This past weekend, I spent two days with John Hearne of Two Pillars Training. Advertised as separate classes, Saturday was all about examining the characteristics of people who win in violent fights, and how we can learn from them to increase our own odds of success if we face that worst day ourselves. Sunday, we …
Time is our most precious commodity. Once it’s gone, we can’t get it back. My friend, John Johnston (Citizens Defense Research), likes to tell students that when he teaches, and it’s both his gratitude for the time you’ve spent in class and a warning to spend your time wisely. It’s connected to that idea of …
There is a duality among women that I and others have observed. We either are extremely reluctant to recognize that violence exists in the world and that we may need to be violent to resist it, or we are extremely confident that we will be able to respond with force and effectiveness against the evils …
Much ink and many pixels have been spilled over the trickle of information that’s been coming out about the police response at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. Many have talked about the concept that nobody is coming to save you; you are on your own to defend yourself. That is true, but before we can …
Hey y’all – Apparently, wasp spray is a passionate topic for many of you, based on the response to Wednesday’s post. If you’re new around here because of it, welcome and I hope you stick around! There’s a particular point I mentioned in that post that I want to dig into a little bit more …
Is something better than nothing for self-defense? Read More »
The news cycle moves fast, but one of the big ones this week was the mass shooting in the NYC subway system a few days ago. It was a worst-case scenario in many ways: a busy commute time, a crowded subway car en route between stations, smoke bombs affecting visibility, and a gunman spraying bullets …
Life is dangerous. We all do things that risk our lives, our health, our finances, our hearts. Even those of us who try to prioritize safety above all else occasionally have to stick our heads out the door. As for the rest of us, well, adrenaline is the spice of life. They can be little …
Variations on the story have shown up several times over the past weeks: an infant is found abandoned in the street, outside a fire station, in a dumpster. In the most publicized case, the mother left a note begging for help for her child, and confessing to her financial inability to care for the baby. …
How many of us know someone who has been become so ill or injured that they ended up in the hospital for weeks or months, on perhaps no more notice than a few days? With COVID, more folks have become aware of the possibility this could happen close to home, but that’s not the only …
Three things to do before you’re stuck in a hospital Read More »
A fire swept through a converted rowhouse in Philadelphia on Wednesday. A dozen people died, more than half of them children. It’s one of the worst residential fires in living memory, both in Philadelphia and across the United States. We don’t yet know exactly why or how, and with this fresh of a tragedy, that …