Yesterday was a day of testing out the public transport system and getting around the City where I ended up at Golden Gate Park by pure chance. That’s what happens when you embrace letting go of having plans and just going with wherever you end up.
After hiring an electric bike, it was off to explore.
The Dutch Windmill
Bison Park
Watching Irish Dancing and a Big Band at Speckels Temple of Music
Ocean Beach which was simply stunning with the weather just beautiful.
So after a trip on a caltrain and bus back, it was then to the famous Lombard Street which was next on the list for the day. Certainly very pretty as the street was in bloom, and sometimes noisy as the cars and motorcycles would come down the street, twisting and turning with the best of whatever tunes they were playing.
Today was the start of a new week. Getting stuck into meeting key people and working away on the tasks at hand at UWBA.
One highlight that stood out for me for the day was where we were invited to a “Diversity and Inclusion Round Table – Brown Bag Lunch” session which was rather an interesting team bonding exercise. It turns out that these sessions are an open invitation where it provides anyone who chooses to go along with their lunch, an opportunity to have a healthy debate about different topics that are hot in the news.
Today’s hot topic was on Serena Williams loss against Naomi Osaka. Everything from fairness to womens rights to racism to the caricature cartoon that was drawn none other than by an Aussie was discussed and debated. Of course being the only Aussie in the room, it was an interesting experience to be a part of to say the least. So when it was asked of each of my colleagues and I what our thoughts were compared to the Bay Area team, they wondered if our opinions would be the same or quite different. I had to think fast when I was not even aware of what had happened, let alone know about the cartoon.
Whilst I was listening, I researched other “vocal” tennis stars such as Nick Kyrgios, one of our younger Aussie tennis players whom was notorious for his behaviour on the court. I was quick to show that there are other players whom get a similar type of treatment from the press, and my comments were if people, and that means anyone, that reacts with emotion in a difficult competitive high profile event, it is not always going to end as well as it could. And with the discussion on whether the Umpire was fair or not, the other end of the scale is here where an Umpire has been reprimanded for his behavior towards Nick.
Serena is a great tennis player, and is a great change agent for many things! My philosophy is if you use your words wisely, pick your battles with grace, live with passion, and be humble, then change will come.
And to finish off this thought provoking experience of the day, I wanted to say congrats to Noemi whom won against Serena, for keeping her head in the game. She is a winner, and I do feel for her not being able to fully celebrate with all the controversy!
Sharon Tunley 