This morning, I got up to attend Sensei’s Zoom karate class. I slept as late as I dared, fed the cats and made myself coffee. The extra sleep, I’d hoped, would help with soreness.
N, one of my son’s buddies, lead the warm-up. She’s a green stripe, but I see her in every Zoom karate class. Afterwards, TF lead kihon. TF had not led in a while, so she was rusty at first. However, she was just fine once she settled into it. She has actually studied Japanese, and she has been an ichi kyu much longer than me. Many of my best fighting tips came from her. Due to her influence–both her suggestions and her brutal punches, I learned to block better, and also started wearing arm guards.
After kihon, Sensei went over the nunchuck kata he’d taught us last night. He also showed a video of it on-line, posted by Ryoji Okamoto on YouTube:
These guys are amazing.
The kata Sensei taught us was a more simple kata, but this was his inspiration. It will take us a significant amount of practice to reach their level!
So yesterday evening, while we learned part of the nunchuck kata, F and S helped me follow the kata. Today I avoided being completely lost because we reviewed much of what Sensei had taught last night.
Working with weapons is a lot of fun. Previously, when the dojo building was functioning, we also had a fencing instructor who taught on some Saturdays. Hopefully, the new club will be able to bring him back to teach.
I wrapped up the remaining things I needed to do regarding the Temple’s teacher appreciation gifts. I also set up a Zoom meeting parents, Rabbi and the teachers to talk.
Yesterday Jessica texted that she’d been feeling anxious, but she’s better today. That was good to hear. I’d been anxious, myself, during the past week: my lead had been told he will be on hiatus starting Monday. Once Thursday evening rolled around, however, and I was able to sit and watch “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with the kids, I was happy.
Organizing people is difficult, exhausting work. Who knew? We had a major conflict last week. One committee met, ostensibly, to plan the Zoom teaching schedule for next month. Instead, they talked about curriculum, even though several people on the call were not black belts. At least two black belts on the call felt their rank was not being respected.
I got all of this second-hand from F, my daughter. The two, after that meeting, decided to quit or minimally participate less. It seems that everyone was not aware that others on the call were uncomfortable with the topic of discussion. It seems that no one, save the teens, really spoke up.
One person I spoke with, however, pointed out that this would not have happened at all if we did not have a leadership vacuum. Maybe that is a problem with karate, or even our society: we are too used to having a “strong leader,” usually an assertive man. We expect all the answers to come from that one man. We’re not able to imagine how an actual democratic system, one that gives voice to both the weak and the strong, might function. Maybe I’m an idealist, but it will not come into being if we cannot even imagine it. As for me, I’ve studied the value of democracy since I was a child. Most of us have. Why doesn’t that apply here?
That doesn’t mean we throw out rank. We are not practicing karate if we are not respecting rank. And of course the higher rank should decide what to teach, and how to teach. But if we have a lower-ranking child propose going to the beach to practice karate, or a lower-ranking adult point out some potential risk during a fire-break, why would we not listen?
It took some smoothing over and an actual curriculum meeting of the Yudansha to head off black belts defecting. Nevertheless, one instrumental person, still upset, may scale back her participation. I called her today; we had a long talk.
F was upset and pulled in Sensei. He spoke with several of us. Then he worried about over-stepping, or rather, recognized that we need to have the ability to solve these kinds of conflicts on our own. It is true: if he retires, he won’t be around to mitigate our every disagreement. We need to learn to do it.
I am worried about the fact that we keep losing people. I know it’s a process, and any time you are dealing with a large number of people, you will have politics. However, I also look at what others have done: recently, in defense of black lives, there has been sustained, organized protest in many large cities across this country. These are locally organized, grass-roots groups, people no different than us, putting on these peaceful protests. I look at our Temple’s Sisterhood, and even our little Temple. It isn’t large, but it is an organization that’s been around for over sixty years.
We can do this. Our dojo community is full of intelligent, capable, agreeable, well-meaning people. This includes the folks who did the offending last week, as well as those offended. In order for people to be comfortable proposing ideas, we have to figure out how to reject bad ideas with kindness as well as embrace good ideas. As an engineer and artist, I know this: you have to be able to come up with, and reject, a whole bunch of bad ideas before you land on a good one. If our members are afraid to propose bad ideas, then they’ll be afraid to propose ideas.We need to figure out how to make it safe for everyone to toss out ideas, bad and good. And people need to feel safe arguing with each other.
Today we did hold another organizing meeting and some of us talked about reaching out to past members. This upset others. I participated in those discussions, and found out later it was upsetting for some. One of the people who had been part of the committee meeting that went awry last begged off, so I’m also worried that person might stop attending out of fear.
And you know what else happened today? This!
But notice the crazy thing: the laundry rack fell over in such a way that it failed to bring down the smaller rack, and somehow nothing damaged the little kumquat tree. And yes, there’s a gi top and a brown belt, but somehow that garment fell on top of other clothing items. F helped me lift up the rack and shake the dirt out of the clothes. Everything was fine, though it was work to put it all right again.
It is Southern California, and the winds are strong this time of year.
I wonder just how much of the current dojo community politics it is wise to include in this blog. While we are forming, everyone is critical: we have to pull together and I do not want to be a divisive force, whatever my personal experiences may be.
That said, I’ve been fielding complaints, and may need to make a couple phone calls. It takes time and negotiation for everyone to be on the same page. Now I need to defer to what I wrote in the paragraph above and stop.
This does give me an idea, one which is basically already being pursued by other members. At the Temple, the Sisterhood will usually vote, before the start of each meeting, to approve the record of the previous meeting. With the exception of one time, these votes were unanimous and uncontroversial. But on that one exceptional day, the Sisters held a debate, with various members objecting to what was written. The notes were amended, and then approved.
We can do the same: each meeting, including committee meetings, should have notes posted somewhere or emailed out, so that the various persons who participated can read, approve and/or if necessary amend the notes. The notes are important, because they are the record of the decisions made by the group as a whole. Various persons among us are already taking notes and either posting them in a Google document or emailing them out. The next step, then, would be to formalize this with a group approval of the meeting notes.
But exercises: back to my own original intent for this blog, that of keeping me honest and on track for my Shodan test. I did them. In the morning, I did get the Japanese count correct. Doing exercises in the evenings is often more difficult. Shedding the stress of the work day is one component, along with the bedroom, where I exercise, simply being hot.
The kids both went to the dojo today to help Sensei pack up. I’m sad this will be their last summer to hang out at the dojo with Sensei, in that physical location. And what a sorrowful endeavor: packing up the place that had been our spiritual karate home for many years; Sensei was there even longer. He had been a student in that location, and had taken over the dojo as a business from the previous Sensei roughly ten years ago. So, for over a decade, Sensei practiced karate in this place, first as a student, and then as a business owner and Sensei, guiding others along the path. I’m glad the kids could go and help. I hope the experience was good for all of them.
Change is difficult, but inevitable. This one, not enviable.
I need to return to reading the Koran. Going to an older Buddhist text that I read years ago simply puts me back into my comfort zone, which is fine for now. At some point, however, I need to approach a new mountain, and climb it. The Shodan test is as much a spiritual, mental test as it is physical. In Germany, I had a good friend, a student from Egypt, who was both a physicist and a faithful Muslim. She was so kind, also intelligent. She had been born Christian but chose to follow Islam. I don’t expect to convert, but I do want to see with my own heart’s understanding the teachings that cast such a bright light on the world through her. While seeking spiritual guidance, I remember her example.
And yes, for Shodan tests, we’ll have to accommodate changes required by the pandemic to keep everyone healthy. It is not likely I’ll be able to do a ten person Kumite test in August. Sensei had discussed having us do some kind of cardio test: kata in the ocean, or Sanchin practice holding jars of sand, Uechi style. I trust that Sensei and the other Shodans will come up with an appropriate test or set of tests for the three of us. In the mean time, I should do exercises, keep records, read and practice. More frequent meditation would help, too.
Three of us, a Shodan/Sensei of another style who taught the Kyoku Kids on Saturday morning, a Shodan who’s approaching his second stripe, and me, met with Sensei over Zoom to talk about preserving the community as a club. We asked his guidance in this endeavor, as well as if we could hire him as a consultant.
We convened a second meeting with him and the donor group, and finalized some of the details of hiring him. He offered to guide us through the process of re-forming the dojo community as a club. The three of us envisioned a member-run, non-profit as a likely scenario. Sensei also agreed to continue to teach over Zoom for a period, while we transitioned.
That was a relief. We held a third meeting with the greater dojo community last Sunday, in order to plan the actual forming of the club, create a mission statement and by-laws, put together a roster of teachers, etc. Various members volunteered for tasks in order to formally bring this new incarnation of our community into existence. We now have committees focused on various aspects of the club. My daughter attended, along with our sixteen year old adult Shodan, B, who also teaches. They liked the idea of a youth council that will be analogous to the adult board.
We’re hopeful that by the end of the month, we will exist as a karate club.
As for me, my week of meditation and “rest” is over, though, admittedly, given both the dojo closure and the unrest in Los Angeles, last week was hardly restful.
I will say one thing about the protestors in Los Angeles and across this nation: I have tremendous respect for persons willing to risk both their lives and their health in order to stand for justice. My family is with them in spirit.
However, if we want to have four adults from my household able to vote for candidates who support their causes in November, we have to stay home. We will show our support through donations to good causes and kind words of encouragement to friends who march.
This is my “ku” week, so 90 sit-ups and squats. I’m doing 50 push-ups on my fists and toes on the ground, then 10 the same way on the matte, and adding 30 more on my knees, when I can. I got in my exercises twice yesterday and twice today. Yesterday I also ran for 20 minutes with an additional 10 minutes walking to warm-up and cool down. Today the kids and I attended karate with Sensei over Zoom.
I have been keeping my paper journal daily. New goal: return to posting those daily writes here.
For the past three days, Friday through Memorial Day, a group of us called each other and other dojo friends. We brainstormed: proposed ideas to each other, vetted and debated each other’s ideas, asked each other’s opinions about how to preserve the dojo community.
We originally debated whether or not we could take over the building. Three people I spoke with had estimates on the rent that more or less correlated. Keeping the building during a pandemic that could potentially drag on, however, made less and less sense. It seemed to make more sense to let the building go, but preserve the community. How to do that?
At the beginning of Friday night’s karate class, Sensei also announced he’d been planning to retire, and the pandemic accelerated his timeline for this. That was another wrinkle: even if the dojo was able to continue without a building, what would we do if Sensei retired?
What do we actually want? We want to keep the dojo community together. Lots of legal entities could be suitable: an LLC, a co-op, a club. The dojo community still needs Sensei. He’s the force that brought us together and, along with karate, binds us together. So we want Sensei. He will retire, so we do need to form a plan for the community to continue after he retires. We need his guidance through that transition.
Short-term, we want to buy time. I also believe that, if we want Sensei’s help in preserving the community, and we want his guidance through this transition, we have to make that possible for him, given all that he currently has to juggle, and we have to make it worth his while.
My first response to the dojo closing was that this was a funding issue, and you solve funding issues with funds. Summer camps are not allowed due to the pandemic. No summer camps meant a significant budget shortfall for the dojo. Families are dropping out due to their own financial issues, which is further squeezing the dojo.
I just started calling dojo people I knew, and felt them out for how they were doing financially. If one or both persons were working, I just asked, “Hey, if we could get some money together to preserve the dojo, can you help?” I asked people to call other people, or often enough, they volunteered to do so.
Everyone I called was kind and up front about their abilities. And we debated: how best to spend whatever money we collect? How can folks help who do not have funds to put in? How do we keep everyone engaged?
We held a Zoom, defined our goals, and made both a short-term and a long term plan. The plan: see if we can hire Sensei as a consultant, and get some kind of organization in place. Quick.
