Yes. I started training in the unarmed combat arts in November of 1969. From that time until September of 1995 the study and teaching of that was pretty much the focal point of my existence.

In large measure, understanding how things work was profoundly helpful, since I didn’t have to learn that as well as sword technique. By that I mean I already had a good understanding of what training really is, how to train, and how long it will take to start seeing conditioned responses become active. The first time I picked up a sword, I already knew that timing, positioning (the SCA calls it "distance"), and accuracy were what would enable me to prevail; I wasn’t seduced by the illusion of speed.

In the Eastern unarmed fighting arts, there isn’t any concept of "unfair" advantage, so that’s where I learned the single-mindedness I employ in SCA rapier fighting. (I also had to do a major paradigm shift to adapt to the concepts of courtesy and chivalry.)

Don’t play with your food. You are there to kill, not play around. NEVER "take it easy" on someone that you’re magnitudes better than. They won’t see it as kindness, they’ll see it as mockery—and you’ll always have an enemy with them. Kill cleanly and be done with it.

Mindset is my fighting style. Comments others have made indicate to me that I’m seen as a cerebral fighter. Completely false. I’m an opportunist. Not having any predisposition in any regard at all allows me to take whatever opportunity my decrepit body can and that my opponent’s oversight allows. With very few exceptions, I have no idea what I’m going to do before I do it. I don’t enter into a fight with any preconceptions or ideas other than to be aware of my distance and watch for patterns I can capitalize on.

Killing—preferably with a throat cut. (But if they die, I can forego the throat cut.)

For my fencing, I would love to be more consistent. In the community I would LOVE to see melees stay where they belong—in armored combat. A rapier is a civilian weapon and has no place on a melee field with more than five people per team. Hearing someone talk about the "EK Army" in regards to rapier combat makes me what to have a world-class fit... and then puke.

Primarily intention, since a fight is a FIGHT and practice isn’t a fight. If I’m fighting to win, I’m not there for "fun". I’m there to kill. Practice can often appear the same way if I’m working on something I want to put into my bag of tricks, but practice (or pick-ups) are really just for the love of the game.

I enjoy the activity for itself, win or lose... and I don’t end up with five consecutive life sentences.

Keyard, Bruce Lee, and whoever is standing in front of me after the opening salutes.

If I can sell them, I’ll take them.

A student I’ll ask, "How was fencing at the event for you?" A cadet I won’t need to ask. A student I will help however I can and to the extent of their willingness to accept. But a cadet is much closer. They represent me in the list; the relationship is more familial.

Each has their satisfactions. Teaching someone else also teaches me. Often I have no idea what I "know" until someone asks me a question which then requires me to find the answer to it. And I absolutely LOVE the look on the student’s face when they finally get it and The Light goes on for them.

Fighting is just a joy unto itself. I would much rather bust my ass to lose than to one-shot people. I love the activity for itself and would always rather have a good Game than to merely "win".

A fool, honest or not, is still a fool. If they’re an honest fool, then in addition to being burdened by being in the company of a fool, I also have the burden of taking care of them as well. It’s an effort not rewarded. A witty rogue at least has the benefit of being witty. Rogues are easily dealt with once one understands their agenda.

Get rid of the light blades, restrict melee to no more than five people per side, and allow non-fighting marshals.

What happened in the bearpit at Coldwood during the summer of 1995.

When I started in the SCA, there was a fairly common campfire debate: if a rapier fighter and an armored fighter went at it, which would win? At the time I didn’t know that it was specifically forbidden in Corpora for the two classes of fighters to take the field at the same time, much less against each other. That said...

The rapier fighters had been playing in the bearpit since shortly before sunset. Well, as it turned out, the bearpit format is one I generally do well with. It’s not uncommon for me to put together a long winning streak, and that’s what I did. The armored combat fighters decided it was their turn to get in there to play, so evidently someone said, "Sure... as soon as someone kills Pierre." The problem was that nobody was killing Pierre. They finally ran out of patience and decided to send in two armored fighters to get Pierre out.

At the time I knew nothing of this. I made my kill, the dead guy left, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at one sword and board fighter and one double mace fighter.

Well I didn’t know what to do, so I just backed into a corner and watched them, profoundly aware that neither of our armors was proof against the others’ weapons.

Then the sword fighter took a ready position, the mace fighter took a ready position... so I attacked. I feinted in the direction of the sword fighter, the mace fighter started to come forward, which is when I hit him in the chest with my shoulder, lifted him off his feet, and as he bounced off the wall, double cut his throat. Before the sword fighter could react, I did him the same way. And that was SUCH fun that I did it again and killed both of them. The whole incident lasted maybe three or four seconds.

To the best of my knowledge, the only time light and heavy weapons met, light prevailed. Twice. I’m pretty proud of that... and that I’d only been an authorized fencer for less than two months when it happened.

Later on I found out that we all could have gotten into some serious trouble for it. Had I known, I would have just yielded the pit. But I didn’t know, didn’t yield, and got to kill them twice.

Find out what matters most to me, prove to me that it is in fact in your possession, and convince me that the offer is genuine. We'll talk about it then.

Pick up your blade and find out.

It was the entire Pennsic the year before Their Majesties erred (not that that’s possible, they were just poorly advised) in inducting me into their Order of the Golden Rapier. Sometimes when I’m on, I manage to impress even myself... and that Pennsic all I had to do to be on was pick up a sword. If I’ve ever had a "golden year", it all came to a head that Pennsic. I spanked people I’d never managed that with before, went 50/50 with people who routinely spank me, and was entirely transported by the whole event.

Difficult to pick one, as I've met many admirable people in the SCA. Each of those that I admire all share the same characteristics: honor, integrity, courage, the unwillingness to surrender regardless the odds against them, and the ability to balance the seeming opposites of true humility with quiet pride in their accomplishments. Most of all, I admire Miss Bennet.

Gawd. It’s hard to pick just a few. Always Keyard for the sheer love of the fight; Jean-Paul for the ferocity; Ronan for the subtlety; Alexandre for the raw fun; Thomas de Castellan for the sophistication; Thomas del Bruc for—well—he’s THOMAS DEL BRUC; Marion the Buckler Goddess for the intensity; Caine because he’s a punk and always deserves a beatin’; Mercedes because she’s not just a fight, she’s a war; Quinn Kerr of AEthelmarc because he’s an unvarnished killer and makes me work for it; Rhiannon because I’ve never met anyone else with her tip control; Rian because he’s so smooth; Natallia because she’s lethal; and Nigel for the stalking game. I know there are many more that I’m forgetting.

Nobody. The purpose to fencing them would be to keep them from killing me, an imperative best accomplished by killing them first. Since they're already dead, I see no purpose in risking my sacred corpus to prove a point. They are dead, I am not. Mission accomplished in the best way possible; someone else risked their sacred corpus to accomplish it.

Pay attention to what you’re doing, not how you’re doing. If you do that, what you’re doing will get better and how you’re doing will take care of itself. Play for the love of the play, not just to win. Make your practice accurate because you’ll only do what you practice doing.

Nataliia the Shy and Reticent

"Oh man... that’s just great. I drove three hours to be here and I get matched with Dirty Pierre?! [CENSORED]!"