NHRD: You both have very different backgrounds far from derby. Can you tell us a little bit about your “day jobs”?
Trixie: Designing, managing and deploying global marketing campaigns for Ektron, I spend my days trying to convince corporations that they need to buy Ektron’s enterprise web content management solution. As Web Campaign
Manager, I manage all email marketing efforts, Pay-Per-Click Advertising, Social Advertising and other lead acquisition programs. I am also charged with delivering fancy graphs and statistics to the powers that be. I’m a bit of a nerd in that respect.
Slam: I’m a doctoral student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. I think I’m in my third out of five years, but that’s optimistic. I’m interested in global education, particularly the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of a competent global citizen. I’d like to use my research to test ways that education could foster the desire and the ability to solve pressing world problems, to innovate on a global scale, and to work toward global peace, justice, and sustainability.
NHRD: What attracted you to Derby?
Trixie: Having always felt a little different from everyone else and sometimes, like an outsider, I somehow seemed to fit in with all of the other misfits that stumbled upon roller derby. Additionally, since I despise typical exercise routines, this was a fun outlet to stay in shape.
Slam: I had just moved up here with my family to start my program, and had been teaching elementary and middle school for some years before that. I haven’t tested this theory but I think teaching in the public school system makes a person want to hit other people, given the proportion of derby girls who either are, or were, teachers. The whole Slam family went to Roller Consolation in 2008 and it all looked like so much fun. I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
NHRD: Personally, I’ve noticed over the years that most of the people I hang around with on a consistent basis are “derby” people. How has derby impacted your life? (Positively OR Negatively)
Trixie: As most skaters will attest to, derby consumes your life. If you aren’t working, eating or sleeping, derby is on the mind. I’ve met some amazing women (and men) from all around the globe, some of them I am lucky enough to call friends. When I first started playing derby I was new to the area and had few local friends. Within a week, I had more than 30 sisters who I knew I could call on at any hour of the night. Derby will always be important to me, as I was lucky enough to find the love of my life, fellow teammate, Sin D. Lap-Her. Oh, and I also have a “derby wife”, May B. Knotty, who shares a fondness of Dirty Martinis! When I am old and gray, I will always think back on my days a NH Roller Girl as some of the best days of my life.
Slam: Derby has been one of the greatest challenges of my life, physically and mentally. It routinely pushes me way, way past my comfort zone. I love that. I love the fact that the sport seeps into every aspect of my life, too. There have been times when I’ve been getting ready for a stressful meeting and I think to myself, “If you can take a hit from Maully, then this is nothing.” I think it’s great that I have visions of knocking people into the snowbanks as I walk around Cambridge (I haven’t actually done it, yet). And probably most of all, I have made so many very close friendships with a wide variety of awesome people through derby.
NHRD: You are both strong women and make super captains. Being a captain is a lot of “work” as opposed to just being a skater. There’s an added level of pressure and responsibility. What do you find most challenging or enjoyable about being a captain?
Trixie: Having never been a Captain of a sport before, I was honored to be elected as Skate Free or Die!’s 2010 captain along with my co-captain, Ivanna B. Vicious (I think we made a great team – along with Jam Coach, Bettie Off Dead). At first, everything was time consuming – my first scrimmage roster took me three hours to complete. And researching new and advanced drills for team practices was a challenge, but over time, it became much easier. Keeping the lines of communications open within the team I found was very important. Everyone needs a voice in what we are trying to accomplish – whether it is talking about what worked in the prior jam to discussing the role each skater wants to play on the team. Making sure I was giving constructive feedback to each teammate was challenging for me at first. It’s intimidating, especially when you have players that are better skaters than you, but that’s why it was so important to have open communication with each teammate. Whether we won or lost, one of the most rewarding aspects was knowing that we all worked hard together to get to that point. We would always learn from our mistakes and brought that with us to the next team practice. And with our first WFTDA sanctioned game just a few short weeks away, I can’t tell you how proud I am to be skating with this amazing group of women. 2011 is going to be NH Roller Derby’s year to shine. That puts a huge smile on my face.
Slam: Actually I’ve been co-captain with two awesome skaters, Hazel Smut Crunch at the beginning of the season and Seema Littleoff in the second half of the season, and our fantastic jam coach, Fresh Eddie Fresh, has been a huge support. Being captain of the Cherry Bombs has been a privilege. Right from the beginning this has been a team of extremely dedicated people. We all work together to build ourselves up as a team. We build core skills and team unity continuously. It’s the dedication and the unity that has made the job of captain so fulfilling, and pretty easy. It’s great to be a Bomb. I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
NHRD: Being involved in derby, there’s obviously an adventurous side to you. If not roller derby, than what would you be doing?
Trixie: I definitely have an affinity for adventure. Among traveling, hiking, cooking, playing Scrabble, and drinking fine wines and champagne, my other favorite past-time is Scuba Diving. I actually want to get a tattoo on my arm of a Scuba Diving Roller Girl (calling all artists)!
Slam: If it weren’t for roller derby, I’d spend more time at the computer playing with data and running statistical analysis. Not adventurous, you say? Pah! Come see me sometime, and you will learn the joy of stats. But I have my whole life for stats. I can probably only play roller derby for another 20 or 30 years.
