Pink Boots and A Machete: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer

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On a related note, did you know that cheerleaders have their own competitions where contestants are judged based on various attributes, such as dancing, stunting, tumbling, etc.? Well, the life of a cheerleader isn’t as easy as you think. The One Where the Male Cheerleader Looks like He Is Focussing at the Wrong Place or the Wrong Bodypart As a result of her credentials and her enthusiasm, there's a pretty good (and important) story in this book. This, I suspect, is why Jane Goodall wrote the forward.

Mayor says it looked similar to known species of mouse lemur, but there was something different about the one she caught. I had never heard of Mireya Mayor before I entered a Goodreads giveaway for it. Apparently I don't watch enough TV. So I didn't expect very good writing. Time for another fun fact: It was only in the 1950s that professional sports team began employing cheerleader squads and Baltimore Colts was the first NFL team to have a cheerleading team. A Cheer Pyramid Gone Wrong Pink Boots and a Machete is the story of Mireya Mayor, a "girly-girl" and yet also a "tom-boy" who was raised by three Cuban women in Miami. She was just as interested in things like fashion and make-up as she was chasing animals and collecting bugs and wading through creeks. The story is essentially an autobiography written in a very casual "bloggy" sort of way, with an often subtle dose of good humor. She invites the reader along for the ride as we follow her metamorphosis from from Cuban girl in Miami to National Geographic Explorer, with a stops along the way as an NFL cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins and a TV star. She presents herself as both an expert and as a "regular person," something that is very hard to do. There's no jargon here, and no pretense.Being a male cheerleader isn’t easy. To start with, male cheerleaders do not enjoy the same kind of popularity as their female counterparts. However, more importantly, male cheerleaders often have to lift their fellow squad members and perform moves and step which require a lot of physical strength. For instance, the guy in this picture is certainly trying very hard but he clearly does not have the strength for it. I could not put this book down. I read it in an entire day. This is because a) it is a thrilling and fascinating series of stories & b) it is a very smooth read.

Dr. Taylor then asked me about my "other" life as a cheerleader, which had obviously intrigued or puzzled her for some time. As it turned out, Doc, as she soon let me call her, was a huge Dolphins fan. Despite her stern exterior, we shared another couple of interests: shopping and shoes. I was surprised to find that the book really isn't about her metaphorical 'journey' from cheerleader to National Geographic explorer. It's much more about her actual journeys into jungles and rain forests and deserts. It touches briefly on being a cheerleader and then applying to go on an expedition. That's about it for the metaphorical journey. If there is one central theme of the book, it it this: that this sort of juxtaposition that many might find strange or odd - the mixture of the stereotypically feminine and the stereotypically masculine - is, well, not that strange or odd at all.

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The hive like mind of pro wrestling fans then created what is now known as "Fandangoing," which is, quite simply, dancing and singing along to Fandango's theme song. Mireya is the kind of role model for me and for women & girls across the world. She is not your stereotypical explorer and she's not ashamed that she loves "girlie" things. She's always loved animals and dreamed of exploring in the jungle one day. She becomes an NFL cheerleader (which will always be brought up in regards to her career) and later goes on to get an anthropology degree, explore across the world, become a National Geographic host, and to earn her Ph.D. Cheerleading fact: The film Bring It On which starred Eliza Dushku, Gabrielle Union and Kristen Dunst, was a popular hit and added to the popularity of cheerleading as a sport. Here’s Why White Does Not Make a Great Cheerleading Uniform Many of the scientists and animal species mentioned in the book are familiar to me, although the fossa, a cat-like carnivore related to the mongoose family was a new one...it is such an odd looking creature with similarities to a cat, but with a long lean body. Mireya Mayor is a former NFL cheerleader turned NatGeo explorer - don't worry, if you didn't get it the first time, she repeats it many, many times throughout the course of this memoir. Mayor tries hard to justify both parts of her personality - the bug-loving little girl who grew up to be the Ph.D totin' explorer, but who is also still the cheerleader who loves being able to blow dry her hair. It makes me sad to think that she feels the need to defend it so constantly. It could certainly be the theme - there's threads of it woven into each chapter. The book itself even ends with a chapter of how she tries to juggle the life of a working mother - even if her work brings her away from her children much more so than most.

This new "craze," if you can call it that, isn't likely to hit Harlem Shake levels -- and that's probably a good thing -- but at least it has reached as far as Houston Texans cheerleading practice and given us the video you see above.

OOPS!

Of course, books like Bonobo Handshake and Pink Boots and a Machete aren't really like The Jungle Book at all, and that's a good thing. Not only do they contain a strong narrative and interesting characters, but science is central in these books (sometimes, science is even a character itself, in some ways). Mireya Mayor is an astonishing, inspirational woman who has done some amazing things in her adventures around the globe. She's a Fulbright scholar, she's a National Science Foundation Fellow, she has a Ph.D. from Stony Brook, she discovered a new species of mouse lemur and she even worked with the government in Madagascar to create a National Park to protect the mouse lemur's habitat. Impressive. Mayor has a theory about gorilla social hierarchy that is somewhat unorthodox, based on past scientific observation: "... the prevailing thought has been that female gorillas are, without question, the weaker sex, forced to play by the rules. At least, that is what researchers had been reporting for decades, However, most of those researchers were male." Mayor posits that perhaps it is the females who actually have the power. Why would this not have merit? After all, how many researchers have defaulted to a male perspective without noticing, even the women? (I am referring here to the stereotypical male perspective, as I believe gender to be more of a spectrum.) I was thrilled to receive a signed copy of this memoir by the author. The following is my honest review after reading the book. The writing style bothered me, though. It was too conversational for my taste, the narration was disjointed, and everything seemed too rushed. Not long after an animal was introduced, the narration was rushing on to the next animal or next adventure. I wanted more closures rather than just glances. And the constant reminder that she was a cheerleader got to be a bit annoying.