2008 Woodie Awards
Derby girls raise hell on wheels
By: David Johns
Issue date: 3/23/06 Section: LifeStyle
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"We really need to get a real practice and performance facility," Whited said. "The Skatium has been alright, but there's no seating capacity at all."
This is only the latest hurdle for the St. Louis group, which is trying to gain acceptance into the 30-team Women's Flat-Track Derby Association. Finding a rink with cheap rent was the priority when the league was first created late last year, but now they need a facility that would look attractive to the WFTDA.
They currently practice at the Skatium on South Broadway, usually immediately following public skating sessions late at night.
Whited and her friends, C.J. "the Siege" Etzkorn, and Alicia Wilton aka "Demonicka Pocalypse" all arrived early to practice Feb. 26. All three are Webster University alumni.
Etzkorn, like Whited, received her bachelor's degree from Webster in 2000. Both graduated with a degree in media communications. Whited earned her master's in 2004 in the same field.
Wilton earned her bachelor's in audio production in 2001.
All of the Arch Rivals are at least 21, a few over 40. Many, like Whited, Etzkorn and Wilton, are 22 to 30 years old, out of college, and haven't quite found their niche in the marketplace.
At this juncture of the womens' lives, they enter an economy that doesn't foster financial or job security.
A March 2 New York Times article, "Stretched to Limit, Women Stall March to Work," cites a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisors. The report shows a two-percent decline of women who are working or actively seeking a job, 75 percent from 2000's 77 percent. Men in the same category figure in at 90 percent.
An article in the Los Angeles Times, "That Good Education Might Not Be Enough" March 6, reports census figures that have college graduates earning five-percent less income in 2004 than they did in 2000.
The same article describes an out-sourcing shift from production-related jobs to service-related jobs, which would hit the job market for freshly-graduated college students even harder.