I still find it hard to sit still. Movies inspired an ardent childhood desire to be a fencer. It became my path to theatre, travel and history scholarship. At seventy-six, I still marvel at how frequent strenuous activity preserves not only the body but, even more, one’s state of mind.
In the Coast Guard in the 1970s I served “two years before the mast” on a slow boat to China – literally – and never quite got the salt out. Visits on board HMS Victory, USS Constitution and the clipper Cutty Sark, plus thorough soaking in Patrick O’Brian’s sea novels, haven’t done it. I still hope to crew on a tall ship some day.
At left, 1984, I’m swinging into a “live prologue” with the Ann Arbor Sword Club arranged for the silent film “Three Musketeers” by Russ Collins at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre. Before that, I had also done combat there before the silent “Robin Hood” with the local SCA chapter (of which more, below center).
In 2022 I’m still fencing, modern and historical, four days a week. Most of the links below are to organizations and sources, but you can see my own SCA calligraphy and illumination, publications, armor and woodworking via the red buttons under “Medievalism.”