WRCMA Conference Call for Papers

[coreymin]

Hello All:

The Washington Research Council of Martial Arts (WRCMA) is calling for papers to be published in our 1st Annual Journal, and to present those papers for peer review at our upcomming conference. The goal of this conference is to strengthen our FMA and MA brothers and sisters by developing strong writing skills, which by default, help develop strong teaching skills. In addition, the WRCMA seeks to legitimatize many of our member instructor's work that they do in writing, by allowing submissions into our website and official journal. See this as a great chance to be published and get some great experience.

The idea of the conference may be mostly intellectual based due the the subject matter. Selected individuals can present their papers, and have their papers critiqued by other members in the field. In addition, an open questions and answers session will be conducted after the author presents their paper. This creates an environment of philosophical and intellectual dialogue where experts and novices alike can discuss various issues, in a constructive manner, to better enable each to understand the other.

Additionally, the conference would like to host a couple of seminars presenting new material in areas where we don't normally get to train or see. If you are interested, please contact me at [email protected] for more information. You do not need to be a member of WRCMA to contribute, but the dollars collected for membership help us fund the publishing and seminar fees. The conference will be held at a hotel and fully catered (depending on our fund raising events, membership drives, and donations - hint -hint).

The target date is slated for October, so we have time to help you develop ideas for article submission, WRCMA memberships, fundraising, or donations. BTW Big Ken Smith is already working on his piece in Renton, Cale Merkley in Spokane is doing the same (as well as his school), and we'd like to see others for the NSI camp, WMAC, and others. Guys, the whole boost on the idea is to bring up our writing to scholarly levels just like other sciences do. Peer review conferences is just one aspect of the process. Let me know if I can be of any help, and I look forward to your future submissions.

Corey Minatani
WRCMA Central Washington Regional Director

 

[coreymin]

I've been contacted by a few people already, so we are moving forward.

Shihan Tony Annesi (Takeshin Aikijujutsu/Takeshin Karate) 7th Dan, has already submitted two articles for the journal. These are a few others who have commited to writing articles:

Ken Smith, 5th Dan, Full instructor JKD/RJKD
Shihan Annesi, 7th Dan, Takeshin Karate and Aikijujutsu
Cale Merkley, 1st Dan Freewind Karate and Modern Arnis
Betsy Minatani, 1st Dan Freewind Karate, Modern Arnis, and NSI concepts
George Hoover (?)
Corey Minatani, 5th Dan NSI concepts, Freewind Karate, and RJKD

Also a number of Cale's beginning student base will submit articles as well.

In addition, we are trying to develop funds to have Shihan Annesi over as Key note speaker and have him run a clinic. Ken Smith is also willing to bring his Symphony of Destruction (tm) for seminar purposes. If we get enough donations, we can keep the conference cost very low!!

If you need help or have questions on how you can help, email me!

Corey Minatani
WRCMA Central Washington Regional Director

 

[Rich Parsons]

Good Luck Corey, and thanks for the update

 

[coreymin]

Update:

SM Dan Anderson seems to be commiting to an article submission, thanks Super Dan!

Corey Minatani
WRCMA Regional Director

 

[coreymin]

Hey All:

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry to those I haven't gotten back to quickly such as Geo, Pete, and Troy. I'm getting ready for the seminar in Spokane.

Any, as per Geo's request, here are a few guidelines and things FYI for your papers and the conference in general.

You should you APA standard format (American Psychological Association) because you don't really have to quote anything, just paraphrase and put (Author, year of publication) as your standard for where you got the info.

The paper should have a cover page, abstract, the main body of the paper of course, and the bibliography (a short list of all the books/websites you used to make your submission). Mainly, you guys need to give me a bibliography, and the paper, I can make the cover page and abstract for you.

Each person submitting a paper will be given an official commentator. For example, if I submit a paper, I could have big Ken as my commentator. Ken will have the paper for a MONTH before the conference to find any mistakes, inconsistencies, errors, etc. and during the time of the conference, he will bring them to my attention. I will then try to rebute his findings, of course. And then, the floor will be open for open Q and A of the author of the paper.

If a person submits a paper, but is unable to attend the conference, someone will read the paper, but of course, the author will not be there to rebute anything, nor will we have a Q and A with the author.

The idea here is not to slam anyone just to slam them, but to make them aware of mistakes, and grow from the experience. I've seen PhD's do the same to each other, and like a good sparring match, they shake afterwords and both got a lot from the experience. But, the whole idea is that ideas and beliefs are to be backed up by fact or evidence, not just blind opinion or style glorification. Hence, we are treating each others work as a submission to the body of knowledge to martial science as a whole.

Ideally, the commentator should write a list of the things he/she finds problems with, but also, what they find good about the paper. If we take the example with Ken and I, he might find no problems with my paper and say, wow! You da man! Or, he might say, your a soup sandwich and here is why....

Another issue is the place of venue. I've been approached to do it in Spokane, Ellensburg, or Tacoma. I'm leaning more towards e-brug or T-town since more of the NSI mafia could attend, and the airport would be right there if we had to fly in Shihan Annesi. So let me know your thoughts on place of venue.

Lastly, the journal will have a spot for sponsors. We are looking for individual sponsors, schools, or martial stores. Sponsorships can be in the following amounts of $25, $50, or $100. If you are advertising for a school or business, let me know, send a picture file or something for me to insert into the journal. All sponsors will be placed at the end of the journal.

Thanks again for all the hard work. We have articles coming from Washington, Canada, Oregon, and Massachusettes so far...

Corey Minatani
WRCMA Central Washington Regional Director
_________________

 

[coreymin]

This was taken from the WMAC forum from George Hoover:

This a Great opportunity to take your training into the next league. I know how difficult and time consuming it is to write an article and create your experiences and thoughts into words understandable by all.

Senior Guru Corey Minatani given us all an opportunity to be acknowledged formally by being published. This convention no doubt takes the Arts to the next level. I encourage everyone whether you are local our not to participate by at least submitting an article for review by your peers with the good possibility of being published.

Maybe Corey could state some guidelines on submitting articles and the review process.

Senior Guru Ken Smith also is very supportive of this convention and has already preliminary authored an article for submission. Looks like Ken and Tony Annesi will be doing some seminars or demonstrations and there are rumors Datu Worden may acknowledge the convention with a demonstration and support with his presence, ( I hope Corey or Ken will be his Uki, not me!) Scheduling is the issue. It would very supportive if Mr. Annesi would comment on his thoughts as to the curriculum and Mr. Worden's comment on his view of this first ever accredited Martial Arts educational Convention?

Myself? I have done some preliminary research on my topic and been formulating my thoughts, unfortunately I will be having right shoulder rotor-cup surgery this Thursday and will be some time before I can get on the typewriter. Hmm, I wonder what caused my rotor-cup injury?

For fun, google your self and see if you get any hits. For myself, from being published on the Corey's WRCMA website http://www.geocities.com/wrcma/Home.html , have several hits on the first page of many thousands of pages. Kinda cool and interesting.
_________________
Tito Geo


Thanks Geo for your posts and support!

Corey Minatani

 

[coreymin]

Hey Guys:

Sorry for the long post. Some of this was taken from the WMAC forum, but has a lot of good updates. The conference is being scheduled for OCT 16th (I think its a Saturday), and I'm looking to get into the Extended Stay America Hotel. The price will vary from 50$-70 depending on how many people commit and sign up. We need about 50-55 people to break even. Datu Worden will be on the bill, as well as Shihan Renshi Tony Annesi 7th Dan in Aikijujutsu and Karate. Also, our buddy Ken Smith 5th Degree NSI, Full Instructor JKD and RJKD, and Goju-ryu Black belt will also do a session. So please get with me about any arrangements you need to make. Thanks.

Ok, Update.

There are some dates for Shihan Annesi to be available in October for the conference. I still haven't heard much response whether the venue should be in Tacoma (my primary choice next to the airport), Ellensburg, or Spokane. So do let me know!

Some of you who do not know Shihan Annesi, check out the Website at www.bushido-kai.net and get the info. Shihan Annesi is on his 40th year in the martial arts, and I would want him to primarily instruct in advanced aiki principles to our NSI brotherhood and the members of the WRCMA!

Those NSI guys that have witnessed him (Ken Smith, George Hoover, and Jeff Bray) know how well his material fits in with our progressive lines. In addition, Cale Merkly has dedicated his two dojo's for conducting various fund raising events to support the conference in the way of sparring tourneys, seminars, and kick a thon type stuff. So if you have any ideas or would like to help, do contact me.

Corey Minatani
_________________
Corey Minatani
B.A. Philosophy

Mon May 03, 2004 11:33 am Tony Annesi



Joined: 04 May 2004
Posts: 1
Location: Framingham, MassachusettsWhat? Intellecutal martial artists? Greetings!
Just a quick word in support of the idea of an intellectually driven conference of martial artists. Oh, I know we all want to get on the mat ASAP, but it would be nice to challenge our conceptual knowledge as well as our technical know-how.
Martial artists tend to have a common hobby: critical evaluation of other (read: "inferior") martial arts. Let's hope that our efforts are generall supportive and positively rather than negatively critical.
There is room for all sorts of points of view in the martial arts. That means we should see pluses and minuses to most every point of view. I suggest we concentrate on the plusses and look at the minuses as just our personal opinions.
I am looking forward to offering a seminar and meeting with other like-minded martial artists just east of the Far East.
Best wishes to all!
_________________
Tony Annesi

Tue May 04, 2004 9:53 am Ken Smith Jr



Joined: 15 Feb 2002
Posts: 213
Location: Renton, Washington, U.S.A.Welcome Welcome Shihan Annesi,
Thanks for the visit to the forum. Corey's work is moving along very well and we all hope it's a huge success. Your points are well taken and something we should all strive to uphold in life and in training.
Best to you and yours,
Guro Ken
_________________
Ken Smith, Jr.
Pasukuang Labanan
"Battle until the opponent surrenders"

Tue May 04, 2004 3:13 pm Corey L. Minatani



Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 62
Location: EllensburgThe WRCMA website will be having more information within the week. You can naviagte our new homepage at

http://www.geocities.com/wrcma

Thanks,

Corey Minatani
_________________
Corey Minatani
B.A. Philosophy

Wed May 05, 2004 5:15 pm Kelly S. Worden



Joined: 14 Feb 2002
Posts: 751
Location: Tacoma, Wa. U.S.A.Hey everyone, sorry for being on the silent end of the forum, I won't go into detail but I am jammed with projects and traveling.

That said, I am excited at the potential of the upcoming conference, it is a big undertaking but with group participation it will be a great success!

As Corey mentioned the value of cultivating your physical knowledge and capturing your development in written documentation is a path you can look back on with great pride.

I remember being asked to write for "Full Contact Magazine", I was shocked and overjoyed at the same time. It seemed much of what I wrote conflicted with how I trained ot even ran my school. Writing became a path of self reflection and self realization, with the completion of every article I began to understand myself, the art, and others internally.

I also became more respectful of those who took the effort to educate others with words instead of just physical knowledge.

I will be very pleased to finally be introduced to Tony Annesi, I have enjoyed his articles for years.

It seems Sensei Tony found balance in life early on and lived the path of martial spirit while sharing it as he grew.

Jim Keating and I have admired Sensei Annesi' dedication for years and have commented to each other about his contributions to all martial artists via his articles and networking with such a diverse spectrum of instructors around the world.

I of course plan on attending, demonstrating, and assisting in any manner I possibly can.

I challenge others to make a change in their martial life, write from the heart and share their soul, what you accomplish today is tomorrows history!

Yours within, Datu
_________________
Kelly S. Worden

 

[coreymin]

I got a visit from my longtime partner in crime, Sifu Ken Smith! One of the topics of discussion is the direction of WRCMA, what is goals, both long and short term are. Let me tell you what it is not: The WRCMA conference is not a seminar with some paper readings. The papers, the conference, and the WRCMA have far more aspiring implications than at first glance. Ever hear the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Well, I think its broken, and I'm trying to fix it. The martial arts have been stigmatized from the normal academic community at large, in part, because of no standards and no credibility towards real research. This is why one cannot go into a local university and sign up to pursue a degree in martial science. Another reason is that there are not enough players to take their art seriously enough to spearhead to make the martial science taken seriously. In other words, there are a lot of people saying they are leaders, but instead they choose to follow. Creating leaders is what the WRCMA is all about. The conference is your first real opportunity to step up to the model that GM Worden, GM Keating, and Shihan Annesi have set forth; finding a balance within training, being both warrior and poet.

That being said, the journal WE create will be sent to the library of Congress, which in effect, copyrights all of your work for all time, will be sent to various big universities such as UW and WSU, and my college CWU. Students working within the degree programs sanctioned by the WRCMA will use the journal (and your research) to add to the overall body of knowledge of the martial community in a formalized class setting, but having exercised personal freedom of expression. If we can compare how RJKD protests against JKD, the WRCMA is protesting against mainstream academia, and seeks to educate and certify our own. So I look forward to hearing from my peer leaders in the field. Many of the people that have approached my to do writing, are in my opinion, really following through with serious leadership skills, and I thank you.

Another topic of discussion we had, is that this is a family event. I know there have been conventions, symosiums, gatherings, etc. that purport to be a ring of friendship and it turns into an ego showfest. This is not about Freewind school trying to impose their will on you (we can do that, fair and square, in the ring), the WRCMA seeks to network and develop instructors accross all lines. We do not function to reverse-discrimination (meaning all Japanese or all Filipino festival), all races and stylists are welcome and will be honored. Like tournaments, this is a great way to have the next generation of students take example from seniors and how they act and what they say. In the Army, we called this the "follow me," attitude. And, like a family, we all stick together to maintain the overall goal, turning the science of martial arts into academic credibility.

Another topic was online classes. This seems extremely weird to some of you. But, I may note, many large colleges are moving to this media. The technology is there with Instant messaging, forums, books, and video and DVD enough to develop full range classes, mirroring standards of actual classrooms. The WRCMA is the first (to my knowledge) to implement this surge in martial education. Our first classes, slated for September 1st of this year, will be on Renegade JKD and Aiki-ju-jutsu. Each course will cover about 12 weeks, cost will be the books and videos of the class, and tuition thats under $75. Sifu Ken has decided to join in on the classroom activities as co-instructor for the first class in RJKD. There is so much out there, that if one could arrange and organize the information into managible chucks, students and instructors alike have a lot to gain. While some may think this is any easy thing to do, it is not. But, its all about being a leader, that's why I do it.

At my first Warrior Retreat (circa 1993), which was the predecessor to Water and Steel, I bought my first Datu Worden Video. It was very cool, covering a lot about connecting the systems. Connecting the systems again is what the WRCMA is trying to do, but you gotta join in. Also, at the end was the NSI creed, I remember one passage that struck a chord in me, "we are martial artists, scholars of physical motion." Scholars, made more sense than athletes or street fighters. In which category to you reside?

Lastly, I am in the process of making demo tapes of Shihan Annesi. If you have a school that is interested in coming to the conference, but don't know who Annesi is, this 10 min demo tape will be great. I'll pay for the tape, you pay the shipping! Contact me at [email protected] for more info. If you want, you can talk to Ken, George, or Jeff Bray how good this guy is, I think he'll fit in nicely with our NSI stuff, Modern Arnis, JKD, or whatever you train. Shihan Annesi has 40 years experience, and this is a great venue in which to learn.

Respectfully,

Corey Minatani
WRCMA Central Washington Regional Director

 

[coreymin]

Our deadline for paper turn-in is Aug 15th. If you need help with coming up with paper topics, need someone to proofread or help with ideas, that's what I'm here for. I understand some people are not in college, but, help is available. Contact [email protected] if you do need help!

Corey Minatani
:asian:

 

[coreymin]

I was just informed that Professor Bob Anderson will be lecturing at the WRCMA conference. I don't know all his accolades, but I've seen him teach and listened to some of his lectures on self-defense, the highest indeed.

Master Anderson is an 8th Degree Black Belt in the NSI system, and a 40 year vet of the Kajukenbo system! He is also one of the primier guys coming out of the ESI security school...definitely one imposing figure!

So I have to revamp our headliners:

Datu Kelly Worden - GM of Natural Spirit Int'l
Prof. Bob Anderson - 8th Dan NSI and Master in Kajukenbo
Shihan Annesi - 7th Dan Aikijujutsu/Karate and Founder of Takeshin Sogo
Budo
Shihan Morris Mack - 9th Dan Shudokan Karate
Dr. Remy Presas - head of the MARPPIO group and eldest son of GM Presas
"The Janitor" - top karate player and Issinryu stylist
SM Dan Anderson - 6th Dan in karate and arnis
Master Ken Smith, Jr. - Founder of Advanced Martial Systems-NW, who has
Rank in JKD/RJKD, Goju, MARPPIO Arnis, and 5th Dan NSI concepts.
Instructor Sean Eastman - TKD and Comtech Trained

Shihan Annesi has informed me there are some students coming from his own Bushido-kai school in MA coming to the conference.

There might be more as we get the info...Datu Worden is trying very hard to network things for me...Thanks!

Corey Minatani