I can't really think of a time which I was "rocked" by any feedback. When I was much, much younger there may have been a time that rocked me. Most of the time, as a youth, I was the person that most people didn't want to "hang around with." I was always the last one to be picked for a team. I was constantly told I was ugly and I wouldn't make good with my life. I was told by my mom that I wasn't going to be a good dancer (which I wanted to be at that time). That probably hurt me the most. I was a fairly descent dancer at the time and was told by my teachers that I had a good potential for a career as a dancer. Notice the picture of me dancing. I did love it. I wanted to study in New York with Martha Graham's company. Besides dancing I was also involved with Three Day Eventing. If you don't know what that is - it is horse back riding and involves three events - Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross-country Jumping. I also wanted to compete in the Olympics in Equestrian events. I had a job at a stable and worked for my lessons by cleaning stalls and grooming horses because my parents didn't approve of my riding. They rarely came to my shows and the one time my mom came, she overheard someone talking about how good my riding was. They didn't realize that it was my mom standing next to them. Just for fun, I tried out for the LSU Equestrian Team a year and a half ago. I knew I wasn't going to make the team, but I tried anyway, despite the fact that I haven't been on a horse for 40 years. It's funny, I tried to find some pictures of me riding when I was younger. There weren't any. Does that show how much I was encouraged or discouraged to continue riding. It makes you wonder - how the amount of pictures you have showing your interests and how much you were encouraged about it or not. The pictures from the dance were taken by the school and they gave them to me later. My parents never took any pictures of me dancing. I guess the way I a handled it was to eventually quit. Now that my body is older and doesn't move so well, those dreams will never come to pass. The message I got from my parents was to quit these activities. As a naive teenager, I listened to them. As an adult, I try to do things I would like to do but never had the chance or the encouragement to do, like getting my college degree.
For the underclassmen - I would say, listen to your heart! If there is something you truly want to do or try - go for it! Don't let other people tell you that you can't! You are only young once and time flies by so fast! There may be a day when you are physically unable to do what you want - dance, silks, act, climb the catwalk, or whatever. I don't know why I waited so long to complete my dreams. Sometimes your inner censor will say that you can't or make you afraid. I've told my kids "to find something that they love and make a career out of it." That would be my "catch phrase" that you could live by. Try everything that interests you. If you thought you would like one thing, tried it and found you didn't like it - don't do it! Try different things and find what you like and go for it!
In this picture - I am the one in the middle, in front - Short hair! This was in 1976! This was in the yearbook - that's why I'm in the "crack" between the pages.
This is me with long braids! Taken in 1974!
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