AUTRELLE HOLLAND, FRONT AND CENTER.

Just so you know, I stand in front of and behind anything that I post here. Anyone that wants to talk about it via email can do so at autrelle@gmail.com. Just so you know, unless it’s something severely discreet, and I will let you know beforehand, if you email me anything about my blog, I will write about it here. If you live in Jacksonville, and want to talk to me about it in person, I’m the easiest person in the world to find.

Nothing but love for you all!

WHAT IS KUMIJO? PART FIVE.

Today’s topic: Yon no Jo.

Here we go!!!  Katate Toma Uchi!  That’s a Tom and Jerry fantasy to me.  Anyways, here we go.  Uchijo attacks with hidari chudan choku tsuki, and then takes a large step back and uses the jo the screen himself from katate toma uchi, and attacks once more with choku tsuki.  Short and sweet.

“ICHI”

When uchi attacks with hidari chudan choku tsuki, uke makes a large slide back to the right rear and prepares to attack with katate toma uchi.  This is because haya gaeshi won’t reach, uchi is to far away.

• Uchijo: Hidari Chudan Choku Tsuki
• Ukejo: Hidari Katate Toma Uchi no Kamae

“NI”

Uke steps forward and whips out katate toma uchi.  Uchi takes a slide back and holds the jo overhead diagonally.  This is different from jodan dome barai, as in “san” in the 31 no jo, where a length of the jo is extended toward the partner and used to ward off a strike.  Uchi holds the jo at the end with the right hand, and near the end, about 7-8 inches away from the end, with the left hand.  He zones away and uses the jo to “screen” beneath.  If goes well, the toma uchi strike will graze the middle section of the jo, and not uchi’s head or hands.  Uchi does not expect to block this strike at all.  In the “old” version of this, uchi was required to raise the left leg and take a really cool looking “crane” stance.  This is because katate toma uchi is a strike that goes from high to low, and the target could also be uchi’s lead knee.  This is not the current practice, but I still practice it.

• Ukejo: Migi Katate Toma Uchi
• Uchijo: Hidari Kasa Dome (as if taking shade from underneath an umbrella)

“SAN”

Uchi attacks again with hidari chudan choku tsuki.  Uke uses irimi footwork to avoid the thrust.  The lead right foot must move first, followed the rear right foot, which moves in such a way that uke faces uchi in migi hanmi.  Stephanie Sensei told us this at a seminar: “Distance and direction.  When you move from hanmi to hanmi, the first foot determines the distance, and the second foot determines the direction.”  While uke moves, he finishes with migi gyakute tsuki down into uchi’s chest.

• Uchijo: HIdari Chudan Choku Tsuki
• Ukejo: Migi Gyakute Tsuki

“HENKA”

From Yon to Go, the tempo changes.  Instead of attacking again, uke wards off the gyakute tsuki with a uchi choku barai movement.  Uke lets the jo flow with chudan gaeshi as in 28-29 of the 31 Kumijo, and makes hidari tsuki no kamae.  Uchi thrusts again for Go no Jo.

Next topic: Go no Jo.

ANECDOTES FROM A JERK, PART SEVEN.

Techinical points: Yubidori, Sasoe, Rear Naked Choke

This is a story that I forgot about.  I was hanging out with some pals, exchanging some stories, and I was reminded of these stories.  I probably tried to block these out of my mind, especially the second instance, because it was a particularly nasty and brutal.  In the interest of full disclosure, I share with you:

THE TWO TIMES THAT I HAVE BEATEN UP OFF DUTY POLICE OFFICERS.

In the course of my training and working security in night clubs, I have some to meet some very, very nice members of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, aka JSO, aka, the fuzz.  Their humanity has reminded cops are people too.  It’s sad that JSO has such a reputation for being rather not nice, with these shining individuals out there.  It’s because of them that I am always respectful to JSO whenever I cross their path.  Every officer that I have ever met knows each of the officers that I know, and they always speak highly of them.  That’s what makes these stories awkward to tell.   Anybody that reads this and thinks that I get a hard-on beating on cops, well, you’re wrong, and I don’t encourage it in anyway whatsoever.

STORY ONE:  This one is pretty cut and dry.  These two guys where fighting.  When me and coworker went to pull them apart and eject them, the one that I grabbed turn to attempt to fight me.  I don’t recall exactly what he tried to do, but I cut it short.  I just yanked him around by his fingers, first down to the ground, then upward, and I turned his body so that his back was to me.  He tried to spin around and punch me, but I struck him with an elbow to his head to loosen him up, and then just dragged him out by his fingers.  The whole time he was screaming at me “I’m JSO, I’m JSO!!!”  Turns out he was.  The hired officers that were working for us that night recognized him and gave the “ease up on him Autrelle” look.  I’m pretty sure that he didn’t go to jail that night only because of his job related connection. I imagined it was embarrassing enough to be handled so casually by a “mere civilian.”  After that, some off duty military guys that were there partying approached me and asked me what branch I was in.  I told that that I was a civilian, that I do Aikido.  They said that they had only seen the things that I had done in advanced military combatives classes, and I responded that that was just another day at the dojo for me, 3-Kyu at the time.  I remember being particular grateful for the training that I had received.

STORY TWO:  This guy, I wouldn’t mind seeing again, off duty, just so I can give a chance to apologize to me for being a jackass, or so I can whip his ass again.  I was at my station, near the dance floor.  I saw him slumped over a raised platform, throwing beer bottles in the floor so that he would have more room to pass out.  I approached and told him that he had too much fun for the evening, and that it was time to go outside and get some air.  I was the smallest person that worked there, so I always tried to be super nice first, because frankly, me alone, I’m not very imposing.  I quit those kinds of jobs because it really didn’t suit my personality, and I felt I was wasting my talents as a martial artist.  Club policy was pretty simple: anyone passed out is kicked out, period.  So when I make my plea, he tells me to “fuck off” and throws some more bottles on the ground and tried to slump back down on the platform.  I ask him again, and he tells me “listen, I’m JSO, I’m not going to play your game, and you can go fuck yourself.”  Then he starts grabbing random people for some reason.  Grabbing people is another no-no, an instant reason to get kicked out.  When I ask him again, he makes the same response.  I tell him “listen, I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s time to go.  I don’t have to do anything, I can simply get the officers from outside to come and get you.  I’m trying to be nice, so let’s just go for that walk.”  Bear in mind that I’m still by myself at this point.  None of my coworkers were there to watch my back, so I had to be extra careful.  A patron, a friend of mine, had walked up to observe.  I had a reputation for “putting on a good show.”  He kept cursing me, declaring his untouchable status, and grabbing people as they walked by.  So now I had to make a decision, becasue if he grabs the wrong person, a fight is going to start, and then I have to deal with that alone.  Everytime that he grabbed someone, he turned his back to me.  I decided that the next time that he turned his back to me, he was going to get it.

What does “get it” mean?  A couple of things.  For one, I’m pretty nasty when it comes down to it.  I had a very nasty reputation for whipping someone’s ass if they were out of line.  A very dark time for me that has taken years for me to reconcile with.  Second, there were basically two ways you got escorted out of the club: if you were near the front door, with all of the patrons and cameras watching, you got the “friendly service.”  If you were on the dancefloor, near the backdoor, no cameras, and you were really being violent, it was your ass.  This poor guy was the perfect candidate for the backdoor ejection.  So here’s how it all played out:

He turns his back to me, so I slapped the rear naked choke on him.  I have a really nice one, if I do say so myself.  I was known for putting people to sleep every weekend, to the degree that my employer asked me to stick to joint locks instead.  When I put him in the rear naked, I opted to not choke him out.  The hold can be used to weaken someone by cutting the blood flow to brain, without making them pass out.  This was practical for me, because I can still walk them out instead of having to drag them through a crowd.  I also like this position because once your have a good arch in their back, it’s hard to make effective counter action.  When I applied to hold and started to walk to him to the back door, he tried his best to fight back.  I was able to quickly assess that this person didn’t have a clue about martial arts at all.  He never once tried to tuck his chin, straighten out his posture, on counteract the choke, which were all his main problems.  He tried to rear elbow my sides.  The blows never even reached my body, and if they had, they would have had no power, since he couldn’t rotate his hips due to the arch in his back.  He kept this up, trying to fight me as I easily walked him to the back door.  When we reached the back door, I tightened the hold around his neck with my left hand, and hammered his nose with a closed fist twice with my right hand, and I said to him “now we’re going to play MY game.”  Keep in mind that these are anecdotes from a JERK.

When we go to the back door, I choked him out completely while forcing the door open with his face.  As he landed asleep, face down, I stomped his belly to make sure that all of the air was out of his chest.  Really nasty stuff.  Then the doors shut behind us.  There was just the two of us, outside, in the parking, me standing over him.  Since this is the employee parking lot, I had to wait until he woke up and escort him to the sidewalk.  When he woke up, he jumped up and ran toward a fence that was around the air conditioning unit.  He put his back toward it, and grabbed it with his hands.  He insisted that “my ass was grass, and that he wasn’t going anywhere.”  Well, he had to go somewhere, and I had to take him there.  So, I walked up to him and asked him to let go off the fence, that the fight was over, and it was time to go.  He cursed me and held his ground.  I decided that I would have to get him to let go of the fence somehow, to draw his hand out, sasoe.  So I hit him in his nose.  He called me a “psycho asshole.”  I hit him again.  The third time that I went to hit him, he protected his face with a hand, and that’s when I was able to safely pull him away from the fence.  Similar to shomenuchi when nage strikes and uke parries.  Anyways, he tried to go Hong Kong Phooey on my again, and I put him right back in the choke.  He squirmed around a but, so I put him on the ground, face down.  This is where things get pretty nasty.  I respect that no one should just accept getting their ass kicked, so I don’t blame the poor guy for what he said next, since the only resistance he could offer at this point were insults.  He cursed me and called me the “n” word a few times.

That’s when my boss finally came out.  The friend of mine that came to watch went and told me that I was outside alone handling a situation.  When he came out, he asked me if I was alright, and if I should have the cops come around to the rear.  I told him “yeah, this guy is a real ass, he needs to go to jail.”  What my boss actually did, I didn’t hear about until after everything was over.  I thought it was odd that it took the cops five minutes to come from the front to the back.  From what I was told, when my boss went inside and casually went to the bar and ordered some drinks for some women and started flirting with them.  When my friend asked him if everything was okay, he told him “yeah, Autrelle is out there whipping someone’s ass.  I’ll get the cops in a few minutes, I’m talking to these women for now.”  Being a bouncer is truly a license to ill.

In the meantime, I’m torturing this guy, because he won’t shut up.  Instead of just choking him out, I’m giving him something to remember me by: a severe case of road rash.  I’m grinding his face into the pavement.  The parking lot pavement where we dumped out and hose the trash cans out at night.  Finally, when the cops do show up, they pull him aside, look over at me, give me a wink, and I go back inside.  That guy didn’t go to jail either.  I suppose being JSO is an even bigger license to ill.

What I learned that day:

Never give your back to anyone.  Know how to counter everything.  Recognize the threats in any situation.

What I have learned since then: If anyone has abused the severity of martial arts it has been me.  While I am fortunate to have never been hurt in any fight, I recognize that most of my teachers would not have taught me the things that they did if they knew I was going to go out and use it that night.  I have to learned to have more respect for my teachers and what they have taught me since then.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNDECIDED BY TIM WISE.

This is what I was talking about.  Policies aside, this was the main thing that I was trying to impart to anyone that would listen as to why I was voting for Obama.  My dear friend Cheryl reminded me this, and I wish I could have found this sooner.  The people have spoken, and that alone is amazing.  Nothing that anyone can do or say will ever take that away from us.  If you want to read more about this, please go to Tim’s site.

by Tim Wise

November 2, 2008, 10:21 am

To Whom It May Concern,

With so little time remaining before election day, and with so many things running through my mind–things that I’m hoping might, if presented correctly, somehow influence your vote–I hardly know where to begin. I guess I could speak to you about one or another public policy issue–perhaps health care, or education–and try to convince you that Barack Obama is the better choice. But I’m not going to do that. Not because I doubt that it’s true, but because there’s something more important to think about. It’s about you, and who you are, and what you want to stand for and associate with come election day.

I won’t try and change your mind about issues. My own ideological commitments are decidedly to the left, far more so than Barack Obama by the way (which is why I actually find it funny when folks suggest he’s some far-out radical or socialist). I actually wish Obama were more bold in his progressivism, but many years ago I learned that when it came to presidential elections, I’d likely have to settle for voting for the candidate who I felt was better, even if they were far from my own ideal. I could spend the other 364 days fighting for what I believed in, without apology or compromise. Election day, for me, has always come to be about harm reduction: a political equivalent of the hippocratic oath. And that’s OK.

I’m asking you now to make that same leap: to relinquish the need to be totally behind the person you vote for, and instead to make the best out of a situation that you may see as less than ideal, but which nonetheless posits a very serious choice in terms of which direction this nation travels, less so in terms of policy than in terms of tone, demeanor, and its overall political culture.

Because this election isn’t just about taxes, or the war in Iraq, or energy policy, though it is all of those things. Honest and decent people can disagree about those subjects, as with any political issue. But this election is about the public face of the United States of America in the early twenty-first century. And when it comes to such a matter as this, the difference between an Obama and McCain vote couldn’t be clearer.

If you don’t believe me, I implore you to take a look at the numerous video clips of McCain and Palin’s hardcore supporters (links embedded at the end of this letter) as they scream words of anger and hatred at Obama supporters who are merely standing with signs announcing their preference outside one or another McCain rally. These mobs, and that is what they are, are not merely people who disagree about issues with Senator Obama–which would be fine–but rather, they are persons who seem incapable of even seeing the humanity of their opponent, or his supporters. They are people whose vitriol and venom know few if any bounds. They are people who call him names that are only thinly-veiled racial slurs, who threaten him with violence, and who suggest that he is a “baby killer” whose election would destroy America. These are dangerous people, and what’s important here, is that they are not like you.

If you agreed with this kind of rhetoric, I suspect you wouldn’t be undecided, or perhaps merely leaning towards McCain. You would be a full-blown acolyte. That you are not suggests that you are trying to avoid the trap of overblown emotionalism. For that, I thank you. And for that reason I am asking you to consider that if you vote for McCain, you will not merely be voting for policies that you may prefer, but you will also be empowering some of these very forces visible in the videos. You will be casting your lot with them, making common cause with persons whose anger and rage threatens to tear the country apart at a time when we desperately need to come together to solve common problems. These forces, if victorious, would think their triumph a signal event, one that would give them a green light to ramp up the volume of their hatred even louder.

Although most McCain supporters are not like the thugs attending these rallies, surely it must give you pause to think that you could vote as they vote, that you might contribute to the election of a man whose base includes such persons as these. People who have verbally abused Obama campaigners canvassing door-to-door or on the phone, who suggest that we should “Bomb Obama,” and who have spread vicious rumors about the candidate with no basis in fact. And through it all, Obama himself has sucked it up, smiled through it and tried to take the higher ground.

And so we return to that notion of the public face of our nation, which is on the line in two days. Do you want this nation to elect a man whose victory would be dependent on the kind of persons as you can see in these videos? People whose sole commodity is fear, contrasted with Obama supporters whose mantra of hope–however simplistic you may think it, and however vague it may indeed be–at least appeals to the better angels of our natures, and to the positive, constructive impulses that have animated the nation’s people in their better moments.

Perhaps you think it unfair to link John McCain to the yahoos attending many of his events. Perhaps you feel that his status (self-proclaimed at least) as a maverick, would mean that, if elected, he would clearly distance himself from fringe wingnuts such as these. But you know what a real maverick would have done by now? A real maverick would already have distanced himself, clearly and repeatedly, from these folks. And John McCain has not. These videos have been bouncing around for weeks, and with the exception of one tepid comment about how both sides need to tone down the hostile rhetoric–which seemed to imply an equivalence between Obama supporters and the folks on those tapes that simply doesn’t exist–McCain and Palin have said nothing. Rather, McCain said he was “proud” of the people at his rallies, including, apparently the kinds of people we can all witness spewing their bigotry for the world to see.

A real maverick would have said the following: “My friends, I want your vote, and I sincerely believe that I am the best man for this job. But if you are supporting me because you are afraid of having a black president, or because you believe my opponent to be a terrorist, or a Muslim (and you believe Muslims are evil and unqualified to hold office), or because you believe the long-since discredited rumors about him that have been bouncing around the internet, or if you wish him harm, either now or in the future, I am asking you not to vote for me. More than that, I am telling you not to. I am asking you to stay home on election day, because I don’t want the support of people like you. If the only way I can win the presidency is on the backs of bigots, I’d rather not win.”

Now THAT would have been a maverick move. It would have been a bold move, one filled with courage and honor and character. It would have cemented McCain’s place in history as a man of principle. But he never said this, or anything remotely like it. He knows he can’t win without the support of two groups: the crazies, and the undecideds. The first of these he feels confident he can hold. The second of these? Well, that’s for you to decide. But for my money, I think you are not only smarter, but fundamentally more decent than that. On election day, please show the nation and the world that my faith in you was not misplaced.

Sincerely,

Tim Wise