The following collection of first-hand accounts and supporting documents is the combined work of Claire Wemyss, Sylvie LaRiviere, Jon Mills, Kris Meier, and myself. It details a series of incidents and patterns of behaviour spanning ten years that we believe demonstrate that Devon Boorman, director of Academie Duello, is a harmful influence in our community … Continue reading Open Letter Regarding Devon Boorman
Learning vs Knowing
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
Not Seeing Difference
One of my favourite parts of this year's Swordsquatch was being on the Making HEMA Awesome for Everyone panel with my fantastic colleagues Isaiah Baden-Payne, Beth Hammer, and Shane Malone. The goal was to talk about diversity and inclusion in the HEMA community in concrete, actionable terms, and to share our success stories of building … Continue reading Not Seeing Difference
Come find me at Swordsquatch!
The biggest event in the Pacific Northwest's HEMA calendar is coming up soon, and I'm going to be very, very busy. If you're in the Seattle area between September 6th and 8th, you can find me at Swordsquatch 2019! I've been teaching at this event every year since 2016, and have had the pleasure of … Continue reading Come find me at Swordsquatch!
Sliding Scale Pricing, by the Numbers
The following post was originally published on the Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly blog on July 30, 2019. When we tell other martial arts instructors and school owners that we offer sliding scale pricing for events at Valkyrie, one of the most common responses that we get is: "But don't you lose a lot of … Continue reading Sliding Scale Pricing, by the Numbers
