Subject: GMA Newsletter Sept 2000

SPENCER SCHOOL TO OPEN THIS MONTH
GMA-Spencer will be holding its first class on Mon, Sept 9th. There is an open registration for new students from 1-3 on Sat, Sept 7th. Classes will be held on Mondays and Fridays: 6:15 Dragons class, 7:00 TKD class. Classes will be primarily taught by Miss Dill. Both DPU and Martinsville students are welcome to visit and take class at the new location. Driving directions and additional information is currently being added to the GMA website. We are excited about the newest addition to the GMA family, and hope everyone will treat them as such. Upcoming Events-Fall is the peak of martial arts activity!
Sept 7th: Leadership Team meeting from 9-10.
Sept 7th: Demo team Practice from 10-12
Sept 7th: Open registration at the Spencer school from 1-3.
Sept 14th: Possible demo team practice-depending on progress
Sept 21th: 2nd annual Horangi Cup-DPU's Collegiate TKD tournament
Sept 27-29th: Master William CC Chen Tai Chi seminar in Bloomington. A detailed schedule can be provided. Beginning students are recommended to go to the Fri evening intro from 7-8 and Forms and push hands classes from 10-12 on Sat. Morning. DPU students receive half off class fees.
Oct 5th: Tentative date for Dragons testing.
Oct 12th: Kansas City tournament with TTCA masters. Info is available if you want to go, but most instructors will be staying at home.
Oct 13th: Fall foliage Parade. There will also be a demo at some point during the week but that the exact time is not known yet.details will soon be available. This is the first major event for the demo team.
Oct 19-20: Grandmaster Ji Han Jae Hapkido seminar in IL. This is an opportunity to study under the father of Hapkido. Groups need to be organized in the very near future, if interested, ask an instructor.
Oct 26-27: Fall USHF seminar in Bloomington IN on the IU campus.
Oct ? : The date for the Bedford TKD tournament is still being determined. This is a very friendly tournament that we recommend (compared to other open tournaments). There is light contact to the head allowed in sparring. We will be working on this the next month in classes. Those students who want to be practicing for the tournament must bring mouthpieces to class to aid in the sparring preparation. Those without will only be allowed to practice with "no head contact" as usual. Details about the tournament will be made available ASAP.

Testings: There is not a date set for either TKD or Hapkido testing.
The next TTCA test is Oct 27th. We hope to have one earlier at one of our three schools. Dragons testing has tentatively been set for the morning of Oct 5th, but is pending some other events being scheduled that we have to work around.

Parents Week in Little Dragons classes: Parents are invited to take class with their dragons during the week of Sept 16th. Dragons are also invited to bring a friend to join them the following week. This is a good chance to introduce a friend to the program just before the next enrollement/rank cycle.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS:
We will be promoting and supporting Pres. Bush's call for Random Acts of Kindness started the week of the 9-11 anniversary. We will have forms for students to keep track of their efforts. Details about the program will be provided in class. America's War: Reflections on 9-11 (sort of). America is indeed at war. To borrow a passage from The Supreme Philosophy of Man, the Laws of Life by Alfred Montapert, "The United States is doomed to be captured. An army will march throughout the length and breadth of our great land. Its soldiers will march into the White House and place there their own president. They will elect their own Congress and appoint their own judiciary. They will commandeer all our resources. They will take over our mint and confiscate all our wealth. They will take over our churches and preach what they will. They will appropriate our schools and teach what they will. This vast army is on the march. It is our YOUTH. We are training them. We are the reason for the delinquency which we decry so loudly." Sept 11th fell on a Tuesday last year, and even though lots of employers were letting people off work and classes/meetings were being cancelled, we still had class that evening. (I still had not seen the footage as I had been teaching all day.) I wondered if that was the right decisiondoes the martial arts' teaching of respect, honor and patriotism outweigh its teachings of stoically accepting situations and moving on? What could we do from the middle of IN anyway? Yet everything that drew me to the "warrior code" in the martial arts said I should be rolling up my sleeves and doing something. Like so many others, 9-11 caused a great deal of personal reflection, and I feel compelled to share my results. America does indeed have a war on its hands, but the enemy is greater than terrorism. The real American War is the moral and character crises in our society. Every year, the number of women who die at the hands of their husbands and boyfriends exceeds those that died in 9-11. I could go on, but the point is that the tenets of perseverance, courtesy, respect, honor, and sacrifice are not being passed on. I became a martial arts instructor to help fight this war. The martial arts are one of the weapons we have left to help wage the war of self-betterment and character building. No other sport or recreational activity specifically addresses these issues. Ironically, the two wars are not unrelated. As misguided as they are, even the terrorists knew better than to go up against the US military. The bombing of military targets (barracks, USS cole, etc.) and embassies barely ruffled our feathers. They chose the WTC because they wanted to strike our weakness--the will of the American people, which they view as soft, selfish, spoiled, and unable to make the sacrifices needed to prevail in this new campaign. Perhaps they were correct. After 9-11 church attendance spiked; blood banks were overloaded; people donated time and money; flags were waving; the bickering in politics stopped; and people were nice. A year later, we are pretty much back to the way things were. That is the motivation behind GMA's support of the "Random Acts of Kindness" program that President Bush called Americans to initiate. I may never be in a position to help fight the war on terrorism. I believe my cause is greater. Perhaps, God willing, one of my students will someday be in a position to help win that war, in part because of my efforts now. You have taken the initiative of improving yourselves or your children, and that is to be commended. Maybe you didn't realize it, but you and your children are on the front lines of this battle.and it is time to launch an offensive. ---BLS