My father was one of the first Chinese graduates from Georgia Tech and lived in Little Five Points in the early '60's. I realized later why he looked so alarmed when I first informed him about renting a studio there. His recollection of the neighborhood was still as a shooting gallery and gang base. He recalls how all the Asian students "could fit in one classroom" at Georgia Tech and how he ate chili dogs at the Varsity a lot, not because it was trendy, but because "it was all I could afford!" My dad is very proud of the fact that he has been successfully self-employed for his entire career and as he puts it, "never received a paycheck from anyone." Even though I received scholarships and did work-study, his talent and success as an engineering consultant, entrepreneur and businessman supported me through school and the early years of my career. For this, I will be forever grateful.
Now he is creating another chapter as a retired engineer and monk-in-training.
My father is the last person you would think of to take up yoga, let alone to become a yoga advocate! He never liked sitting cross-legged on the ground due to his inflexibility. Trained as a researcher and engineer, he lived and swore by proven methods, scientific reasoning and logic over any emotional healing or holistic “mumbo jumbo.” After suffering a debilitating injury that left him in a wheelchair, he ;earned a form of transformational self-healing and recently played competitively in the ALTA tennis league at age 71!
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