Ten Years Later- Remembering September 11th (One of Two)

Her mother Marion Kminek told "The Washington Post" that Mari-Rae Sopper 'lived, breathes, and ate gymnastics.'

Sopper, 35, who had just accepted a job as the women's gymnastics coach for The University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) was in the process of leaving her job as DC-Metro area lawyer for the dream job she always wanted when the plane she was on, Flight 77, crashed into The Pentagon, killing all aboard on September 11th.

Mike Sharpless, her coach at Iowa State where Sopper was a stand-out gymnast said the following words which are on her memorial site (www.mari-rae.net) a few days after that tragic day: "Mari-Rae is an unrelenting force, hungry for excellence. I heard last Tuesday she entered heaven and she went with full force."

Sopper, who had been a resident of Maryland, took the Gauchos coaching post knowing that it would be the last year for the program. But, Sopper had hopes that she could change the outcome of UCSB's decision.

The Gauchos did in fact end up losing the gymnastics program at the end of their last season in 2002.

But, Sopper's memorial web site indicated that a fund in the former Cyclones gymnast's name had raised over $91,000.

PERSONAL NOTE: I chose Sopper's story because I follow college gymnastics very closely, and her story is one I still find compelling to this day.

Tomorrow, I will conclude what was originally intended to be a three-part series with a glance at three of the other people who needlessly lost their life on that day.

The photo used for this entry is of the Tear of Grief Memorial that was a gift from Russia. The piece by Zurab Tsereti is in Bayonne, New Jersey, and is meant to remember those who have lost their lives to terrorism. It was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2006.

Quote of the Week- Friedrich Nietzsche

Today's Quote of the Week continues with yet another quip from a famous philosopher; this one being the German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche (god, his last name is hard to spell!, and I should talk).

We dedicate this entry to our friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, as he and I appear to be the only two people in the world who are still blogging after all these years! In one entry on his blog (http://theknightshift.blogspot.com) Knight talks about a church that is very hard to get to in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, which was where Joseph Stalin was from.

As for Nietzche, he was a major influence on postmodernism, and he was known for using metaphors and irony. His key ideas including the notion that "God was dead" and the will to power. The German philosopher was also a contemporary of the composer Richard Wagner, according to the 1990 graphic novel "Nietzche for Beginners" which we found at The International Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC, a few weeks ago. (The establishment is hosting a Political Prisoner Letter Writing Night, which is probably not something that the fringe, ultra-conservative preacher the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., will be doing with his folks this week).

Niettzche was also known for what would not now be deemed politically incorrect views on religion (well, of course!), love, and women in general. So, I expect that even this tamer quote by him may not go over well in Eden, NC:

"A subject for a great poet would be God's boredom after the seventh day of creation."

MONDAY LEFTOVERS: We wanted to update the blogging public on the status of the University of Cal-Santa Barbara's women's water polo team. The Gauchos were not able to win their game vs. Loyola, which they lost 8-3. But, later in the day, they played a school named Occidental (yes, we've never heard of them either) and beat them 8-5. Kristin Kulakowski scored two goals in that victory.

The UCSB men's basketball team made the NCAA tournament and as a 15-seed they will face the Florida Gators (#2-seed) in a game that will be played on Thursday in Tampa, which is quite close to the Gators' campus!

Interestingly enough, the Gauchos' women's water polo team will next face Bucknell, a smart school in Lewisburg, Pa., for a home game on March 19. Bucknell's men's basketball team also made the NCAAs as a 14-seed; they will face the U-Conn. Huskies in Washington, DC, on Thursday as well.

Though the Gators are my favorite school in the SEC, I may have to root for the Gauchos on Thursday as my cousin's daughter attends that school in Santa Barbie.

There is a great quiz on mentalfloss.com asking the quiz-taker if they know which state a given school is located. Though I have stumbled on many "Mental Floss" quizzes before, I got all 11 questions right today!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- England to Compete in Water Polo

According to a tweet from OlympicNews2012, Great Britain will compete in both men's and women's water polo at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The country has not fielded an Olympic team in the sport since 1956.

For an image to go with this entry, we were hoping to post a photo of a very attractive Katie Zakula, a sophomore from San Mateo, Calif., who is a member of the University of Cal State Santa Barbara women's water polo team, but that proved to be very complicated.

Along with her teammates Kristin Kulakowski and Michelle Beaudrau, both seniors, Zakula and the Gauchos (love that nickname) have two matches in Los Angeles tomorrow, including a day game with rival Loyola (Calif.).

In other tweeterville news, WTJU (91.1-FM, Charlottesville, Va.), the student run college radio station for the University of Virginia said that the bluegrass band Bearfoot, which performed in Roanoke last night, will be playing at Mockingbird in Staunton tonight.

On the band's web site (www.bearfootband.com), the group describes themselves as 'string band music for the 21st century.' I was also quite surprised to learn that the band is not from Virginia, North Carolina or Tennessee, but Alaska!