Illa Jean Boggs is a spry 71-year-old writing instructor from Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood who's as healthy as some people half her age. She scoffs at newspapers for writing so much about disease.
“If you're going to write a column about health, you need to talk to people who are healthy,” she told me. “We don't need to hear any more about hospital infections or questionable stent procedures.”
Instead, Boggs lectured me, there should be more focus on people like her who have managed to survive and thrive.
She's done it by practicing yoga once a week for an hour, taking a baby aspirin once in a while — and avoiding local TV news.
When she called to tell me about this, I was intrigued. How could I disagree?
Health doesn't always need to be about reacting to disease.
We need to be proactive to prevent disease. That's not quite a mind-blowing discovery that will win a Nobel prize for medicine, but we could be far more healthy individually and collectively if we engaged in behavior that helped keep us out of the hospital. Wouldn't it be great if we asked ourselves every day: What did I do today to improve my health?
Fascinated with Boggs' philosophy, I visited one of the writing workshops she teaches at Vintage, a gem of a senior center in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood. Boggs, who once worked as a newspaper reporter in central West Virginia and speaks with an endearing, squeaky voice, sat in a room with three other ladies. The oldest, Lois, was 86. She told me she likes to write because she wants her children to know what her life was like.
It was clear age isn't stopping these ladies. In spiral notebooks, they write assignments Boggs gives them each week. For nearly an hour, they read out loud, laughed and reminisced.
One of them spoke about homemade dresses she wore when she was growing up. They also chatted about a play they want to write together.
When they were done, I asked the women how the class helped them keep pushing ahead with their lives.
It's all about staying mentally sharp, they told me. And it's about not letting life pass them by.
“I enjoy going out, not just sitting there all the time,” said Marguerite Bryant, 82.
Marguerite's words resonated with me because I've always been amazed at how sedentary our society is. We love to sit and ignore exercise regardless of mounting evidence that lack of activity can shave years off our lives. Studies continually slap us in the face with the same warnings about staying active — both mentally and physically — yet we sit and watch reality TV and detective shows.
Boggs told me of much younger relatives who “have no life.” She doesn't want to be like them. They work, eat and go to bed, she said.
Instead, she raises a garden, walks up the steps to her second-floor apartment, cans jelly and grape juice, grows herbs (oregano this year) and hardly ever buys anything that's not fresh. Boggs, a widow since 1999, also has a steady boyfriend, but I didn't pry.
“There's too much focus on sickness,” she told me. “Why don't you focus on good health?”
I'm game. I'm lacing up my running shoes.
Luis Fábregas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. A Harrison resident, he can be reached at 412-320-7998 or lfabregas@tribweb.com.
