D(r)oll House
Throughout my life, there have been only a few times when I've been scared for other people. I suppose that there are a number of reasons for this mentality, but I say that most of this feeling stems from the face that I've lived a relatively sheltered sort of life growing up and nobody around me was ever in any real danger (other than maybe not getting an A on a test). Nowhere else has it been more apparent to me exactly how many street skills I lacked than when I was in an underground parking lot in the middle of Historic Filipinotown on a Saturday night.
One of the obsessions from this past year has been attending the LA Derby Dolls and seeing all of the action up close. I'm not entirely sure what the appeal of the sport is, but I will admit that I'm hooked on the games. There's just something refreshing about women being aggressive in a "we're not attacking each other and being faux-lesbian for a male audience" sort of way. The girls truly seem to enjoy what they do and there's some fascinating about being part of an underground (by LA standards) event that's held in an old warehouse.
The air around us was chilly and a bit moist as we stepped out of the car and began to head for the exit. We could hear people around us talking with excitement about attending the upcoming match, although it was not to start for a couple of hours. Cutting through the chatter came the sound of two voices clearly in an argument. The sounds got louder and we eventually looked to see what was going on. A woman, clad in a thin t-shirt and some skinny jeans, was standing outside of a car gesturing frantically at something while a man leaned out of the driver's side window with his head on his elbow. A squealing of tires followed as the woman quickly jumped out of the way.
In my head I knew what I should do, but I'm always a little bit nervous as I don't know who's around in LA. Perhaps it's selfish, but I always think that someone might have a gun and that it is just not worth getting involved. I ran to the security guard in the area, however, and let him know what was about to happen. To my surprise, all I got back was a shrug. I felt guilty, but I didn't want to get involved myself and if the guy in the car was already trying to run a woman over, there was not much that I could do.
Little did I know that this was apparently par for the course.I cannot say enough good things about the match, but highlights include Alexis Arquette singing the National Anthem, a girl falling over a railing and walking back out with high heels and an ice pack, and some of the best trashy hole-filled fishnets ever. I left the arena amidst a mass of people and couldn't get off of the high that I experienced for quite a while. Where else in the country does this sort of stuff happen? I'm so happy that I finally got the chance to experience something like this.
Can you all see the roller skate disco ball in the background?!