October 19, 1996

Hello!,

I met you and bought a set of sticks, a tape and a bag at the Houston Festival. I'm from Phoenix and you told me that the Houston Festival will spoil us because it is the best kept, remember. I loved your tape and like juggling or riding a unicycle (both of which I can do), doing sticks is on the one hand harder than people make it look, but on the other hand is ultimately possible -- although I'm not there yet. It reminds me of when I decided to learn to ride a unicycle backwards as a teenager. I was already fully competent riding frontwards (hands behind the back, pop a little "wheelie" going up curbs, which means no wheels) and there is already sufficient backward wheel motion when balancing so it should be an easy transition, right? Not at all! It took almost as long to become proficient at riding backwards as it did to ride frontwards in the first place. This became one of my specialties along with juggling. Each of us in our neighborhood had a unicycle and we all had our special tricks. My brother could ride with one foot, which was the most hilarious thing you ever saw! It looked totally impossible, and I never could learn to do it. He also had a trick where he would start riding in a circle that grew smaller and smaller in diameter until he did nearly half a turn with each pedal push and started spinning like an ice skater at the end of their routine until the fine balance was lost and he and his unicycle flew always in opposite directions.

Sticks bring back those days 25 years ago when we confront the challenge of making something that seems impossible appear to be easy.

I'll hopefully see you in Phoenix next spring -- which has already started now in October!

Blair Wiley