I am
private and spent a career ducking photos and keeping personal information
out of print.
I am experimenting with a few images to share. This page may stay or not:
The Cruise Ship
I was the first to put fitness on cruise ships. I had worked for years to convince dozens of cruise lines that people would exercise on vacation. I was already out of grad school. No one wanted healthy exercise programs - not the military, university, gyms, or cruises. In the early 1980s, one line started their program. I took a bathing suit and scuba gear and left for the sea.
Getting ready to teach Parcours (Parkour, Free Running) starting with a run on the railings
Teaching ballet.
It was also the fledgling beginnings of the first aerobics classes. I taught
aerobics in classic 80s style in leg warmers and leotards. I was called
their "Vitality Instructor."
(In ballet and other dance, legs are turned out for style, even though it is less stretch. This stretch mistake carried over into "fitness" from people who didn't know it was only style and tradition, not stretch. I taught stretch with parallel feet; upsetting "fitness" people.)
We wore these uniforms on "Mexican Night." Mine was too big. Occasionally it would fall suddenly. One day it dropped to the floor. A passenger raised a camera, I pretended it was all part of the costume. New arrangement, above right.
Teaching
snorkeling before leading the group out to the reefs.
I took passengers by boat to a sheltered cove where I'd teach them how to
snorkel, then lead their trip and cook them lunch on the beach.
Western
night.
Cruise staff dressed as saloon dance hall girls. I wore jeans and aces and
did a trick whip show.
At the time, I had no idea why it was so popular.
Part
of my job was to be like popular people (of that era) to please the passengers.
At left I am trying to pay respectful tribute to Farrah Faucet. At right
is the beach of the movie "10" - Las Hadas. I was told
to wear a Bo Derek bathing suit and prance on the beach, in addition to
teaching scuba, windsurfing, water exercise, and aerobics classes.
The ship is in the background, and a lone hotel or two. I think there are
many now.
The standard required bent knee pose
Evaluation from passengers - nice words at left and lower right
From
my scrapbook of letters from passengers.
Living in Mexico
I never
wanted to leave the cruise ship.
I found myself put ashore suddenly for not being cozy enough with the Director.
You really have to read the fine print in your contract.
I worked
day and night with locals on the southwestern Mexican coast to build a gym.
I hammered, sawed, laid bricks, painted, translated, wrote class routines,
and learned that after impressive effects from drinking from the hose in
Mexico, I was able to live in rustic conditions and drink anything, even
from the river, 'though I don't recommend it now.
While building the gym, I worked until my Spanish improved enough to be appointed Professor at a college, photo on the Adventure page. I taught anatomy and physiology completely in Spanish. Students often asked me American song lyrics, and when I translated "hurts so good" and "the funk of 40,000 years" (from the popular songs of the 80s), they said I didn't speak English. There was no one for miles around that spoke English so I could prove it. I loved working there.
The years I never thought I'd mention again
I was paralyzed in a military accident. They didn't know me anymore after that. No compensation or help. My face and body were disfigured. My body and legs first swelled grotesquely, then shrank and twisted into claws, then turned to spaghetti. I didn't want photos or anyone to know.
Every doctor and "friend" and family member said I was an unreasonable baby to not accept I'd never walk. They prevented me from trying, saying it was dangerous and I had no right to be unhappy about it. They tried to force me to have both legs cut off. I paid physical therapy out of pocket but they all said I had to live with pain and lose my legs too. Doctors said there was no other way. I worked years until I was able to push myself up, so I threw a party.
I used my own methods to rehab and forced myself to walk.
Here I went back to the pool, swallowed my pride about my shrunken legs and ruined body, and hit the laps at a pool where I used to work although no one would hire me any more. I had been an Olympic swimming hopeful and here I could barely swish around. Painfully.
The only photos I'd allow were carefully posed so that I'd look like I could stand or do anything, although I could not. I'd smile to prove all was fine when nothing was fine.
I destroyed my photos, sports trophies, medals (as much as I was able to move at all). Everyone said I had to accept I'd never be me again. It only added pain to see the life I had worked so hard for, all gone.
A month after being able to walk again, I was a passenger in a 4 car fiery smash when police crushed us chasing a stolen car. Paralyzed again, worse this time. They had sovereign immunity and I was not compensated for rehab or even food. I could not get work. Once again I was on my own.
I did my own rehab. I couldn't bear the thought of a wheelchair or for anyone to see me. As soon I could conceal my disfigurement enough that I didn't frighten horses in the street, I went back to martial arts. I'd arrive at school an hour early so no one could see me try to get up the stairs on all fours. In training matches, my opponents knew to just go for my ruined legs, still cased in metal bracing, for an easy win. I refused to put my black belt on again until I earned it a second time.
Why am I telling any of this now?I never used to mention anything. My classes and work were for the students, not to talk about myself. Students would complain how hard my classes were and that they didn't want to work for anything. The first time I mentioned I had spent years unable to walk, they said they were glad I told them. They said before I told them, they didn't like me. They thought I couldn't understand a hard life. I took that as a compliment, that anyone could look at me, when I still see my mangled former self struggling, they see someone untouched by any scar.
I rehabbed myself and walked and am still creating world programs of health and better ways. Come join the fun.
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