What’s your favorite color? Another banner year. Of football and art.

Dear Friends,
When I came to Oklahoma, everybody told me I would have to declare whether I was orange or crimson. They weren’t talking about my aura. They were, of course, talking about football. OSU or OU. Now, I admit, that if you show me anything in the color orange, I will probably buy it, which is why I had plenty of strangers back-slapping me with a smile after I moved here, since I have lots of orange clothes…only to receive puzzled looks when I said I’d just been to OU (crimson), job-hunting.
I confused them even more when, after finding out why they were so jolly and then so perplexed, I explained I don’t like football. Many a person shook their head and said, “Well, you’ll just have to get to like it and then choose.” Choose what? Why, crimson or orange, OU or OSU.
Now I confess I just don’t get football, and I never did. I am an aging hippie, and I still don’t get why grown men want to run around on a field and try to knock each other down, violently. Having known some folks whose lives were threatened by the sport, I really don’t get it. I think I only went to one football game in high school and that was because my mom had made me a very cool outfit for fall. Although she made it for me to wear to football games, and although I loved the outfit (had my high school graduation picture taken in it), I just wasn’t interested in football games. I’m still not.
You can imagine the yawn for me when the Super Bowl came to town. I fortunately had one retail job (bookstore) where it was my job to create Anti-Super Bowl parties for the bookish, non-sporting types. This always drew a crowd of women looking to escape the testosterone-filled chips-and-beer party at home. We had chair massages, invited romance authors, ate strawberries dipped in chocolate. And joked about men. (You know how women can be!)
I lucked out that most of my boyfriends, although big burly guys, cared more about music and art than sports. In fact, it’s through some of them that I heard stuff that made me like football even less. (Some were forced to play because of their size.) Although I understand the positives of teamwork and working hard toward a goal, I still can’t relate to the “beat ‘em up” mentality nor the fact that coaches would scream and belittle their players. That is another thing I just don’t get. You don’t have to abuse people to make them men…or a women.
Now, I’ll tell you the truth. I get it now, that some folks, my dad included, never could understand the worth of art. My dad thought art was a waste of time and couldn’t make you a living. Although I disagreed with him then, his attitude somehow sunk into me, and I regret to this day that I didn’t become an artist. But I understand what he was saying, which is that he didn’t get the worth of art anymore than I got the worth of football.
Sometimes I think it would be preferable if football and certain other games were used instead of war, kind of like in the James Caan movie “Rollerball” from 1975. Younger folks may remember the 2002 version with LL Cool J and Chris Klein. But, even so, soccer fans in Europe react to that extreme during and after certain important games. I say “important”. They aren’t, really. But if football games were used in place of war, I guess they would be important. And then, of course, Oklahoma would be at war with Texas. And then, of course, I’d stop wearing orange in public, just in case…
What are your thoughts?
By the way, here’s a reminder that we are going into a year such as we haven’t had since 1928. Although there will be some growth, we can expect things to get pretty rocky and rebellious around Memorial Day. We have two and a half years coming of pressure from relationships—or the law. It started the end of last year, which was why you saw so much talk about marriage, cheating, and the like on the “large stage”, as I like to call it. And of course, the Patriot Act clamp-down is back on for the next couple of years. I tell people, to go with the flow and use the energies in a good way: write a book and get published, go to relationship therapy, OR go to law or design or even beauty school! This is a time to practice meditation (and mediation!) and harmony within, so it will be reflected around you.
If you feel you’re spinning your wheels, be patient till March and then the floodgates will open. We will have period bursts throughout the year and the first/second week of March and the end of May/beginning of June will be tough. If we can make it through that, we can make it…so hold on! I usually say Life is like surfing…sometimes it’s calm, sometimes the waves are rocky, and sometimes it’s the Big Kahuna. For the next couple of years, I shall liken life to riding a bucking bronco. Sometimes you get a dud, but beware, because this next may be the ride of your life. So HANG ON TIGHT!!!
Have a great month! And enjoy the Super Bowl Day, whatever you do!
Love ya,
Andrea (the Booklady)