Cover me: Burkini fever

September 4, 2016

The first time I saw the burkini – the controversial swimwear worn primarily by Muslim women, whose ban on French beaches was recently overturned by a French court – I thought, if I wasn’t often so hot, and not in a good way, I would definitely wear one.

Indeed, when I first hit the beach in Bali – the Hindu island of Muslim Indonesia, where everyone lets it all hang out – I was dressed in a one-piece and a sarong, accessorized by a beach umbrella.

I cannot have the sun beating down on my head – I take my daily constitutional with an umbrella or parasol in the warm-weather months – and I don’t want my skin overexposed to Mr. Sun either.

I’m not alone. British chef Nigela Lawson sports a burkini at the beach to shield her fair skin, and the swimsuit has been championed by members of both sexes and several major religions, along with lifeguards in Australia, where it was designed by Lebanese-born Aheda Zanetti. ...

Taking a knee for civil disobedience

September 3, 2016

The Colin Kaepernick protest rolls on with Colin taking a knee with teammate and safety Eric Reid as the National Anthem played before the San Francisco 49ers-San Diego Chargers game Thursday night.

And while that action and his “Cops as Pigs” socks have drawn criticism and boos, including from law enforcement, there are signs that the protest is gathering supporters and momentum, spreading to the rival Seattle Seahawks (cornerback Jeremy Lane sat) and drawing praise perhaps surprisingly from some of the people who have defended the American flag, U.S. military veterans.

“I’m not anti-American. I love America. I love people,” says Colin, who’s donating $1 million to groups affected by police brutality and racial inequality. “That’s why I’m doing this. I want to help make America better.” ...

Black like him: Colin Kaepernick and race

August 31, 2016

“Only in America could a conversation about racial oppression devolve into one black millionaire calling out a biracial millionaire for not knowing what's it's like to be truly oppressed.”

So posted Mark Thomas on an ESPN thread about NFL analyst Rodney Harrison criticizing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he sat through the National Anthem in a preseason game to protest violence toward blacks and other people of color in this country. Harrison said that Kaepernick – whom all eyes will be on when the Niners take on the San Diego Chargers on CBS’ “Thursday Night Football” – didn’t know what it was like to be a black man. ...

Colin Kaepernick – a standup guy?

August 31, 2016

In the continuing saga of people I admire becoming cause célèbres this summer, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the National Anthem before a preseason game Friday to protest violence against blacks, garnering praise and condemnation.

I remain a Kaepernick fan – just as I remain a fan of Ryan Lochte. I believe people are more than the one comment or action by which we may judge them. And he, of course, has the right to protest this violence, which he understands as a biracial man in a way I as a white woman can’t.

But to me “The Star-Spangled Banner” is bigger than racism and violence, as is the Stars and Stripes. These are about our country as a whole and its place on this earth, all those Americans who came before, including those who died in defense of its freedom, and all those who have come and will come after. ...

Nick Kyrgios and the mystery of temperament

August 28, 2016

So The New York Times Magazine’s US Open Special is basically a cover story on bad boy du jour Nick Kyrgios, pictured biting on the cross he wears around his neck and, oh, you can imagine the posts in response – not just about the cross but on Nick in general.

But the cross is an interesting metaphor here. Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16: 24-36)

What indeed. ...

The Lochte caper enters the backlash-against-the-backlash phase

August 26, 2016

I had planned to write a post about the big, fat September Vogue and editrix Anna Wintour’s latest anointed tennis star, Alexander Zverev, who at 19 is the youngest player to crack the top 30 since Novak Djokovic a decade ago. (The magazine article’s headline blares “Alexander the Great” above a picture of a shirtless, Alexandrian figure indeed.)

But I’m afraid such pleasures pale with the news that Brazilian Police have recommended that Ryan Lochte be charged with falsely reporting a crime for saying he’d been robbed at a gas station during the Rio Games. ...

The Rio Games and the summer of our discontent

August 23, 2016

Is it just me or were the Rio Games ultimately dispiriting? Yes, I’m glad as an American that the United States won 121 medals and as a woman that American woman won 61 of them. (Give it up for Title IX.)

And I thought the Christoph Waltz/Samsung Galaxy commercial – in which the two-time Academy Award winner manages to mock superior Eurotrash and over-accomplished, multitasking exceptional Americans at the same time through a series of character vignettes – was just terrific.

But too many athletes reminded me that time is the cruelest opponent. ...