It’s a Monday afternoon and Sarah Gremer is wearing a bright, red dress. It matches her hair, which is smartly styled into loose curls.

She looks nice, but then again, she’s expected to dress professionally as the primary departmental adviser for Ball State’s Department of Physiology and Health Sciences.

She spends most of her day behind a desk, meeting with students and making sure they’re on track to graduate.

Many people probably wouldn’t think, just by looking at her, that she spends some weekday evenings and Saturday mornings dressed in athletic wear, sporting pigtails and slamming into other women.

Gremer probably wouldn’t have guessed that about herself if someone had asked her in 2013.

That was the year before Gremer joined the Cornfed Derby Dames, Muncie’s roller derby team. Roller derby is a game often played by all-female groups and known for its physical nature. Players block and jostle their opponents to keep them from skating around the track and gaining points.

Gremer, who also goes by her roller derby name Aria Kiddinme, talks about her love of the sport in paragraphs. It’s her “therapy,” a time to focus, the source of a built-in social network.

Before she joined, however, her conversations about roller derby were dominated by excuses.

“I don’t have time,” “I’m too old,” “I don’t know how to skate,” she said to a member of the team.

Then Gremer attended a roller derby game in Indianapolis. Seeing skaters fall down and injure themselves didn’t scare her away from the sport. In fact, it did the opposite.

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She found herself emailing the president of the Cornfed Derby Dames to ask her about the team’s practice times.

“I figured this would be the end of it,” Gremer said. “Once she told me when the practices were, it was going to be done.”

It wasn’t. The practices were in the evenings, after Gremer had coaxed her children into bed, and on weekend mornings.

“My first practice, all I did was skate in circles,” she said. “I couldn’t hardly stand. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t really do anything.”

But at the end, the roller derby team cheered for her.

“It just made me feel very welcomed,” she said.

Many of the people on the team resembled her, too: mothers in their 30s with full-time jobs.

Then again, there were other team members who were much different. That’s what’s wonderful about derby, Gremer said. Anyone can join.

Gremer’s close friend and teammate, Adrianne Henderson can attest to that. She’s an elementary school music teacher.

Gremer convinced Henderson to join roller derby at a going-away party for a mutual friend.

“When you’re hanging out with a bunch of academics, it’s not the social circle where you’d think you’d run into the people who do derby,” Henderson said. “But I did and I got hooked.”

The women she skates with are Muncie locals and transplants, students, athletes and non-athletes. Gremer isn’t the only Ball State faculty member on the team either.

“We all find a common ground even though our upbringings and backgrounds are different,” Henderson said.

Henderson joined the Cornfed Derby Dames about six months after Gremer. They were both working on basic skating skills at the time while other players scrimmaged and “rostered” to play actual games or bouts.

Henderson has played in several bouts since she began, but Gremer is still waiting on her chance. In April, she broke her ankle. The injury left her with a plate in her leg and seven screws. Last week was her first back on the track. She said she’s determined to get back to where she was before the accident.

But skating isn’t Gremer’s only derby responsibility. She’s also the president of the group. The role is very similar to the one Gremer plays in her professional life. She organizes practice times like she does student’s schedules.

It fits her personality, she said. Even if the dress code isn’t exactly the same.

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I went on my first real fall shopping trip over the weekend. It did not go well.

My friend and I were geared up to buy. We’re very excited for fall, we’re going on a trip in a few weeks for which we would love new clothes, and we’d also love to update our professional attire. We weren’t even hoping or expecting to save money; we came mentally prepared for the full prices that usually come with fall gear.

Even so, to say we were let down is an understatement. Actually, by the last store we were so depressed that we decided to just go see if Williams-Sonoma had any pumpkin-flavored samples and then call it a day.

Overall, the clothes were boring at best, and some were downright offensive. At one store, which shall not be named, there was a long-sleeved cotton shirt with a pattern of small holes punched out in the front. Said holes were not stitched at all, just torn out of this T-shirt style fabric. I said loudly to my friend, “Who would buy this? It is going to fall apart the first time you wash it.” A shopper we didn’t know chuckled at my commentary and also gave that shirt the side-eye.

Some of this I will excuse because we’re in a very tricky weather situation. The idea of fall things is very appealing, but the reality is we’re still in the 70s and even 80s in most of the U.S. I get this. But I was disappointed that everything was so frumpy and drab, especially for my favorite season.

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In the interest of positivity and optimism, I’ve decided to create a guide to what some stores can offer you. A general shopping trip may well turn up a result like mine, but if you’re looking for specific pieces, hopefully I can help you avoid disappointment.

Best lightweight sweaters: J.Crew

Most of the sweaters we saw were unreasonably heavy, the type of sweater that I have in my closet but don’t wear until December or January, because I figure that I have to save more clothes to put on when the temperatures drop below zero. Absolutely nobody is interested in wearing such sweaters now.

But J.Crew’s trusty, lightweight cotton Tippi sweater came through with an appealing display of both trendy fall hues and classic colors. Both of us were in love with the Neon Sorbet color when we saw it in person, and online you can also find Neon Orchid — both nods to this year’s Pantone Color Report and, while very bright, appropriate for fall wear.

Best basics: Gap

No big surprise here, but Gap wins for having a great selection of black and gray skirts in different shapes, button-down shirts, neutral-colored trousers and cropped pants, and easy-to-wear work dresses. Their fit-and-flare dress is my new favorite, and for fall they’ve simply put some sleeves on it, making it just as turnkey when you pull it out of your closet on an “I-don’t-want-to-get-dressed-today” day. If you need to refresh your basics, like if you’ve changed sizes, this is your place.

Best not-too-summery sale rack: Banana Republic

I actually found some great sale items, which I can easily wear for another couple of months, at Banana Republic. A lot of the items were black, gray, rose, kelly green or cobalt blue, all colors that transition easily if the fabric is also suitable. I particularly love light gray for fall. I pair it with all my white stuff to extend their wear.

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