Wednesday, September 16, 2009

DV Jr. Goes Two Rounds With Local Champ - Young Black Boys Need A Martial Art As Badly As They Need Food

20 comments:

KonWomyn said...

Hey DV
It's aight, life gets busy like that sometimes. There's always time to blogtalk...Have you heard of James Southwood, the raw food vegan kickboxer? If not, y'shld tell DV Jnr 'bout him.

www.rawfighter.com

http://www.londonsavate.co.uk/old_press.htm#2

submariner said...

young girls too.

Denmark Vesey said...

Think so Sub?

Why is that?

Lil sister starts ballet next Wednesday. Although she is a pretty good athlete and might have the best push-ups in the entire 3rd grade, can't see her punching people in the face.

Had her in Karate when she was 5. But she didn't relish kicking people in the chest nearly as much as did her older brothers who couldn't get enough of whipping other kids asses. She just seemed to want the outfit. I told her mother we could have bought a damn gi and saved the $600 for Kempo lessons.

Why the impulse to ... gender blur? Why must little girls be raised like little boys?

Are not the "martial" arts inherently masculine?

Hip me to what I'm missing.

Denmark Vesey said...

KW!

Good looking out. This cat Southwood is a beast. I forwarded his site to my little men who are very conscious of the challenges and opportunities facing raw and vegetarian athletes.

Both of them eat wild fish whenever we can find it. So not completely raw or vegetarian.

Little brother is concerned that his meat eating opponents are going to grow to be giants. I want him to understand the difference between protein / high quality food growth and kids who are growing because they are ingesting the hormones and steroids injected in the animals they are eating.

How do you eat? Raw food? Vegetarian? How'd you find this guy?

KonWomyn said...

Hey DV

Lol, I thot Sub meant y'should talk to DV Jnr abt girls...Sweet. Little Miss DV shld try out everything she wants to! My neice is a year older and she was born vegetarian and she's starting ballet soon...

I found this a couple of years ago when I went raw for abt 60days then liquid for a long while after that. It was pretty gr8, learnt alot abt the body. At the time I was looking for famous raw foodies and his name came up, pretty tight huh? Yea there are some vegan & raw food weightlifters and runners too so your boys shouldn't even stress abt lack of meat protein coz there are others like them winning title.

They'll prob be more agile if they hone in on the adv that veg has over the bulkiness of meat. Tell 'em ketones from meat give you stanky breath! Seriously tho' Carl Lewis was a vegan and I'll post some links to some raw/veg athletes.

I've been vegan for abt 4yrs now, was vegetarian before that for 4yrs, so 8 in total - same with my younger sister. At the moment I'd like to do raw or liquid again, but since I fell off the wagon I've struggled to get back on...Mind over matter, I know, I know.

Kenneth G Williams, Vegan Body Builder
http://www.raw-food-repair.com/vegan-bodybuilding.html

Harley Raw Food Cyclist
http://www.totalrawfood.com/rawfood/&cat=3&p=7

This website has all kindsa info for athletes:
http://www.veganathlete.com/

peace

Big Don said...

Boxing is a "gateway" activity leading to prison and/or a generally dysfunctional later life. Only sport where the *GOAL* is to injure your opponent; what kind of message does *that* reinforce...??!

Better choices would be golf, tennis or knowledge-based competitions (Spelling, Geography, History, Math).

Scouting is also good. Eagle Scouts are virtually all quite self-sufficient and successful in later life...
-

Anonymous said...

YOung lion looking good.

But I wonder as I wander about this gender blurring concept. Who decided that the female of our species must be relegated to certain activities and/or thought processes. I understand the biological imperative of reproduction, but beyond that, what rhyme or reason is behind highly differentiated gender discrepancies? And if whatever is behind it is one of those so called "age-old" historical type philosophies, has it been vetted for usefulness in the current world state of affairs?

Intellectual Insurgent said...

Who decided that the female of our species must be relegated to certain activities and/or thought processes.

The females themselves.

submariner said...

As a former martial artist I can tell you that its purpose is self-mastery. And such a goal is of universal benefit to all humans and applicable in all areas of life. Don't let the methods or practical instrumentality obscure the spiritual intent and content.

I'm rather unfamiliar with the new varieties of MMA but if you study classical martial arts you'll find that physical and mental conditioning through endless repetition is emphasized first. And the forms are highly idealized movements hardly applicable in unaltered form to real life. The ability to dominate an opponent or earn income is quite secondary. An artistic depiction of what I'm espousing can be found in David Mamet's film Red Belt with the superb Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Gender blurring has nothing to do with it. My seven year old has been studying Tae Kwon Do for over a year. She's also got an interest in fencing inspired by an inherited passion for Star Wars and participation in camp activities this summer. Yet she remains the most adorable and conventional daddy's girl who obsesses over what to wear and loves when her aunt applies makeup to her face.

She first went camping with me one frigid October night at age three years. Just took her fishing in Annapolis last weekend and enrolled her in a Waldorf School where her favorite class is knitting and she thoroughly enjoyed her first weekly after-school cooking class yesterday. In addition, she's eagerly looking forward to the next school year's class trip when she'll spend five days and four nights away from home working at a farm in upstate New York. Despite her mother's reticence because of protests scheduled at the capitol, we spent Saturday, just my daughter and I, at an open house festival at the Kenedy Center. For the last two years and counting we've had season tickets for the youth program at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - can't wait to see Scheherazade.

But when I toss a football or baseball with her in the backyard or prompt her to dribble a basketball with her left hand while keeping her head up, it's not necessarily for her to become an athlete, outdoorswoman, or simply reject tradition and defy gender roles, it's to actively model manhood for her and to provide her with challenging encounters so she can develop an entrepenurial spirit, self reliance, discipline, environmental stewardship, fidelity to family and friends, civic pride and engagement, cultural literacy, emotional competency, and leadership capacity. Martial arts adds invaluably to this.

Big Don are you aware that boxing is a preferred form of recreation for select urban professionals?

submariner said...

Plus when she begins dating and later goes away to college I'll be comfortable in the knowledge that she can defend herself.

Big Don said...

A few select urban professionals notwithstanding, boxing is primarily a preferred form of recreation for those with no intellectual future. Better to have a non-violent son in the Boardroom, than doing life-without in San Quentin or SingSing...

That would make a good graduate research project: The fraction of male inmates in for violent felonies who have organized boxing experience, compared with the fraction of male professors, MD's, boardroom occupants who are ex-boxers.

Say, whoever won that boxing match between Tonya Harding and Muhammad Ali's daughter...?? Not a recipe for success, regardless of gender...

submariner said...

didn't know they had a match

A. Charles said...

It's just my own anecdotal experience, but what I've seen leads me to a different conclusion from Big Don.

I think the urge to smack things (both people and inanimate objects) is innate for many. Whether it's an unguarded chin, a golf ball, or a hanging change-up, when you can put your full body weight into a swing and make solid contact, it feels good.

For some of us.

Boxing scratches that itch. Plus it adds outlets for aggression, athletic challenge and mental competition that you don't find in many other sports. And to be good in the ring, you can't just let those feelings flow; you have to channel them and use them at the right time.

For that reason, I've seen boxing less as a gateway to violent behavior than as a proposed cure for folks who didn't know how to properly target their impulses. Prisons commonly have boxing programs for inmates not because they promote thuggish behavior, but because they're considered good ways to teach folks to keep themselves in check.

You almost never hear of boxing making somebody violent. Some guys, like Mike Tyson, need more help with self-control than the sport can give. Boxing didn't make them that way.

On the other hand, there are plenty more stories of young thugs being told to direct their violent impulses toward the ring, and doing a pretty good job of it.

George Foreman being a prime example.

I ain't saying that George wouldn't still kick plenty of ass if provoked. But I think he'd have done a whole lot more of it outside the permitted boundaries of the law if he hadn't been a boxer.

And BTW, Tonya Harding wouldn't have dared get into the ring with Laila Ali. Joe Frazier's daughter did, and Laila beat her.

CNu said...

Why the impulse to ... gender blur? Why must little girls be raised like little boys?

Are not the "martial" arts inherently masculine?


The root of all eastern martial arts Kalaripayattu - encompasses a variety of techniques and styles intended primarily for women. As also, several techniques and weapons found in traditional wushu - which is to be expected given the vedic origin of chinese martial arts.

Authentic traditional martial art forms promote psychophysiological health, fitness, and well-being - not to mention knowledge of self-defense crucial in an increasingly violentized and chaotic society.

While I don't particularly advocate for hard martial arts training for women and girls, I am an ardent advocate of soft martial arts training and practice, and, extensive weapons training and practice for all girls and women.

And let's cut out all the namby pamby window dressing around the psychological or even "spiritual" aspects of martial arts training and practice.

Fundamentally, you're either learning and practicing the shortest and most proficient methods and paths for killing an adversary, or, you're just engaged in culturally stylized calisthenics that'll get you hurt in a fight.

mizzy said...

is that john john killing in the ring? thats MY son

submariner said...

The last paragraph may be true for some but it's hardly true for most people. Proportionality is a fundamental part of the discipline. And the overwhelming majority of practitioners and masters of even the deadly variety have never killed anybody.

Denmark Vesey said...

Big Don ... I don't know what to say. Other than my Aunt Connie agrees with you.

Submariner ... Absolutely brilliant and completely edifying. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a beast and that was great film.

A. Charles ... That was rational with a vengeance. Thank you.

CNu ... That was classic CNu. But do you really think martial arts training and spiritual development are mutually exclusive?

CNu said...

CNu ... That was classic CNu. But do you really think martial arts training and spiritual development are mutually exclusive?

Please DV, Sub, et al..., tell me in your experience EXACTLY what the one has to do with the other?

And the overwhelming majority of practitioners and masters of even the deadly variety have never killed anybody.

lol...,

the overwhelming majority of practicing masters are in the worlds sundry military, police, and criminal organizations, not running storefront tutorial programs for consumers.

CNu said...

Sub, before you even set fingertip to keyboard, consider the daily, hands-on ER analogy going to the difference between "practice" and practice.

The humiliating and childishly easy choke out of Ron van Clief 15 years ago by Royce Gracie pretty much marked the end of the legitimacy of store-front, stylized calisthenics. From that point forward, the constantly sparring and fighting grapplers and strikers have shown the true and brutal nature of martial arts mastery.

everything else, as they say, is merely conversation.

submariner said...

Even most military and police personnel and underworld figures have never killed anybody. And of those who have keeping their sanity is a struggle. Post traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, major depression, and anxiety are fairly common in this population.

Most people prefer to leave at peace with their neighbors and the greatest challenge for military organizations is overcoming the moral objection to killing. A while ago, based on one of your ealier posts, I saw the documentary Sir No Sir! which showed precisely this sentiment among active soldiers during Vietnam.

If martial arts were merely about efficient killing then it would cease being art. When I was training it was more than just "I wish a nigga would." It was about carrying the discipline and respect of the dojo within me and maintaining the appropriate demeanor. That's something that you just don't get with a gun and it's why Bernard Getz, despite carrying a gun, was a mark.