Chapter Three: What A (Push) Girl Wants
Chapter Two: Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat…
Chapter One: Before We Go Any Further, Let’s Get Some Shizz Straight
The Push Girls’ Guide To Getting Your Groove On: Introduction
Sundance Channel’s one-of-a-kind weekly interview series is back! Adam Goldberg, Busy Philipps, Kristin Bauer, Jason Ritter and more celebrities will share their most cherished childhood memorabilia and mementos in the irreverent, in-depth, critically acclaimed series THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS, returning for a second season on Monday, October 8 at 10P.
We got to see not one but two of our fabulous strong women pushing for the finish line this week, bringing some serious push girl spirit to competition against able-bodied athletes in the pool and on a 5k marathon. Mia and Tiphany both had their ups and downs, but they accomplished something important: They proved to themselves that they had what it took to finish. And sometimes, proving something to yourself is the hardest thing to do.
Physical fitness has been a thread for Mia and Tiphany throughout this season; remember how we saw them working out in the very first episode? These ladies are seriously ripped; you have to be to push a manual chair, especially in the rough environment of the Los Angeles streets. It’s not surprising to see Tiphany astounding an able-bodied fitness class with her muscular upper body or Mia yanking the weight of herself and her chair up over a curb one-handed.
Sundance Channel is pleased to announce that the widely acclaimed PUSH GIRLS — which airs Mondays at 10P — has been renewed for a second season, to premiere in 2013. PUSH GIRLS follows the lives of five beautiful, intelligent and inspiring women as they challenge society’s perception of what life is like in a wheelchair. The Los Angeles Times said, “Once in a great while a show comes along to remind us that there are wonderful and valuable things the reality genre can do that scripted shows simply cannot. PUSH GIRLS is one of those shows.”
First there was slow food. Now there’s slow parenting. Susan Sachs Lipman decided she was fed up with the hectic life of modern-day parenting, and it was time for her and her family to take a time out. In a world with a gajillion parenting styles, hers stands out as both revolutionary and a return to old ways: To build family relationships, try spending time as a family. I’ve got parenting on the brain this week, and you’ll see why when you tune in for tonight’s PUSH GIRLS, so I was particularly interested to learn more about Lipman’s approach.
Are you ready to roll up your sleeves? I’m certainly feeling like it after watching the inaugural episode of GET TO WORK. This week we got to meet the core team at Second Chance, which partners with the national organization Strive to get people back to work — especially if they’ve had some rough knocks in life.
What a week on PUSH GIRLS! We got to see Chelsie hit the stage with her dad, and Mia finally moved out of her antiquated apartment and into some sweet new digs. But, as most of us know, the problem with moving is, well, the moving part. Everyone hates moving, because it’s a huge pain in the patootie, whether you’re seated or standing. But, as Mia herself reminded us, eventually everyone has to move on, and when you change something radical in your life, it can open up something new, too.
You’ve seen the fabulous push girls onscreen, but did you know you can read them in print, too? Mia, Auti, Angela and Tiphany have been talking up a storm over on The Huffington Post, with a lot of great insights and expansions on what you see on PUSH GIRLS. If you haven’t yet checked them out on HuffPo, here’s a sample of what they have to say…
What makes a push girl? Push girls are strong, independent women with a fierce determination to go for what they want and not let anyone tell them otherwise. Push girls are funny, loyal to their friends, and always ready for the next big adventure. They’re teen activists, Paralympic athletes, politicians and everything in between. And when they hear “can’t,” they say “watch me.” Being a push girl isn’t about your ability status or background: It’s about what you make of yourself.
“Breaking the Ice” was a breath of fun in the midst of my long, hot summer. I started grinning almost as soon as the girls began pouring off the ski lift and I just couldn’t stop until the end of the episode. There’s something transcendent about watching people push their comfort zones and have fun, and in the case of the push girls, it was wonderful to see them doing something as a group that felt so freeing for all of them. The push girls never stop challenging themselves, and they’re stronger when they do it together.
There’s one thing you can say for sure about the push girls: They’re all strong women, and they’re not afraid to show it. In a world where women are supposed to be meek — especially women who use wheelchairs for mobility — Auti, Angela, Tiphany, Mia and Chelsie are not afraid to go up against the establishment. This week, on “Drama Town,” we saw more of their independent spirits and were reminded of the tensions that sometimes arise in everyone’s life. The hallmark of a push girl is the ability to work through that drama, though, and that’s just what they did.
Every January, Long Beach, California’s Aquarium of the Pacific hosts the Festival of Human Abilities, celebrating the talent of disabled artists, performers and athletes. For two programming-packed days, visitors can wander a venue where the full spectrum of humanity is on display, doing things that are truly amazing — no matter who you are. On tonight’s PUSH GIRLS, you’ll get a little taste of the festival, and we’re betting it’ll make you want to see even more.
PREMIERING SEPTEMBER 10 AT 9:00 PM ET/PT.
One of Fashion’s Most Credible Voices Joins Forces With “Good Morning America”, “Extra”, “Revenge” And Celebrity Guests Mary J. Blige, Octavia Spencer, Mario Lopez and Zoe Kazan To Save Fashion Designers Whose Businesses Are Hanging By a Thread
Sundance Channel is taking fashion rescue coast-to-coast with the third season of the network’s ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE. Set to debut Monday, September 10 at 9:00pm et/pt, the critically-acclaimed docu-series starring the fashion powerhouse and ELLE Creative Director will, for the first time, expand its purview to include the LA fashion scene and LA-based designers who could truly benefit from Joe Zee’s fashion design master class.
Armored with a top-notch team of esteemed members of the media and celebrity guests including Grammy®-Award winning singer Mary J. Blige, Oscar®-winner Octavia Spencer, Designer Whitney Port and actress Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks), Zee will come to the rescue of fashion labels that are at the brink of success and on the edge of failure. The third season of the hit series will also feature new design challenges that will test the designers’ ability and temperament, as they are faced with the daunting task of turning out perfect results for ABC’s Good Morning America’s Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer, Extra’s Mario Lopez and “Revenge” star Ashley Madekwe. If the final product meets with the approval of their A-list clientele, the winning designs will be worn by each celebrity on their respective show, which will bring even more national attention to the designer.
This week on PUSH GIRLS, “Freaky Deaky” showed us some hazards of dating while you’re a wheelchair user, while still letting us see the girls having fun. As Auti, whom I’ve come to think of as the mother hen, reminded us, there’s an element of danger involved in going on a date when you have paralysis, because it involves a deep level of trust very early in your relationship. Tiphany related a scary story about being tipped out of her chair, underscoring the vulnerability wheelchair users experience in intimate relationships.
Michele Kaplan wants us to mind the gap. The space between a subway car and the platform might not seem like a big deal if you’re bipedal, but it can pose a safety hazard if you’re using a wheelchair, cane or walker. Michele got fed up on July 10 when she tried to board a train in a supposedly accessible station and her powerchair got stuck in the gap. She was forced to rely on “two burly-looking passengers” to get her chair out of the doors and onto the train. When she got home, she decided to fight back. Michele started up a Tumblr and set up a petition, and she’s been putting the word out ever since.
Today marks the second weekly installment of the Onion’s new web series, Sex House — a parody of The Real World/Big Brother/Glass House-type reality shows that pretend to be about something other than throwing a bunch of people into a Sartre-esque No Exit living sitch with a bunch of raging hormones and an endless supply of cheap vodka. It’s the first series from the Onion Digital Studio, which according to the Huffington Post, will focus exclusively on non-news parodies. The other three web series airing on its YouTube channel this summer include Lake Dredge Appraisal (think Antiques Road Show meets 1980s public-access TV), Horrifying Planet (think National Geographic meets When Animals Attack meets American’s Funniest Home Videos) and Troublehacking with Drew Cleary (think vloggers with delusions of grandeur).
A very emotional PUSH GIRLS this week on “In the Fast Lane,” as we saw Tiphany talking about her past and returning to the site of her car accident 10 years after the fact. She might have been declared dead on the scene, but she rolled confidently along the side of the highway with her family to confront the reality that her accident affected more people than just her: “My accident didn’t just happen to me. It affected a lot of people.”
USA Paralympics is gearing up for the Paralympic games in London with nominations for Team USA, and as they roll out, we’re meeting some star disabled athletes from across the country — and our fair share of push girls, because many of the women athletes on the Paralympic team have some incredible stories to tell. The Summer Paralympics run from August 29 to September 9, and they’re going to be well worth tuning in to if you want to check out some of the best athletes in the world.
There’s nothing we love more than a woman who is willing to take a chance and do something frigging unbelievable. The following list examines women in history who’ve had gigantic lady-balls big enough to spar with even the toughest of men — and win. They’ve done everything from rule nations to fly planes to question authority at the risk of losing their lives. These women have faced adversity greater than some of us may ever know, but they’ve always come out on top and they continue to inspire. And if Aung San Suu Kyi or Indira Gandhi are any sort of example, maybe one day we’ll actually see our first female American president. Or maybe we’ll have to keep fighting for that one until that mythical glass ceiling shatters into a million tiny pieces. Feeling moved by these daring women? You’ll be just as amazed watching four new daring women in history on PUSH GIRLS, where disabilities stop no woman.
A 2011 study found that less than one percent of regular characters on scripted shows were disabled, and that number was falling. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider that approximately 20% of the population is disabled; talk about some disproportionate representation in pop culture. And it gets worse: Most disabled characters are not even played by people with disabilities. The practice of using nondisabled actors in disabled roles is known as “cripface,” and it’s a serious problem in Hollywood. That’s why actors like RJ Mitte, who plays Walter Jr. on Breaking Bad — premiering this Sunday — are especially important.
Once you start looking, you see Push Girls everywhere. That’s what we learned when we asked fans on the PUSH GIRLS Facebook page, “Who’s your Push Girl?” After 215 nominees (and counting), we can honestly say that push girls are young and old, athletes and artists, students and teachers, and everything in between. There’s Brittney Kitchens, whose awesome tattoo sums up her attitude: “I don’t let my disability get in the way of my happiness… and like my tattoo says, ‘Life rolls on.’ “
This week’s Chelsie-centric episode was an intimate and revealing look into the difficult adjustment period that comes with newly acquired disability. Chelsie is lucky to have four fabulous mentors, but she struggles with the changes going on in her life and in her body, and it was really refreshing to get an honest look at that. She was performing in front of her family for the first time, which was understandably nerve-wracking, and things didn’t go quite according to plan, but she held her head up high and got back out on the dance floor, which is hard for any of us to do when we feel like we’ve failed.
We’ve already seen wheelchair dance on PUSH GIRLS (and we’ll be seeing more tonight), but some of you may be experiencing this art form for the first time on the show. If you want to see even more, you’re in luck, because there’s a thriving worldwide wheelchair dance community and chances are you can find a performance near you if you live in an urban area. Attending a live show can be quite a thrill, but since I can’t drag you all to a performance, we’ll do our best with the two-dimensional version.
It’s too darn hot to be outside frolicking — so why not stay inside and enjoy some cool flicks instead? This week we’ve got Nic Cage at his Nic Cagiest and Jack Nicholson at his Jennifer Lopez-iest.
Nicolas Cage has given us, the American audience, an eclectic range of roles in a wide variety of movies (over 60 films) over the years. He has also provided a lot of material for the blogosphere and meme factories on the webz, some of which I’ve collected below for your viewing pleasure. The Internet’s fascination with him stems from his enigmatic personality and the roles he’s played. Just kidding, it’s because he’s nuts. This interview in particular is a good glimpse into the beautiful mind of this actor in particular his answer to the question “You mention LEAVING LAS VEGAS. Is winning another Oscar important to you? Or is it now more, ‘Well, I did that. Now I just do what I’m going to do’?”
This week on PUSH GIRLS, we got a very intimate look at the different ways in which people react to disability. There was a stark contrast not just between Chelsie, who’s still adjusting to her paralysis, but between Mia, Auti, Tiphany, and Angela, and it was fascinating to see the women getting “Fired Up,” in an episode that got very emotional. It’s hard to predict your reaction to a major life change, but I liked the takeaway that Mia left us with: You can start again at any age.