I just finished watching this television program on PBS that documented a senior citizen's choir group that has been singing together for more then a decade. Their members die off regularly, and this is something they have come accustomed to. Within one week of the taping they lost two of their male choir singers. While performing at a Massachusetts Jail (ha!) they dedicated a heartfelt tune to the brother they lost only one hour before showtime; the inmates teared and gave them a standing…  

"How did you get into hula hooping?"



I was first amazed by hoop dancing (as most people are amazed by the first sight of it) in May of 2008. I was about to graduate from UC Davis, it was a Sunday, and I was on the quad with three other friends listening to music and talking about our future endeavors.



Across the quad was a girl in a turquoise skirt with a hoop revolving around her hand. It was beautiful, and she wasn't doing anything more then practicing her hand hooping,…  

This past Sunday (Sept. 13, 2009) I met my mentor, my inspiration, the person who taught me the basic tricks of hooping, whose tutorials I would memorize and then replicate on the grassy quad until each skill was accomplished.. I met SaFire. The creator of this wonderful space.



I traveled only 20 minutes to San Francisco's Saint Mary's Park on a drizzly afternoon with four other hooping fanatics. We searched the park for Sandra, holding hoops in the air, venturing through the park in…