Vn20.2

In the Gymnasium (2)

6/3/77


This evening I asked Miriam whether she usually stood aside from the games in gym as she did yesterday (except for Animal Farm). She replied that she doesn’t like running around (her allergy to dust and its chronic incipient wheezing make her feelings quite understandable). But Miriam justified her alternative further: “I was on the balance beam.” She had been but I had not recognized it.

In the summer of 1975, Robby was enrolled in a gymnastics class. Miriam and I took him there and either waited inside, watching the older children exercise, or walked about outside. Miriam felt left out (she was too young for that class). When we arrived early one morning, I held her hand as she walked along the elevated balance beam. Back at our house she found a ‘balance beam’ (a 14′ 4×10 under the porch) and had me set up the timber so she could use it. The next summer brought the Olympics when those young girls from eastern Europe were so impressive in tumbling and on the balance beam. Miriam asked me to set up her balance beam again. Of the activities available in the after school program, Miriam chose gymnastics as the one she most wanted to pursue.

Relevance

The observations focus an important part of the world of Miriam’s peers, and her standing apart from that. I infer that, because of her limitations and specific experiences, she has a different framework for thinking about gym activities from her peers.

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