“Chomp Chomp”

Likes

Andy, nautical-themed, pashmina afghans, biting.

Dislikes

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

Athletic Background

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.
 

Bio

Raggedy Animal giggles when she tells people she is a college professor, because her college doesn’t fit the stereotype.  She is a Director of Student Life and teaches English, speech communications, business writing, and computer skills.  But really, she is a social worker and babysitter; she's a mom and dad, professor and psychologist; your best friend or your worst nightmare; a word wrangling tutor and a philosopher -- all to a population of college students who were mostly ‘educated’ in the broken NYC public school system. Many of her students learn.  Many graduate.  Her college loses some to domestic violence or drugs.  Every now and then, her college mourns the murder of a student.  Her days are unpredictable and they seem important and that’s what she likes the best.  Raggedy is a ‘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 she thought, “Oh no.  I hope I didn’t hurt the shark with my ring.  Poor ‘lil guy,” and she immediately repositioned her ring so the shark wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.  The shark can kill her, but she was worried about his feelings.  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.