The Most Miserable City In America?

California’s Central Valley city of Stockton recently earned the dubious distinction as #1 on Forbes magazine’s list of worst cities in America, based on demographic statistics like crime, the housing bust, unemployment, etc. Nearby Modesto was #5. Then again, this isn’t really news to people familiar with the area.

Back in the 1980’s when I was training with Angel Cabales in Stockton, I would sometimes bring training partners along to observe and participate in classes. Steve Van Manen, who later trained extensively with Sonny Umpad, was a frequent passenger on my early trips. As one who had worked on river boats and ridden the rails around the country, he had a keen eye for his environment, and I’ve never forgotten the first words he said on seeing Stockton: “This is a hard place to make a living.” The main source of economic activity in the area is agriculture, which means lots of intensive farm labor, along with the deep-sea port which ships produce around the country.

Now it isn’t like there is no upside to Stockton. There are many lovely tree-shaded parks, the University of the Pacific, and the north area is quite affluent, home to wealthy folk like Art Spanos, who owns the San Diego Chargers football team. On the other hand, the downtown area has long been depressed. The old Manilatown, the center of Filipino culture in the city, was largely demolished for renovation, turning what was once a vibrant neighborhood, albeit low income, into a largely soulless cluster of daytime office buildings.

On the other hand, Stockton remains a stronghold of FMA culture outside of the Philippines. There are probably more clubs in the area, relative to population, than anywhere else in the U.S.A., including the surrounding locales such as Lodi and Modesto, among them the Cabales Serrada Academy, Angel’s Disciples, Bahalana, Mata Sa Bagyo and other smaller, more private groups that train in back yards and parks.

Given the relatively low income of many residents and the high proportion of Filipinos and Hispanics, martial arts are deeply ingrained in local culture. Unlike many places where this is just another fitness option, in Stockton martial arts are central to many cultural activities and events, and participation is ingrained, passing from generation to generation within extended family lines. Further, with the inroads of gangs and drugs into poor working class neighborhoods, practice in martial arts isn’t just relegated to dojos or academies. It's about survival, with plenty of opportunity for those so inclined to accumulate “war stories” on the streets.

While the major martial art magazines may focus on what happens further south in the media center of Los Angeles, for those interested in some of the most realistic training outside of the Philippines, Stockton remains a cultural mecca. After all, the FMA evolved in tough environments, and so those early manongs who settled in this area for work were already acclimated to survival under duress. The art may have continued to migrate as the Filipino population spread out into major metropolitan areas, but out there in the hinterlands it remains close to its roots.

Tommy Gilbert, RIP

Feb. 10 - I just got back from an overflow capacity funeral for Pastor Tommy Gilbert. I've updated this post based on information provided during the services.

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A sobering part of growing older in the martial arts is seeing one's seniors pass away. The past six months have had a devastating toll on the Bay Area martial arts community, first with the passing of Hanshi Sid Campbell from cancer at age 65, then a month later the unexpected death of Master Luther Secrease from a heart attack at age 58. Last week marked the passage of another notable when Tommy Gilbert died of a massive heart attack at only age 55, just one year older than me.

As a colored belt years ago, I didn’t really get to know Tommy, but as one of the toughest fighters around, he was an old friend of my Kenpo instructor Sifu Al Thomas. A 6th Dan in Kajukenbo and former world champion point fighter, Tommy was founder of Best In The West, a school noted for turning out top fighters (eight world champions) who are just as tough on the street as in the ring; his son Damon Gilbert recently retired from the ring as a fourteen-time world champion, and is also an Oakland police officer. Damon, who is recovering from neck surgery, recounted how he successfully fought his retirement title defense only able to use one arm due to spinal injuries!

The final eulogy was delivered by grandmaster Ted Sotelo, who stated that Tommy was to have been his successor when he retires. Though I've yet to meet GM Sotelo, two of the best escrimadors I know, Ron Lew and Tom Meadows, consider him one of their mentors. In the world of martial arts, we are all connected ....

SERVICES PASTOR TOMMY LEE GILBERT

Tribute Service:
Monday, February 9, 2009
Time: 6:00-8:00 P.M.
Where:GREATER LOVE MINISTRIES
2661 Alvarado Street #7
San Leandro, Ca.

Home Going Celebration
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Time: 10:00 A.M.
Where: Parks Chapel AME Church
476-34th Street
Oakland, Ca.

Peter Freedman on Training Slowly

This is from an email sent out by my friend Peter Freedman in response to a question from one of his students. Having taken a high performance driving course at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School and done autocross racing, I think Peter is right on the mark with his analogy about driving, which is why this is posted here. - JF

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"Great hearing back from you again and thank you for your question. Well this is a really great question you asked here. It is also an extremely important question and I will try my best to shed some light on why most combative martial arts like Ketsugo Jujutsu and other systems train in slow speed.

First let's look at driving a car. Let's say you never drove a car before but you happen to watch and be a huge fan of Nascar. Now you want to learn how to drive and have high hopes and dreams of some day racing cars. So you sign up to a driving school to learn how to drive a car so you can first get your drivers license. When the time comes to actually drive the car, your mind is racing and you can't wait to go Fast & Furious.

Now when you enter the car you must first adjust your seat to the right distance. Put your seat-belt on. Adjust your mirrors. Start the car, and at this point in time your heart is starting to race and pump and speed up. You step on the brake pedal and put on your blinker. You shift the shifter into drive and you look over your shoulder and start to ease off the brake and out onto the empty road. You step off the brake and step slowly onto the gas peddle. Hand over hand, you turn the wheel as the car pulls out onto the road. Now when you are out on the road what do you do? Do you step down on the gas pedal and go as fast as the car can move or do you first get to know the car and feel the road underneath your tires?

You will need to learn to adjust your steering skills along with your braking and gas coordination skills. As you slowly get used to the car and the road you can gradually speed up the car. But at first your mind will be all over the place - watch out for other cars - watch out for people or kids - watch out for small animals. Your mind will be jumping around - brake - gas - steering, a little to the right, now a little to the left to get the car to straighten out. You are looking for red lights, yellow lights etc... Stop signs pop out at you. Now you must switch lanes - oh boy, how you going to do this, you ask yourself? But over time all these little things that you strain your brain to memorize to do become normal to the point where it is now automatic and now you can spend time on strategy of driving and less time worrying about every thing about how the car works or operates.

Did you know when you go to a school for car or motorcycle racing that they first sit you down and it will be mostly class room time and lecture before you ever get a chance to drive out onto the track or sit in one the cars? When you are ready to drive out onto the track, they will have you first walk it on foot so they can talk and explain to you where it would be the best time to start downshifting and clutching into the turn and when and where to step on the gas coming out of the turn.

They would walk you around to certain points on the track to show you where you would have the best chance of passing another car and where would be the worst places to pass another car. Once this is over they would have you go back into the class room and discuss what you just saw and felt. By now because you went (SLOW)and first WALKED around the track, you got a chance to see every bump and dip on that track.

They want to see what is going on in your brain and how you think long before you are allowed to get behind a wheel to actually drive a race car, and never mind about racing, you won't be ready for a while to race a car.

Just like wanting to learn advance techniques before you are able to actually do them, or get your black belt before you really deserve one but because your friends from another school got their bb in two months and you feel you deserve one as well, my question here for your friends is this: Can your friends drive?

The next step is they put you into a car and they have you drive around the track in slow motion, talking to you all the while you are driving. They give you commands and a set of instructions: when to down shift and when you should brake and when to step on the gas, when to speed up and when not to speed up.

In the martial arts this would be known as the martial science.

You go around this track hundreds of times slowly until you can learn their safety methods and proper racing techniques so you won't become a danger to yourself and other drivers(follow the rules of racing). These rules in Jujutsu would be considered the concepts and principles of why things work and when they would work.

Now once this accomplished they bring other cars out onto track with you and your instructor communicates to these other cars by way of two way radio. They set up fake scenarios like you are actually racing but only done in very slow motion. They talk you through each maneuver you do until it becomes ingrained into your being and you can actually see and understand what they mean. Once they feel this has occurred you are allowed to have a mock (fake) race and they practice giving you instructions through a radio in your helmet while you are racing to see how you follow their directions under stress and how well you listen to them.

Jujutsu is a lot like racing a car. First we must understand that we are dealing with the human anatomy here and we don't want to (Crash & Burn!) hurt our training partners or ourselves. Always safety first should be in the forefront of your mind's eye.

Most of the techniques we taught to you and we share with you are extremely dangerous and are designed for crippling and killing. With this being said each student must first learn to go very slowly (to walk the race track) and learn all the proper methods and techniques first, so that your brain and body can learn to move in the proper way.

Most of the techniques we practice here in our jujutsu school, you just can't do fast with out first learning the proper technique of how each technique really works first. As you start to feel comfortable with the flow of the series of movements and timing and angles etc then you can speed it up a little bit providing your workout partner knows how to go along with the types of techniques you are applying to him/her, and this is for safety reasons.

Just by going slow can really help you to be able to see more options (creative techniques) or (openings - holes - gaps & weakness) in your opponent's defense, so that in future events if you should happen to get into a real bad situation with another person who has the same kind or set of special skills that you now possess, you will have a better chance to counter their attacks and go around their defense and win (stay alive).

When you first learn jujutsu you are learning things that go against the joints which if you go to fast can really over extend that joint or even worse break that joint and really hurt your workout partner.

There are three speeds we teach to all students here:

Slow speed for learning;

Medium speed for practice;

Fast speed for fighting.

If you train fast all the time you are actually slowing down your ability to learn fast and that is counterproductive. Also by going fast you are promoting fear in yourself and in your training partners. By going fast you lose the ability of understanding what you are doing. By rushing through your techniques you can't see the cool counter techniques that you can see when going slow. By going fast you concentrate too much on the end of the technique and miss the important things, like the beginning and the middle of what you are practicing.

Health wise, training fast is not to good for longevity. It raises your blood pressure and it hurts your joints. Also it taxes your nervous system. Yes, you will be fast but over long periods of time with age creeping up on you, joints will start to wear out, your nerves will cause you to shake. Your Ki or Chi or Prana will go in different directions. From a healing point of view, which seems to be the path way I am now on, I have learned to go very slow and take your time and this will produce better and safer results. Going slow teaches us which way to go under pressure. By training fast we lose our sensitivity.

I love what Bruce Lee, the founder of Jeet Kune Do, said in his movie Enter The Dragon back in the 1973: "It's like a finger pointing to the moon," then he goes on to slap the young man to whom he was giving the private lesson who was staring at his finger, saying "Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!"

That pretty much says it all right there, but I feel it actually went right over everyones' head. You see everyone seems to concentrate on the finger (speed - lots of techniques) and they are missing the rest of the big picture, - All That Heavenly Glory. A real shame.

The Tai Chi people have it right. They know the importance of slow training. So do the special operation groups in the military or law enforcement. They train really slow. When I first got an opportunity to watch them train one of the instructors came over to me and said "We train very slowly here so that we may learn more." I smiled and nodded in agreement with him and after I was finished training them they liked my methods of hand to hand. Not one person got injured and every one learned really effective techniques and had fun learning with my crew that I brought with me to help teach.

Well I hope this helps out ..."

Last Day For A New Year’s Blog!

January 31st; we’re already 8.49% of the way through 2009! Thus my belated last ditch attempt at blog for the New Year. I’ve thought of this often, ever since the 1st of the month, but after today, it’s too late! How’s that for self-motivation?

How many of us make New Year’s resolutions? It doesn’t seem as big a deal as it used to be. How many of us made martial art resolutions? In some places that is a tradition, more solidified and culturally reinforced than the kind of wishful thinking so many of us do as a parlor game and then so quickly forget.

In Japan, you may find the members of a dojo at the beach, standing in the surf while throwing 1000 punches, or maybe doing meditation under a waterfall in the mountains. This is a way of setting one’s focus and determination for the upcoming year, planting the seed for reaching one’s goals. It takes dedication to one’s practice to do such rituals, but our minds tend to note and follow more highly energized stimuli, so this is good self-programming which refreshes one’s attitude.

Using a memorable date provides a powerful anchor by which we can measure our commitment and progress. In Western society we go by calendars, so it’s never to late to start a new program. The first of the month, a birthday, anything can be used to set a starting point.

Modern calendars are reliable but not always in sync with natural rhythms. In older societies passage of time was marked by observing celestial transitions. Lunar cycles in particular are good for measuring shorter passages. The new moon often sees the setting of new goals, which then symbolically evolve as the moon waxes, or one could project one’s aims to coincide with the full moon, or use the waning part of the cycle for more closely guarded endeavors.

For slightly longer phases, one can go by seasons. Those who follow a more natural diet, whether by local availability or preference, might note the effects of seasonal produce on their bodies, just as animals do in the wild. Spring foods might be cleansing and restorative after the winter, then summer foods for energizing and building strength. Autumn is a time for fattening up, while winter is often lean, when we live off our stored resources.

So on New Year’s Eve I had my weekly class. Not surprisingly, some whom I’d expected didn’t show up. Perhaps the party spirit prevailed, though my class ends early enough to do both. The next day I practiced with one of my students and we kicked the new calendar off with a good dose of intensity.

So far I’ve been carrying that through these following weeks. I’m training harder myself and with students, and some old faces have popped back up for refreshers. I'm going back to more serious conditioning routines that have been neglected over the past year, in particular resistance training and hitting the wooden dummy.

2008 was a rough year; here’s hoping 2009 shapes up as a better one!

Anthony DeLongis article and award

A quick note that Anthony DeLongis, Black Belt Magazine's 2008 Weapons Instructor of the Year, has the first of a two-part article on combative application of the whip appearing in the December 2008 issue.

Peter Freedman on Self-Esteem

This is a newsletter I received from Guro Peter Freedman, a colleague on the East Coast. As one who has studied NLP and hypnotherapy, I recognize and strongly agree with what he has to say. Too often I've seen students acquire skills but then fail to actualize their knowledge based on lack of self-esteem. With Peter's permission, I've posted his writing below.

Jeff "Stickman" Finder

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Hello to All,

I want to take a moment to address some thing that has an effect on all of us, not just children but also adults. I want to take a moment and address that inner child that is in every adult. I want to address the issue of insecurity. This feeling of not being good enough or afraid to fail or even to look like a clown in front of others or afraid to make mistakes.

The fear of failing. Even the fear of not knowing some thing well enough. The fear of looking or sounding stupid. The fear of dancing etc.; the fear of being yourself. This inner fear started some where during our childhood and has remained with us into adulthood.

This inner fear we call insecurity keeps us from accomplishing our goals. It keeps us from getting ahead in a struggling world. It pulls us down from becoming happy. It stops us in our tracks from trying new adventures or even reaching our goals or setting new goals. This inner fear cripples us to a point where we feel and think we are not good enough to accomplish things on our own or to learn new skills. It stops us from just trying something, anything, new.

People who are insecure feel as though they must please others so they (the insecure) can get the approval from others to try something new with out worry of ridicule. This insecurity or inner fear prevents us from making new friends or getting into new relationships. It can also push us into bad relationships we will regret later. This insecurity (inner fear) can cause us to make bad business decisions that can effect our welfare for not just us but our families as well.

A Child's Confession - Wisdom of a Guro

I have been teaching martial arts since the 1970s and it has been quite a journey for me. Through the martial arts I have learned much about myself. Through the martial arts I have learned much about other people as well. What I call natural and common sense of reading people others might call psychic abilities. I say this is just wisdom gathered over the years of trying to understand myself and my interaction of others who share this planet with me. What I have come to take notice during my life time on this planet so far and up to this point in time I will share with you here and now openly.

I have been really listening to all my students for the past ten years now more clearly than I ever could have listened before. Not sure why this new ability has awakened in me - (my ability to hear more deeper and clearer) but it just did and I am thankful for it.

I have been listening to my kids in my kids martial art classes talk, both kids and teenagers alike. What I hear is saddening. I hear them say to me all the time that they are not worthy. I hear them say to me that they are not good enough. Now I have not only noticed this in the kids and teenagers class but also in the adults class. I have seen a common thread that links all of us together, children - teenagers - adults, a common mind that has brought us to live our lives for the belief or care of what others might think, or do think, of us. We become crippled so badly that we wave our own rights of happiness in favor of what others may think of us.

Sad.

When teaching all ages I have come to notice what people say to me. I notice how they use their hands while they are explaining themselves. I watch their body language and facial expressions while they talk and I listen to the level of vibrations in their voice. Also I hear the volume of when their voice rises or falls when using certain key words. These key words coupled with their body language is what sets off my mind to start taking notice there is a problem that needs my attention.

This I call the wisdom of the Guro. Here is an example of what I mean.

One child confessed to me that he is not too bright and is in fact stupid. This hurt me deeply to hear such a young child say such a thing about himself. I asked him “where did you hear such a thing.”

He said “my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, my cousins, my friends,” even his school teacher. He mentioned that the only place he did not hear this was in my school and in my presence. So everywhere else he travels he has been made to believe he is stupid and not worthy of anything.

I was taken back by this and went against the grain and told him he is a very bright individual. Also I mentioned that he should not accept words like that because he will start believing in these words over a period of time and it will have ill effects on him when he grows up into an adult.

I have recently had talks with his parents and they did not recognize or know they were causing this kind of effect on their child. I told them they need to speak with the school teacher as well and other family members to curb how and what they say to this child.

They are destroying this young mind before it even can get a chance to grow into something positive. I explained to the parents that what they have been doing they have actually learned from their parents and without knowing it, they are actually keeping the chain going strong in their family now.

I have heard adults tell me the reason they can’t train with me now is because they don't have what it takes to be able to do what I am teaching them or sharing with them. They lack coordination to do the drills at hand. My question to these adults is, what else are you stopping yourself from experiencing in life in the belief lack of coordination or know how. Is that really the reason, or are you afraid of what others may think of you if you make a mistake or look foolish in front of these people?

You see it all starts in childhood. You wear some thing that your parents don't like and they tell you so and so will see you. Do you want so and so to think this of you? I say tell so and so to go get lost and start living your own life and let out your spirit.

Start enjoying your life now. Stop caring what others may think of you and be happy. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and try some thing new. After all our reason for being here on this planet is to experience life. Why not go and get the best experience you can before it is too late and life comes to an end for you.
Martial art is a great way to learn to express your self and grow your confidence, as long as your martial art teacher fosters this approach of allowing you to be yourself (and some do not).

Start checking in with your self and taking inventory. Start questioning all the reasons why you have not enjoyed yourself or taken on new adventures in life. Why are you afraid? Question everything.

I can go deeper on this subject but your eyeballs will fall out with all the reading you would be doing. Come to class & I will be happy to talk with you and explain more.

Bring a troubled friend. Give them the gift of freedom of soul through martial training.

NOW -- Don't Worry - Be Happy! And Experience life!

Please write to me with any questions you may have. I want to wish you all a very healthy and happy thanks giving.

Respectfully yours
Guro Peter Freedman

Weare - Manchester NH Dojo (603)529-3564
E-mail, peter_freedman@comcast.net
Website, www.freedmansmethod.com

Fall odds and ends

It’s been a month since I last blogged as a lot has been happening.

First I want to start with a brief memory of master Luther Secrease. It’s been a long time since I last visited Luther’s school, 1989 to be exact, and that was for an escrima seminar by Serrada master Sultan Uddin. Though he’d assisted grandmaster Angel Cabales many times over a number of years, this was Sultan’s first time on his own. Since I was local, Angel called and asked me to drop by in case Sultan needed any assistance, but when I got there, I could see he had things well in hand.

As for Luther’s funeral, it was memorable for a number of reasons. What everyone says about black churches is true; they do have the best music! The church band was a well-seasoned group of three keyboard players (acoustic and electric piano and organ), guitar, bass and drums, plus several professional singers showed up to perform gospel and soul, and a 15 year old kid who did a long jazz saxophone solo that would have made Roland Kirk proud.

In attendance was an all-star gathering of top martial artists from Northern California, including luminaries like grandmaster Byong Yu, Al Reyes, Al Colavito, Sam Montgomery (a champion fighter and former teammate of Luther’s) … the list could go on and on, as the overwhelming majority there shared Luther’s deep passion for the martial arts. Even the minister was a black belt student of Byong Yu!

Later at the graveside service, the minister made a special request for all the black belts to gather to one side. Reflecting how the military gives a 21 gun salute to fallen veterans, he said he’d like to start a new tradition amongst us martial artists, and so he had the black belts (at least 30 went to the cemetery) get into horse stances to give a 21 kiai salute, with a strong punch for each kiai. It was a moving send-off to one of the finest teachers and fighters the Bay Area has known, and I hope this does catch on as a tradition in the martial community, sending off our own in a style that can be appreciated.

Meanwhile, in the last blog I mentioned taking stock of my life and making some changes. With the weeklong hypnotherapy training session a time to be deeply reflective, and framed on either end by the deaths of two influential martial artists, I decided the time had come to act on idea that had been floating around for the past year, so I proposed to the woman to whom I’m now married! Things indeed happened rapidly once we agreed to seal the deal, and within a couple of weeks we held a small ceremony along the Bay Area shoreline at the spot where we first met. Everything fell into place, from old Kenpo compadre Bob Ernst doing the ceremony, to the unexpected appearance of Tom Meadows, my good friend from the U.S. team at the inaugural 1989 WEKAF championships, who just happened to be working nearby in Richmond for three days!

The only snafu was the engraved wedding rings we ordered from Ireland didn’t arrive. Apparently U.S. Customs decided they were a security risk and confiscated them, or so we think. The U.S. Post Office has been typically unhelpful. While the tracking number on the registered package tells us the rings arrived in the U.S. at 2:25pm on October 2, 2008, the post office says that the package can no longer be tracked with the number that provided that information. I was given a Customs number to call, which got a recording saying if I was calling because the Post Office had provided the number, that was a mistake because Customs doesn’t track individual packages it seizes, and a notice would be mailed to the sender in about 30 days (hasn’t happened yet). I contacted my congressman; I even emailed the White House. No rings arrived for our wedding, so we had to use others. Today I got a call from a postal customer service person who gave me a number to call to start a trace on international shipping. I called, and they said they couldn’t do a trace; it had to come from Ireland, where authorities there have already stated that since the package had arrived in the U.S., it was out of their jurisdiction. Aside from this bureaucratic comedy of national security proportions, things have been great.

On the escrima front, I was invited by master Darren Tibon to join a demo for halftime at a Golden State Warrior’s basketball game, but that has now apparently been pushed back to Filipino Culture Week in March. The occasion is the NBA is going to retire the jersey of the first Filipino who played in the NBA to their Hall of Fame. I believe this is Raymond Townsend, a UCLA point guard who was drafted in the second round in 1978 by the Warriors and who played for four years in the league.

I don’t mind this getting pushed back, as I have some young kids (9-14) whom I’d like to bring to the demo, and they can use the extra time to improve. I know Darren has invited some other groups to participate, to put on a strong performance, and I know how hard Darren’s guys train. Tonight I got a call from him that they actually broke one of my sticks! They’ve had it over a year; when Darren said he thought my sticks were unbreakable, I laughed and used my standard line, that the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. Still, I continued, how many rattan sticks do you think you would have destroyed instead of using this one? About 50 he replied. That sounds about right to me!

Closing notes: Here is an upcoming event on the blog calendar. In less than two weeks, on November 15, grandmaster Bobby Tabimina will be doing his last Balintawak seminar before returning home to the Philippines. I have tremendous respect for his abilities and style of escrima. If you can train with him, it’s a memorable experience, and a skill set that is a valuable contribution to anyone’s repertoire. This will again be in Hayward, California, and it must be pre-paid by November 11.

Finally, for those who can find it, the January 2009 edition of Inside Kung-Fu has an article by Chris Suboreau and Steve Magness on Sonny Umpad’s escrima system! It’s great to see how Sonny’s students are working to continue his legacy of Visayan Style Corto Kadena.

Autumn reflections

First, a shout-out to Bob Sapp. I met Bob a couple of weeks ago in SoCal where we were both attending a weeklong training seminar (not martial art related)with Igor Ledochowski. I didn't know who he was, but just looking at him, I figured him for a pro football player, and he introduced himself as a former Minnesota Viking. There were some other martial artists attending this event, and the next day I floored one of them when I mentioned Bob's name. I had no idea Bob was the top K-1/MMA fighter in Japan. Bob's an interesting guy, very smart, very intense, who's into some deep concentrative meditation. Anyway, a belated happy birthday, big guy, and good luck on your journeys!

Since getting back home, things have been keeping me busy, mostly personal and family business. There was a Derobio Escrima seminar in Vallejo, hosted by Tasi Alo for his old friend Chris Siangco and his son Chaz, who came up from San Diego for the first seminar they've ever presented of this art, as they prefer to focus on developing committed students. It was a physically active and challenging event, compressing into a few hours what they consider months, if not years, of developmental training.

Meanwhile, there have been changes happening in martial arts world. Sifu Mark Gerry held a memorial party for grandmaster Sid Campbell, which was quite the all-star gathering, going late into the night. It was inspiring hearing people give testimonials for Sid, who did so much to help so many for so long.

There's a bittersweet post-script, though. Master Luther Secrease was there and I didn't get a chance to say hello. Sometime this past Sunday night or Monday morning he apparently passed away in his sleep at only age 58. Luther was a prominent TKD teacher, a former state champion tournament fighter and an outstanding member of the Bay Area martial arts community who officiated at many a tournament. I mostly knew him through my Kenpo teacher; both earned black belts in the 70's under Byong Yu, whose students had well-deserved reputations as fierce fighters.

These past few weeks I've heard so many people, and not just those connected the through martial arts community, talk of being present in the moment because we don't know what tomorrow brings. Change is in the air, as reflected in our economic turmoil and the upcoming election. It happens all the time, but time is an illusion, a construct of perception (a favorite topic of Bob Sapp) and there are times it seems to move faster. At such moments we become more aware of the impact of compressed events, such as these two losses coming so close together, which have left a huge void in the East Bay martial arts world.

As we move into the fall season I'm using this time to take stock and make some changes, mostly stopping to appreciate the good things happening in my corner of this world, and sharing some joy just being with those who are important to me. I hope you'll all do the same.

September Seminar Calendar

There are two excellent seminars scheduled here in the San Francisco Bay Area for the third weekend in September. On Saturday the 20th Bobby Tabimina will be having another seminar in Hayward. If you remember my post from the earlier event, this is something that should be of value to anyone interested in extreme close-quarter combat.

The next day, Sunday the 21st, there will be a Pedoy/Derobio seminar in Vallejo. To my knowledge, this is a first for this style to be presented here in this area. My own experience with Derobio was a few years ago in Albuquerque with Dan Medina, one of Pedoy's top students, and it left me very impressed with the system. Many techniques in Derobio look like Serrada but are very different in application, flowing with the attack rather than blocking them. This is a very reasonably priced seminar (as is the Balintawak) so here's a chance to check out something special!

For anyone up in New England, Guro Peter Freedman has several events in New Hampshire, including a demo on Sept. 6, a cookout/multi-style teach-in on the 13th, and a law enforcement "surviving edged weapons" seminar on the 24th.

Check the calendar (right hand column) for details on these events!