Why do you throw at the Games, and not at track meets? What is the attraction of Highland Games versus the simpler, but probably more focused activity of throwing shotput and/or discus and/or hammer?

Long dramatic novel to follow. You asked for it. :P

I never had an interest in track at all. For me this has all been about reclaiming my heritage and answering personal questions. As an adoptee who knows only half of her lineage, I found it therapeutic to embrace the known half whole-heartedly. You'll notice my join-date is Nov. of 2010. In 2008-2009, I was researching my lineage and traced it back to Perthshire, Scotland. I researched the name and discovered we were Scottish-rooted (I grew up with my dad telling me we were Irish). The movement of my ancestors was consistent with the history of their clan; they left the highland areas of Braemar shortly following Culloden, probably they were pushed out. With their culture and traditions stolen, they eventually left the country altogether. So little of their culture survived the generations that the last generation didn't even know where they'd come from. I sort of took it upon myself to rediscover us. I think I started reading XMarks here and there to try and gain understanding about what Scotland is today - as a lurker - to prepare myself for a potential future visit.

In May/June 2010 I went to Scotland on a 2.5-week solitary backpacking adventure. I travelled by foot and by bus, and besides my favorite distilleries on Islay, I visited our family's ancestral lands; Braemar and Inverey. Braemar is known for one thing; the Highland Games. I took an interest in the games then, when reading about Braemar in the visitor's center, and wondered if women ever participated. It seemed so awesome and yet foreign and inaccessible (Having always been a rather... robust female, having my ancestral lands be the Highland Game capital of the world seemed to answer all sorts of questions all at once). I didn't imagine there would ever be a welcome for me in it, though, and I felt dispair.

I came home a completely different person. I had adjusted so quickly to a simple life in Scotland, where I camped outside and had one change of clothes and hoarded simple luxuries like paper towels and ziplock bags because they were endlessly useful for my rugged new lifestyle. Coming back to a world where I had access to things like cars and smart phones made me feel like I'd become some kind of savage. It was harder to come back than it was to go.

...and that's approximately when I decided to say "screw it" and embrace my heritage as fully and unapologetically (and with absolutely no concern for gender-norms because I've never liked those anyway) as I desired. For example, I'd always wanted a tattoo, but I could never settle on any image for long enough - nothing represented me permanently because I'm forever adapting and changing, but it occurred to me that I would never change my name. I'd partially changed it once, and I regretted it immediately and wasn't happy until I changed it back. It was then that I decided that I wanted the crest on my back, and the secondary motto, which I try to live by, on my forearms.

I decided I could wear a kilt if I damn well pleased, and I would, and any problems anyone had with me doing so would be entirely theirs. I'd even wear one at my own wedding! "and just try and stop me!" I would proclaim in my own head (Let me just say that empowerment feels really good when you've grown up in a household where you were told you could never be president because women were just too emotional for the job. Additional backstory: my dad always wanted a boy and never got one - I was always the next best thing because I wasn't terribly girly, but there are a lot of things he never taught me or that he didn't expect of me because evidently my genitals make up most of who I am - and the kilt thing is another way of rejecting all of THAT garbage flat-out).

...And so when I moved to California and later saw some kilted guys on the field at Stanford, throwing what looked to be Heavy Things, I was torn. There were no ladies among them; I might get laughed at. Then again, I couldn't come this close to getting involved and not at least *try*. ... so I did. Alan was more welcoming than I could have hoped, and I've been determined to become good at it; I've been showing up for practices and even training in the off-season, which Alan encouraged me to log here so I could get some support and feedback. So far it fits like a glove.

2. Did you get into wearing a kilt first and then start throwing, or was your first kilt something you got because you needed it to throw?


See above. TL;DR: I wore the kilt first.

3. Besides wearing a kilt on the field at the Games, where else do you strap on your kilt? Do you go to other kilt-wearing activities?


I wear it whenever I feel like it. I don't always feel like it because it's the Real Deal and it's heavy and hot, but I get it out a few times a year for events or whenever I need to prop up my ego. I don't wear the sport kilt except for practice or competition. I always get positive feedback on the look, even though all the guys seem to like to say kilts don't look so good on ladies. Then again, I got mine to measure, so it fits right - maybe that's why? *shrug*