Yesterday I had the good fortune of being allowed to volunteer at the Pushy Women South Side Speaking Event held at the Gasworks Theatre in South Melbourne.
The City of Port Phillip and The Squeaky Wheel joined forces with larger-than-life Catherine Deveny to bring together a knock-your-socks-off lineup of intelligent, hilarious women to chat about all things bikeish.
Having offered to volunteer- another YOLO experience- I arrived at the theatre and asked to be put to work. After throwing a few postcards on seats, helping some of the performers unpack and assisting on the door I took my seat and spent the next two hours laughing harder than I have in a long time.
Tracey Harvey
Bev Killick
Highlights for me were Tracey Harvey taking off her pants and knickers and cycling around the stage and Bev Killick regaling us with a story of an unfortunate bike incident which culminated in her stubbie-wearing butcher father yelling "EVONNE! EVONNE! BEV'S CAUGHT HER VAGINA ON HER NEW RED BIKE!". My Goodness, I honestly have not laughed as much in a really long time.
There were a bunch of other fab speakers with varying levels of enthusiasm for bikes and cycling- some who don't cycle much and one (Sally Warhaft) who admitted to having no interest in bikes at all, poking fun at the language and politics of the cycling world. I liked it. I could relate. I like riding for riding's sake and I join Sally in being happy to avoid all the other bits. I also enjoyed the exploration of the phrase "ON YA BIKE" and the suggestion of a few people she'd like to say it to (I concur, particularly Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott).
I think I have a bit of a girl-crush on Karla Burt, star of Girl Friday (click HERE to watch!) who spoke about her love affair with cycling around Paris and her dismay at the realisation that the bike awaiting her back at home was an ugly old mountain bike and would not be nearly as romantic and life-enriching as her Parisian ride. Her description of the purchase of a sparkly new step-through made me want to leave my ugly-but-reliable workhorse on the verandah un-padlocked. Maybe I'll just sell it and save up for a Lekker. Yes... that's what I'll do.
Kate Miller-Heidke told the story of a lost love... the love being a brand new white Mongoose mountain bike; the loss being the Christmas Day theft that occurred outside Indooroopilly McDonalds. It was a heart-wrenching tale. The musical accompaniment was a nice touch and added a certain sorrowful vibe.
Considering I didn't really do very much as a volunteer, I feel extremely lucky to have been able to sit in on this event. I look forward to future Pushy Women events where I can be a more useful tag-along. Thank you Pip and Jette for allowing me to contribute in the small way I did.
If you like the sound of this event, there is another coming up on March 16th where you can see Kate Langbroek, Bev Killick, Genevieve Morris, Van Badham, Anne Edmunson, Karen Pickering, Lally Katz and Pip Lincoln talk bikes. Details HERE.
There were a bunch of other fab speakers with varying levels of enthusiasm for bikes and cycling- some who don't cycle much and one (Sally Warhaft) who admitted to having no interest in bikes at all, poking fun at the language and politics of the cycling world. I liked it. I could relate. I like riding for riding's sake and I join Sally in being happy to avoid all the other bits. I also enjoyed the exploration of the phrase "ON YA BIKE" and the suggestion of a few people she'd like to say it to (I concur, particularly Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott).
Karla Burt
I think I have a bit of a girl-crush on Karla Burt, star of Girl Friday (click HERE to watch!) who spoke about her love affair with cycling around Paris and her dismay at the realisation that the bike awaiting her back at home was an ugly old mountain bike and would not be nearly as romantic and life-enriching as her Parisian ride. Her description of the purchase of a sparkly new step-through made me want to leave my ugly-but-reliable workhorse on the verandah un-padlocked. Maybe I'll just sell it and save up for a Lekker. Yes... that's what I'll do.
Kate Miller-Heidke
Kate Miller-Heidke told the story of a lost love... the love being a brand new white Mongoose mountain bike; the loss being the Christmas Day theft that occurred outside Indooroopilly McDonalds. It was a heart-wrenching tale. The musical accompaniment was a nice touch and added a certain sorrowful vibe.
Considering I didn't really do very much as a volunteer, I feel extremely lucky to have been able to sit in on this event. I look forward to future Pushy Women events where I can be a more useful tag-along. Thank you Pip and Jette for allowing me to contribute in the small way I did.
If you like the sound of this event, there is another coming up on March 16th where you can see Kate Langbroek, Bev Killick, Genevieve Morris, Van Badham, Anne Edmunson, Karen Pickering, Lally Katz and Pip Lincoln talk bikes. Details HERE.
Gee that sounds flipping fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteIt really was! Are you in Melbourne? If so, you should definitely try to get along to one. :)
ReplyDelete:( alas i'm in the emerald city. but I hope lots of people find out about it cause it sounds T for Terrific.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds very funny and inspiring too and you had such a good posse:)
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