lost an eye and Alice gives it back to him; this act of kindness persuades Bandersnatch to give Alice the Vorpal sword she needs. And of course, the Cheshire Cat leads the way she must follow from the moment she arrives. Once the Jabberwocky is slain and the Red Queen sent into exile, the White Queen offers Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky’s blood to drink that will send her back home. The Hatter suggests she might stay there with her new friends and

for a moment Alice is torn whether to stay with her friends or go back to her family and the rest of her normal life. Sad as she is to leave her friends, she drinks the vial and returns to her gentile English society. She refuses the arranged marriage and enters into a keen business arrangement with a friend of her late father’s. The story is well known

>>>notes from the front row


but told in an imaginative new way, the animations and colors and 3-D touches are enchanting. For me, however, Disney’s involvement in the film diluted Burton’s usual twisted magical style. Burton’s touches and choices are evident in the film but somehow Disney has compromised his genius and made this a shade more “typical”, if you will. Since Disney has done Alice before, I would have enjoyed seeing what Burton could have done with this on his own.

Headtronic Review, 4-24-10 Tonight was Headtronics’ penultimate gig (they have one left in Lexington next week) so I braved the rain and flash floods to head out to Silverton to see them at Play-by-Play Café, a sports bar with a surprisingly good stage and sound system. It really becomes a music club after dark some nights. Headtronics is Freekbass on bass, Steve Molitz on keyboards and DJ Logic mixing beats and samples behind them. They improvise the entire set, which I didn’t know beforehand. Like jazz musicians, they hit the stage and listen to each other and just take off. The results were astounding; a funk-dance-hiphop-dub polyglot at top volume, and the 200 or so people there danced. Once the groove heated up the young audience really let themselves go and got down with it. Molitz’s keyboards shot out sparks as it painted the room in bright colors; in just a few minutes I heard Rick Wright, Roger Troutman, Bernie

Worrell, Underworld, even John Paul Jones, all mixed up and patched through a delay pedal and vocoder as the showman in him burst through, dancing behind his keys as a musical phrase played itself through the delay. He is fun to watch. About forty minutes into the set, Freekbass stepped up front and just crushed the place with some slappin’ bass as DJ Logic stayed with him with nasty beats pulsing from his turntables and laptop. By this point the three musicians were so locked in even the transitions went smoothly; again, all of this was improvised on the spot! And just when it seemed like the roof was going to come crashing down, up onto the stage climbed Toby Donahue to sit behind the drum kit and wail away, keeping time with Logic and Freekbass. I thought heads would explode. To get up onstage and improvise at a level like this takes two things: guts and skills. Without speaking to each other, these guys plugged in and created a sound I may never hear again. Avant garde, funky and relentless. I’m glad I didn’t miss it.


talk derby to meThe Cincinnati Rollergirls

article by Brian Dobbinsphotos by Steven Thomas


hose of us over a certain age – which will remain unmentioned - remember a phenomenon of the 70’s called Roller Derby. An “entertainment sport” along the lines of professional wrestling that actually dates back to the 1930’s, it was fraught with danger, loosely

choreographed violence and scripted drama. Although there were male teams, the clear audience favorite was the women’s league… young ladies of varying levels of femininity on roller skates, elbowing one another around an angled wooden track to a predetermined conclusion. Like most fads, the game seemed to disappear as suddenly as it had appeared, but it remains alive and well today.

However, like most things, it has evolved into an entity different than that from which it began. The beveled rink and signature guardrail have disappeared, giving way to painted ovals on a flat concrete floor. While there is still plenty of physical contact, it is now an earnest competition, with teams vying for legitimate points. It has become, by definition, a sport. And in the Queen City, that sport is played by a group of women that is collectively known as the Cincinnati Rollergirls.

Founded in 2005, the team is owned and operated by its skaters, about 50 women from various points around the region. In 2007, the team moved to its current home, the Cincinnati Gardens, and became a member of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). They have formed a varsity team called the Black Sheep, and a junior varsity team called the Silent Lambs. Both teams play at home and away, taking on other roller derby teams from all over North America.

Having secured a confirmation to interview the players during their evening practice, I head towards the Gardens. As I drive down Carthage Avenue, I fall in behind a small black car that proudly sports a Rollergirl bumper sticker. I follow it into the Gardens parking lot and hop out of my sexy minivan just in time to see a woman with short black hair emerge from the driver side door. She hauls a backpack out of the backseat as I approach her. After introducing myself and explaining my purpose for

being there, I ask if she’s a Rollergirl. She replies in the affirmative and introduces herself as Poppy Chulo. She spells her name for me at my request, and tells me that it’s her “skate name.”

Poppy appears to be in her very early twenties. She is friendly and well-spoken, and offers to escort me to the training area. As we walk across the lot towards the building, I ask her what compelled her to become a Rollergirl. She says that she went to see a game and was immediately hooked on the sport.

“I couldn’t even skate at the time,” she confesses.

“Really?” I respond, genuinely surprised. “That’s kind of a problem if you want to be a Rollergirl, isn’t it?”

“A little bit,” she laughs. “But I just had to do it, so I learned.”

Poppy walks me through the official Rollergirl entrance to an area on the Gardens floor level. Once there, I find myself surrounded by ladies of all shapes and sizes sitting on blue metal folding chairs, chatting and donning their skating gear, which apparently consists of tight tops and leggings, helmets, shorts, pads and, not surprisingly, high top roller skates. One of them, an attractive young woman with sandy blond hair, graces me with a friendly smile. I quickly learn that she goes by the unlikely name of June With A Cleaver, and she found the Rollergirls through an ad in the paper. I ask if she had been seeking out the sport, and she replies with a quick “No”.

“I never played a team sport in my life,” she continues, so soft-spoken I can hardly hear her. “I hadn’t skated in seventeen years before I tried out.”

With no organized sport background and not even a skater, why would she join an organization like the Rollergirls?

“I was tired of going to the gym,” she laughs. “Honestly, that was it. Then I thought, what a great way to get my frustrations out and knock into other people.”

T

With her soft voice and polite demeanor, June seems like the last person I would expect to plow headlong into other people, out of frustration or for any other reason. When I ask what she does for a living, she tells that she’s an Expanded Duties Dental Assistant. When I confess that I don’t know what that is, she replies that, besides the usual duties of a dental assistant, she does fillings and other procedures.

“So you have to be pretty gentle during the day?”

“Yeah,” she laughs. “We’re supposed to be. I kind of switch when I get here. I put the skates on and the mean psycho comes out. But with my character, my other

personality as I call her, I can be nice and mean at the same time.”

That type of persona comes in handy, considering that the Rollergirls, like the other teams in the league, have to present two distinct faces to the crowds that pay to watch them. They are the good guys for the home audience, and the bad guys on the road. Those fans, June tells me, are amazing.

“They’ve really gotten into the game. They know the rules, know our characters, what to expect from us. In our first game with San Diego, they booed at the other

team’s introductions, which never happened before. It was wonderful.”

Chatting with June is pleasant work, but I want to talk to some of the other girls, as well. Looking around, I spot a leanly muscular young woman talking with a high school student, who is also there doing interviews. When they are finished, I ask the Rollergirl if she has any talk left in her.

“Sure,” she says in a sweet voice. She shakes my hand and introduces herself as Gigi Go Glitter.

Unlike Poppy Chulo and June With A Cleaver, Gigi is a

lifelong athlete with an extensive sports background that includes basketball, track and softball. She did, however, have to reacquaint herself with skating, which she says she hadn’t done in twenty years. She found Rollergirls on the Internet while looking for things to do in Cincinnati. A Pharmacy Technician, she spent her evenings and weekends on skates before she finally contacted the Rollergirls recruiter. She passed tryouts and attended their bootcamp, which she describes as four hours of learning all the basics of skating, how to fall without injury, and the moves and maneuvers that she refers to as “the parameters of the game”.



“It’s a lot of work being on this team, and it’s time consuming. There are games, workouts, speed drills… you’ve just got to skate, skate, skate.”

What drives her to do it?

“Becoming a Rollergirl was more of a personal goal for me than anything,” she answers thoughtfully. “I’m older than most of the other girls, and I wanted to get out there and prove to myself that I could still compete, that I can still hang with them. This is the best workout I’ve ever had, and the best shape I’ve been in since college. I’m lovin’ it.”

Something that immediately comes to light as I continue interviewing the girls is the diversity of backgrounds and personalities on this team. Each woman has her own reasons for becoming a Rollergirl, and for sticking at it.

Mirder Her (the misspelling of her name is intentional) is a chef at a country club. She says she got into the sport through a friend.

“My friend started a league, and she was looking for girls to play. I couldn’t really skate, but I felt like I needed something new at the time. I love the competition, the camaraderie… I like to push myself. It’s a lot of things.

My character comes out in a Hannibal Lector mask. It’s great.”

Sadistic Sadie is open and friendly, with an outspoken, no nonsense manner. She works in customer service for a bank, and cheerfully confesses that she’s nice all day because she’s paid to be. Once the skates are on and she gets in character, that all ends.

“My name’s Sadistic Sadie. That’s me in a nutshell. I like beating up on people and I like to skate, so when I heard about the league I figured it’d be a lot of fun. You get to be mean with no repercussions.”

Hannah Ouchocinco has to patiently spell her name for me twice before I realize the “Ouch” in Ouchocinco is a homage to the famous Cincinnati Bengal of the similar name. She sports a cast on her arm and the nearly invisible remains of stitches on her chin, and describes herself as having grown up on skates, “a total rink rat”.

“I’m in the game for the contact,” she says. “And there’s not a lot of contact sports for women”. Practice begins on the open concrete floor of the Gardens. Three ovals, formed by rope that is covered and secured in place by tape, are laid out on the hard surface. Both the smaller center oval, and the larger one that surrounds it,


When the whistle blows once, the pack takes off. When the whistle blows twice, the jammers start fighting their way through the pack. The first jammer to legally make it through the pack is designated the “lead jammer.” The jammers must lap the pack once before sprinting through the pack again to score points by passing members of the opposing team.


The pack consists of a pivot and three blockers. The pivots, who wear stripes on their helmets, set the pace and lead the other blockers in a pack. The pack tries to prevent the other teams jammer from fighting their way through the pack and passing members of their team.


are that fluorescent yellow-green color that has always seemed both sickly and sinister to me. These ovals are where the Rollergirls jam, elbow, and body check the members of the opposing teams while trying to pass them to score points. The third and largest oval, which is a bright blue, is reserved for the male referees, whom the girls refer to as “Dangles.” I won’t bother with the hidden meaning of that nickname, other than to say it’s exactly as it sounds.

The skaters glide around the track at different speeds, some chatting as they roll along together, others bent low in isolated concentration, all of them looking smoothly at ease on their wheels. At shouted commands from the ref - who does triple duty as mentor and promotions, and was my initial contact with the team - the girls brake, turn, skate backwards, and generally do maneuvers than would land yours truly on his inexperienced backside. Finally they stop in place, and a bespeckled Rollergirl named The Librarian

leads them through a regimen of stretching exercises that they perform at varying levels of interest.

While The Librarian puts her teammates through their paces, I get a chance to talk to Lee, the ref. Like the Rollergirls, he gives his time to the game voluntarily. A financial consultant during the day, he knows better than anyone that he won’t get rich spending

his evenings and weekends on the track.

“My wife and I just love this game,” he tells me. “It’s an interest we can share together, and we have a good time with it.”

How did he get involved?

“We went to a couple of games and really enjoyed them. Then one day I was talking to the dental tech who was working on

me. She got us into it.”


www.eastsidermagazine.com


The dental tech was none other than June With A Cleaver, who at that moment is out on the rink, stretching her finely tuned muscles. Before long, Lee was both promoting and refereeing the games. Like him, many of the girls on this team perform more than one function, holding administrative positions in the league, as well as playing.

Lee rolls away to watch the team’s progress. As I lean with my forearms on the wooden wall that separates me from the activities on the floor, one of the girls rolls over and stops in front of me. Her round, friendly face beams at me from under her helmet.

“You want to interview Geez Louise?” she asks conversationally.

“Are you Geez Louise?” I reply.

“Yeah,” she says, and actually giggles.

“Well, then sure,” I say, and decide to get right to it. “Why are you a Rollergirl, Geez Louise?”

Louise has a ready answer. “I like to knock girls down.”

“Just girls?” I feel the need to clarify.

“Just girls.”

“So I’m safe?” These are not factious questions. Louise is helmeted, padded and no waif, so I want to confirm my physical security.

“Yeah.” Another giggle.

“ Any other reasons?”

“I just love it. I’ve always been athletic. I went to college on an athletic scholarship. I did track and field. I threw the javelin and the shot put. I was on teams, but this is the first sport I’ve played where you really have to depend on your teammates and your partners”

At my request, Louise goes on to clarify the players’ team

positions. She explains that a girl is either a jammer or a blocker. Blockers can be either tail blockers or pivots. The pivot is identified by a striped helmet, and plays in the front to control her “pack”. The girls can switch it up and play different positions, although Louise herself is always a tail blocker.

“Gotta love having a pack,” I offer. Louise agrees.

Although she looks and sounds as if she’s twenty, she shocks me by telling me that, at forty-one, she’s the oldest player on the squad. A freelance artist, she spends her daytime hours at a Northside studio working with students with disabilities. She has a young son, and hopes that her hard work as a dedicated team player has a positive effect on his life as well as her own. All this, combined with her effusive congeniality and bubbly personality, would seem to make her a surprising candidate to eagerly suit up and gleefully put other women on their butts. She’s just so… nice. When I comment on this, her smile widens and she shrugs her shoulders.

“I love my teammates, and I love the game, but hitting people is seriously the best part for me. I try to be a good person, but I keep a lot of anger inside, and this is the place to let it out. Everybody wants to hit someone sometime. I just do it here.”

I can’t argue with her logic, and I don’t want to try.

Their stretching routine over, the girls renew their skating drills as I leave the practice. Driving away, I reflect on both the diversity and similarities of the Cincinnati Rollergirls, as well as all the factors and individual life experiences that have led each of them to this unique game. Finally I simply shake my head and decide that I’m over-thinking it. Ultimately they all play for the same reason…

They just like it.

www.eastsidermagazine.com | april 2010 | 23

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