Indigenous Ability

  Let’s illuminate our target for today’s essay in martial musings—by “Mongrel” System, I mean any fighting art that claims to be an amalgamation of the “best” of other systems creating a streamlined hybrid that is, in essence, superior to the wholes they were borrowed from. Well known amalgamations such as jeet kune do and kajukenbo come to mind, but there are myriad professed “Best of’s” floating around in the combative universe. Before we go any further, let me be absolutely clear—our discussion today is not targeting any “Mongrel” System in particular, or casting aspersions on the concept of wise amalgamations. Not at all. Many “Best of” systems are indeed just that, very wise blends of desired elements that fit the carte blanche menu of the intended combatant at hand. What we are addressing is the “choosing” of the elements. In other words, we must examine not just the elements that made the cut but go deeper and analyze the Chooser of the prime-cuts and any possib...

  We begin a tale that takes place in Northern River country and along the way we are asked to measure our own “scientifically informed conditioning against standard feats of yore, question the wisdom of getting “big and jacked,” and peer through yet another door that tells us how myriad fighting styles percolated through the porous North American continent. We shall center our focus on the pioneers of the Northern rivers in what was French Canada. These intrepid men were known as voyageurs [and not all were French, we’ll get to that.] Those privy to their exploits, Washington Irving among them, noted their often soul-crushing year-long journeys into the plunging rivers, vast lakes, and seemingly impenetrable back country and mountains that made up the Canadian terrain. Irving romantically [and perhaps rightfully] called them “ Lords of the lakes, Sinbads of the wilderness.” Despite the French name, not all voyageurs were French or French-Canadian, there was a large conting...