Beyond Crazy
...(McClelland and Stewart, 2002). I'll be using specific cases to address the issues raised by each of Beyond Crazy's subheadings: two cases each for Who's Affected, What It Feels Like, Where the Heart Is, Why It Happens, and one detailed case for When (and How) People Move On. After the individual cases are presented, a discussion will follow to tie everything together.
Who's Affected
In February 1988, at the first ever Olympic Games held in Canada, a skating underdog "gobbled up the arena and leaped to glory" (the Chicago Tribune). Canada's Elizabeth Manley outshone women's figure skating favourites, Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas, during the long program. Manley won a silver medal, becoming Canada's only women's Olympic medalist in the past thirty years in the sport. That success made Manley a household name. She went on to appear in television specials and commercials, even having a skating center named after her. Interwoven with this success story is her long struggle with mental illness.
At seventeen, the Ottawa native was sent to Lake Placid, New York to work with a new coach. Cut off from her family, friends, and a coach who had been like a father to her, Elizabeth Manley's life began to spiral out of control. She arrived at the following Canadian championships half-bald and over twenty pounds overweight. No one was surprised when she lost her place on the World team. Eventually, Manley was diagnosed with clinical depression and alopecia. She returned home to Ottawa and began the tedious process of
recovery.
By 1985, Manley not only recovered from the depression and alopecia, she had actually moved forward in her skating - winning her first Canadian championship. The 1988 Olympic silver medal led to a spot on the celebrated Ice Capades tour. The tour moved throughout North America for three long years. With it, came new demands. The petite,...
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