making room to grow
Editor's Note: this is a long personal essay with minimal polish. If all you want is the business details, they're in the first three paragraphs. Keep reading past the photo if you're interested in how I arrived at this decision. Thank you for reading my work, taking my classes, and otherwise supporting me over the … Continue reading The end of Kajaswords
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
If I could give one single bit of teaching advice to everyone, it would be: Let your students do it wrong more often. I know it's hard. You want to help them. You want them to know what you know. You want them to do things right so that they can get more "good" reps … Continue reading Learning vs Knowing
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
In the past week, Mishaël Lopes Cardozo, swordplay instructor, competitor, and film performer, has been outed as a serial sexual harasser and abuser. Dozens of women and men have shared accounts of his behaviour, which ranges from making grossly inappropriate and derogatory comments to women he was teaching at events, to physical assault (including deliberately … Continue reading To Catch a Predator Early