 Sharing the Riches of Good Health |
About
 The Alexandra Campaign Diane Antoinette Gilman was an artist. She was and activist, a world traveler, full of passion for life, and, to my great fortune, she was my aunt. Did you ever know someone your whole life, and then, one day, you discover a deeper connection with that person than you had ever known? I experienced this with Diane. I was in the acting program at university, which included dance and movement classes. In addition to that I was taking Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate, Shiatsu massage, and learning Chinese meditation from books by Mantak Chia. The extended family on my mother's side held a reunion at Roan Mountain State Park, in beautiful Appalachian Tennessee. I was surprised to find that she and my uncle, Robert practiced the same type of meditation I did. She was a dancer, I discovered, and heavily into bodywork. We traded massage techniques, and danced, and laughed. What a gift it was, to have her in my life. She became very important to me. She was fearlessly expressive, and I felt free to show my creativity and spirituality in her presence. This new level of connection we reached was followed closely by the diagnosis, in her, of an inoperable brain tumor. She left her physical body in 1998, and My Uncle Robert Gilman memorialized her with a celebration of music, poetry and art. He called it, "A Celebration of a Life Well Lived." Her children, my cousins have the male and female versions of Alexander for their middle names.
Since that time, I have met many people who have been touched by cancer, in one way, or another. I have been moved to create a new way for the arts community in Denver to make a difference. The intention is to identify areas where direct action will save lives that would otherwise be lost to cancer, while giving an avenue of expression to some of the extraordinary talent in the area. -Frederick Lawrence Lewis | |||
