The
       Roaring
                      Grrl


The Grand Gesture


I think I watch too many movies. In fact, I’m sure of it.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 7/2/2008 7:35 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Critical Floating


I live in Montana and in the summer, I don’t fish, hunt, hike, or camp. I float. That is, I slather on some sun screen, get into an inner tube, and let the current take me down a river.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 7/2/2008 7:28 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
What Didn't Happen

In May every year when my students graduate from the
university, I am reminded of what didn’t happen for me when I graduated from
college.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 5/23/2008 5:03 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Waving Day
Just recently in Dillon we enjoyed a day I call Waving Day.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 4/20/2008 2:26 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Valentines Schmalentines
I am not what you would call a romantic person. Sure, I enjoy receiving the occasional bouquet or batch of cookies from Jacek, but for the most part, I’m just happy when he shows up on time with the right movie. In return, I provide for him a comfy couch and a suitable beverage. This give and take really works for us.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 2/15/2008 11:20 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Wide Open Spaces

My favorite song by the Dixie Chicks is “Wide Open Spaces.”
Here are a few lyrics:

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 1/22/2008 9:16 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Have a Heart
For the past week, I’ve been fighting a cold. I hate colds, partly because I don’t understand how it is that scientists have discovered how to make the perfect French fry (beef aroma apparently has something to do with it) but they still haven’t figured out a cure for the common cold and partly because colds are so mundane. I like what my favorite character on Gilmore Girls, Loralei, says: “Having a cold is so boring. Just once I’d like to say, ‘I’m sorry I can’t make it, but my leg is haunted.’”
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 11/13/2007 7:27 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Share and Share Alike
I’m sure somewhere a file kept on me during kindergarten reads, “Does not share with others.” With shame, I remember a selfish moment of gobbling down a Three Musketeers bar after my mother told me to share it with my friends. In school, whenever we did a group project, I bossed everyone around and took over all the work so that the project would be done “right.”
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2007 2:46 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
The Things We Do For Money, Part 2

This month I became a chestnut, otherwise known as a first time reader for a national testing service. Although I did feel significantly nuttier by the end of the scoring session, I don’t know why they call us chestnuts.

What they should have called us was veal.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 6/18/2007 2:23 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
The Things We Do For Money

I’ve been thinking a lot about money lately. Our university’s faculty are part of a union. This year, we’re renegotiating our contract, and our major appeal is for more money.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 5/25/2007 10:05 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Verbs

            I recently celebrated a birthday whose arrival nearly traumatized me.

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 3/20/2007 7:50 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Life's Little Absurdities
I enjoy life’s little absurdities. In fact, I revel in them. Here are a few absurdities I’ve noted of late: —A pogo stick in a kitchen —Twinkies in a vintage cookie jar —Getting a bikini wax to AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill” —At the Patagonia Outlet, a box of women’s pants labeled, “Odd Bottoms” —Happy Feet, Charlotte’s Web, and Rocky Balboa advertised for the “Mommy Show” at Carmike Cinemas —A 34-year-old woman learning to ski
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 1/15/2007 9:19 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Being a Blockhead
At the end of a class, one of my colleagues said he felt like a fried weenie sandwich. As I sit here swathed in sweats, fleece, and my mommy-made knit socks, I concur, though at this point in the school term, I often refer to myself as a blockhead and feel like Charlie Brown when he puts his head against a wall and moans. At ...
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 9/24/2006 8:21 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Welcome!
    Welcome to RoaringGrrl.com! From July 2005 until August 2006, I wrote a monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) column for the Dillon Tribune, the weekly newspaper of Dillon, Montana. You may find a backlog of those original columns on this site under the category, Tribune Columns.
    My tenure with the newspaper has come to an end because the column's subheading, "A newcomer's view of Dillon" is no longer true. Though anyone who was born and raised in Dillon would NEVER call me a local, I am technically not a newcomer to Dillon any more.
    BUT I still have A LOT to say about living as a single, white, female academic in Dillon, Montana!
    Therefore, I have decided to continue my monthly column via a different medium with fewer restrictions on the language I might use and the subjects I might cover.
    AND you can subscribe to this blog and receive my latest column as soon as I post it! Stay tuned!
   

Bethany

P.S. The title of this website, "RoaringGrrl," is a play on the title of Thomas Dekker's 17th century drama, The Roaring Girl. The play features a woman, Moll, or the Roaring Girl, who won't be silenced by her husband, her friends, or her family. In short, Moll is one mouthy broad. I like her.
    I changed Roaring Girl to RoaringGrrl to avoid copyright infringement. And who doesn't want to be a "grrl" with bite, sass, and attitude?

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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/13/2006 6:30 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
A Year in the Life
This week I ironed my kitchen curtains. This may not seem like a big deal, but I hung the curtains last year when I moved to Montana. I noticed they needed to be pressed, but my laziness won out. I figured the wrinkles would hang out, but they didn’t.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/13/2006 5:27 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
How to Beat the Heat in Montana
As I sit here on a sweltering summer afternoon in my un-air conditioned apartment with my laptop burning ABIHSOT into my thighs, I’m thinking about all the ways I might keep from bursting into flames.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2006 4:22 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
The RoaringGrrl Goes Camping
In my last column, I made a statement about the intellectual work academics engage in during our summers away from the classroom. But all work and no play make Jane a dull girl, so I’ve been trying to have a little fun this summer.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2006 4:20 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
An Academic in the Summer
As the school year winds down at the university, I find myself in an unusual position. I don’t have a job this summer. And what’s more, I don’t HAVE to have a job this summer. Woah.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2006 4:19 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Put On A Little Grin
In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Marcy tells Peppermint Patty that smiling takes less energy than frowning. Continuing to frown, Patty says, “Great. Then I’m exercising.”
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2006 4:18 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
The Girls and Me
While I was in graduate school, I had a strong cohort of buddies who kept me sane. I named us “The Crew,” and every Thursday night, we’d meet for coffee at the local beanery.
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Posted by Roaringgrrl at 8/9/2006 4:15 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)