Roget’s Reviews > Coming Home > Status Update

“We’ve been told the choice [the ban on private flights for WNBA players] is about money. It seems like it’s about devaluing women, especially women of color. Approximately 70 percent of WNBA players are Black.” (2/2)

“some jackass got in my face, yelling. ‘Was it a fair trade for the Merchant of Death?’ he shouted. ‘Is it true you had sex with Vladimir Putin?’ …I’m grateful the WNBA allowed me to fly private for the rest of the season…But there’s no guarantee that me or my teammates will fly private in the 2024 season.” (1/2)

How have I read most of this in one day

"Unlike my bruised hands, Viktor's hands were soft. So were the creases on his face. He'd spent much of his sentence doing artwork, I'd heard--painting portraits of cats. I'd spent mine with a table saw. We released our grip. I was left with a sick feeling, like death, all over my palms and beyond."
[Griner on the arms dealer the US traded for her.]

Griner's voice here is crisp, stunning, evocative, complicated, and relevant.

"Hoping and not hoping are both ways we protect ourselves. Hope gives us something to live for. Letting go steels us for cold reality."

"Only 4 percent of U.S. sports coverage is devoted to women's sports. Black female athletes get even less airtime."

This is so timely, especially in the cultural moment surrounding this season. There's more coverage than past seasons, but much of that coverage and much of the fan response, especially in regards to certain players' behavior and opportunities, has not been equitable.

"All through the Bible I read stories of people questioning God even as they pleaded for His help. Being faithful wasn't about having blind faith, I started realizing. It was about bringing your doubts to God, the way a father in Scripture once did...(Mark 9:23-24, NIV). That statement summed up my journey toward faith. It also became my prayer: 'Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.'"

"...my dear Momma handled it well. I'd underestimated her strength and should've known better. Because like millions of Black women before her, she did not flinch in the face of pure hell."

"'Babe, your superpower is not caring about the noise,' she'd often told me. Her superpower was escaping into her closet, which was exactly what she did when that headline hit. My baby crawled into our closet, got down on her knees, and asked God to intervene. Putin might've made me his pawn, but he'd met his match with a prayer warrior."