The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Singing with Richard | Birthday Memories

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    Ruth Carter

    Last year for my birthday, I asked my friends to send me stories related to our friendship. I spent my birthday taking a trip down memory lane, reading through all of them. This year, I asked some of my friends if I could share their memories with you.

    Benton Hall - Music Department at OSU (Photo from wikimedia)
    Benton Hall – Music Department at OSU (Photo from wikimedia)

    Today’s memory comes from Dr. Richard Weidlich, one of my voice coaches when I studied at Oregon State University. (Fun fact: I was never a music major or minor but between my undergrad and masters degrees, I took twelve quarters of voice lessons at OSU.) I studied with Richard my senior year. Voice lessons at OSU are one-on-one classes – it was just him, me, and an accompanist every week.

    Working with Richard was amazing. Not only is he a phenomenal opera and Broadway performer, but when he sings or teaches, he experiences the music with his whole body. It is such a joy to experience any aspect of music with him. And did I mention he’s drop-dead gorgeous? As a student, I was perpetually impressed and intimidated by him.

    Here are some of Richard’s thoughts from that year:

    Music helps us in so many ways, to communicate with more than just mere words, with a power that goes deeper than that. I loved working with you and seeing your voice grow and mature during that year at OSU! I remember your enthusiasm at your lessons and how excited you would get when you had the song down and were starting to communicate it to me. When you got something right, your excitement was infectious! I am hoping that you continue your love for music by singing and working with a teacher again at some point. We learn so much about ourselves in the process, and we stretch ourselves. My grandmother always talked about life-long learning and I now know what she means. It is the answer to boredom and the solution to a life with no purpose!

    There is something so special about working with a coach – on any craft. They help you develop your skills; they mentor you through frustrations and they’re there to celebrate victories. I am truly lucky to have Richard as part of my musical family.

  • Good Night Everybody! | Birthday Memories

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    Ruth Carter

    REG DoorLast year for my birthday, I asked my friends to send me stories related to our friendship. I spent my birthday taking a trip down memory lane, reading through all of them. This year, I asked some of my friends if I could share their memories with you.

    Today’s memory comes from Erika Brown, one of my teammates from Redwood Empire Gymnastics. I trained here for ten years, eight of which I was on the competitive team. When I asked my friends for their memories, a lot of people in my gymnastics family sent me a version of this story, but I think Erika captured it best:

    For sure my most vivid memory of you growing up was of you in the gym, walking out the door every night and stopping to yell, “Good night everybody!!!,” and then all of us stopping to respond, “Good night Ruth!!!” It totally brought us together as a gym . . . like it was tradition and for a brief second we all acknowledged the same thing (you!!) as a family! Like when a kid would get a new skill and the whole gym would stop to watch and acknowledge their hard work…it always felt like that! 

    Ruth & Erika in Santa Monica - March 2015
    Ruth & Erika in Santa Monica – March 2015

    I started this nightly tradition when I was fifteen or sixteen, and I don’t remember how or why it started. But it quickly became part of our nightly communal routine – not just for myself, but for the whole gym. It wasn’t a “me” thing but a “we” thing.

    Here’s a bonus memory from Erika:

    I also remember when I was younger, usually on vault, Rocky would get down on one knee and tell us what we were going to be doing that day and at the end he’d always ask, “Any questions?” and you would always ask, “What’s the meaning of life, Rocky.” And it always just blew my mind!! You’d think I’d have started to expect it, but no . . . every time you asked, inside I was always like “Whoooooaaaa, what IS the meaning of life right now!?!!?!?” (By the way – Rocky’s typical response was to smile, shake his head, and say “Just vault, Ruth.”)

    Oh, I love my gymnastics family – so many wonderful memories from that place.

  • Yoga Review: Yoga for the Rest of Us

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    Ruth Carter

    I’m training for my fifth half marathon this fall. Since I DNFed my last race and I have a history of leg problems, I’m trying to be diligent about following my training schedule – including stretching.

    Yoga for the Rest of UsAnyone who knows me knows that I suck at stretching. It’s so boring! Even in my gymnast days, I was never that flexible compared to my teammates. I was powerful, strong, and I just muscled my way through everything and they would bend themselves in half and take a nap. Every year, my gym put on a show in June – four performances over three days. The team kids were in every performance and we were expected to warm ourselves up on show days. I remember my last show weekend; even with a stress fractured back and sore knees, my “warm up” consisted of two standing back flips – one tuck, one pike.

    Now that I’m getting a bit older, I don’t bounce like I used to. I still think stretching’s boring but it’s a necessary evil but my legs and back will thank me for it in the long run. My half marathon training program prescribes a stretching workout once a week, so I’m doing it with yoga DVDs.

    In playing to my strengths, for this training cycle, I’m getting a different yoga DVD from the library each week. I hope the novelty of a different workout each week will keep me entertained even if I feel pathetic trying to stretch my ex-gymnast body.

    I opted to start slow and easy with Yoga for the Rest of Us.

    I’m not going to sugar coat it: this is an exercise DVD geared towards older people. If you don’t mind the possibility that the 60 year-old on the screen might have more balance and flexibility than you, it’s a good place to start. The good thing about this program is no one was a super-skinny contortionist that puts your efforts to shame.

    A lot of yoga DVDs tell you that you can modify the poses using a yoga block or a yoga strap; this DVD showed you how to do it with a chair – something everyone has. It was a good stretching workout for getting back into my yoga groove. I definitely felt muscles that I haven’t stretched in a while and I built up a decent sweat during the sun salutations.

    Overall it was a good workout for my first yoga session of race training, but I’ll probably need something more challenging in the near future. I’m glad there are super easy yoga DVDs like this because my impulse would probably be to start with an advanced power yoga routine that would make me feel self-conscious compared to the lithe gumby people on the screen.

    EDIT: I just found out that the race I was training for was canceled. That’s a pisser. Doing yoga once a week is probably still a good idea. If nothing else, it will help with modeling.