Professor by Day, Eerie Roller Girl Roller Girl by Night



Penn State Behrend's Professor,
Elizabeth Fogle

 A professor by day and Psycherella by night,“At first I was seeing it more like a super hero thing, a Clark Kent during the day, Superman when I go to roller derby,” Elizabeth Fogle, a Women's Study professor at Penn State Behrend said. During the day she gives many lectures to students about Women's Studies, but at night is a completely different story.

It’s 7:00. Roller Derby time! Walking into the skating rink it’s surprisingly filled with an awkward silence, with a bit of chatter from the Eerie Roller Girls. Middle-aged women covered in tattoos fill the rink. Each and every woman start skating around  track to play "Roller Derby."

Roller Derby is a sport with very many rules and different positions each player can play. “It can be very confusing,” Fogle said as she pulled up her five inch thick black pads. “We are actually having a test on all the rules and positions coming up and I am nervous about passing it,” said Fogle. Even though Roller Derby may be complicating, Fogle is more confident than she has ever been, “It’s all about beating these bitches around the track,” Fogle said while gazing out into the skating rink, “I just love it.”



Eerie Roller Girls skate around the track
at Evan's Skateland

 Roller Derby is a contact sport played by two teams consisting of five skaters on each team. Four of the skaters form a, in roller derby terms, “pack.”  The fifth skater is a “jammer.”  This skater’s main objective is to skate around the track and lap all the rest of the skaters. Each time she laps the skaters, that team gets a point. The blockers in the “pack” try not to let the “jammer” through. Roller Derby is a complicating sport, but a sport Elizabeth Fogle has fallen in love with.



One of Eerie Roller Girls
 logos



Sitting at a desk waiting for students to arrive. Tying up the laces to the skates. Writing e-mails to other professors. Strapping on the helmet. Starting a lecture on the Introduction of Women. Putting on the knee pads and elbow pads.  6:00, class dismissed. The sound of the whistle, start skating. Gathering up the books and papers on Women’s Studies. Boom! Crash! Pow! Each and every skater falling to the ground as they get rammed by “Psycherella,” a woman who lives an unexpected life.