The best thing about starting this blog turned out to be something quite unexpected. For background, I began writing essays on Call the Jam back in May of 2012 for a couple of reasons — one was that I couldn’t find enough of a certain kind of writing about roller derby that I wanted to read. Another is simply that I am a writer. Writing is how I make sense of things, how I distill the essence of my relationships and experiences into meaning and tell myself the story of my life. It’s something I’d do if no one at all was listening. It’s a habit I’ve had since childhood — I am constantly penning essays in my head. Most every word that has appeared…