ALYSA LIU IS PUNK ROCK

EVERYBODY KNOWS ALYSA LIU, AND IF YOU DON'T
now you do.

she retired at sixteen as a world champion. four years later and five inches taller, she changed the universe. alysa's gold-medal-winning performance at this year's Winter Olympics is nothing short of life-changing. i've watched it at least six times. i know i'm not alone in that.

typically, i don't tune in to figure skating. freestyle ski is more my style; i like getting my heart in my throat. that, or womens' hockey (couldn't care less about men). i like action, force. harsh and fast and frightening. i like PUNK ROCK sports. and up until now, figure skating has never factored into that.

but i was a fool. figure skating is PUNK ROCK to the absolute max. at least, alysa liu is. not only because her art is beautiful, but because it is communal. she is bold and unafraid. she charges onto the ice, spinning and contorting her body as if more liquid than solid. coming off the ice, she turned to a camera close by and shouted:

it took my breath away. she scribbled a manifesto with her skates and won BIG TIME for it. she brought skating gold to America after a twenty year drought. she's only twenty herself! I know I need some of that unabashed delight and dare in my life. So, to celebrate her I've turned her into a paper doll. Paper dolls are common features of so-called 'girlie magazines' (hint: my thesis will go further into this) but I think it's a medium with a lot of subversive potential. By putting Liu in my pocket, she can cheer me on throughout my day - reminding me that I'm capable of everything - no matter whatever fickle, restrictive traditions my field might press onto me.