DREAM
continued from page 1
ones out the door.
"They can talk the talk, but you're
in for a disappointment if you expect
them to walk the walk," Yolanda saidv
She said everyone can take a step
for social change because the power
to choose is available to all.
Yolanda, a social activist and
actress, interlaced her rousing speech
with lively theatrical performances
of socially conscious characters
from her production "Achieving
the Dream."
Her other on-screen portrayals
include the roles of Judge Esther
Green in the TV series "JAG," Rosa
Parks in the TV movie "King" and
Betty Shabbazz in the film "Death of
a Prophet."
Yolanda finished her speech with a
rendition of Maya Angelou's poem,
"Still I Rise."
Ihe city of Eugene then presented
her with an honorary sign of Martin
Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Ihe city renamed Centennial
Boulevard as Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard in July after extensive pub
lic debate on the change.
Ward 1 City Councilor Bonny
Bettman said that as Yolanda contin
ues her father's legacy, she should
know that there are individuals in
towns nationwide also working to
ward the legacy in symbolic and sig
nificant ways.
Event Coordinator Betty Snowden
said she invited Yolanda to share her
father's vision and challenge people
to question how they can achieve the
"dream" for themselves.
"I'm hoping that Eugene as a
community, we will rededicate
ourselves and realize we are all
one people, all one family," Snow
den said.
Ixxal human rights activist Bahati
Ansari said Yolanda's visit to Eugene
was historical for her.
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Social activist and actress Yolanda King delivered an impassioned speech on Wednesday.
"It’s a dream about freedom, freedom from oppression,” she said.
"Just to listen to her message, it
keeps me going," Ansari said. "It in
spires me to do what I'm doing."
Yolanda will continue to work for
the dream. While one of her theatri
cal characters said "dreamwork is
risky," she reiterated that people still
had to believe in the possibility of a
better world and make a conscious
choice to work for that vision.
"Unarmed truth and uncondition
al love will have the final say, and so
I'm a believer," she said.
Contact the news editor
at ayishayahya@dailyemerald.com.
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HEART
continued from page 1
I lowever, Liberman's will to live a
normal life has not been deterred by
the surgery. On Oct. 11, the 21-year
veteran of the University won a
bodybuilding competition at the
Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Re
sort in Canyonville.
The 55-year-old native of Holly
wood, Calif., took first at the Northern
Pacific States Classic Natural Body
building Competition by a unanimous
vote of seven judges. The win came in
the Masters Division, a category for ath
letes over the age of 50.
The surgery
Mentally, Liberman's surgery was
tough. His recovery time was slow
sometimes and physically painful.
That, he said, was occasionally a
source of a desire to pack it all in and
give up bodybuilding.
Although the surgery was chal
lenging, Liberman was helped by a
cardiologist who just happened to
be a triathlete.
"I started (rehab) three weeks after
the operation, which is really tough,"
he said. "1 was going to punt it for
months — six months maybe. This
cardiologist, after like six weeks, said
'get back in the gym. There's no rea
son you can't start exercising now.' He
kept on my case, and any time 1 had
a doubt, I called him up."
Liberman underwent a procedure
called aortic valve replacement. The
aortic valve regulates the flow of blood
from the left ventricle of the heart into
the aorta, which supplies the blood to
all the organs of the body. The valve
also keeps the blood from retreating
back into the heart chamber before it
circulates through the body.
The valve naturally has three
"cusps" or "flaps" that open or close
to move the blood. A common prob
lem is that one of the three flaps does
not develop completely, which is
considered one of a number of varia
tions of a heart murmur.
However, Liberman said that was
n't the case.
"There was no murmur," he said.
"Nobody heard it. It was quite sur
prising."
According to www.heartsur
geons.com — the Web site for Mid
Atlantic Surgical Associates — dam
age to the valve can occur because of a
congenital affect, aging, or from in
fection or scarring.
The congenital affect was one that
seemed to touch on Liberman
the most.
"It was so amazing," he said. "I
went through my whole life, did a
complete psychoanalysis on all the
neuroses on both sides of my family.
I understood why I am and why
everybody else is in my family and let
everything go."
Aortic valve replacement usually
takes about two to three hours, ac
cording to the Web site. Patients have
the option of having the valve re
placed with either a "tissue" valve or
a "mechanical" valve. Mechanical
valves are made of ceramic, which
will last forever. But mechanical
valves require the patient to take
blood thinners for the rest of their life
— Coumadin is usually the prescrip
tion drug — that may prevent athletic
activities for fear of blood clotting.
For Liberman, porcine, a pig heart
valve, was used, which allows him to
use weightlifting as an athletic source.
But that comes after a certain peri
od of time. According to Sacred Heart
cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation
coordinator Sarah Grail, the sternum
— which is separated for surgeons to
be able to get to the heart — heals six
weeks after the surgery.
She said patients are free to pursue
non-weight related athletic activity
before that point, but the sternum is
like a broken bone. It is assisted by six
stainless steel wires, but it has to heal.
Liberman had to rebuild his mus
culature after the surgery, but
weightlifting is a safe way to do so
once the sternum is healed.
"Bodybuilding is surely a con
trolled type of strength training,"
Grail said of Liberman's situation.
"Obviously, it took a lot of time and
skillful training.
"It's safe. We have all of our
heart patients do some kind of
strength training."
O'Brien, for one, isn't surprised
about Liberman's ability to get bach
to what he loves; namely weightlift
ing, surfing and skateboarding.
"I would've expected Ken to do
exactly what he did," O'Brien said.
"I'm not very surprised by the fact
he would work hard and get back to
where he was as soon as possible.
Of course, that's what doctors
would recommend.
"I worried about Ken (at the time
of the surgery), and even though it's
the kind of thing you'd expect him to
do, no one really knows what's going
to happen about getting a valve re
placed. The odd sort of thing, it re
minds me of my own mortality. We
are all one accident away or one bad
thing in the heart to having to cut
back on who we are."
Getting back to normal
Liberman, who lives in Florence,
said he goes surfing at least three
times a week, sometimes four. He
surfs on a short board — considered
more modem — but said, "I swore I
wouldn't buy a long board until I was
over 65, but I finally did just because
some days you can't surf at all unless
you have a long board."
He can be found in the Student
Recreation Center at least twice a week
but never more than three times. Be
fore the surgery, Liberman lifted often,
but he has found a way to make sure
he maximizes what he lifts now.
"The key advice is that you have to
at least pay attention to the quality of
the muscular contraction as you pay
to the amount of weight you put on,"
he said. "I can tell you that in 80 per
cent of the cases, the lifter could build
a better muscle — stronger, bigger,
better looking — by going down in
weight a little bit."
He said that he utilizes his mind to
lift properly. He abides by his three
Vs" when lifting: consistency, cau
tion and concentration.
Liberman also practices yoga
every day, a tool he said helps him
follow his three "c's" and stay unin- '
jured when lifting.
"A serious person lifting weights
for health should put as much time „
into stretching as they do lifting," he
said. "That's going to be more use
ful as you get older, and the strength
will keep you from having those de
bilitating injuries.
"There's a yoga to it or a zen. You
have to get your mind involved and
make it into an art."
Liberman will be leaving the Univer
sity in December to participate in the
Fulbright Scholar Program. He will be
traveling to the University of Mysore in
Karnataka, India, to teach sociology.
Fie said he will return to the Uni
versity upon completion of his time
in India.
"He continually has new experi
ences," O'Brien said. "I also think he
would say it's one of the things that
keeps his teaching fresh. You know,
all of us, from myself — I've taught 30
years — and I have to consciously
make sure I get up when I go to the
classroom. Ken's always raring to go."
Until he leaves for India, Liber
man's students can find him lifting
weights on campus. Fie said he often
lifts with students if they happen to
be in there at the same time.
"The research shows that you will
indeed live longer if you go the gym
and lift weights," Liberman said. "The
amount of time you live longer is al
most equivalent to the amount of
hours you put into the gym. You're
no better off if you hate it, but if you
like it, you should keep on going.
"The real secret is to smile."
Contact the sports editor
at hankhager@dailyemerald.coni.