One of the most courageous things I’ve ever done was slap my bare hand down on a piece of dried animal skin. It made a noise. A noise other people heard. And I was being judged on that noise. I’ve always been a shy person. And despite my years of guitar playing, I’ve always been […]
Month: July 2012
Sorry, was this your knife?
A few years ago I was doing my BC AST (advanced security training) course. It’s required in order to carry and use handcuffs at work. As part of the course, we were given more thorough lessons on the legalities of correct use of force. With this extra knowledge, we were then assumed able to make […]
Forward from the back
Years ago I studied Karate-do. We learned to throw a very powerful punch in a way that made no sense. We’d punch with the right hand, while pulling the left hand back to the hip. The right hand would make a sudden corkscrewing snap at the last minute, just before contact. Sensei was adamant that […]
Brothers and Sisters in arms
My brother was always a troublesome little cuss. When I took my very first martial arts class, I came home all fired up and eager to share what I had learned. My little brother wanted to see what this kung fu thing was all about. I showed him the cool crouching tiger pose, one leg […]
From the Archives: A Walk Through Marozzo, concluded.
Good morning! Here we go again. This was a project I meant to finish, but never got permission from the sources. I figured I was stretching fair use to its limits with what I had done, so I let the project die. C’est la vie. In the last year William Wilson published the excellent “16th […]
From the Archives: A Walk Through Marozzo
Wrote this series of posts about a year ago. Some of my thinking has changed, but I think it’s worth sharing again. First chunk today, the last bit Sunday morning. If this post inspires you, and you want to learn more about Bolognese Swordplay, check out the Scherma-Bolognese website. It’s interesting for me to read […]