Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2011 > October > 12
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Greg Louganis on AIDS Walk Austin and more
Greg Louganis instantly bcame one of the most prominent faces of HIV/AIDS in 1995, when the Olympic diver revealed that he had been diagnosed with HIV in 1988.
Out & About: Where do we stand regarding AIDS crisis?
Greg Louganis: I guess I’ve lived it, huh? To a degree. I think AIDS education seems a bit lax these days. A lot of youth think there’s a medication that magically keeps you alive. Listen, I wouldn’t wish my drug regimen on anyone. There are still consquences. I try to share this with young people everywhere. It’s challenging.
I understand you are coaching divers again.
I’m no longer coaching teams. But I’m giving performance retreats. Basically, they help any type performance. You see, I started dancing and doing acrobatics when I was very young. I’ve been on the stage since I was three, always performing theater. So I give an introduction to dance yoga relaxation as an approach to competition and performance. It’s about addressing fears — life skills stuff. We talk about bullying, sexuality, HIV. We talk about drugs and alochol. It’s about making good choices. Everything you do is a choice.
Are you still training dogs?
I tried to make the dog-training thing work financially, but that didn’t work out. It was a great avenue to learn about learning, as well as about teaching. It was off the beaten track, but it all relates. (He still has four dogs.)
Austin is a swimming and diving center. Have you visited often?
Oh yes, I’ve competed there. The 1980 Olympic trials were there. Nationals were there. And I was just there over summer. I’m working with U.S. diving team as an athlete mentor, helping the Olympic hopefuls. At the same time, I work with kids in a camp. It makes the best use of my time when I work with both club kids and elite atheletes.
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Writers League of Texas Benefit at Scholz Garten
The venerable Writers League of Texas has endured hard times recently. They’ve cut back on some of their Austin-based activities that variously help writers of all stripes. Yet they were able to put together a small fundraiser at Scholz Garten this week.
Laura Castro and Diane Hernandez
Big literary names like Stephen Harrigan (“The Gates of the Alamo”) and Lawrence Wright (“The Looming Tower”) were on hand to lend support. So was advocacy marketer and fresh author Sherry Matthews (“We Were Not Orphans”), as well as St. Edwards University humanities dean Lou Brusatti and tireless promoter of good causes, Laura Castro.
Brenda Wendler and David Hernandez
I’m not sure where the League took a wrong financial turn — and the fundraiser didn’t seem to be a good time to quiz the board of directors, of which Brusatti is president. (He’s also my boss at St. Ed’s, where I teach one class in entertainment journalism.) But I’m eager to find out, and then spread the word on efforts to rebuild. Groups like the League help keep Austin the creative haven it has become.
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