User talk:Transentient

Invitation
Hello, you were recommended to me for joining our WikiProject True Origins ( WP:TORIG). This is a new project which has enormous importance but also enormous tasks at front. We are looking for editors with combined areas of expertise who may also have that kind talking quality towards other wikipedians. Please give a look if you are interested, even if having time only now and then, if you are, you will be most welcome.  Dao  ken  10:44, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Cloverfield
Haha, I didn't think anyone else found Cloverfield's face cute.—Ｌｏｖｅはドコ？ (talk • contribs) 21:36, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Itto-ryu
Hello Transentient,

I see you are in the DC metro area. I live in Baltimore, MD. I study Daito-ryu aikijujutsu and Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu kenjutsu. I was lucky enough to learn the first 10 victories (7 or 8 kata?) from Sasamori sensei when he was in the USA last summer. I don't really have anyone to continue practice with. If you are interested in practicing the little Itto-ryu we know please drop me a line. It would be great to compare notes and continue training. My email address is: chrisrcovington@aol.com

Best regards,

Chris —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chris R Covington (talk • contribs) 16:51, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Aikidoka
If Ikeda Sensei and Saotome Sensei are naturalized US citizens, they would qualify for "American aikidoka." I've been to Saotome Sensei's dojo and seen his citizenship certificate, but I'm always very careful on BLPs. "American," just like the other adjectives in front of "aikidoka", indicates nationality -- not "He's been here for a while." In BLPs, we have to be very clear and careful. Heroeswithmetaphors (talk) 17:58, 21 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I wield a +5 umbrella of grappling.

Hilarious.

FWIW, I think that it's a miserable blight that causes us to try to categorise people by nation. Typically it is the very first thing stated in a biography article, as if that were the number one most useful/important fact to sum up a person with (and sometimes one has to read between the lines of the third paragraph before one can deduce what the primary thing is that most made that person notable). More generally, I think nationalism is only one step removed from racism. At best, nationality is usually just insignificant trivia. So I find it perverse that there must exist categories for (using Yamada's article as an example) "Japanese aikidoka" and "Japanese immigrants to the United States" (are we preparing a database for the next "internment" of something?) but not for "first generation aikido instructors", "professional martial artists", and "famous teachers". And obviously it doesn't always work very well, since plenty of people are not extended citizenship in the places where they spend their lives and achieve notability (or even the place they are born... and it's worth noting that nation used to be more of a cultural/ethnic/racial distinction prior to nation-states becoming a norm). Cesiumfrog (talk) 01:41, 25 June 2011 (UTC)