Make Peace
Note: Though I originally wrote this in 2012, it’s turned out to be a timeless reminder that is even more appropriate today. I was walking toward a store, thinking the everyday thoughts we immerse ourselves in when we tread familiar ground, blindly, when I suddenly became aware of the person in front of […]
“You know it ain’t cool to kill on Christmas.”
(Title quote from the inestimable Johnny Cash.) One of the truths about studying violence is that it makes you really uninterested in being involved in it. Dramatic ass-kicking, on the other hand, is attractive—mainly because of your perception of increased social standing. “Teaching someone a lesson” makes you a badass… and who doesn’t want that? […]
That New Victim Smell
If you have the nose for it, it’s more obvious than cartoon stink lines. One of our Master Instructors, Dave S., went on vacation to San Francisco. A great thing about that city is that unlike most west coast cities, it is almost entirely walkable. He spent a week there with his wife, sans car […]