Making Concessions: Covid While 40 Weeks Pregnant

Posted on by Christina Noel Mitchell
toilet paper

I am rarely surprised or frightened by the world around me. When COVID-19 first came out and I kept hearing people worry about it, I kept becoming annoyed by it all and saying, “Yeah yeah yeah. Relax people. Why aren’t we worried about the common flu that kills between 12,000 and 61,000 people every year just in the US? Or heart disease, which kills 650,000 people in the US every year? Or car accidents that kill 35,000 people every year in the US?” I kept saying, “this is a media-driven panic, goddamnit! Turn off your TV!” I heard a very […]

Join Pregame: Virtual Membership Now Open!

Posted on by Pregame Magazine
Pregame Virtual Workout

Pregame is all about helping you achieve your goals with the support of a team. We’re excited to open Pregame Membership to players everywhere. [learn more] Virtual membership has always been part of our long term game plan, but thanks to the coronavirus, we stepped up and moved everything online overnight. The silver lining? Now we can welcome you to our team, no matter where you are. For the past four years (plus five years of events before that), we’ve exclusively held our daily workshops in person. Nothing matches the magic of live interaction… or so we thought. It turns […]

That Time I Crashed Bloomberg’s Victory Party

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
As Seen on TV, 36in x 48in, Oil on canvas

No matter what anyone says, it’s more fun to be on the winning team. Losing with dignity is a nice idea, but a mirage – even Red Sox fans had to invent The Curse so they could feel like they accomplished something every year they were met with a certain pinstriped team from The Bronx. So in the fall of 2005, when the candidate I’d been volunteering for in a pivotal New York City council district won on election night, it felt good to party, good to be thanked, good to be part of the team people wanted for the […]

Love and Lessons

Posted on by Christina Noel Mitchell
pregnant wonder woman

I’m not going to make up statistics, but it seems like most people become parents on accident and then improvise as needed, accepting their new role, as humans do, fairly easily. I think I may have a skewed view of that, and the ‘accidents’ just stick with my memory better, but it does seem that more times than not, it’s either a true accident or something along the lines of “well, we weren’t NOT trying.” I love that one. Nothing like a double negative to soften a vulnerable position. When I decided at 39 to get pregnant, I had my […]

February 2020: Legacy

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
ripple effect

We all have an urge to create. To put our stamp on the world. To leave a legacy. I learned this from Nick, a friend with whom I’d recently reunited. He had become a priest, serving as a hospital chaplain. Sitting in Madison Square Park, we caught up over coffee from the Mud Truck one spring afternoon. I was fascinated by the sheer amount of time he had spent with dying people; more than anyone else I knew at our age. I asked, “What’s the one biggest takeaway you have from being around people at the end of life?” He […]

The Pursuit of Immeasurable Impact

Posted on by Paige Webster
crafts

“Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.” – Henry Brooks Adams I began my first career as a high school English teacher, full of idealism about the impact I would have on my students. The reason I went into teaching (aside from being completely clueless about what else I might do with my life), was because I wanted to have a positive impact on kids. Yet, I don’t know what impact, good and bad, I had on my students. I know some of the impact I had on some students. If the reason I went into […]

November 2019: Spiritual Journeys

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
It’s Already Yours | Beads on Canvas | 48x40

Have you heard of the “Nones?” A None is a clever homynym for the religion-free American. In a country where most previously felt compelled to identify with a religion, even if not actively participating, it’s now acceptable in most circles to declare “none of the above.” Still, the desire for spiritual actualization remains. We’re just finding it in less traditional spaces. When I was dreaming up Pregame, one of the questions I asked was “What would it look like to create ‘church’ for entrepreneurs?” Entrepreneurs being a catch-all for the creative, ambitious, collaborative people I saw all around me, craving […]

A New Kind of Revolution: The Politics of Listening

Posted on by Paige Webster
politics of listening

This may not be a popular opinion. I’m writing it anyway because my own integrity requires it. First, I do not like what I see and hear on the news about what is happening in our country. In fact, I became so disempowered by the news that I opted out about 18 months ago. I just stopped paying attention and figured if there was something I needed to know, I’d hear about it eventually. This chafes my mother to no end. I’m not saying this was a good approach nor am I advocating you follow it. I’m just saying it’s […]

October 2019: Approaching Politics

Posted on by Ciara Pressler
Ciara PreGame Portland Oregon

Even though we’re over a year out from the next U.S. presidential election, we’re already inundated with reports of candidates, campaigns, and controversy. We’ve barely had a breather, and here we are avoiding the 24-hour news cycle again like it’s November 2016. Even if we can find a way to opt out of the minute-by-minute ticker tape of speculation and developments, to live in a society is to deal with politics. We each decide on a level of participation on the political spectrum, from habits of avoidance to a lifetime of public service. Eventually, politics demand interaction, if not on voting […]

Burn, Baby, Burn: Notes From the Ashes of the #MeToo Movement

Posted on by Uma Kleppinger
me too aftermath

Forests recover from wildfires through the germination of seeds that are stored in the earth, some of which need the heat of fire to germinate successfully. Singed trees can sprout new branches that become new trees. In short, many forests benefit from an occasional fire. But what of the business landscape after the wildfire that is the #MeToo movement? It has been nearly two years since the movement spread across the country and then the world, like a climate-change fueled wildfire. The tinder? The untold stories of millions of women who had experienced sexual or physical harassment, assault, or abuse […]