Robber Hits Karate School

Police rescue him and take him to the hospital.

You Can Probably Beat Me Up

That's a variation of what every man I meet eventually says to me, since I've been practicing martial arts for so long. (I suppose this could have been a Valentine's Day post.) Sometimes it's in the form of a question, "Could you beat me up?" To which I either reply, "only if I have to," or "only if you want me to," depending on the questioner. Women never ask, from which I deduce that men never really leave the schoolyard, forever mentally classifying the other kids into "I can beat him up/he can beat me up" categories.

Women on Crime, and Ruth Rendell

"As a female author, says French, it makes complete sense to write crime novels, as they are a way of understanding the danger that lurks around us 'every time you walk home alone at night, every time a stranger asks you for directions on a deserted street, every time you're home on your own and there's a strange breeze moving through the curtains.'" Article at Guardian Books..

Between living in a rural environment, and having a black belt, I'm largely insulated from feelings like that -- but I started as a city girl, and there's no denying the reality of most women's lives. When I first moved here, a deer snorting in its bed of weeds next to my house could get my heart racing.

The article doesn't mention Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine (she writes with both names), but she is one of my very favorites, especially The Rottweiler, which features a serial killer who doesn't like his press, and a hilarious group of characters trying to get on with their lives with a killer in the neighborhood.

Testing oneself

This weekend we had aikido tests. There are five levels before black belt, and each test has a list of attack and defense techniques that must be demonstrated in order to pass. When there was just one school and one teacher, the teacher could see when you were ready and give you a black belt. Now, in order to minimize the differences between black belts from one school and another, we have standardized tests. (Same reason schools give standardized tests.)

We follow rules, take tests. In Zen monasteries, there are also rules to follow. Everyone is on the same schedule, following the same rules, keeping things moving in harmony. There are koans to pass, standards to keep.

Where are the rules in writing? Where are the tests, once we're out of school? Well, the obvious answer is, there aren't any, but if you look deeper, you'll see that there are, but we have to make them up ourselves, and everything we do, school, Zen training, martial arts training, is training for this moment, when we must follow the rules we set up for our own lives, writing and otherwise, and meet our own standards. Is it easier to follow someone else's rules? Easier to go to work every day, do the household chores, respond to the needs of others, than to practice every day, write every day?

Challenging, isn't it?