1. The Flailer. Honestly, you’re not sure if he’s rolling with you, or just executing a very poorly choreographed break-dancing routine. This is a person, male or female, who is very new to jiu jitsu, and who has decided that the best defense is MOVING ALL THEIR LIMBS VERY RAPIDLY in any direction they can. Sometimes… Continue reading Ten Lousy Jiu Jitsu Partners You’ll Eventually Roll With
I might not be posting a lot of things on here for a bit. It’s not because I’ve run out of creativity, it’s because all of my energy is being siphoned away by a succubus-like monster known as my dissertation. When I’m NOT working on my dissertation, I also get that panicky feeling of knowing… Continue reading Things I Think About While Writing My Dissertation
Writers, particularly creative writers, experience a very specific kind of pain that is exclusive to their profession or hobby. There should be some long, specialized German term for this feeling. It is the pain of not being able to adequately translate experiences or impressions into words. Life is essentially experiential. We feel pain and pleasure… Continue reading Life Lived Twice
I’m not the first person to note that modern American culture, more so than many other world cultures, has no framework of meaning in place to deal with the realities of violence and aggression. Certainly, violent acts happen every day, but only a small minority among the military, law enforcement, and criminals actually have a… Continue reading Let’s Have More (Play) Aggression
NOTE: Obviously, I do not actually think that yoga is just like Orthodox Judaism. As a person who studies religion, spirituality, and belief, I do, however, find it fascinating when you find resemblances, however coincidental, in unexpected places. I also think that comparing such wildly disparate traditions helps us see and appreciate both in a… Continue reading 13 Ways That Yoga Is Just Like Orthodox Judaism
Lots of people think that history is simply automatically generated by world events and catastrophes, and that it just sits out there in the ether waiting for some historian to write it down. In fact, our relationship with history is much more complicated. The historian is not a mere passive transcriber of events, but an… Continue reading The Shadow-Narratives
One of the beautiful things about Gracie Jiu Jitsu is its endlessly customizable nature. As a martial art, jiu jitsu is at the opposite end of the spectrum from doing set forms or kata– although you may learn a technique like an armbar in its ideal, textbook form, in practice you will never execute it in… Continue reading Jiu Jitsu: You Are How You Roll
Pro: You get to work with a subject you really love, all the time. As others slump off to their offices to enter data into spreadsheets or embark upon marathon meetings about meetings, you are exploring the complexities of 15th-century Florentine art with your students. What variety! What mental stimulation! Con: You get to work… Continue reading Some Pros and Cons of Teaching Undergraduates
When I was first starting out as a history grad student at George Mason University, I was a teaching assistant to an astute and witty professor who warned me against the teaching technique of lecturing to one’s students whilst costumed in the garb of the era to which you are referring. Historical costumes tend to… Continue reading Connecting with the Past: Caution, Inspiration, and Consolation
Recently, I saw this image making its rounds on facebook: First it made me chuckle, and then it made me sad. The expression on the scrawny guy’s face as he flexes and stares adoringly at himself in the mirror is pretty funny, but the image also reminded me that, for many girls (once including teenaged-me),… Continue reading Ladies, Let’s Be More Like Men (In How We View Our Bodies)
Post-Postmodern Pish 