D
DoctorB
Guest
The following are statements made by Bob Hubbard, which I find to be in error and in need of correction bacause the statements made are based on assumptions not clearly defined facts:
>The interesting thing is that to the best of my knowledge, Bram >Frank and Tom Bolden are friends of Barbers, as well as >business associates. (Barber is a distributor for Brams >"Gunting", for example.) Dan Anderson regularly does seminars >with Barber when he is in town. The endorement lacks >impartiality.
Here we go again, half truths based on faulty information and speculation. I am so glad that you couched your remarks with the expression " to the best of my knowledge " because you are in error. Both Bram and Tom are long time friends and I was introduced to both of them through Professor Presas. We ARE NOT business associates!!!
I am not and never have been a distributor of the "Gunting" for Bram or Spyderco! You are in total error! I believe that the "Gunting" is the best combat folding knife on the market to date and no other knife that I am aware of has the three functions of impact, joint-locking and cutting within one tool.
I am a dedicated cheerleader and make no apology for that, but
I AM NOT a distributor! BTW, you and all of the other local WMAA people missed Bram's 2002 Gunting Seminars in September 2002. Perhaps if some of your friends and classmates had attended the seminars and/or the Symposium, you would understand why I am willing to work toward gettting a wider recognition of the potentials of the "Gunting" for self defense
and LEO usage!
Regarding Dan Anderson, we meet in 2002 and I did help him get several seminars in 2003. I helped a friend and my Modern Arnis senior because that is exactly what I would do for anyone whose abilities/skills/personality I respect. Am I to believe that only the WMAA people are allowed to help someone? Or if someone is a WMAA member they should not accept my help or work with me?
Think what you want of my review and endorsement, but get your facts straight. Beware of the criticism that you are throwing out, because you have a conflict of interest when you side with the WMAA on any matters, since that group is a sponsor of your forum. What applies to one should apply to all.
>Additionally, Tim Kashino & Paul Martin are or were students of >Barbers. Both Vargas and Muhammad have or had a business >relationship with Barber. I am unaware of what relationship >there is with Mr. Ralston.
Actually, Bob, Guro Kashino and Guro Martin, are long past being my students they are "former students" and are referred to as "my training partners" since they opened their own training programs years ago. They have long ago ceased to be under my influence nor do they have to worry about what I think. Both Kashino and Martin, were presenters in their own right, representing themselves, not me or the IEAA at the Symposium.
With regard to Sifu Vargas, this was my first opportunity to work with him as a presenter at a program that I coordinated. I have witnessed his continued development as a student of PG Tom Bolden over a 6 7 year period and I believed that he ready to assume a prominent position as a lead teacher in the FMAs without regard to any particular system.
I first met Sensei/Guro Muhammad in 2001 at the GOE2. I invited him to teach at the Eskrima-Kenpo Camp in 2002 in Buffalo. BTW, you missed that one too, even though your instructor was a presenter. Guro Muhammads presentations in 2002 were so well received by the people in attendance, I asked him to be on the Symposium instructional team. My faith in his abilities was more than vindicated at the Symposium when he was given one of the highest ratings by the participants and the peers who evaluated him. Please note, I did not have a vote. One of the people in attendance, who has gone to some 8 to 10 seminars and camps with Guro Muhammad, but have never seen him teach was amazed at the level of skills demonstrated by this man. He expressed a genuine feeling of respect for someone whom he thought that he knew, only to realize that there was much more that his friend could and did do as a martial artist with his training in four disciplines. BTW, your instructor refused to participate as a peer evaluator at the Symposium his own decision to make, but he was asked.
You are playing too fast and loose with the term "business associates".
>All of those cited by Dr. Barber as being exceptional are in some >way connected to him. Those he does not mention, are not. >The 'Rub' being given in this review smacks of 'good ol >boy'ness.
I am sorry Bobby, but I must correct you again! I have been associated with one of the people whom I did not mention for quite some time. In fact I have known him since about 1984 when he first begining his Modern Arnis studies under Guro John Bryant at the Filipino Martial Arts Academy in Amherst, NY. He and I co-hosted Professor at semnars and camps from 1987 - 1994. I also attended his WMAA Camps in West Seneca in 2002 and 2003. However, since he stated that the Symposium meant nothing to him, why should I connect him to an event that he clearly and publicly dismissed? It was his call and I merely took and accepted him at his word.
The "old boy" concept can be said for you, your friends and associates who have engaged in all of the "barber-bashing" even though most have never met me, trained with me, or attended the Symposium. They are relying on second hand information and reacting to what has already been posted. It is so easy to be critical of me, but since I relied on the evaluations of each instructor as given by the Symposium participants and their peers, your baseless charge of "olboyness" is without merit. In addition, you should ask your WMAA associates who attended to Symposium, if evaluations forms were handed out to each and every person on the floor after each presentation on Friday and Saturday. You were not there, so you would not know without asking. My review was based on the scores that the participants gave. And aside from telling you and this forum readership about the evaluations, I have not and will not go into who got the highest and lowest ratings or any gradation in between. That was never the purpose behind the evaluations. The ratings simply allowed me to make a small distinction in certificate titles presnted at the closing of the Symposium.
>The instructors I was interested in seeing bailed, and the >majority of those placed on the bill held little interest to me >given the lack of Arnis flavor. I train with Tim, and support his >events.
Now that last one is not a biased statement is it? I have hosted 3 events in the Buffalo area since joining martial talk and posted announcements about each one. You have never attended one! On the other hand I have attended two (2) WMMA Camps, but
according to you, I am the one who is biased?!
>I've seen Dan at a few camps and am currently (slowly) working >through his books. The only 'name' in the Arnis world that was >still on the bill, and made it in was Dieter. I regret not spending >more time chatting with him when I had the chance b4 the >event. The rest of the bill either were outside my areas of >interest, or weren't Arnis. I wanted to see Kelly Worden, Dan M. >and a few of the other names who dropped out. The >replacements didn't interest me, competent though they were.
Thank you for allowing that the replacements were competent, but this is an already tired refrain, Bobby! I have seen this one too many times prior to the Symposium to take it seriously now that the event has come and gone. You are also showing your bias when you resort to the name and big name context. The Symposium was all about coming together to share information and demonstrate skills. It was never presnted by me as being about ranks, titles and major or minor organizations. That is your stated position, not mine!
In fact some of your readers have, in the past, prior to the Symposium, been very critical of people like Datu Kelly Worden, Dr. Randi Shea, The MoTTs, Jeff Delaney and Lisa McManus. Now you want to turn the world upside down and contend that your non-attendance was predicated on the fact that these people did not attend and present!? Bobby, that is a very bad case of wanting to have it both ways. And I have to ask you this pertinant question that I have asked on another thread, "what do you mean by the term arnis and what exactly is the real Remy Presas Modern Arnis, from your perspective"?
It is also interesting to me that you and others have expressed such a concern that Datu Kelly Worden was not going to be attending the Symposium, but ignored the fact that some people whom he named as important Modern Arnis instructors were going to be on the program: Tom Bolden, Bram Frank, David Ng and Dan Anderson - see realfighting.com, volume 4, Datu Kelly's interview. Your statement is just a bit too self-serving.
BTW, if I were able to arrange for Datu Kelly to come to Buffalo for a seminar or weekend camp, could I count on you to attend? More importantly, would you be willing to pay up-front?
>I think a more important point here is, for an event that was so >big, the fact that the 'names' and players choose to avoid it >speaks volumes. Dr.B did get 2 out of the 6 Datus to instruct. >But Kelly and Tim are regularly doing that. There were no >Presas' there...They were at Kellys. Of the US based >organizations, neither IMAF faction, nor the WMAC had a >leadship presence. Only the WMAA was there in person. Dieter >represented Germany...but where was the Philipians rep? At >Kellys.
Bobby, you are assuming that these people did not attend because of me! However, you are absolutely incorrect! You and your friends need to re-read some of Datu Kellys remarks written prior to the Symposium on both your forum and his own. His was never critical of me! He was critical of some East Coast people and the "war" that they were engaged in.
You do not know about the private conversations that I had with some of the people that you are intimating passed on the Symposium because of who was putting it on. No, no, my boy, the real reason some people did not want to participate was because of several other factors, expressed in confidence and which I will hold in confidence. I do not make private messages and discussions public on a forum so as to enlarge my own image or create an illusion to the truth. And if you are saying that only the Presas Kids can be the Philippines rep at a Modern Arnis event, you have most certainly insulted and ignored a large number of other people. Again your arrogance and biases are showing.
>So, given the choice between training with a few folks I've >already seen, and the replacement B team, or doing something fun, exciting and possibly profitable, I picked the later.
>Bob Hubbard 10-14-2003
That "replacement B team" as you have referred to them, has more skill, knowledge and background in Modern Arnis than
most of the people currently training within the art. In addition
no one on the WMAA leadership team was at the 2 week camps under Professor, nor is it very likely that they even attended the one week camps. I have the official rosters of both of the 2 week camps, no WMAA, IMAF, or IMAF Inc leader aside from Dr. Randi Schea, appears on the rosters. The "replacement B team" is represented on the rosters that I have.
In addition, if you refer back to Datu Kelly's interview mentioned above, you should take note of the fact that PG Tom Bolden, PG Billy Brayant, PG Douglas Pierre and Datu Kelly were the FIRST Modern Arnis instructors to be recognized outside of the IMAF and Professor, for their skills and positive presentations of the art. That was at the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 1993. I was recognized in 1994 by the same organization, in part because of my demonstration of the Modern Arnis at the 1993 event and for establishment of the Erie Community College martial arts program for academic credit which was approved by Professor Pesas. I like the "replacement B team" because the members have a very high skill level.
>The simple truth is that of all the major US orgs, only the WMAA >was there, and were repayed by Barbers little game of one->upmanship. Its a case of someone who doesn't have much 'pull' >in the Arnis world trying to be the big fish, and the real big fish >mostly ignored him.
Well, well, well, here we go again, now it is about the "major" and minor organizations. The perception of the WMAA as a "major" organization is yours. It can certainly be shared by others, however that does not make it a fact and there are people who would disagree with you. Since I have never engaged in defining "major" and "minor" designations this point is moot for me.
How quickly you have sided with the IMAF and IMAF Inc., plus Datu Kelly Worden when it suits your purposes. "Big Fish"? I think not! I never wanted to be known as such in the Modern Arnis World. All of my drive was directed toward getting a good variety of teachers to come to Buffalo to teach me and my students above and beyond Modern Arnis. If there is a good Modern Arnis player coming to the Buffalo area then my students and I will attend the event. If someone is coming into the region, I will try to get them to do a seminar for us. For instance, some of my students I will be attending the seminar to be given by Datu Shishir Inocalla, on November 16. Will you be there? Will any of your classmates be attending? Is Datu Shishir, a big enough name and major player for you?
As for what I said at the Symposium and/or in my posts to this or any other forum, I will stand behind my words. There was no gamesmanship or one-up-manship at the Symposium. I said what I meant! If someone did not like it or disagreed with it, then they should have had the strength of their convictions to talk with me at the Symposium. That did not happen!!! I was available and I spoke with most of the people at the event, so if someone failed to open a discussion with me, they should stand up and accept the responsibility for their own mistake.
> ..even with 3 of the 4 Top names in the Arnis world (Dan, >Dieter and Tim) at the >event, it still failed to be the 'event of >the century' as it was billed. Purhaps more time should have >been spent on promotion (a web site woulda been nice as a >central clearing >house of information) and organization (Food >Good) than the behind the scenes crap involving Barber and a >few of his students. Maybe letting people know about changes >in a timely manner? But thats more a reflection of the >character of the organizer (who double >booked himself on >events and never told the MT camp host he wasn't coming until >cornered and asked) than the quality of the event. (Anyone who >thinks I'm being harsh and is a late comer here, do a search on >the term "Norshadow"...it'll be clear.)
>Bob Hubbard 10-14-2003
That bias is showing through again, Bobby. You have shifted gears and now there were "...3 of the 4 Top names in the Arnis world..." at the Symsposium. What happened to the "names" and big fish you were alluding to earlier in your post?
That 'failure notion' is yours. It was not shared by the people who attended and posted reviews on mtc and elsewhere. Again, I have to remind you that the Symposium was not about rank and titles. It was about skill, knowledge and training concepts.
It was about sharing and talking. The Symposium was about
finding out about Professor taught at different periods of his instructional career.
Too many people have made it all about who would be there and who wouldnt. I told you and everyone who would listen that the event was going to happen regardless of who showed and who stayed away. I did exactly what I said that I would do. People came. They participated. They talked to one another and that
sharing led to some new insights within the art of Modern Arnis, as taught by Professor then adapted by the various players. No one at the Symposium said to anyone else, Hey, thats wrong, thats not what Professor taught me! No one said, ' that's not Modern Arnis!' No sir, Bobby, those comments were only written after the event and mostly by people who never attended!
Since I have never made any attempt to rank people in terms of being the top three, four or five people in Modern Arnis, I am going to let you and your instructor deal with that mess.
I will say this, I have never heard or seen anything by Dan Anderson, Dieter Knuttel or Kelly Worden (whom I am assuming you are counting as your fourth) claiming to be the top or among the top people in the art. They simply go out and demonstrate their considerable skills for anyone interested in working with them. That is you talking Bobby, and that is the kind of stuff that makes people mad.
As for missing the Effington, IL. event, that was a very wise decision on my part in retrospect. You bet I double-booked and it was quite deliberate. After the Symposium and suspension from this forum, the "barber-bashing" was quite intense. Now why would I want to attend an event where there was very likely going to be some open and hostile sentiments displayed against me? Why would I subject a gentleman whom I did not know to the prospect of having his event, tainted by some rude and nasty feelings, that he had no role in creating? So I accepted an invitation to do the program in Toronto, which turned out to be both successful and pleasant. I did notify the Effingham host, well before the event date and gave a brief reason for changing my plans.
It would have been fun to go to Effingham under different circumstances. BTW, the comments that were posted about me before the event were not very nice. That certinly bolstered my feeling that I was maaking the right decision for myself. Then, right after Effenham, in fact the Monday following the weekend of the Effingham mtc camp, there was that nasty, vile, personalized attack posted by a WMAA member, that led to his week long suspension. Boy oh boy does that make my decision not to go to Effingham look better and better as the days go by.
But on to current things, that stuff is all in the past. Now, it is time for me to continue moving forward and working on other projects that are in progress. The Symposium is behind me. Ooh, BTW, I never said that the Symposium would be the Modern Arnis event of the century I said it would be the event of the year 2003 and it was! Look at how much space your forum has devoted to it, particularly after it was over. Look at the DVD. The Symposium has been recorded for history. In the end it does not matter who was there or not there, in the end what matters is that the event occurred as promised, even with the flaws and blemishes.
I did it! No one else can host the first one! And given all of the negative trash that has been generated through the posts on various threads, I doubt that anyone will try to bring all of you Modern Arnis people together again for a long, long time, if ever!
In my review of the DVD set, I said which needed to be said. Once again all of the trash talking that has been posted on mtc just reinforces my contention that Modern Arnis as we currently know it is destined to be a fractured system of small organizations fighting one another. Only people like yourself, Bobby, can really change that, if you have the strength and courage.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
>The interesting thing is that to the best of my knowledge, Bram >Frank and Tom Bolden are friends of Barbers, as well as >business associates. (Barber is a distributor for Brams >"Gunting", for example.) Dan Anderson regularly does seminars >with Barber when he is in town. The endorement lacks >impartiality.
Here we go again, half truths based on faulty information and speculation. I am so glad that you couched your remarks with the expression " to the best of my knowledge " because you are in error. Both Bram and Tom are long time friends and I was introduced to both of them through Professor Presas. We ARE NOT business associates!!!
I am not and never have been a distributor of the "Gunting" for Bram or Spyderco! You are in total error! I believe that the "Gunting" is the best combat folding knife on the market to date and no other knife that I am aware of has the three functions of impact, joint-locking and cutting within one tool.
I am a dedicated cheerleader and make no apology for that, but
I AM NOT a distributor! BTW, you and all of the other local WMAA people missed Bram's 2002 Gunting Seminars in September 2002. Perhaps if some of your friends and classmates had attended the seminars and/or the Symposium, you would understand why I am willing to work toward gettting a wider recognition of the potentials of the "Gunting" for self defense
and LEO usage!
Regarding Dan Anderson, we meet in 2002 and I did help him get several seminars in 2003. I helped a friend and my Modern Arnis senior because that is exactly what I would do for anyone whose abilities/skills/personality I respect. Am I to believe that only the WMAA people are allowed to help someone? Or if someone is a WMAA member they should not accept my help or work with me?
Think what you want of my review and endorsement, but get your facts straight. Beware of the criticism that you are throwing out, because you have a conflict of interest when you side with the WMAA on any matters, since that group is a sponsor of your forum. What applies to one should apply to all.
>Additionally, Tim Kashino & Paul Martin are or were students of >Barbers. Both Vargas and Muhammad have or had a business >relationship with Barber. I am unaware of what relationship >there is with Mr. Ralston.
Actually, Bob, Guro Kashino and Guro Martin, are long past being my students they are "former students" and are referred to as "my training partners" since they opened their own training programs years ago. They have long ago ceased to be under my influence nor do they have to worry about what I think. Both Kashino and Martin, were presenters in their own right, representing themselves, not me or the IEAA at the Symposium.
With regard to Sifu Vargas, this was my first opportunity to work with him as a presenter at a program that I coordinated. I have witnessed his continued development as a student of PG Tom Bolden over a 6 7 year period and I believed that he ready to assume a prominent position as a lead teacher in the FMAs without regard to any particular system.
I first met Sensei/Guro Muhammad in 2001 at the GOE2. I invited him to teach at the Eskrima-Kenpo Camp in 2002 in Buffalo. BTW, you missed that one too, even though your instructor was a presenter. Guro Muhammads presentations in 2002 were so well received by the people in attendance, I asked him to be on the Symposium instructional team. My faith in his abilities was more than vindicated at the Symposium when he was given one of the highest ratings by the participants and the peers who evaluated him. Please note, I did not have a vote. One of the people in attendance, who has gone to some 8 to 10 seminars and camps with Guro Muhammad, but have never seen him teach was amazed at the level of skills demonstrated by this man. He expressed a genuine feeling of respect for someone whom he thought that he knew, only to realize that there was much more that his friend could and did do as a martial artist with his training in four disciplines. BTW, your instructor refused to participate as a peer evaluator at the Symposium his own decision to make, but he was asked.
You are playing too fast and loose with the term "business associates".
>All of those cited by Dr. Barber as being exceptional are in some >way connected to him. Those he does not mention, are not. >The 'Rub' being given in this review smacks of 'good ol >boy'ness.
I am sorry Bobby, but I must correct you again! I have been associated with one of the people whom I did not mention for quite some time. In fact I have known him since about 1984 when he first begining his Modern Arnis studies under Guro John Bryant at the Filipino Martial Arts Academy in Amherst, NY. He and I co-hosted Professor at semnars and camps from 1987 - 1994. I also attended his WMAA Camps in West Seneca in 2002 and 2003. However, since he stated that the Symposium meant nothing to him, why should I connect him to an event that he clearly and publicly dismissed? It was his call and I merely took and accepted him at his word.
The "old boy" concept can be said for you, your friends and associates who have engaged in all of the "barber-bashing" even though most have never met me, trained with me, or attended the Symposium. They are relying on second hand information and reacting to what has already been posted. It is so easy to be critical of me, but since I relied on the evaluations of each instructor as given by the Symposium participants and their peers, your baseless charge of "olboyness" is without merit. In addition, you should ask your WMAA associates who attended to Symposium, if evaluations forms were handed out to each and every person on the floor after each presentation on Friday and Saturday. You were not there, so you would not know without asking. My review was based on the scores that the participants gave. And aside from telling you and this forum readership about the evaluations, I have not and will not go into who got the highest and lowest ratings or any gradation in between. That was never the purpose behind the evaluations. The ratings simply allowed me to make a small distinction in certificate titles presnted at the closing of the Symposium.
>The instructors I was interested in seeing bailed, and the >majority of those placed on the bill held little interest to me >given the lack of Arnis flavor. I train with Tim, and support his >events.
Now that last one is not a biased statement is it? I have hosted 3 events in the Buffalo area since joining martial talk and posted announcements about each one. You have never attended one! On the other hand I have attended two (2) WMMA Camps, but
according to you, I am the one who is biased?!
>I've seen Dan at a few camps and am currently (slowly) working >through his books. The only 'name' in the Arnis world that was >still on the bill, and made it in was Dieter. I regret not spending >more time chatting with him when I had the chance b4 the >event. The rest of the bill either were outside my areas of >interest, or weren't Arnis. I wanted to see Kelly Worden, Dan M. >and a few of the other names who dropped out. The >replacements didn't interest me, competent though they were.
Thank you for allowing that the replacements were competent, but this is an already tired refrain, Bobby! I have seen this one too many times prior to the Symposium to take it seriously now that the event has come and gone. You are also showing your bias when you resort to the name and big name context. The Symposium was all about coming together to share information and demonstrate skills. It was never presnted by me as being about ranks, titles and major or minor organizations. That is your stated position, not mine!
In fact some of your readers have, in the past, prior to the Symposium, been very critical of people like Datu Kelly Worden, Dr. Randi Shea, The MoTTs, Jeff Delaney and Lisa McManus. Now you want to turn the world upside down and contend that your non-attendance was predicated on the fact that these people did not attend and present!? Bobby, that is a very bad case of wanting to have it both ways. And I have to ask you this pertinant question that I have asked on another thread, "what do you mean by the term arnis and what exactly is the real Remy Presas Modern Arnis, from your perspective"?
It is also interesting to me that you and others have expressed such a concern that Datu Kelly Worden was not going to be attending the Symposium, but ignored the fact that some people whom he named as important Modern Arnis instructors were going to be on the program: Tom Bolden, Bram Frank, David Ng and Dan Anderson - see realfighting.com, volume 4, Datu Kelly's interview. Your statement is just a bit too self-serving.
BTW, if I were able to arrange for Datu Kelly to come to Buffalo for a seminar or weekend camp, could I count on you to attend? More importantly, would you be willing to pay up-front?
>I think a more important point here is, for an event that was so >big, the fact that the 'names' and players choose to avoid it >speaks volumes. Dr.B did get 2 out of the 6 Datus to instruct. >But Kelly and Tim are regularly doing that. There were no >Presas' there...They were at Kellys. Of the US based >organizations, neither IMAF faction, nor the WMAC had a >leadship presence. Only the WMAA was there in person. Dieter >represented Germany...but where was the Philipians rep? At >Kellys.
Bobby, you are assuming that these people did not attend because of me! However, you are absolutely incorrect! You and your friends need to re-read some of Datu Kellys remarks written prior to the Symposium on both your forum and his own. His was never critical of me! He was critical of some East Coast people and the "war" that they were engaged in.
You do not know about the private conversations that I had with some of the people that you are intimating passed on the Symposium because of who was putting it on. No, no, my boy, the real reason some people did not want to participate was because of several other factors, expressed in confidence and which I will hold in confidence. I do not make private messages and discussions public on a forum so as to enlarge my own image or create an illusion to the truth. And if you are saying that only the Presas Kids can be the Philippines rep at a Modern Arnis event, you have most certainly insulted and ignored a large number of other people. Again your arrogance and biases are showing.
>So, given the choice between training with a few folks I've >already seen, and the replacement B team, or doing something fun, exciting and possibly profitable, I picked the later.
>Bob Hubbard 10-14-2003
That "replacement B team" as you have referred to them, has more skill, knowledge and background in Modern Arnis than
most of the people currently training within the art. In addition
no one on the WMAA leadership team was at the 2 week camps under Professor, nor is it very likely that they even attended the one week camps. I have the official rosters of both of the 2 week camps, no WMAA, IMAF, or IMAF Inc leader aside from Dr. Randi Schea, appears on the rosters. The "replacement B team" is represented on the rosters that I have.
In addition, if you refer back to Datu Kelly's interview mentioned above, you should take note of the fact that PG Tom Bolden, PG Billy Brayant, PG Douglas Pierre and Datu Kelly were the FIRST Modern Arnis instructors to be recognized outside of the IMAF and Professor, for their skills and positive presentations of the art. That was at the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 1993. I was recognized in 1994 by the same organization, in part because of my demonstration of the Modern Arnis at the 1993 event and for establishment of the Erie Community College martial arts program for academic credit which was approved by Professor Pesas. I like the "replacement B team" because the members have a very high skill level.
>The simple truth is that of all the major US orgs, only the WMAA >was there, and were repayed by Barbers little game of one->upmanship. Its a case of someone who doesn't have much 'pull' >in the Arnis world trying to be the big fish, and the real big fish >mostly ignored him.
Well, well, well, here we go again, now it is about the "major" and minor organizations. The perception of the WMAA as a "major" organization is yours. It can certainly be shared by others, however that does not make it a fact and there are people who would disagree with you. Since I have never engaged in defining "major" and "minor" designations this point is moot for me.
How quickly you have sided with the IMAF and IMAF Inc., plus Datu Kelly Worden when it suits your purposes. "Big Fish"? I think not! I never wanted to be known as such in the Modern Arnis World. All of my drive was directed toward getting a good variety of teachers to come to Buffalo to teach me and my students above and beyond Modern Arnis. If there is a good Modern Arnis player coming to the Buffalo area then my students and I will attend the event. If someone is coming into the region, I will try to get them to do a seminar for us. For instance, some of my students I will be attending the seminar to be given by Datu Shishir Inocalla, on November 16. Will you be there? Will any of your classmates be attending? Is Datu Shishir, a big enough name and major player for you?
As for what I said at the Symposium and/or in my posts to this or any other forum, I will stand behind my words. There was no gamesmanship or one-up-manship at the Symposium. I said what I meant! If someone did not like it or disagreed with it, then they should have had the strength of their convictions to talk with me at the Symposium. That did not happen!!! I was available and I spoke with most of the people at the event, so if someone failed to open a discussion with me, they should stand up and accept the responsibility for their own mistake.
> ..even with 3 of the 4 Top names in the Arnis world (Dan, >Dieter and Tim) at the >event, it still failed to be the 'event of >the century' as it was billed. Purhaps more time should have >been spent on promotion (a web site woulda been nice as a >central clearing >house of information) and organization (Food >Good) than the behind the scenes crap involving Barber and a >few of his students. Maybe letting people know about changes >in a timely manner? But thats more a reflection of the >character of the organizer (who double >booked himself on >events and never told the MT camp host he wasn't coming until >cornered and asked) than the quality of the event. (Anyone who >thinks I'm being harsh and is a late comer here, do a search on >the term "Norshadow"...it'll be clear.)
>Bob Hubbard 10-14-2003
That bias is showing through again, Bobby. You have shifted gears and now there were "...3 of the 4 Top names in the Arnis world..." at the Symsposium. What happened to the "names" and big fish you were alluding to earlier in your post?
That 'failure notion' is yours. It was not shared by the people who attended and posted reviews on mtc and elsewhere. Again, I have to remind you that the Symposium was not about rank and titles. It was about skill, knowledge and training concepts.
It was about sharing and talking. The Symposium was about
finding out about Professor taught at different periods of his instructional career.
Too many people have made it all about who would be there and who wouldnt. I told you and everyone who would listen that the event was going to happen regardless of who showed and who stayed away. I did exactly what I said that I would do. People came. They participated. They talked to one another and that
sharing led to some new insights within the art of Modern Arnis, as taught by Professor then adapted by the various players. No one at the Symposium said to anyone else, Hey, thats wrong, thats not what Professor taught me! No one said, ' that's not Modern Arnis!' No sir, Bobby, those comments were only written after the event and mostly by people who never attended!
Since I have never made any attempt to rank people in terms of being the top three, four or five people in Modern Arnis, I am going to let you and your instructor deal with that mess.
I will say this, I have never heard or seen anything by Dan Anderson, Dieter Knuttel or Kelly Worden (whom I am assuming you are counting as your fourth) claiming to be the top or among the top people in the art. They simply go out and demonstrate their considerable skills for anyone interested in working with them. That is you talking Bobby, and that is the kind of stuff that makes people mad.
As for missing the Effington, IL. event, that was a very wise decision on my part in retrospect. You bet I double-booked and it was quite deliberate. After the Symposium and suspension from this forum, the "barber-bashing" was quite intense. Now why would I want to attend an event where there was very likely going to be some open and hostile sentiments displayed against me? Why would I subject a gentleman whom I did not know to the prospect of having his event, tainted by some rude and nasty feelings, that he had no role in creating? So I accepted an invitation to do the program in Toronto, which turned out to be both successful and pleasant. I did notify the Effingham host, well before the event date and gave a brief reason for changing my plans.
It would have been fun to go to Effingham under different circumstances. BTW, the comments that were posted about me before the event were not very nice. That certinly bolstered my feeling that I was maaking the right decision for myself. Then, right after Effenham, in fact the Monday following the weekend of the Effingham mtc camp, there was that nasty, vile, personalized attack posted by a WMAA member, that led to his week long suspension. Boy oh boy does that make my decision not to go to Effingham look better and better as the days go by.
But on to current things, that stuff is all in the past. Now, it is time for me to continue moving forward and working on other projects that are in progress. The Symposium is behind me. Ooh, BTW, I never said that the Symposium would be the Modern Arnis event of the century I said it would be the event of the year 2003 and it was! Look at how much space your forum has devoted to it, particularly after it was over. Look at the DVD. The Symposium has been recorded for history. In the end it does not matter who was there or not there, in the end what matters is that the event occurred as promised, even with the flaws and blemishes.
I did it! No one else can host the first one! And given all of the negative trash that has been generated through the posts on various threads, I doubt that anyone will try to bring all of you Modern Arnis people together again for a long, long time, if ever!
In my review of the DVD set, I said which needed to be said. Once again all of the trash talking that has been posted on mtc just reinforces my contention that Modern Arnis as we currently know it is destined to be a fractured system of small organizations fighting one another. Only people like yourself, Bobby, can really change that, if you have the strength and courage.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
