Ode to a Gym Teacher — Anna Campbell

Ode to a Gym Teacher

^{Ode to a Gym Teacher takes its title from the a 1974 song by Meg Christian of the same name. The refrain is:

She was a big tough woman, the first to come along
That showed me being female meant you still could be strong
And though graduation meant that we had to part
She’ll always be a player on the ball field of my heart

Ice hockey goalie pads as protective devices play with the stereotype of the mannish lesbian athlete where sports operate as outposts of female space, even as they are staked out in territories understood as male. As multiples pairs of pads for a single position, they represent something beyond team, while their mismatched positions infer intertwined legs. I Know You Know, as Meg Christian would say. It’s the album title Ode to a Gym Teacher was released on.}

^{six leather goalie hockey pads
8’ w x 1’ d x 3’6” h
2013}