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My home studio has a new assistant. Her title is Assistant Manager in Charge of Mischief. Studio Manager Cletis Milou the cat tolerates her, which is a whole lot better than his previous hissing and lashing out at her.

Eloise, Assistant Manager in Charge of Mischief

Eloise, the dog, loves depositing her toys in Cletis Milou’s catnip covered bed. She loves stealing my glasses and stashing them in her crate. She is supposed to be crate trained and house trained. Crate trained affirmative; house trained…well, she thinks everything outside of her crate is “outside” so we are working on what exactly constitutes “outside.” At least “outside” does not include the catnip covered cat bed. And so it happened that I caught her in the act of relieving herself on the rug one time recently. I duly scolded “no no no” and escorted her outside immediately like I’m supposed to in these lapses. So I didn’t have a camera or even my phone with me.

As it turned out, Eloise cooperated and did more pipi outside right away. Hopefully her faulty habit will be replaced by a new, healthier habit in due time. I lavished her with praise and took a walk around with her. I guess I was supposed to take her right home but I didn’t. I walked with her into a lovely little park near me, Straus Park, where, to my surprise, was a small demonstration of people up in age. I would say the majority of the protestors were in their 80’s, maybe 90’s. One was using a walker. Another a cane. They held up protest signs in solidarity with all the demonstrators. They were wearing masks and were socially distancing. Obviously they were too at risk, in this Covid-19 moment, to join one of the major protests in the city.  They were all carrying  placards decrying the murder of George Floyd. Et al. I thanked them profusely. I’m sorry I could not take photos. What a missed opportunity! 1968 all over again! I’m sure they were actively protesting back then. Way to go!

I so wished I could have offered them all hands-on Alexander Technique 10-minute turns! I should have talked with them more but they were intent on their protest. And I was stressed out by Eloise’s accident.

Straus Park

These days I’m walking Eloise earlier than normal due to NYC’s 8pm curfew. And so, dear readers, I came upon them again! The protesters were fewer and younger…no walkers or canes this time around. However they are certainly in the at risk group. I got a chance to talk with them, especially with the organizer, and I took a few photos. They asked me to share the photos. They told me they started protesting last week and that they were there everyday. And they plan to continue indefinitely. They invited me to join them. I certainly shall! I’ll bring Eloise along with me. I was correct: they all actively and vigorously protested in the 1960’s and beyond. I asked them if they thought if this time around, because of this awful pandemic, that things would finally change. They said they thought so. I hope so!

 

What does all this have to do with the Alexander Technique? Admittedly not much. If you can think of something really relatable, please let me know.

P.S. Eloise would like you to know, for when hands-on Alexander Technique lessons can again be possible, that she is hypo-allergenic. And she is shy. Ditto on both fronts for Cletis Milou the cat.

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