I decided to put this in a seperate thread since like so much of my writing, it was way too long. Hope it is entertaining.
Wednesday
The overwhelming celebratory tide of Mardi Gras had at last receded from the streets of New Orleans for another year. I emerged from my home with a bad chest cold or flu of some kind, glad to have survived another Fat Tuesday, but feeling wretched and exhausted. Next challenge: Southern Knights. Dave Housteau, the only local ARMA member I had had any contact with, was apparently going to be out of town, and direct communications with ARMA was minimal.
There were a lot of things to worry about. Dealing with people I’d never met in person, only via email. Concerns had been raised by ARMA members about Barristers, the neighborhood, the charming but no-frills St. Vincent’s Hotel which I had found for them. I was pretty sure everything would be ok but, you never know for certain. I was on the spot. Stress began to mount.
Thursday
I called Andy Antippas from work, I hadn’t spoken to him in several weeks. He was cheerful and looking forward to the event, but told me that he couldn’t open up until 10:30, while ARMA wanted to start at 8:30 AM. Not only that, but there would be an.. ahem… film festival going on at the same time as the ARMA event. I had lost John C’s phone number and email went unanswered. I told Andy I’d get a key from him and open up myself in the morning. I didn’t sleep much that night.
Friday
Marjorie and I drove down to St Vincent’s and met some ARMA people in the little sitting room there. I handed out some maps I’d printed up. Folks seemed to like the hotel Ok, which was a big relief. I met Jake Norwood and some people from New York, Texas and across the South East. I briefly met John C. Things looked like they were going ok, so I left early. Didn’t sleep much that night either.
Saturday
Got to Barristers gallery at 8:00 AM Saturday, bringing a couple dozen croissants for people who missed breakfast. One ARMA member from Dallas was already there, unloading a formidable quantity of equipment. I was fascinated by his beautiful array of steel swords in particular. People began to show up by 8:30 and I soon met several ARMA members, including Mike Cartier and Jay Vail who I had known from the internet. More beautiful steel swords and wasters were brought out, then the classes started. John C. lent me a waster to use since all I had were my padded weapons.
The first class I remember was the Longsword guards, then Jake did a class on Master cuts. Both were full of revelations to me. I found the ARMA members to be very friendly and fun to talk to, and I learned something from everyone I spoke with. Each person was willing to help me through my confusion with all the German terms I’d never heard before and correct grips and footwork that I was unfamiliar with. I’m also very glad to say I got along a lot better with John Clements in person than via email.
After lunch I was fascinated by a piece of mail armor that John showed us. It was supple almost like a piece of heavy plush cloth, but seemingly impenetrable. When I brought the mail to Andy to show him John came and showed us a fascinating slideshow on Fecthbuch art, including some rather scandalous revelations about the I33 document. I think Andy was impressed, I know I was, both by the art and Johns nuanced understanding of it.
My loaner waster, which I believe was made by Hollowearth Swordworks, was a source of continual fascination for me. It was so beautifully made, and I never thought a wooden sword could feel so ‘right’. I never wanted to put it down.
I had a few light light- sparring sessions in the morning with padded weapons. I sparred with Jay and Jake, both of whom impressed me with their skill. I fought Jay with single swords, just lightly without helmets. He moved quicker than my friends 14 year old kid that I spar with sometimes.
Fighting Jake w. buckler was an eye opener.
Jake’s quickness and versatility were stunning. He was more aware of reach and range than anyone I’d fought before, and every time I thought I had him in a bind, he struck at me from an unexpected direction. I was very relieved to beat him one time after a few rounds. I had a lot to think about.
There was a knife-fighting class by Ron Edwards. I thought a lot of the moves, such as tripping people with knives, were designed for fighting in armor. I was impressed with Ron’s skill and particularly that of his wife. She seemed so relaxed and demure, and then alternately ferocious. It was almost unsettling, like admiring a napping tiger, and then seeing teeth when she yawns.
Some people liked my padded weapons. I gave a few away. I’ll be posting a link to show how exactly I made them and what materials I use. By the end of the day I was very glad I had helped get this thing set up here in New Orleans. I was feeling very feverish and ill, so I wasn’t up to any socializing that night.
Sunday
My flu was really kicking in. I was up all night coughing and gasping, and felt really out of it… dead on my feet. Made it to Barristers on time but without enough spare time to go get breakfast for everybody again. Luckily I still had some water left over from Saturday because I was very thirsty. People arrived more slowly, I think a few had been to the French Quarter Saturday night.
Jake’s class on Meyer was even better than the one on Saturday. I attended a class Stacy did on Staff, using my clumsy 7’ padded Bill –Guisarme since I lacked a wooden staff. I was kind of woosy at that point and had trouble focusing due to feeling so out of it, but I really admired Stacy’s grasp of the staff guards and his infectious enthusiasm for the subject. Jay’s Knife class was really interesting to me, especially since unlike many similar classes I’ve had including in the Army, most of the moves seemed like they would really work.
Finally, the day was ending before I knew it. The session was running late again, (it’s too bad it couldn’t have been a three day session or all week) but my girl Marjorie arrived and I was going to have to leave. Jake saw me about to depart and talked me into trying out this dagger versus sword thing we had been discussing on the internet. We kitted up and tried several times to rush me with a dagger while I was armed with a sword, and later with a sword and shield. I then felt the urge to spar more in spite of being sick and so forth, so while Marjorie patiently waited, I grabbed my big ‘misfits’ stop-sign shield and we sparred for real a few times.
Jake was as fast as a mongoose and with his repertoire of Meyer moves could counter attack and recover from strikes much, much faster than anyone I’d ever fought with. Luckily for me the Fechtbuchs don’t teach much about shields and I was able to eek out a few quick victories charging in and striking like a rattlesnake on PCP. Then I pointed out one ‘slum-fu’ secret, assuming Jake would mull it over and apply it days or weeks later on his next victim. Jake absorbed it instantly (in like half a second) and after that I could barely get him. Then we sparred two or three times with longswords, and he slaughtered me. I was particularly impressed with the effectivenes of the fighting retreat, using all the flicking cuts from side to side, attacking from every direction.
Feeling dizzy from my flu I decided to quit while my ratio of victories was still close to even. I felt very lucky to do that well, like someone who just survived wrestling a leopard without any mortal injuries.
Finally Sunday night Mike Cartier and his Florida crewe stopped by for a quiet dinner at my place. On the way to a local pub we got to see a car theft in progress, a little ghetto entertainment. Conversations with Mike were fascinating about WMA going back to ancient Greece.
Overall impressions
The biggest revelations to me were first and foremost, all the methods for cutting with the false edge, which we had never done, as well as the fluidity of shifting from guard to guard.
The master cuts were also inspiring as was what I retained of the superb Meyer class. I am now utterly convinced that this is a real martial art. I also enjoyed the knife fighting classes, particularly Jay’s, even though I am a rank beginner there.
One of the things I was really wondering about going into this was how good ARMA guys were going to be at fencing. I didn’t get to do as much sparring as I’d hoped but I sparred casually with about 4 guys, and I was impressed with the high quality of the ARMA fencers. I don’t say that lightly, as I have sparred with guys from every kind of EMA, including kendo and escrima, as well as countless numbers of strong and agile amateurs. Unlike 90% of people I have encountered, the ARMA members I sparred with truly grasped reach and range, cut effectively, did not telegraph, and fought at high speed. Hats off to you all for that.
Handling real steel weapons and wasters was also another major unique experience for me. I was on the one hand glad to note that my padded’s were actually pretty close to the right weight and balance. The steel weapons in particular have a really different ‘feel’ though and I can sense the cutting edge(s) on them when I hold them. I’m sincerely hoping to be able to buy one of my own soon when I get finally paid for a book I just did.
I think the biggest thing impact of the event for me though was the most subtle one, which I didn’t fully appreciate until later. The feeling of being around all these people that I didn’t know well for the most part, but all shared this interest in fencing and western martial arts, and history. I found myself on Monday wanting to talk to the guy next to me at the Supermarket about false-edge cuts, and I wanted to start practice fencing with my boss in the office this morning when I was trying to explain master cuts, I was disappointed when he shied away from my suggested quarter speed demonstration with aluminum yard sticks!
I’ve been told my whole life that I belonged in another age. This weekend felt like being there, and without the inquisition or the bubonic plague! Hope to see you all again sooner rather than later,
Jeanry
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