making room to grow
You might have noticed that the kajaswords website got a big facelift lately. I've been working hard all month to make this space as pretty, functional, and easy-to-navigate as possible in preparation for some exciting announcements in the coming months. Part of that process has involved cleaning up the blog specifically, which I'll admit I've … Continue reading Broken Links
I was reading this interview with Samin Nosrat, the host of a wonderful cooking show called Salt Fat Acid Heat, when I felt a switch flip in the back of my head. The "click" was almost audible. It was a shift in how I viewed myself in relationship to food and to cooking, and had … Continue reading The Things We Believe About Ourselves
See also: Rollins, Henry - "My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud." Optimism gets a bad rap as blind, passive acceptance of the way things are, or rose-tinted, hippy-dippy silver lining seeking that rejects the reality of bad situations. I don't see it that way. Optimism is the bone deep faith that you will … Continue reading Optimism
I've had a complex relationship with adrenaline my whole life. I got into what some call "extreme sports" very young. At twelve, I started snowboarding religiously. I'd be on the slopes alone every weekend, pushing myself to go faster, to tackle harder terrain, to hit bigger jumps and longer rails. I loved nothing more than … Continue reading Adrenaline
There's an old refrain that pops up in discussions of gender in the Historical European Martial Arts community: that running events aimed specifically at women (whether they be introductory courses, ongoing classes, or tournament categories), or modifying ones' teaching to appeal more to women, is discriminatory. The theory goes that singling out a specific group … Continue reading When Equal isn’t Equal, or ‘Why doesn’t my school have more women?’