One more chance to help Mirai Nagasu
UPDATE (1/27/2014): Thank you to everyone who supported Mirai! You were amazing! Unfortunately, the USOC’s Board of Directors today approved U.S. Figure Skating’s nominations, so Mirai will be an alternate for the team in Sochi. You can see several comments of mine on Twitter (@iaurmelloneug) with the hashtag #MiraiEarnedIt; I’ll try to post some of them here when I get a chance. In the meantime, you can wish Mirai well on Twitter or via the contact page on her website, MiraiNagasu.com.
ORIGINAL POST: No doubt you know about the figure skating controversy in which Mirai Nagasu was left off the U.S. Olympic team. I started the #MiraiEarnedIt hashtag to protest that decision. And we actually have one more chance to plead her case! The nominations of athletes still have to be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Board of Directors first. These nominations, at least in the case of America’s figure skating squad, are scheduled to be finalized by January 27.
So let’s tweet and email the USOC board in support of Mirai – as soon as you can! Mirai skates early Thursday morning, January 23, in Taiwan in the 4 Continents Championships. Let’s send her off with the knowledge we’ve bombarded the USOC Board of Directors with tweets and emails!
Strategically, we need to take things one step at a time. The board members won’t simply overrule U.S. Figure Skating to put Mirai on the Olympic team (replacing either Polina or Ashley). So we’ll first ask them to refuse to approve the women’s figure skating nominations until U.S. Figure Skating fully answers the many allegations in the press that NBC and corporate sponsors influenced the Olympic team selections. If the board does so, then we’ll proceed with the next step, all to help Mirai get to Sochi!
To whom do we send tweets and emails? I’ve listed the members of the Board of Directors below, along with a sample tweet and a sample email that you can cut and paste, if you like. But regardless of whether you use the samples or not, PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL! These directors are outstanding individuals. Many were Olympic athletes previously. Many now lead major corporations and/or charities. BE GRACIOUS! This effort depends on it!
Please do this today (Tuesday) if at all possible! If you have questions, tweet me at @iaurmelloneug. Thank you so much!
These members of the Board of Directors are on Twitter. Please tweet them:
Anita L. DeFrantz at @ADeFrantz
Angela Ruggiero at @angelaruggiero
John S. Hendricks at @JohnSHendricks
Whitney Ping at @wping
Sample tweet:
.@ADeFrantz Please insist that USFS answer charges of corporate influence b4 your board (USOC) approves the ladies’ team #MiraiEarnedIt
The following members of the Board of Directors are not on Twitter. Some of them I could not find direct email addresses for. Please contact me if you do find them. Please email:
Larry Probst (USOC chair) at communications@usoc.org
James L. Easton at communications@usoc.org
Robert J. Bach at communications@usoc.org
James Benson at communications@usoc.org
Susanne Lyons via alison@wildcarebayarea.org
Bob Bowlsby at bbowlsby@big12sports.com
Ursula Burns at ursula.burns@xerox.com
Nina Kemppel at nkemppel@akfh.org
Bill Marolt at BMarolt@ussa.org
Mary McCagg at mary.mccagg@candlewick.com
Dave Ogrean DaveO@usahockey.org
Sample email:
Dear USOC Board of Directors,
Thank you so much for taking this moment to hear from me.
I write as a supporter of Mirai Nagasu. And I am deeply disturbed by allegations, raised by numerous journalists and longtime figure skating observers, that corporate sponsors and NBC influenced U.S. Figure Skating’s choices for the 2014 U.S. Olympic team. The credibility of the Olympic movement in American figure skating has been called into serious question. Would you please insist that U.S. Figure Skating answer these charges forthrightly and transparently, and that until then, no approval of the women’s figure skating nominations will take place?
I am grateful for your leadership of the American Olympic movement, and I trust you will take a stand for its integrity. Thanks once again.
Sincerely,
…
Thank you for this constructive action and its sober tone. I just discovered it, and hope it went viral. As you must know, the change org petition to USFS prez Patricia St. Peter has over 5000 signers to date (1/25/14), for whatever that’s worth. Your approach is savvy.
And now Mirai was 10th at Taipei. Yeah, she’s on an emotional roller coaster, all right, after being slapped twice in the face by politics and commercialism after U.S. Nationals, and then being relegated to Taipei.
I will support Mirai as long as she skates. She is a diva on ice. No one, including Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen, has moved me (since Peggy Fleming) the way Mirai does with her artistry–which far exceeds whether or not she lands requisite aerial pirouettes just right.
That is awesome! Agreed! She’s highly talented and should be on the #TEAMUSA to Sochi!
Thank you, Anonymous! I appreciate the kind words, and for your support for Mirai! Please do send her your encouraging thoughts via the contact page at MiraiNagasu.com.
Got a brief boilerplate reply to my email to board members from USOC general counsel Rana Dershowitz saying USOC is “aware of the situation.” Swell.
After the Mirai travesty, via her Web site, I sent her a few comments I made to the WSJ and New Yorker articles as rohjo (sounds kinda Asian, but is my standard handle comprising letters from my male Anglo-American name). I doubted she would ever read them, but at your suggestion, I may send her more email support. She is showing such heart by hanging in there.
Truly, only Mirai and Peggy Fleming have ever choked me up with the grace of their skating.
Hi Rohjo!
I’m so glad you wrote in here! You wrote some great things! I was especially grabbed by your comments on the NBC Sports website calling for “an honest analysis” of the influence of NBC and corporate sponsors on U.S. Figure Skating’s team selection. One of the best lines I saw over these last two weeks was your statement that Mirai has earned every right for her supporters to raise hell on her behalf. And raise hell – in a respectful way – we did.
Thanks for being a part of the effort! Yes, please do send her your encouraging thoughts.
She earned it!
Cheers,
Eugene
Hi Eugene. Done. Thanks for encouragement to encourage Mirai. And thanks for your role in the social-media world (which I’m not in) to help her.
I Googled rohjo for first time. I’m not a gamer or photographer of pets, LOL. Maybe I should rethink my handle of 15 years. I also went to your Web site.
Good for you to take on activism, idealism and parenting. None of that is easy. My blonde daughter, a Jersey girl, didn’t entirely escape the twists of American culture growing up. Where I live in West Harlem, she’s been called “snowflake” and so forth, but she also was taught Double Dutch jump rope. Melting in the pot ain’t easy, but it helped make her strong and human. Also, Harlem is tolerant compared to the flip side in some white NYC enclaves.
In Manhattan, Asians are the new up-and-coming professional class. I rented a room to a Columbia student from Beijing studying hard to become a financial quant. I’m not sure I applaud that particular endeavor, but I think Asian influence is good for this crazy culture. Especially with parents who try to protect their young from the hype while letting them go forth in the world.
Best,
rohjo
Hi Rohjo,
It’s been my pleasure. Thank you, too, for what you’ve done for Mirai! Thanks so much for kindly visiting my RebelMouse page, and for sharing your thoughtful reflections here. I’ve enjoyed interacting with you; hopefully, we’ll continue to cross paths in the future 🙂
Cheers,
Eugene