Sunday, July 1, 2007

Take Your Blog to the Course: U.S. Women's Open

As promised and reminded, this is Mostly Harmless's First "Take Your Blog to the Course" Carnival for the U.S. Women's Open. I'll post here the no doubt vast number of submissions I'll be receiving at the[underscore]constructivist18[at]yahoo[dot]com between June 25th and July 1st (U.S. time--this blog is on Japan time while I'm still on this side of the Pacific) and keep this page at the top of the blog during that stretch. In addition, I'll feature my favorite post of the day each day I get multiple submissions.

July 1
It's home stretch time!

And they're off!

June 30
Here's why I'm looking ahead to Sunday!

Here's me not-quite-live-blogging "Friday's round," take two.

Here's a mix-tape (or open letter or whatever) to tide you all through all the weather delays today. [Ah, good to see the music scared the bad weather away!]

June 29
Here's my attempt at not-quite-live-blogging Friday's round.

Here's a little friendly advice to those actually live-blogging this thing.

June 28
Here's my Round 1 Roundup, a tribute to Charles Dickens.

In which I profile 1 KLPGA and 3 JLPGA stars in this year's field.

June 27
Elayne Riggs plugs TYBttC as her silly site o' the day.

In which I link to better bloggy events, make threats to friends, and link to pre-tournament articles and interviews.

June 26
Here's Hound Dog's U.S. Women's Open preview.

Here are some of my guesses as to why the rest of blogoramaville isn't embracing this carnival.

June 25
Be sure to check out my tournament preview.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Constructivist,
are you watching the Open in Japan? What kind of coverage is it getting over there?

And of course... who's your pick?

The Constructivist said...

Well, I picked Ochoa but am rooting for Miyazato. Japanese tv will cover the Open, not just because of Ai-chan but also because JLPGA stars like Sakura Yokomine will be competing. I've seen lots of ads on tv. But my sense is the Ai-chan media craze is abating a little. The high school boy who won the men's professional tournament (beating Ai-chan's brothers, BTW) is getting huge attention, and people like Mi-Jeong Jeon, Shiho Oyama, Yuri Fudoh, and Momoko Ueda are on tv every weekend.

The key thing is, I'll probably get to see the action taped, and maybe even live....

The Constructivist said...

Ron Sirak actually wrote a decent Open preview--but where are the Koreans? I'm already starting to get upset over the order of pre-tournament interviews on the USGA site. When will we hear from Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Jeong Jang, Shi Hyun Ahn, Jee Young Lee, Seon Hwa Lee, Sarah Lee, and Angela Park, all of whom are playing well and who could very likely contend?

The Constructivist said...

Here's an example: this is a fantastic story on Meaghan Francella, emphasizing her working class background and her parents' struggles to finance her amateur and pro career, along with her work ethic and career. As a fellow NYer whose parents grew up in LI, I was already aware of some of this. You know what a great follow-up would be? A broader look at class on the tour--Brittany Lincicome has a great "American dream" style story, but so does Na On Min and I'm sure many of the other Asian golfers who fit this profile. It's not like Ai Miyazato comes from Japanese royalty--she's Okinawan, and there aren't that many golf courses in Okinawa. Not that I'm endorsing only framing them through Americanization narratives, just find some way to include them in the promotion of LPGA majors....

The Constructivist said...

Another example: this USAToday story on Morgan Pressel, who lost her mom to cancer, will bring tears to your eyes--but so would a follow-up on Korean superstar Ji Yai Shin, who's about Pressel's age (she's 19) and also lost her mom (in a car accident that she survived). Will we see a profile of Shin in the U.S. media? Not unless she plays her way into the spotlight.

JP Stormcrow said...

Well, will be sure to give you a shout out over at the waagnfnp.

Other than that, good luck to all and I hope they all keep their sticks on the ice.

The Constructivist said...

Thanks, JP. Once I get these three talks and two reports done, I should have time for a Party post or two before I head back to the States.

The Constructivist said...

To give credit where it's due, Steve Elling does a good profile of Angela Park.

The Constructivist said...

So does Beth Ann Baldry.

The Constructivist said...

Here's a good one on by Bob Harig on Se Ri Pak's influence on Korean golf. While there's no golf being played, people will no doubt be wondering why there have been so many Korean and Korean diasporic players on the LPGA and why so many have had so much success. Is it culture? work ethic? parental pressure? Se Ri's inspiration/role modelling?

Asian Americanist scholars will no doubt be analyzing this as yet another version of the "model minority" narrative (which David Palumbo-Liu argues is the other side of the coin of the "yellow peril" narrative). I was at the JAAS annual meeting in Tokyo a few weeks ago, and a scholar there identified a new narrative: "the model minority kid gone bad," who cracks under the pressure and loses it. That to me is where all the Michelle Wie stories lately are headed.

Just pointing out that stories write us as much as we write them. How to tell new/different ones--or at least modify/transform old ones in interesting ways--is our challenge.

The Constructivist said...

Here's an interesting example--Steve Elling using the "international invasion" trope ironically in a story about an American winning the year's third major near the July 4th holiday. Is humor the best way to defuse the tension?

The Constructivist said...

Here's a thoughtful piece by Billy Liggett on the mainstream media's difficulty in understanding how big women's golf is in East Asia.

The Constructivist said...

Here's another angle on the race, class, gender issues in women's golf.