Moxie

Moxie

YA fiction
"Principal Wilson introduces Coach Cole and then Coach Cole
introduces the football players and Mitchell Wilson and all the other
boys trot out in their jeans and football jerseys over their shirts
and Emma Johnson and the other Creamsickle girls [cheerleaders] do
backflips and the pep squad exhibits pep and Claudia yawns again.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a town that
doesn't revolve around seventeen-year-old boys who get laid way too
often just because they know how to throw a football."
Vivian, protagonist of Jennifer Mathieu's Moxie, is trapped in a
town where football reigns supreme. Mandatory in school rallies take
place during the season. Businesses shut down for home games. Team
members are treated like royalty and given a pass for sexually
harassing behaviors ranging from hallway groping and bra snapping to
rape.
Vivian is fed up with that and with other sexist aspects of her
school. Dress code checks are one of them. Administration
periodically makes sweeps of classes, shaming girls considered to be
in violation of it. They must be policed so their attire doesn't
distract their male peers from their studies.
Vivian wants to do something with her anger, just not something
that will draw attention to herself. Inspired by mementos from her
mother's rebellious teen years, she creates a zine and distributes it
anonymously. She has no clue that other girls will build on Moxie,
turning it into a force to be reckoned with.
Moxie is a must read for anyone who attends a school with sexist
practices or has not-so-fond memories of doing so.
On a purrrsonal note, it is pouring out. Inside our hang out the best
little cat in the world is curled up contentedly beside me
slumbering. Eugene and I had gone on a ride to look at used trucks to
try to find one with not too high monthly payments. We also stopped
at the Brewer Goodwill where I wicked lucked out. I got a musical
bears in love snowglobe (which reminded me of Eugene and me) and five
shirts: two cat shirts (one of which reminds us a home without a cat
is like a garden without flowers), two Christmas shirts (one of which
asks just how good I have to be), and a shirt with cats and dogs that
says you can't buy love but you can rescue it. When I got home I
found precious Joey waiting patiently in our hang out spot for me.
Our being together, sheltered from the rain, feels so cozy.
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and to the best little cat in
the world.
jules hathaway


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