All Too Often,The Beat Does Not Go On

Sad story about the Empire Roller Skating Center in Brooklyn closing down in Sunday's NYT. The last indoor wood-floor skating rink in the five boroughs.

It will become...a storage facility.

Makes me want to strap on my skates, head over to Oaks Park & thank the heavens that I live about 3 miles away from the largest roller skating rink in the Pacific NW.

Fact: roller derby (at least for girls) is pretty darn popular around these parts. Portland's got its own league, the Rose City Rollers, comprised of four teams. (From the pics on their site, I guess they're trying to look tough, but I wish they would smile anyway. Football players smile. Of course, I'm generally recoiling from seeing them with their helmets off...but that's beside the point. Ladies, you can smile & still be badass.) I've not yet seen this in action & frankly have little idea what it is, but I do know it is a contact sport involving roller skates, fishnet stockings, & beer. Sounds like heaven on earth, if you ask me. Looks like they're having tryouts in June...hmm...