ADVENTURES

My mother arranged for my younger sister and myself to attend the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. We enjoyed the amazing athletes even though we couldn’t obtain tickets for the big draw events like Women’s Acrobatics. However, we were astonished by the unexpected appearance of Queen Elizabeth and II HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh for a diving event!

Before Stonehenge was closed off, my mother, younger sister, and I toured the British Isles in 1975. We walked among the stones in awe and touched them with admiration. We saw live performances of Shakespeare’s works in his hometown of Stratford-on-Avon and London. I loved seeing places that inspired English literature with “The Adventures of Alice” being one of my favorites.

In 1983, I traveled to Spain to explore my distant heritage. For a month, I made spontaneous decisions and stayed in youth hostels. I visited several top historic cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Segovia, Sevilla, Córdoba, Valencia, Toledo, Granada, and others. Highlights were the Prado Museum, Gaudí’s architecture, Sagrada Familia, and the Mosque-Cathedral. One main goal was to find the windmills in La Mancha. It took days but I succeeded!

From Spain, I traveled to Morocco by taking the ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to the African coast. At the youth hostel, I found a Brazilian family with a rental car so we ventured into a few cities. In the older parts — the Medina — it was like traveling back in time. We saw the hand-made processing of leather. We went past goat carcasses and hides to the roof. We saw different colors with this view just one dye vat of many.

In 1988, I was finishing up my Master’s degree so I traveled to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia for a weeklong Futures Studies workshop. I spent another week heading north to Belgrade. I was alone and I didn’t speak the language. However, I met locals from whom I learned a great deal about their culture and viewpoints. I crossed a 500 year old bridge in Mostar later bombed during their 1993 civil war. It has since been rebuilt.

I was a child when the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. I hated it so when it came down in 1989, I attended a couple of conferences, which matched Germany reunification in 1990. I became a wall-pecker and was present at the Brandenburg the moment East and West became one country.

The Museum of Fine Arts – Houston sought proposals for a mural project in 1996. Four were accepted. We created our art in the museum for the public to see — Artists at Work. The murals were destined for community installations. My mixed media artwork combined materials to represent the history of the Chicano area. I also posted a large pad with a pencil for people to write questions when I wasn’t there. They came back to see my responses. The museum loved it!

I took fencing in college but I didn’t pursue it for thirty years. In 1998, I found a club nearby and I enjoyed the superhero feel of competition. I was the only person in my club to compete on the national level for a few years before winning seventh place in 2004. My hard work also earned me a spot on the USA team in Women’s Foil 50-59 in Krems, Austria.