Bleeding Hearts

Randi Maehym fields a great deal of questions about wheels as a sales rep for Skate Court. Here, she asks that we all participate in a survey to help all skaters choose the right wheel for many surfaces. Theoretically, the more skaters contribute, the better the results will be. From Randi:

Here, we share with you a Letter to the Editors about a skater made documentary project that could use your help.

"I am a filmmaker working on a documentary,"Flat Track Around the World", about the globally transformational power of women's roller derby. I am co-producing it with Juvie Hall of the Rose City Rollers in Portland, Oregon.

Malice Springs Roller Derby League is the most remote roller derby league in the world - we are 784 miles (1,270km) from our nearest potential competitor. Imagine if you were the London Rollergirls and the closest place you could go to play a game was just southwest of Stockholm Sweden or if you were the Windy City Rollers in Chicago and your closest team was Assassination City in Dallas - with not much in between. We're in the middle of Australian desert in a town of 25,000.

Andrea Eklund (aka Professor Pain) is a professor at Central Washington University and a member of the Rodeo City Rollergirls in Ellensburg, WA, USA.

"My colleague, Barbara Masberg and I are conducting research on Roller Derby as a leisure activity and how body image is affected by participation in Roller Derby. We are asking your help distributing the survey by copy and pasting the text below on your Facebook page and encouraging league members’ participation.

The derby community was shocked and saddened to hear about the accidental death of Toni Torres, a skater for the River City Dames of Anarchy, during a speed skating event on New Year's Eve. There has been an outpouring of support and condolences on the River City Dames of Anarchy Facebook Page. We wish the Dames and Torres' family much strength as they deal with this terrible tragedy.

For additional details, see the stories below:

Update: January 7, 2012 We are saddened by the news that the body of Dorothy Woods has been found, and we hope that it brings some comfort to her family and friends that her alleged murderer has been apprehended. We wish you all comfort and strength in each other at this difficult time. More information can be found here.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Derby Dolls (LADD), L.A.'s banked track roller derby league, is pitching in to help their Bay Area sisters with a beer garden fundraiser during the L.A. Derby Dolls vs. Tilted Thunder Rail Birds game at the Doll Factory in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 11 starting at 3pm PDT.

In the run-up to roller derby's first World Cup competition, we've had the chance to get to know many of the participating teams: their strengths, their shortcomings, and the challenges they're working to overcome before competition begins December 1 in Toronto.

A new facebook community has been formed to generate an anti-bullying movement in roller derby.

"Blockers Not Bullies is a group started to rally against bullying in the sport of roller derby.

Roller derby is supposed to be a safe haven for all the outcasts and misfits of the world, and while it mostly is, there are still a few bullies who manage to find their way in.