A Few Words From Raw Dog Frankie

In the September 19, 2011 and October 10, 2011 posts for my other blog ----torunistolive---I featured two articles on what I will call a radical off-shoot of the Stotans, a group that calls themselves The Raw Dogs. The members were initially connected in the mid-eighties with the Stotans I formed in Buffalo, N.Y.  After some differences in what direction the Stotans were headed, four of the guys left and formed what they called "The Raw Dogs". They recruited other members and moved to Colorado to live the "true" Stotan life. I pretty much lost contact except for some second hand reports I would get from a friend in Rochester,N.Y.

Recently I was fortunate enough to reconnect with this friend. I inquired about "the Dogs" and he said they were still in Colorado and he would give one of them them a call and ask them to contact me, if they wanted to. I was also told that they "don't do computers" except for obtaining orders for foods, supplements, and gathering information. I didn't hear back for awhile but was surprised when I got a letter in the mail from Frankie, one of their self-described leaders. The letter was cordial, gone was the testiness that characterized his interactions with me in the past. He wrote that if I still did my writing he asked that I post the following. Zeal for Stotanism still burns hot for this Raw Dog.

True Stotans: What We Do and Don't Do

We do recognize the genius of Percy Wells Cerutty and actually live his teachings.

We don't keep our faces continually on our cellphones, if we even have them. Selfies? You're kidding right?

We do physically test ourselves on a regular basis whether it's by lifting or running that certain mountain loop, or both.

We don't do arm sleeves, leg sleeves, monitors and other gadgets, running guides, spandex, $200 running shoes--you get the picture--we keep it natural.

We do live each day to the fullest as Cerutty taught without worry about tomorrow or remorse for yesterday.

We don't get preoccupied on material things, we recognize that they are potential barriers to living free.

We do acknowledge what PCW wrote and taught: that life is to be lived to the fullest. That it is only through the maximum development of our bodies and minds can this be achieved.

I close with these words from Cerutty: "It is not the 'arrival' that is important but the journeying to."