In the introduction to his book, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bill Bryson suggests that “nursery rhymes…are fastidiously resistant to change” and later continues:
Jul
26
2010
26
2010
Oct
27
2009
27
2009
On the Championship
A couple of days before coming to Toronto, I corresponded with a long time customer who is with a foreign embassy now residing in a country that is perpetually at war. In a few back-and-forth emails our talk lit on the role of the artist—martial or otherwise—in bringing peace.
Oct
13
2009
13
2009
Stormy
Quick! Before the power goes out!
Oct
2
2009
2
2009
Plum in Toronto
Plum (that is, Ted and Debbie) will be traveling to Toronto to meet up with Professor Kang GeWu, who is coming from Beijing …
Sep
16
2009
16
2009
Sunday Qigong Seminar Series
Come one, come all…! The Academy of Martial Arts (our school here in Santa Cruz) is presenting 3 separate workshops on the Art of Qigong: Qigong Essentials (Sept 20); Wudang Qigong (Oct 4) and Blossoms in the Spring (Oct 18). The last, of course, will be especially helpful to those of you who have purchased [...]
Mar
12
2008
12
2008
The Crooked Line
If you are carrying on the work of developing, say, super string theory it helps to copy the equations accurately. But even correct equations are meaningless if you don’t understand them.
Apr
22
2006
22
2006
Interview: Is Tai Chi a Martial Art?
When is a martial art not a martial art?” Well, the apparent answer, at least according to posters tacked to telephone poles, videos in drugstore spinning racks, and ads where instructors hug redwood trees is “When it’s T’ai Chi”.
Apr
18
2006
18
2006
Age and Kung Fu
For instance, let’s take the martial aspects. I teach people in their sixties to do the martial part. Why? To enliven them.
Sep
6
2004
6
2004
Shopping For Books
The store owner approaches with three books in English, recently published, new, shiny. “You like Kung Fu?” she asks, fanning out the books.
Apr
29
2004
29
2004
Take a Breather: Hyperventilation & Health
When I sit down to discuss money matters with my husband something very curious happens to me: I go from involved to devolved faster than you can say “credit card debt”. I am not put off by the numbers—I have a degree in math—but I share with most Americans some anxiety about the subject of [...]
Jun
7
1999
7
1999
At Taoism Class
When I was 10, my younger sister and I mounted a campaign to convince our parents that the money they were spending on religious school (every Saturday, lessons at the Temple) could be used in a better way.
Oct
2
1998
2
1998
Watching Kung Fu
I love Kung Fu, yet you could fit all my physical experience of it in one Chinese boot. However it has been my privilege, for almost twenty years, to watch it.
Some of that time has been spent behind a camera. The nice thing about a lens is that it focuses. It has taught me what [...]