making room to grow
The video recording of one of my favourite recent Patreon chats is now up! On October 9th, 2021, we meandered through the parallels between the commodification and popularization of sashiko stitching/embroidery and the development arc of a martial art; the history of MMA; the challenges of determining an art's authenticity and effectiveness in HEMA; Phil … Continue reading Live Chat Recording: Sashiko, Martial Arts, and the Commodification of Practical Things
I was talking with a friend about "freeze" adrenaline responses, and was finally able to clearly articulate something that I've been chewing on for a long time. There's a half-finished blog post on this topic sitting in my drafts that I started two years ago. I could never quite get the words right, and I … Continue reading “Bad” Adrenaline Responses and the Fallacy of Useless Tools
There have been some great follow-up discussions around my last post. One of them highlighted a common and critical knowledge gap: someone looks at an interaction between two people, spots what might be inappropriate or creepy behaviour, but can't tell if the target is distressed or okay with what's happening. This is especially challenging if … Continue reading Video: Creepspotting 101
There's been a video bouncing around my social media circles that criticizes women's self-defense courses for making things too comfortable for their students, at the cost of realism and safety. It's a good argument, and a real problem. All too often I see videos for self-defense techniques that rely on a compliant or practically inert … Continue reading Realism in Self-Defense: It’s Probably Not What You Think