Mike Kelly
Columbia, SC
Last updated:
05/11/2009 |
After LHS
Earned BA, MA and PhD degrees. Currently I am a behavior
analyst and chief psychologist at Midlands Center State
Hospital, where I train parents, foster parents, doctors,
nurses, teachers, social workers, group home staff, college
students, single mothers and families how to get along,
eliminate so-called ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder) and to excel in school and love it.
Hearth & Home
Have a wife and two daughters. Our first grandchild, Alejandra
Jeanette Lopez-Kelly, was born Dec. 13, 2005.
The Other Stuff
I've been an oldies DJ on weekends for 20 years. I also write
about oldies (in magazines as well as two books). Now I am
an oldie. And I enjoy bodybuilding and being a personal
trainer. Still to do? Make a million dollars.
My Memories of LHS
The good: Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!
Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!
Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! And the best part of breaking up.
Miss Roberts. Rock and roll. The not so good: Breaking up.
Tests. Boring teachers.
Update from Mike, Oct. 18,
2008:
"The question is not is the glass half empty
or half full. The important thing is who has the pitcher
and who holds the straw."
Why do I seem obsessed with my body building/exercise
endeavors? Because, were I not a runner, bike rider, healthy
eater, non-smoker, non-drinker, body builder, I'd long since
been dead or a bed-ridden cripple.
- 1968 Assaulted, blowout fracture of
the eye socket, concussion, torn retina 1969
- Equinespinalmenningoencyphlomylitus
(almost died)
- 1970 BA Liberal Arts
- 1973 MA Human Development
- 1975 PhD Developmental and Child
Psychology
- 1979 Multiple Sclerosis
- 1981 Natural Mr. USA 3rd runner up
- 2002 Parkinson's Disease
- 2003 Stroke
- 2004 Defective heart valve
- 2008 "Very likely Lewy body"
diagnosis
- 2008 Extremely painful hang nail
If I weren't an exercise freak, I'd be dead, or in a
bed, or in a wheel chair long ago. Research has shown
that the best way to boost memory (15% in an average
adult) is weight lifting. And bike-riding reverses
Parkinson's symptoms. I've done both every day for more
than 40 years.
Today, I walk only short distances. I cannot write (not
even my signature). I cannot type, run, dance, brush my
teeth manually, stir, use tools, slice food, draw, sing,
or swim. I can barely smile, and my speech is soft and
slurred. Everyday tasks requiring fine motor control
range from difficult to impossible. I am on disability
retirement from the state (I was Director of
Psychology).
But I was born a white male, in the USA, post WWII, to a
father who was an attorney and a stay-at-home mother. In
the 3 million years humans have existed, I started life
with the most advantages in all of human history. Women
(although superior) are paid less. Minorities
(unjustifiably) are discriminated against. Most other
countries are arguably not as great as the USA. I could
have been born blind during the ice age or legless
during the plague. So I limp. BFD. As I see it, I've got
no right to complain.
Mentally I am 100%. And I still work out 2 hours a day,
as you can see. Remember: Use it or lose...everything.
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