These women know what they want

Also: What’s so bad about the word ‘old’? [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  July 23, 2023 Dear Cog reader, Every so often a Cog editor will publish a piece on our page, and this week, it was my turn. It’s been a long while since I published [an essay of my own](. What brought me out of retirement? A topic I’ve written about [many times]( [before]( the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT, for short). Before you start thinking this piece isn’t for you – because you’re not a sports fan or don’t understand soccer or whatever – let me assure you, the piece is about more than the game. It includes Oprah, pay equity and a good dollop of hope that the world is catching up to the idea that there is more to women athletes than “women in shorts.” It’s about what happens when you commit to something for so long, that you get to see it evolve. I’ve loved the USWNT for more than 30 years — since I was a little kid. The premise of the essay, as the title suggests, is that what makes this team so dominant – dynasty-like even – is the fact that they’ve always had an answer to the question, “What do you want?”  I don’t always have an answer to that question, and I’m finding it harder than ever to have a response to it lately, when there are so many other things – aside from my own interests and desires – competing for my attention. Which is perhaps why I find the raw vulnerability and sheer physicality of the team’s unambiguous pursuit so inspiring. For starters: The 23 women on the team range in age from 18 (Alyssa Thompson) to 38 (Megan Rapinoe, appearing in her fourth and final World Cup). Every one of them has dedicated their life to making the national squad. World Cup rookies and soccer phenoms Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith, for example, have known each other since they were just 14 years old. (I can’t stop thinking about all the carpools and orange slice duties their parents must have endured.) Three members of the team are relatively new moms. This includes Julie Ertz, who gave birth last August. When you watch a game, and see her hip check someone across the field, remember that. In some sense, the future of women’s professional sport is also at stake. After reaching [a big settlement with U.S. Soccer Federation last year]( the women of the USWNT are serving as the vanguard for teams in other nations. Five teams (including Canada, Jamaica and Spain) are in the midst of [serious disputes]( with their country’s soccer federations over issues of pay equity and playing conditions. FIFA has tripled the prize pool money this year to $110 million, but it’s still a fraction of what the men’s teams are paid. Is this the year the women’s game explodes in popularity and respect? Maybe. The U.S. is favored to win it all, but it won’t be easy. I plan to watch with with my three daughters (9, 9 and almost 6), who don’t think there’s anything remarkable about watching women play sports on TV. That fact alone is an evolution. No broadcast network thought it was worth broadcasting women’s games when I was their age. Which is all to say: There’s plenty more than sport to engage you if soccer isn’t your thing. Group play has begun. There's room on the bandwagon. I hope you’ll tune in. Enjoy the weekend, Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [These women know what they want. LFG]( The U.S. women's national soccer team may be the closest thing we have to a sports dynasty. To me, they are magic, writes Cloe Axelson. [Read more.]( [These women know what they want. LFG]( The U.S. women's national soccer team may be the closest thing we have to a sports dynasty. To me, they are magic, writes Cloe Axelson. [Read more.]( [What’s so bad about the word ‘old’?]( When her dermatologist called her age spots "wisdom spots," Julie Wittes Schlack was amused —and a bit dismayed. What better way to stigmatize something than to use a euphemism for it? she asks. And what are we all so afraid of? [Read more.]( [What’s so bad about the word ‘old’?]( When her dermatologist called her age spots "wisdom spots," Julie Wittes Schlack was amused —and a bit dismayed. What better way to stigmatize something than to use a euphemism for it? she asks. And what are we all so afraid of? [Read more.]( [You're never too old to play: The 'Soccer Grannies' go international]( Sixteen teams of women, all of us over 50 years old, participated in this inaugural event in South Africa -- the Grannies International Football Tournament, writes Jean Duffy. Like the Grannies, I found soccer later in life, and was now poised to play for a crowd of 5,000. [Read more.]( [You're never too old to play: The 'Soccer Grannies' go international]( Sixteen teams of women, all of us over 50 years old, participated in this inaugural event in South Africa -- the Grannies International Football Tournament, writes Jean Duffy. Like the Grannies, I found soccer later in life, and was now poised to play for a crowd of 5,000. [Read more.]( [Why medical residency should be reformed: It 'can unmoor even the best of us’]( Many programs still require residents to work28-hour shifts, writes Sathvik Namburar. The sleep deprivation impairs residents as much as drinking beyond the legal limit. [Read more.]( [Why medical residency should be reformed: It 'can unmoor even the best of us’]( Many programs still require residents to work28-hour shifts, writes Sathvik Namburar. The sleep deprivation impairs residents as much as drinking beyond the legal limit. [Read more.]( [What Mass. can learn about saving the planet — from New Jersey]( New Jersey’s million-acre Pinelands offers powerful lessons in salvaging biodiversity, writes Rich Barlow. [Read more.]( [What Mass. can learn about saving the planet — from New Jersey]( New Jersey’s million-acre Pinelands offers powerful lessons in salvaging biodiversity, writes Rich Barlow. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "Species go extinct all the time — most slip in silence out of this world, where they once forged a careful place for themselves, without ceremony or eulogy or mourning. But the ivorybill will not go quietly. Like any we love, it will go with weeping and gnashing of teeth and a litany of mea culpas, because after all, the Lord God Bird has become, through its beauty and its resurrections and its champions, more than a bird — it is a story; a tragedy, a cautionary tale." "[Chasing the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker]( Garden & Gun. "Remove Stereotypical Barbie from Barbie Land and plonk her into Los Angeles, and she’s just another woman struggling to find meaning in a world that’s inherently hostile to her very presence." "[What’s the Matter With Barbie?]( The Atlantic. "This is the story of our medical system — quick, massive, powerful, able to assemble a team in under an hour and willing to spend thousands of dollars when a patient is sick. This is also the story of a medical system that didn’t think my patient was worth a $12 medication to prevent any of this from happening." "[The Overlooked Reason Our Health Care System Crushes Patients]( The New York Times. "I want to acknowledge that I’m old and still be seen for who I am." — Julie Wittes Schlack, "[What’s so bad about the word ‘old’?]( ICYMI [Families make us who we are. What remains after they’re gone?]( Jennifer Beard lost four loved ones since 2020. I feel a heavy responsibility to remember, for all of us, she writes. [Read more.]( [Families make us who we are. What remains after they’re gone?]( Jennifer Beard lost four loved ones since 2020. I feel a heavy responsibility to remember, for all of us, she writes. [Read more.]( If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2023 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.