There was an interview (by Billy Heller) with Aretha Franklin in
yesterday’s New York Post under the headline “Aretha Franklin’s Secret Life.” Heller says: I saw you in Newark last year, and I was exhausted
watching you perform. How do you keep in
shape?"
Let's leave aside the fact that Aretha’s figure has not always conformed
to received notions of “in shape,” not least because of health issues, and let's also assume Heller isn't making some cruel joke, and read
her reply.
She says, “I have a walking regimen – about three
times a week, at least a mile or so. I
walk the super Walmarts, the biggest ones.
If people are in the aisle and the store happens to be crowded that day,
I got to other aisles.”
Well, as I have often said, there’s no such thing as
a “walker's body.” They/we do come in all
shapes and sizes. I've also long thought
there might be a book titled Walking the
Great Indoors which would consist of a series of pedestrian expeditions in
airports, underground tunnels, railway stations, factories, malls and indeed big box
It’s not easy to find a picture of Aretha walking
but here she is at least walking down the aisle in 1978 at her marriage to
Glynn Turman.
