This month is following suit.

Last weekend my neighbor next door brought me part of the Sunday paper, the entertainment section. Printed on actual PINK newspaper stock, it is commonly referred to as the "pink section"

Little is more entertaining (for me) than my thoughts, artwork, and circle of friends. A newspaper "entertainment" section, should I come to possess one, is what the three parakeets read on the bottom of their cage. I pick out the coolest pages to face them.

This was different...an article on the hula hooping revival brought me face to face with my paisley (as opposed to checkered) past.

I do not know how I originally

came by the hula hoop. Might have been teaching art at an afterschool program... I might have just bought one on a whim.

The hoop was fun, I learned and invented tricks. I could talk on the phone while gyrating, as long as it was cordless! Gentle rocking propels the hoop; it is centering, meditative. Movement inspired by the hoop is naturally fluid, graceful.

Guys love watching hula-hooping. It is mesmerizing. (don't you just LOVE that word!) Plus this extra bonus- unlike belly dancing, there is no whiney flute and finger symbol music to endure. A rock beat works great.

As exercise goes, it gets the tummy in tip top shape. One may choose to hoop with others or solo as is fit. Driving to a gym or joining a team is not required. Hula hoops are great fun on long car trips. 15 minutes of hooping at the rest area gets the kinks out and clears your mind!

Not unlike planting a zucchini squash in a vegetable garden, a single hula hoop's massive space requirement will limit the population of hoops used per room or patio. They can knock over as many drinks as an enthusiastic golden retriever's tail. SOMETIMES finding a place to store them where they do not skitter out from behind the door is a challenge. These are minor- compared to the huge benefit the hula hoop brought my life.

My pets have mixed emotions. One cat lets me hold her and hoop. She hangs on the right shoulder keeping her fuzzy tail out of the orbit's path. Another cat flees the scene, and one doesn't notice the hoop at all. The dog is utterly perplexed. There is no lap to snuggle into- so what's the use!? He looks all weasely and pathetic.

One of the strangest hoop things happened at a night club. A drunk guy harassed me by reaching up to hit my hoop so It would fall. He did it over and over again. No bouncer in site. I took matters into my own hands.

With rage only a thwarted hooper could muster toward such a malicious idiot, I grabbed the hoop from my waist, over my head, gripped firmly in the left hand (I was on the left side of the stage) and I PUMMELED THE INFIDEL REPEATEDLY OVER THE HEAD!!!

That got the bouncer's attention. The club kicked the jerk out. And his stupid drunk friend as well. YAY!

That night driving home in the wee hours, gig nite adrenaline giving way to physical exhaustion, two fingers of my left hand began to throb. And swell. And change colors. This went on for 6 weeks before I gave in and went to the doctor.

The fingers did not appear to be mine. I referred to them as alien fingers. An xray told the story. I had fractured my phalanges. My first ever broken bones! A hula-hoop injury! I couldn't believe it. That didn't stop me hooping on stage- but I never used one as a weapon again.

I taught hula hooping one summer at a performing arts summer camp, as well as improvisational dance performance. I can teach anyone to hulahoop! The kids loved the hoops. Funny thing is the majority were most attracted to endurance hooping not the tricks. My stopwatch got quite the workout as a brisk competition developed. New camp records were made and broken daily... We made up some guidelines about timing and hooping "umpires" to squelch dishonest distance claims. An official camp trophy was awarded at the grand finale show for the champion. This was not in the curriculum I prepared pre-camp, but It was such a popular activity I just went with the flow. That's improv baby!

Now this article on pink newsprint documents the "new" thing - hooping. I never thought it was old. My experience predates the history given for the origins of the resurgence. I very well might have unknowingly inspired some of this frenzy. In 1991, 1992 I performed at the Grateful Dead New Years Show with my dance company GO GO TO GO. I hooped for 10,000+ crowd in Oregon at a Springfield Creamery show that our rock band, The WHITE TRASH DEBUTANTS, played. I did it at the Filmore auditorium, the Whiskey a go go in LA. Every bay area nightclub, Utah, Nevada, on and on.

If my 20 year year zeal for the hoop percolated, trickled down, infiltrated and fueled even a small militant faction within this hoard of neophytes, I have achieved the spiritual hula hoop grand prize to end all prizes. The hoop brings laughter, joy, peace, healthy abs, and a plethora of equally valuable things -and more. I know not to use it as a weapon no matter what.

See the Hula Hoop SLIDESHOW

Cheers!