Pella Christian girls tennis players Reagan DeVries and Addie Van Arendonk discuss the Eagles’ 7-0 start to the spring and how the entire team has stepped up to help them remain undefeated.
Pella Christian girls basketball junior Addie Van Arendonk discusses the Eagles 36-21 victory over Newton Tuesday night.
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many of the stories shared an unusual frankness
The current raft of stories is not interested in exalted
They’re stories about exertion and shortcomings
This moment in motherhood stories is interested in authenticity
is about posing questions: can you be a mother and your own person
then how exactly can you tell a story about motherhood
How can you escape the narrative pitfalls of a protagonist whose life is defined by boring repetition
How can you depict something that feels simultaneously mundane and otherworldly
unsatisfying answers to the question of what motherhood feels like
But when you tell a motherhood story onscreen
the question is never “what does the story of motherhood look like,” because nearly all of the stories are the same
The scenes are familiar: the stroller that careens out of control
often inside or in the vicinity of her car
The child who says an unfathomably cruel thing and then walks away without flinching
too: the sleeplessness and the physicality of early motherhood
the way your body belongs to someone other than yourself
joyful transitions between the child you know at home and the child out in the world
The familiarity of these moments represent the slowly hardening tropes of a genre
much like crime stories are full of repeating well-worn images of dead bodies and witness interrogations
the thing that thrills me and surprises me about so many of these onscreen stories about motherhood
and is more about the different ways to present them
the different forms and frames these stories are taking
the best stories about motherhood onscreen have reached beyond the important but underwhelming act of simple representation
there are stories about what it feels like to be a mother that combine an impulse toward realism with a distancing lens
through formal experimentation or genre hybridity
And those works — the ones that combine verisimilitude with artistic transformation — are the ones that arguably feel the most representative
They’re the ones that best speak to the transformative
an experience that is both transcendental and banal
Pamela Adlon’s Better Things is one model for this, a fragmentary, mood-driven meandering that’s driven more by feeling than plot. (In this sense, it most directly echoes much of the motherhood genre in book form, which Paskin describes as “discursive and epigrammatic,” with “short sections
bursts of paragraphs.”) The show’s protagonist
is caught between the demands of her aging mother and her three teen and preteen daughters
And although Sam does not apologize for being her own person
the questions of how much she’s allowed to need and how much of the story can actually be hers burble perpetually underneath the show’s spoken concerns
like an underground spring of constant existential uncertainty
It’s a question gorgeously enacted in the way Better Things is told — the show’s splintered
disconnected stories are one way to represent a daily grind without actually replicating the sensation of boredom
the scattered bits and pieces of Better Things feel like a representative glimpse into Sam’s life
where all the little pieces feel enormous in the moment and then disappear completely
The show’s short episodes bear more than a little resemblance to the tone and structure of Louie (no surprise
given his extensive involvement with the show’s first two seasons)
and it breaks my heart to think of how thoroughly C.K.’s creative eye is interwoven with the show
which is in no doubt largely thanks to him
is so astonishingly well suited to Adlon’s fictional preoccupations
the various pieces of story and observation and memoir revolved around C.K.
with himself as the self-deprecating but ever-present center
the form becomes its own commentary on the subject
When you watch a whole slew of these onscreen motherhood stories
figure out how to harness the genre to something else
It’s as though looking at the thing too directly fails to capture the breadth and immensity and weird stultifying minutiae of it
This is the problem of both Sharon Horgan’s Motherland and Sarah Scheller and Alison Bell’s The Letdown
two recent series that lean into the constant nervy frayed edges of parenting
Motherland’s opening episode depiction of a woman just trying to get some child care so she can go to her job is so intense
that I could hardly watch it without breaking into hives
barely contained energy to the role that exhausted me even as I understood that its point was to exhaust me
it didn’t matter that it was effective; the impact was still my blinding exhaustion
There’s merit in something that shows you your experiences are not unique
your desperation is not because of your personal failures
But watching these shows does not feel revelatory
most thoughtful of these onscreen stories have all looked at motherhood
And they’ve all looked wildly different from one another
Ali Wong’s comedy special uses stand-up as a delivery mechanism
palpable fury about the truths of what happens to women’s bodies inside the guise of a joke
Jane the Virgin carefully weaves the emotional authenticity of new motherhood into its high-keyed
the currently running HBO documentary about Serena Williams’s return to tennis after pregnancy
offhandedly slips a few telling shots into its otherwise gauzy
soft-focus approach: Serena hurriedly unstrapping her pumping bra and rushing onto the court; Serena succinctly explaining that if she hadn’t advocated for herself
Being Serena could just be an unremarkable
if her maternity were not also part of the story
But the recurrent theme of her new motherhood gives the otherwise conventional series a different edginess
turns it into a more loaded and original story about ambition and identity
initially looks like an exception to the rule that motherhood needs a mediating framework
that looking at the naked reality of the experience is too boring and intense and surreal and dissociative and inescapable
and the presence of another mediating genre doesn’t become clear until the ending
has all the hallmarks of the genre: her bodily ruination
her sweaty desperate sprint up a flight of stairs to get her son to school while hauling her infant in a car seat
Theron’s able to summon a look on her face that suggests she’s been transported to a lonely
even as she’s also buried in a pile of children
The film’s promotional trailers all focus on this element of the movie
I did not need to be re-submerged in an un-interpretive
even though I think the best way to watch the film is if you’re “spoiled” going into it
and understand from the beginning that its motherhood-as-genre identity is set inside another kind of story
ultimately turns out to be a postpartum dissociative disorder delusion
Its roots are in the stories of selkies and mermaids and in Mary Poppins
But rather than showing up to help the children or to be a love object for a worthy prince
Tully appears to Marlo once more so that she can say good-bye
and Marlo bemoans the youth she’s lost and the possibilities that are now gone
this is the gift Marlo gives her children so that they can grow up in a “circle of safety.”
although it took me a while to figure out why the movie hit me so hard
what helped it slip past my critical defenses and wallop my psyche so thoroughly
(I’m usually a TV critic who works from home
often in the short slices of the day when my children are asleep
I worried for a bit that my love for Tully was entirely thanks to the rebellious pleasure of having left the house to see a movie by myself.) But I slowly realized that what had so taken me aback was that combination of the new mother story with a fairy-tale wish fulfillment
hopeful beauty — of telling a fairy tale where the powerful mystical figure arrives to save
And then there’s the simultaneous knowledge that it is a fairy tale
she’s a symptom of something gone terribly wrong
That the only person who can save Marlo is herself
That there isn’t really “saving,” in any true sense of the word
What Tully does so well is not only represent what motherhood looks like
like a Donne poem about the nature of existence come to life
and then incongruously coated with saliva and sweet potatoes
What I need from these stories is for them to be more than perfectly reflective
I don’t need them to just be gritty (even this word is wrong; motherhood is soggy and sticky
but for that sensory-based realism to also grasp after the big
holy-shit-I-made-a-new-person-ness of it all
It’s so hard to hold both of those things at once
But this is why stories about motherhood are compelling
and why I want to watch more and more of them
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Pella Christian senior three-sport athlete Caleb Van Arendonk has signed his national letter of intent to continue his academic and baseball careers at Central College next year
Van Arendonk recorded a .351 batting average
a .448 on-base percentage and 0.561 slugging percentage
Helping lead Pella Christian to their first appearance at the State Tournament since 1994 this past summer
Van Arendonk said that the coaching staff at Central was a big reason he chose to stay close to home
“I think they’re gonna be building something really special and I just want to be a part of that
And also another thing is that it’s good to have the college search off my shoulders
so now I can be focused on basketball and also my senior baseball season.”
Hear more from Caleb Van Arendonk about his signing with Central on Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page
Pella Christian girls tennis player Sydney Van Arendonk is undefeated in singles play so far in 2023
She joins this week’s Radio Sports Page to talk about her start to the season
her future plans to attend the University of Iowa
Pella Christian senior Caleb Van Arendonk joins us on Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page to discuss signing his national letter of intent to continue his academic and baseball careers at Central College next year
The Pella Christian girls tennis team will be represented at the State Singles and Doubles Tennis Tournament later this month
as Katy Roose and Sydney Van Arendonk won the Doubles Championship at the Pella Christian Individual State Qualifier on Wednesday
Roose and Van Arendonk were dominant throughout the day
winning the doubles title while never dropping more than three games in a match
6-1 first-round win over Pella’s Bryn Higginbotham and Mallory Westerkamp
before defeating Danique Dobbe and Kayden Wingfield of Red Oak 6-1
Roose and Van Arendonk advanced to the championship match with a 6-1
6-3 semifinal win over Ballard’s Kiley Calvert and Gracie Ross
the seniors knocked of Pella’s Alloree Else and Lily VanDusseldorp 6-0
The Eagles duo of Reagan DeVries and Rachael Lanferman won their first-round match against Sophie Henderson and Kenly Shilling 6-0
6-3 to Red Oak’s Merced Ramirez and Tessa Rolenc
Claire Vander Molen lost in the first round with a 6-2
6-4 loss to Claire Smock of Pella and Laurey Johnson’s day ended with a first-round loss to Ballard’s Vanessa Nop 6-1
Find full results from the Individual Regional at Pella Christian here.
Roose and Van Arendonk will compete in the Class 1A State Singles and Doubles Tennis Tournament May 26th-27th in Waterloo at Byrnes Park Tennis Center
as they will host the first and semifinal rounds of the Class 1A Regional Team Tournament on Saturday
While last week’s numbers don’t jump off the page
Pella Christian’s Caleb Van Arendonk had one of his most efficient games for the Eagles last Friday
The senior picked apart the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont defense in a 56-38 victory
and Tyler Crabb broke down the lead-up to Caleb’s dominant performance on this week’s player profile
The Pella Christian soccer teams swept a doubleheader at Oskaloosa Tuesday night
with the girls winning the opener 3-0 and the boys following with a 4-1 victory
the Eagle girls took control of the game in the first half and never looked back
Claire Winn-Fogle got the scoring started early in the first half
using an assist from Tori Van Zee in the game’s fifth minute to beat the Indians defense for the first goal
Ema Zula then found Karis Fikkert in the box in the 33rd minute
and Fikkert snuck the ball past the Oskaloosa goalie to push Pella Christian’s first half advantage to 2-0
The Eagles added the finishing touches on the win in the 58th minute
when Esther Ford crossed the ball into the box and connected with Hattie Fancher
who found the back of the net to push PC to 8-6 overall on the season and 2-3 in Little Hawkeye Conference play
the Pella Christian boys applied pressure on the Indians defense throughout the night
Nathan Brouwer’s goal on a free kick in the 18th minute gave the Eagles the early lead
Junior Ethan Van Arendonk took over the game in the second half
recording a hat trick in the final 40 minutes to secure the win
Van Arendonk used a long feed from Elias Keegan to beat the goal and push Pella Christian’s advantage to 2-0
Camden Parker then found Van Arendonk in the box in the 64th minute
and the junior’s shot bounced off the post and the goalie into the goal for his second score of the night
Oskaloosa added their lone goal of the night in the 77th minute
but Van Arendonk completed the hat trick two minutes later when he beat the goalie on an assist from Keegan Juffer
The victory pushed PC’s record to 7-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play
The Eagles soccer teams wrap up regular season action Friday night with a road doubleheader at Van Meter
The girls game is set to start at 4:30 pm and the boys contest follows at approximately 6:15 pm
Pella Christian boys soccer players Ethan Van Arendonk and Camden Parker joined Tyler Crabb on this week’s Radio Sports Page to talk about the Eagles’ and their seasons thus far and their goals as the season winds down
The Pella Christian basketball teams wrapped up competition for 2023 Thursday night
sweeping Newton in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS
Stifling defense and a career night from sophomore Addie Van Arendonk propelled the Eagle girls to a 51-48 win over the Cardinals in the opening game of the twinbill
Pella Christian forced Newton to commit 17 first half turnovers as they built up a 22-16 lead at halftime
The Eagles started to pull away in the third quarter
but the Cardinals battled back to pull within one late in the fourth quarter
Despite missing multiple late game free throws
Pella Christian’ defense and rebounding came through in the big moments to sneak out the three point victory
Van Arendonk poured in a career high 18 points to lead all scorers in the game
while Rachel Kacmarynski added 11 points in the win
Having battled through some illness this week
head coach Brendan Foughty said that he was proud of how his team handled the adversity
“I’m really just proud of our kids for finding a way to grit through a really tough week
play an ugly basketball game where to be honest with you
we had a late lead and we kind of lost our composure a little bit in the fourth quarter
but found a way to win and that’s what this team has to do is find ways to win.”
the Eagle boys had nine players record points in a 69-48 win to complete the sweep against Newton
Pella Christian led 16-12 after the opening quarter
and extended the lead to 36-23 at halftime
as Josiah Vos banked in a buzzer beating three entering the intermission
Newton trimmed the deficit to 46-34 heading into the final quarter
but the Eagles blew the game open in the fourth
outscoring the Cardinals 23-14 to cruise to the 21-point victory
Dane Geetings was the lone Eagle to reach double figures with 22 points
while Isaiah Breems recorded nine points in the win
The Pella Christian girls improved to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference
while the boys improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the league
Both teams are off until after Christmas break
returning to action with another conference doubleheader at Pella on Friday
Recent Pella Christian graduates Katy Roose and Sydney Van Arendonk wrapped up their athletic careers this past weekend
taking second place at the Class 1A Individual Doubles State Tournament
Roose and Van Arendonk join this week’s Radio Sports page to talk about the experience and what it meant to finish their high school careers on such a high note
A new taskforce is set to rid the country of "pedantic and loopy" consent regulations - but a Rotorua builder warns throwing out the rules could see more people end up in court
Local Government Minister Paula Bennett has announced a new Rules Reduction Taskforce would work in with local government to ease property owner and council frustration
"We've seen rules and regulations brought in over decades that were well intentioned but end up being confusing
onerous and costly while failing to deliver any real benefit for the property owner or the wider public," Mrs Bennett said
Building and trade experts would also be brought in as consultants on the taskforce
"Anyone doing building work knows just how frustrating and costly the bureaucracy can get," Mrs Bennett said
tradespeople and businesses on rules and regulations that are crying out for sensible change."
Adrie van Arendonk of Arendonk Builders said rules and regulations were necessary to protect the industry
especially in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes
but it's for the protection of everybody."
Builders and the council had to be careful of exposing themselves to litigation
If something goes wrong it goes to the courts and people start suing each other."
some rules still proved costly and unnecessary
"We've submitted permits and then all of a sudden they change the building codes and your permit becomes invalid and you have to reapply."
The Taskforce would be taking public submissions and a website would be set up where people could share examples of ridiculous rules they had come up against
"We have rules dictating all sorts of weird and wonderful things from signage over cake stalls to where your shower curtains need to be positioned," Mrs Bennett said
One property owner who was trying to replace a 130-year-old fence faced buying or leasing the land it was on because it was on a scenic reserve
"While there's always a degree of rationale behind these rules
the Taskforce will be charged with identifying what should stay and what should go so people can get on with the job of building
renovating or event planning without have to wade through a morass of unnecessary rules," Mrs Bennett said
The Taskforce will be up and running in October