Some know her as that, the raw super hero, Creature, from Who Wants To Be A Superhero on SciFi (aka SyFy). Some know her as one half of a knife throwing act with Jack Dagger: The King of Fling. Or perhaps her whip work, modeling, acting (still see her from time to time on those Progressive commercials with the gremlins), dancing, stilt-walking, fire-poi spinning, or environmental activism work (talk about a Jack Jane of all trades, and a ton of links I just shot at ya). Me, I know her as Tonya Kay, aka TK, and have had the pleasure of getting to know her over the past two years or so.
Years back when I first gave up eating meat, and was close to giving up the milk/egg products, my wife at the time came across Tonya’s website when looking up vegan and raw vegan information. It had been years since I saw Who Wants To Be A Superhero but I remembered the character. I started chatting with her and other “Gardeners” on her message board over a few months. Eventually she was in town for FXCon 2008 and I made sure to take the opportunity to meet her in person.
Of course I felt like a stalker though. I mean, I know her online and all but not IRL. Also, she was there for work reasons. But I wanted to at least stop by and say hello, as well as check out the floor that weekend and see what the con had to offer.
Luckily my being there was well received and I hung out with her quite a bit, took pics (got lots of free ones of the celebs since she was working there and I was acting as her photographer and such), and got to meet another Gardener who was there as well. Had great conversation about diet and nutrition, specifically vegan/raw vegan lifestyles.
We kept in touch and a few months later she was in the area again for another convention, related more to modeling and whip-work. Another Gardener was with her, who was there selling his custom made whips, and we three had a great time. Dinner at a restaurant that specializes in vegan and raw vegan food (The Grass Root), hanging out at the hotel, then dancing the night (and early morning) away at the convention.
Had great conversation about raw foods, our lives, and her work. She has been raw for quite some time now, 7 years as of August 1st. I have only dabbled in it. A day here or there, a meal thrown in, etc with only one real detox time: 9 days all raw. She has been a great source, as has her message board, for vegan/raw vegan information. Raw veganism is tricky as it really requires a gradual introduction.
Going 100% raw like I did was rough, and is good for the detoxing effects, but is hard to sustain (hence why I am just “semi-vegan” with some occasional raw spikes). She mentioned how someone in her life went 70% raw gradually after only 2 years for instance. Not only that, but besides the obvious issues of finding out what to eat, so you don’t get anything too bland and unsatisfying going on, but why to eat certain things. What foods give you what and when to eat them.
For instance, some foods move faster through the body. So if you have a good meal in you, but follow it up with some “fast moving” foods, your body may move that meal through too fast, causing you to not use enough of the nutrients and in turn causing you to feel weak and hungry again. But pairing things right makes a huge difference. A lot of what I was finding out from her reminded me of my experience with raw veganism, which seemed to consist of me eating a pile of food bigger than my body every day and, after day 4, feeling some weakness come on.
I plan to have an article in the coming weeks that specifically addresses raw veganism after I compile some information. But in the meantime I wanted to mention the superhero I am glad to call a friend. Not just because of the excitement building about hopefully being able to see her again when she is in town next month, but because she seems to be popping up everywhere. Was just on Showtime’s Live Nude Comedy Show (really NSFW) and I just found out from her yesterday morning that she will be on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on Thursday night having knives thrown at her.
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What wonderful things you are speaking and thank you! We’re all doing the good work, learning about ourselves and journeying towards health and feeling better every day – beyond what we could imagine yesterday! Definitely tune into the Tonight Show tomorrow nite – I’ll see you there.