jrackley said:
He offers private lessons!!!!! Please do research before quoting.
I researched his website thoroughly, painstakingly weeding my way through poorly structured paragraphs, mispelled words, and partially represented ideas, hoping that I wasn't really seeing what I was seeing, and that I would find proof of it somewhere in the fine print. The only thing I can surmise by reading your posts is that you attended the same grammar school as GRANDMASTER Roman. The fact that you are impressed by him means as little as the opinions of people who have not met him. You say you have met a lot of martial artists. Who? When? What was their history? They must not have been that impressive if you think it's a good idea to ally yourself with someone who sells black belts over the internet, supposedly representing a system as complex as Kenpo, or as nebulous as Red Feather (whatever that is). To an ant, even a fine mist is a torrential rainstorm. Look around; I've used this phrase in other threads to question the evaluative capacity of the speaker/writer (you, in this case).
MJS is a nice guy who makes responsible posts within the boundaries of courtesy and reason. I do not. I feel strongly about what a black belt is/should be (see my posting on the 'Master flunks everybody' thread), and Mr. Roman's offerings disgust me. He claims, within words of each other, to send you a Parker
Kenpo black belt, on his
honor as a Native American, to keep you
out of lousy schools. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that more people don't catch the multiple layers of ridiculous ideas posited in this presentation.
Either a Parker belt is completely worthless compared to schools where you actually attend a class after cutting a check (even if they only teach karate-robics), or the whole thing hinges on his honor as a Native American (which means he either isn't one, or there is no such entity as Native American honor)...it's such a twisted foolery of absurd representations, that peeling it apart is like looking for the blunt end of a circle.
A fool and his money are soon parted. If you would like to continue training with a guy who is so cognitively scattered that he can't even make an internally consistent offering while shystering people out of their cash, then God Bless You...somebody has to be the sheep, or the world wouldn't need shepards. But if you choose to advocate for his reprehensible behavior (try a dictionary...you may have seen one in school, once), you should know there are people here who feel passionately about preserving the integrity of the arts; at least the ones with which they have a connection. There are a bunch of people here with better minds and cleaner histories than mine; with cutting insights & first-hand information; sources who have trained hard for their learnings, and do not suffer fools well. Particularly those selling black belts over the internet.
I have made a lot of mistakes in my lifetime; trained with a lot of fools thinking it was a good idea at the time. I have also had the pure luck to train with some true gems, and I can provide you the names of the fools and the gems in an PM if you like. My point is, after driving several lemons and several awesome street machines, you get a feel for a lemon when you see it (gee, which should I pick for the free car...the Gremlin, or the Porsche?). GRANDMASTER Roman with his black belts through the mail? I most strongly vote "lemon".
Sincerely,
Dr. Dave
