Alex Cohen may be a public radio reporter by day, but by night she goes by her roller derby name — Axles of Evil.
Cohen first fell in love with roller derby in Austin, Texas, several years ago, while reporting a story on the sport. Since then, she has skated as "Smother Theresa" with the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls' Holy Rollers in Austin and Axles of Evil with the L.A. Derby Dolls .
Cohen has joined forces with another L.A. Derby Doll, Jennifer "Kasey Bomber" Barbee, to write Down and Derby: The Insider's Guide to Roller Derby.
Cohen — who describes herself as "5-foot-2 on a good day" — says she never expected she'd get involved in such a rough-and-tumble sport. "I have never been athletically inclined," she tells NPR's Renee Montagne. "I was always the theater and speech and debate geek. When I started doing derby, I was amazed to see I really liked beating people up."