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Thoughts from a prswimstar

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As I launch my new website, it’s only fitting that I start blogging. Well, actually I’ve been blogging for years, for clients, and other folks, about topics near and dear to me. Those of you who know me say, PRSWIMSTAR is a fitting blog name – I wanted it to be Water Woman, but WordPress tells me that some savvy person already owns it. I’ll be working up a calendar of blog topics that hopefully you, dear readers, friends, colleagues and new to be acquaintances, will find interesting. If there’s a topic you want me to write about, just ask! So, with that, I’m pressing the PUBLISH button for the aquatics world to read. Please, be patient with me as I work out the bugs, but do follow me! And share when appropriate.

at-peace3

Here I am, 7 mornings a week for the past 30 plus years.

Washington Post commentary — do gated places like public pools perpetuate racial tension

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Likely you viewed the video and watched the news report about the McKinney, Texas police officer pulling a gun on a teenage girl at the local pool, which in this case was a private community pool

I read the article below with interest as this writer offers a historic view of racial tension over the years, and the fact that public pool access was central to perpetuating racial tension in many cities and communities in the United States. This also reminds me of the excellent book by Jeff Wiltse, Contested Waters, A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. Worth a read.

How the rise of gated spaces like swimming pools can quietly perpetuate racial tension.

By Emily Badger

Excessive police use of force is in and of itself a problem, one increasingly recognized by politicians from both political parties. Here, though, as with so many of these stories lately, much more — the way we design communities and divide their resources with race and class quietly in mind — is implicated, too. Read the full story here.