Jay Peterson
  • Home
  • Acting
    • Headshots
    • Resume
    • Press >
      • C3 Tweets
    • History
    • Reels
  • The Gruntverse
    • Three briefings before a crisis
    • The Preliminary Report of Marshal Bennett
    • So your kid turned out to be a mage
    • Ghost Light Sample Chapter
    • Gruntverse deleted scenes >
      • Gruntverse farewell jasmine
      • Gruntverse chittendens insight
  • Jay at Play
    • Nonfiction >
      • A Millenial's guide to inheriting guns
    • Other videos >
      • Just Blanks
      • Tommy That
      • Machine Gun Shakespeare
      • Igor
  • Blog

Teacher appreciation week

5/9/2018

0 Comments

 
Thinking about those who made me who and what I am.
(this isn't anywhere near complete, just stream of consciousness).
I wouldn't be near the martial artist I am without a number of folks, particularly Master Anthony Lisi and Grandmaster Jim Sams. Lisi was the one who hammered it into me that being the big one meant being the responsible one, being the trained one meant being the responsible one, and big & trained meant you looked out for everyone, deal with it. All this before I hit six feet. That's where my place in the brute squad started.
Sams, on the other hand, kept me from getting too big for even my oversized britches by throwing me around like a flour sack, several decades older than me and smaller than anyone I ever dated in the process. And once my ass had been thoroughly kicked, that blessed man would say, "some little punk tries that on you, counter it with this..."
I wouldn't be near the person I am were it not for the festival folk that raised us on everything from making art and money to treating people.
That flirting meant that getting shot down was a natural hazard, and should be taken with grace.
That bon mots should never be aimed for or taken in the heart but only in the ego, which needs the occasional pruning all the more in those really that damn good at it.
That sometimes triumph is just inciting a smile, a blush, or a bodice heave from across the room, and failure just means taking your leave gracefully.
This world needs more like the late John Broadfoot and Rowland Greyhame more than ever these days.
Damn, gents. If I ever reach your level I'll have done good.
I wouldn't be near the actor I am were it not for my teachers on that road, notably from Sharon Morrow to Frank Miller to Gregalan Williams.
Each in their own way sending me along that path from "ready to duck incoming tomatoes" to "being occasionally worth what I'm occasionally paid."
Wouldn't have become a Marine without Gunny Maupin.
Wouldn't have been nearly as good a one had it not been for people like Dan Hubbert and Brandon Robinson, who did not have an easy task, dealing with an overweight, unfocused, stubborn boot who was too book-smart for anyone's good.
I learned eventually.
And I wouldn't be even a shadow of the choreographer I am today without the Society folk, particularly David Brimmer, KJ Jones, Richard Ryan, Scot Mann, Mike Chin, Martin Noyes, Chuck Coyl, MJ Johnson, Paul Dennhardt, and Bob MacDougall.
Wouldn't be who I am without those I won't mention. Because they taught me the privilege of other people's secrets and the duty of keeping your damn mouth shut.
I'll even spare a nod to the bad examples I've seen. The turds, the overrated, and the clashing. Whether good at their trade but bad pedagogues to the good instructors but horrible people, even they showed me the valuable points of where not to go.
And nowadays, what's making me are my students. Not a day goes by that I walk out of a classroom that's ostensibly mine without discovering something new.
My thanks to them all and more.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Jay Peterson

    Musings on violence, storytelling, and humanity in general.

    Archives

    January 2025
    August 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    February 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    August 2008

    Categories

    All
    2nd Amendment
    Archer
    Armor
    Barbarism
    Blades
    Blanks
    Boobplate
    Book Review
    Chainmail Bikini
    Fight Scene
    Film
    Firearms
    History
    Killology
    Military
    Reality
    Safety
    Set Life
    Shakespeare
    Teacupping
    Theater
    Tucker Thayer
    USMC
    Viking
    War Stories
    Weapon Of The Week
    Workshops
    Wounds

    RSS Feed

Certa Bonum Certamen

Picture