Raggedy Animal

Andy, nautical-themed, pashmina afghans, biting.

Monkeys in tutus, parrots on bicycles, your cell phone.

Raggedy was a hyper child, so her parents put her in gymnastics because they were tired of seeing her throw herself out of tree tops and thought she might be more comfortable with some mats to land on.  Raggedy was a competitive gymnast.  By 'competitive,' she means she went to meets every Saturday, but was a many miles away from being an ‘elite’ gymnast in her small home town in Northern California.  By 7th grade, she was 5’7” and no longer fit on the equipment.  Her Olympic dreams withered, and she mourned the loss of the sport that raised her. By high school, Raggedy was 5’9” , so she officially divorced gymnastics and became a diver.  Unfortunately, her high school didn’t have a diving team.  She recruited a few friends, formed a team, called herself a coach, and decided that they would compete at the Varsity level even though they were freshman.  She and a teammate made it to regionals their freshman year.  The following year the school gave them a coach a few times a week.  By her senior year, she had been in competitive sports for a decade and grew weary of the stress of rivalry. Ironically, she also attempted volley ball in high school, but quickly realized she hated team sports and groups of girls.   Raggedy has never been able to live without some kind of sports activity: from boxing to Capoiera, from modern dance to Hip Hop, to yoga & pilates.  On and off general gym rat, and avid scuba diver.
 

Raggedy Animal is a college professor of basic skills English.

Animal is an ‘I-don’t-care-if-my-eggs-are-cooked-on-the-same-grill-as-that-bodega-bacon’ vegetarian. Simply, eating animals just breaks her heart and makes her teeth scream. On her most recent scuba dive trip, she was petting a shark. The ring on her finger was a bit askew and poking the shark just a little bit and she thought, “Oh no. I hope I didn’t hurt the shark with my ring. Poor lil' guy,” and immediately repositioned her ring so the shark wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. The shark can kill her, but she was worried about his comfort level. Raggedy Animal loves fish, bears, cats, dogs, bats, monkeys, snakes, lizards, insects, and birds. Oh and frogs! She just adores a good frog. In her case, “she couldn’t hurt a fly” would not be an exaggeration.

That said, she could hurt a person. People piss her off. She couldn’t kill a cockroach, but she’d like to punch you in the face. 

And this is how derby and Raggedy Animal met and became friends.
 

Click here to read Thomas Gerbasi's profile of Raggedy Animal from October 2010.