A to Z: Invitation and Indie Life

Welcome back to the A to Z Challenge! (My Indie Life post is at the end if you want to scroll way down)

My theme this year is fencing and swordplay (mainly fencing).

Today's word: Invitation.

 

Invitation: a line that is intentionally left open to encourage the opponent to attack.

 

Usually if a fencer gives another fencer an invitation, that fencer is very sure of themselves, or happens to enjoy parrying and riposting without going on the attack first (again, very sure of their ability to deflect their opponent's attack). My first coach loved to give an invitation to new fencers, or fencers he thought needed a lesson in humility. With new fencers, he might allow them to get a single touch on him before as he taught them, but usually if he was inviting me to attack, I knew I was going to get thumped, and possibly thumped hard. That usually happened after I did something particularly arrogant, or assumed that since I had kept time with him during a practice session that I could hit/touch him. And just so you know, even with all the protective gear, if someone wants to give you hit you hard while fencing .  . . you will feel it. I've learned to be wary of fencers who give an invitation at the beginning of a bout. Usually an invitation includes opening up the whole point area, usually turning to face the opponent with both shoulders and the full front exposed.

 

This video shows a Romanian sabre coach with an Olympic fencer. They aren't going full speed, by any means. Notice at the beginning, the coach seems to be inviting the fencer to hit him. It's a long video but you can get the feel of it within the first minute or so.

 

 

 



Other I terms:

In Quartata: a counter-attack made with a quarter turn to the inside, concealing the front but exposing the back.

In Time: at least one fencing time before the opposing action, especially with regards to a stop-hit. (very cool to see well done)

Indirect: a simple attack or riposte that finishes in the opposite line to which it was formed. (very effective) 

Insistence: forcing an attack through the parry. (some fencers are great at this, I usually wasn't, but did use it a few times)

Interception: a counter-attack that intercepts and checks an indirect attack or other disengagement.

Italian Grip: a traditional hilt with finger rings and crossbar. Oops I forgot this one on "grip" day. Here it is:

 

 

 

Indie Life

Ok, I’m not a filmmaker, and I don’t even subscribe to Time magazine, but I happened to be in a coffee shop last night with my daughter, picked up the April 15^th(how is that possible?) edition of Time magazine, and flipped through it until I reached the back, where I read (not skimmed) a whole article about an indie filmmaker named Shane Carruth. I haven’t seen his first, Sundance Award winning film, Primer, but I felt drawn into his story, the story of an independent filmmaker/storyteller who spent several years after his initial success trying to get along with the mainstream Hollywood world, and then ended up making his second independent film, Upstream Color. Now, I know nothing really about his films. I don’t know if I would like them, or not. I have no idea, but his story touched me. I loved this final quote by him.

“You don’t need to make a $100 million at the box office to have a story that can be relevant in the culture for a long time,” he says. “You just need to be earnest.”

I’m posting that on my board, and my kitchen cupboards. I may not be a filmmaker, and my book my may never make $1 million dollars, or even $1,000, but I know that I have a story that’s relevant. And no, I’m not being arrogant, I’m remembering the sweet words of a young (12 year old) fan that came up to me on Monday at a homeschool co-operative where I teach. I apologized to him about the typos in his copy, feeling embarrassed that I hadn’t caught them before several copies of my book had sold. He said, “A few typos don’t matter if the story is really good, and you wrote a great story, the kind of story that matters.” Wow. I just thanked him profusely at the time, but now I have tears in my eyes.

So, from Shane Carruth to Time, to me, to you: “You don’t have to make big bucks to have a story that can be relevant to the culture for a long time, you just have to be earnest.” (paraphrase)