What Martial Arts Do and Don't Give You

Martial arts have always fascinated me. I've spent a larger portion of my life training them than not. From practicing karate as a kid in the hopes of someday becoming the Green Power Ranger to my current routine of training muay thai and jiu-jitsu, the various fighting arts have truly been an integral part of my life. I would not be the same person today without them.

What they have meant to me over the years has shifted, though. As a child, they were a fun activity with cool rituals that let me feel like my favorite fiction characters. That is, of course, not how I view them today (though training to be the Green Power Ranger or Superman still makes up a small but not insignificant reason for why I train if I'm being honest with myself). As an adult in his mid-thirties, they mean a lot more to me than they did as a kid. They have given me so much and introduced me to countless wonderful people. The benefits go far beyond the basic benefits everyone knows come with training.
 

Someday I can be him

And yet... I wish that was the extent of my feelings about them. I wish I had no uncomplicated feelings here. I guess, in a way, I don't- the actual arts themselves bring nothing but positive thoughts and emotions from me. But the communities, business practices, and politics that have arisen around them do not often inspire such warm feelings.

If you had asked me "should I start training at a martial arts gym/studio/dojo?" a few years ago, I would've enthusiastically replied "yes!!" without hesitation. I would've gone on to gush about how much the arts have done for me like I did in the opening paragraphs above. But those days are gone. I just cannot, in good faith, unequivocally recommend training to people anymore because of how much more I understand the ugly sides of the martial arts world. And that actually makes me really, really sad. Because I want everyone to experience the joys and benefits I've gotten from my fifteen or so years of training. But things just aren't that simple.

This is one post, but really it's two distinct things. It's a celebration of all that is good about martial arts, but also a recognition of its limits. I won't be getting into the full dirt about its more toxic aspects, but I will be shedding light onto what training doesn't provide you- which will, of course, mean at least glancing at some of its worst aspects. I hope you find this useful.

WHAT IT DOES PROVIDE

1. The Obvious Stuff

There are some things martial arts give you that are pretty obvious, but still worth mentioning. So here I'll just briefly mention three of them- fitness, self-defense skills, and confidence (though two of these come with an asterisk, but we'll get to that in a bit).

I'll start with fitness, since it is the most obvious of the obvious. Whenever you pursue any physical activity, there are tons of benefits. Studies specifically focused on martial arts are limited, but there have been studies on both children and adults. And those studies line up not just with my own personal experience, but what I've seen from others in my years of training. Martial arts improve your cardiovascular endurance, strength, flexibility, balance, and pretty much any other physical attribute you can think of. Furthermore, just like other forms of exercise, it's also good for your mental health. Especially martial arts with an athletic and/or sparring component. For example, an hour of boxing can burn 700-1000 calories depending on your weight and other factors.

I am thirty five years old. While I take longer to recover from things like injuries or eating terribly than I used to, on any given normal day I feel about as good as I did in my twenties. I think a large part of that is because of my martial arts training. I'm glad it's kept me healthy, both for my own sake and for the sake of my daughter. Having became a father at thirty three years old, I'm glad I'll be able to keep up with her better than even most other parents who had their kids after their twenties thanks to how healthy and mobile my training has kept me.

Another benefit is self-defense. This is also self-evident, though does require a little myth-busting. First, because there are a ton of factors you don't know if you get into a random fight, you can't count on martial arts to defend yourself with when someone might have a weapon, or friends, or may just be able to get the drop on you in a way you're not prepared for. Second, not all martial arts are created equal when it comes to self-defense skills. Ironically, the martial arts best suited for self-defense are not the ones that market themselves as such. Rather, it's those that have some form of pressure-testing, with sparring being the most effective form (the reason being is without testing what you learn on a resisting opponent, you won't actually know how to perform your moves under distress in an active situation). Having addressed both of these myths, though, yes. Martial arts will still generally help you in a self-defense situation.

Finally, confidence. Simply put, building skills while getting fit and knowing you have a better chance of defending yourself if you ever need to is going to help you with your confidence. I know it's worked for me- in some ways to extent I can't even fully appreciate, considering I have done it so long that I have no idea how confident I would or wouldn't be having never trained.

With that said, though, there is caveat here. But we'll get to that in the second half of this post, because I think this caveat helps at least partially explain why there can be so much toxicity in the martial arts scene sometimes.

 

2. Perseverance 

This one may be obvious too, but I think it deserves its own special spot on this list. Simply put: consistent time and effort in martial arts will make you better. Showing up regularly to class, actively participating in lessons, and exerting yourself when it's wise to exert yourself will improve your skills. It's not about special abilities or secret mindsets or life-hacks. You work hard, you get results.

It may sound funny, but this was something that helped keep me afloat in graduate school when I was working on my History MA. The workload was intense. On average, we read about one history book per week per class, with an average of three classes per semester. There were evenings where the workload so overwhelmed me that I would just freeze up in despair and stare at the ceiling for an hour.

I always had a two-step process to get out of that paralysis. First I would think about how I couldn't quit because I would have to admit to all my loved ones that the program defeated me. Then I would think about how, in all my years of martial arts training, I always made it through adversity by just being consistent and moving one step at time. In jiu-jitsu, for example, if I were pinned underneath someone, I would first breathe. Then move my hips. Then try to get a wedge between my partner and I. Again- one move at a time, step by step. I would take that mindset and try to apply it to my studies. I would pick up a book and get through it, page by page, until I finished what I needed to do.

In a world of cutthroat capitalism where wealth is a better indicator of future success than hard work, it's refreshing to know that hard work can pay off somewhere (though unfortunately, as I discussed in a previous post, that causes many in the MMA world to often think the same thing applies in the economy- but I digress). With enough time and effort, anyone can become proficient in a martial art. That's not to say it's an equal playing field- the more time, money, and/or energy you have to train, the better off you'll be- but at least there is a basic correlation between work and progress. Again, that's not really something you can say for other aspects of the world we live in. It's nice to know that, somewhere at least, there is a place where hard work really does pay off, and in turn allow you to build up perseverance in a way many people don't get the chance to.

 

3. An Outlet for Creativity

We don't talk about it much (especially in an age of economic precarity where people can't afford to spend too much time thinking about it), but human beings are unique in how creative we are, and benefit from flexing our creative muscles. It keeps us engaged with whatever activity we're pouring our creative energies into, it reduces our stress, and it helps reduce brain aging as we get older. As human beings we are not meant to sit in a cubicle all day, or bust our asses in a factory. We do what we must to survive, of course, but we're made for more than that.

Martial arts are great for expressing your creativity. You might be thinking "sure, clearly you can be creative by using flashy, creative moves in training. This should be in the 'obvious' category above." But the beautiful thing about martial arts is that your creativity isn't just expressed in the flashy, cool-looking spinning kicks or flying knee strikes. It's expressed in every movement and every decision you make.

Let's think about it for a moment. Pretend you're boxing, since that's a relatively intuitive martial art to understand even without any training. Let's say you want to land your punches on a sparring partner, but they're really good defensively. What can you do? 

This is where the creativity comes in. You can try attacking a different target than the one you want (for example, if they're blocking punches to the head really well, you can try punching them in the body until they forget about defending their head). You can also try what are called "feints", where you act like you're about to do one move, but it's actually a fake to set up a different move. Or you could, counterintuitively, avoid throwing punches and keep moving away from your opponent until they get impatient and try to rush you because they're tired of you running away. There are so many ways to try to land your attacks. You have to get... well, creative.

There really is nothing like hitting a creative flow state in martial arts, which is where you enter a perfect place between being engaged and focused, without becoming overly tense or rigid. You can feel the creativity channeling through you. It's a wonderful experience and one of my favorite overall aspects of training. It doesn't happen every practice, but that's all the more reason to value it when it does come up.

 

4. Community and Teamwork

A picture from my gym.

In today's world, especially in the United States, people are increasingly lonely. In fact, some have even called it an epidemic of loneliness. There are a lot of reasons we suffer from such stinging isolation, including cars, suburbs, a lack of places beyond home or work for people to go (especially places that don't cost money), and of course every sort of technology that absorbs our attention, from television to video games to smartphones. Lower participation in every community institution from churches to volunteer organizations to labor unions has, overall, been a disaster for both ourselves as individuals and our society as a whole. We are social beings who are meant to be around others.

Martial arts gyms, at their best, can be a place of community in a time where people desperately need more of it. My gym, run by two Mexican-American former b-boys, is a great example. They have created a great, welcoming environment where anyone who comes in is treated with hospitality. Our gym often holds social events in places like parks and bowling alleys. Sometimes they'll even host parties in the gym, like during Halloween. Events for the kids who train in the children's' classes are held, too. This has helped make it so that a number of my training partners aren't just training partners, but friends. It's nice to have that. Especially right now, when as a parent I'm not able to see my other friends as often as I would like to. Whether joking around during training or making the occasional event outside of it, I'm grateful to be part of the community my gym has created.

It doesn't just stop at community, though. Alongside community is teamwork. That might sound odd when describing martial arts, considering any form of sparring or competition you do is one on one. The thing is, though, you need to train with other people to get better. From a short-sighted point of view, that could encourage a view of your training partners as obstacles to be overcome. What you come to understand, however, is that you do better if your training partners are skilled, happy, and able to come to practice consistently; even better if you have a good personal relationship with them, that way you can communicate and train comfortably and effectively. They say there is no "I" in "team." To get really cheesy, there is also no "I" in "personal growth." Because, paradoxically, to get better, you cannot just think about yourself.

All of this is intertwined. Working together with your training partners, rather than viewing them as obstacles, helps build a stronger sense of community. That strong sense of community, in turn, helps create a better atmosphere for people to train and get better. It's a positive reinforcing cycle. It is, like with the creative flow state I mentioned in the previous post, something I'd wish for everyone.

Unfortunately, though, not every martial arts gym reaches this level of positive community building and teamwork. Because not all martial arts gyms are welcoming, positive places. I've been to places with downright toxic environments. Which takes us to our next section. 

 

WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVIDE 

1. Good Character

One of the most popular beliefs among both the general population and martial arts schools in particular is that martial arts teach you good character. They certainly instill positive traits in you, some of which I talked about in the previous part of this post, but that is not the same thing as being a good person. Bullies can be creative, predators can be disciplined, abusers can have community. While some martial arts gyms really do create positive atmospheres geared toward encouraging people to be their best selves, that is a culture that needs to be specifically cultivated. Many martial arts gyms instead simply create bullies who are good at fighting.

Countless professional fighters have done awful things. I could link a hundred articles here about that. But as you read them you might think to yourself "sure, but those are professional fighters- what about instructors and other normal martial artists, who don't fight for a living?" Unfortunately, pretty awful things happen among their ranks, too.

Perhaps the most prominent example in the world of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, an art that I train, is that of Lloyd Irvin. Irvin created a cult-like atmosphere in his gym, which created a culture of fear and harassment, as well as a culture of ignoring sexual assault victims assaulted by his students. When things started coming to light, however, it was revealed that Irvin himself was brought to trial for gang rape in 1989. During the mid-2010s when all of that came out, Irvin temporarily disbanded his team. But now he is back to being full reintegrated into the world of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. No one even talks about it anymore.

Irvin is a particularly extreme example, most schools aren't run by rapists. But there is an entire spectrum between good and awful people in the martial arts world. I'm lucky enough to train at a place with great people, but I've trained at gyms where I saw firsthand cultures that encourage cruelty, selfishness, and strict hierarchy (which is absolutely a recipe for things like sexual assault, among other things). Of all the reasons I no longer recommend training martial arts to people as enthusiastically as I once did, this is the number one reason. 

And this isn't even touching on those who revealed themselves to have pretty awful worldviews. I know such a thing can be subjective to a point, but some of the bad shit gets pretty extreme and unambiguously vile, such as UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell praising Adolf Hitler.

 

2. A Replacement for Intellectual Enrichment

A lot of martial arts instructors pride themselves on their wisdom and like to think of themselves as warrior-philosophers. One of the most celebrated jiu-jitsu instructors of all time, Renzo Gracie, once said that, "There's more philosophy in jiu-jitsu mats than in any Ivy League school in America." It's ones of those quotes that is the right combination of simple yet deep-sounding that makes it seem like a profound observation. Then you think about it for more than two seconds and it all falls apart.

Do you gain valuable insights about certain aspects of being human on the mats? Yes, absolutely. I talked about some of those insights you gain through pushing yourself on the mat earlier in this post. Hell, you could even say there are things that you have to learn through struggle that you simply cannot learn through reading and abstract thought. There is a real value to action as a form of learning.

Unless Renzo Gracie is secretly hosting seminars on Rousseau or Sartre on the jiu-jitsu mats after sparring, though, to say there's more philosophy on the mat than in Ivy League schools is just absurd. Are you studying questions about ethics, logic, free will, existence, and reality in jiu-jitsu gyms? Entire treatises have been written and discussed through human history by some of our greatest minds trying to understand these issues. Philosophy programs at colleges and universities, Ivy League or not, dedicate themselves to studying and dissecting those materials while creating new generations of thinkers. Partaking in that pursuit helps us understand ourselves and the world around us much more deeply. And we're supposed to believe all that study and thought people put into earning their degrees don't teach you philosophy as well as a bunch of sweaty guys pretending to strangle each other on foam mats? It's vain self-flattery by Renzo.

Again, there's real value to training as a way to gain philosophical insights- as part of a balanced intellectual diet, so to speak, that should include pursuing other forms of learning. But if you're going to directly compare training vs academic study when it comes to learning philosophy, then obviously the latter is better. And frankly, the fact so many martial artists think like Renzo Gracie and show so little interest in pursuing knowledge through other means goes a long way toward explaining why so many of them think platitude-filled inspirational quotes on Instagram are deep. This is not a community that produces insights up there with Confucius or Plato.

Also, in Renzo Gracie's case in particular, you'd also think all that mat wisdom would be enough to stop him from quoting Heinrich Himmler. But you'd be wrong!

 

3. An Understanding of Health Science  

Within pretty much every fitness or fitness-related community, there is this idea that they understand health and everything related to it better than anyone else. Of course, when it comes to what exercises to do to be healthy, they definitely have a good grasp of best practices. Through experience they have figured out not only effective exercise routines, but also good practices for related routines like diet and rest as well. There is a lot you can learn from people in the fitness world.

But the other side of that knowledge of best fitness practices is entire industries of snake oil bullshit that thrive in the fitness world. There are just so many scams in the fitness world it's hard to keep track. Ironically, part of the reason they're able to proliferate there is because of how healthy everyone is. Most people at the top of the fitness world are in excellent shape, after all. So when they market a product to potential customers promising a sick set of abs while having a sick set of abs themselves, you're tempted to believe it. Often, however, those influencers are fit because of fairly standard fitness routines (plus steroids). The magic shortcut is usually bullshit.

In the martial arts world, which we can consider a subset of the fitness world, bullshit proliferates. Even the highest level fighters often link up with quacks, cranks, and bullshit artists- sometimes knowingly, sometimes being dupes themselves. Like with the fitness world, this is because knowing good general practices through experience is not the same thing as a deeper scientific understanding of everything. When you combine ignorance and confidence, you've got a recipe for disaster (and bullshit!).

This false confidence in how much people know gets even worse when you zoom out to things like public policy. There's a moronic meme that's been floating around on conservative social media with a picture of Robert F. Kennedy Jr next to a picture of Rachel Levine, who was Biden's assistant secretary of health. The meme shows a shirtless, buff RFK Jr and a not fit looking Levine next to each other asking "who would you trust more as secretary of health?" The implication is that RFK Jr makes better personal decisions about his health, therefore you should have him be secretary of health. It ignores the fact that Levine is extremely knowledgeable about public health policy whereas RFK Jr is a dumbass. If the question were "who do you want as your personal trainer?" I'd probably go with RFK Jr. When it comes to the person in charge of public health, though, I'm gonna go with the person who knows about public health.

But so many people in the martial arts world fall for this surface level bullshit, which is part of why so many of them support RFK Jr as health secretary. Their susceptibility to bullshit isn't just dangerous for them, therefore, but to all of us as a whole.

 

4. A Cure to Your Insecurities 

Before I talked about how martial arts can make you more confident. That is certainly true. As I hinted at, though, there is another side to that. A lot of people come into martial arts with some sort of insecurity. After all, when you think about it, willingly going somewhere to take a beating from another person is not exactly a normal thing to do. Tons of people around the world fantasize about training martial arts and learning how to kick ass, but it takes a stronger driving force to actually motivate you to walk through those gym doors and seek instruction. Often, that driving force is insecurity.

I myself am not above this. Less so with my childhood training in karate, which was as much my parent's decision as my own. When I started training in muay thai toward the end of high school, though, that was all me. There were a few things that motivated me to start, ranging from having a bunch of cholos break my windshield and threaten my friends to seeing Tony Jaa movies and wanting to kick ass like he did. But on a deeper level, I'd never been a particularly masculine kid growing up. That gave me some insecurities. I simply didn't have the aggression, recklessness, or assertiveness associated with more "masculine" boys my age. Martial arts gave me an entryway to a masculinity not as defined by those stereotypical masculine traits. The fact I had been chubby in middle school certainly added both to that insecurity and the idea tht martial arts could help overcome it, too.

As you can probably tell by the fact I'm comfortable enough to share these insecurities in a public blog post, these are things I've reflected on and worked through as I've gotten older. They no longer bother me the way they used to. What's key here, though, is that while training generally made me more confident, it didn't resolve any of these underlying issues for me. What did it was a variety of things- finding better friends to surround myself with, having good male mentors who modeled more positive masculinity for me, reading books about mental health, talking to people about mental health, and just doing some good ol' reflecting and thinking that I felt comfortable enough to do thanks to everything else I just listed. Training gave me a bandaid, but it was nowhere near enough by itself.

I say all this because, quite frankly, a lot of men* who sign up to train are fine with the bandaid and never actually confront their insecurities. I've had so many training partners confide things in me, from loneliness to depression to just hating how their body looks when they take their shirt off. It's made me really sad to hear some of that stuff, but with my favorite training partners that has often been a way for us to strengthen our friendship and go beyond just being acquaintances. But for many men in the martial arts world, they don't even talk about it. They simply think they can train their way into resolving their personal insecurities. I've never seen it work out well.

(*I'm talking about men here because I've simply had magnitudes more conversations about insecurities with men I train with than women, but I'm sure women have their own struggles with confidence and insecurity relative to martial arts too)

 

CLOSING THOUGHTS

 

I can't help but feel like I just scratched the surface with this post. For instance, I could've also talked about how marital arts gives you exposure to other cultures, but doesn't necessarily give you an appreciation for them as they are. That's just one of a ton of topics I could've addressed, but if I started adding more to this post I probably never would've stopped.

Still, I hope reading this sheds at least a little bit of light about the good, the bad, and the ugly of the martial arts world. Overall it's still a world I'm happy to be immersed in, thanks in large part to two main communities I'm a part of. One is the gym I currently train at, which I mentioned earlier. The other is the Southpaw community, a collective of liberation-minded martial artists based around the Southpaw podcast and training program. In different ways, both of those communities have taught me a lot and helped me grow as a person. I hope the martial arts world as a whole can move more in that direction.

I hope this post was interesting!

Top Everything of 2015

With 2016 now upon us many news outlets, columnists, and bloggers are creating lists about different parts of 2015.  Topics like entertainment, politricks, science, and all sorts of other areas are each getting their own end of the year write-ups.

As anyone who knows me or has read this blog can probably guess, I have a lot of interests.  Writing an entire article about only one subject just isn't my style when looking back at the entirety of 2015.  Therefore, like with 2014, I've created a comprehensive end of the year list that encompasses picks for a variety of topics.  The list will cover everything from hip hop to politics to MMA to science to film, and more.  The categories will mostly be the same as those from last year, give or take a few changes.

My criteria for each pick is a combination of merit/quality, personal preference (anyone who tries to pretend their "top" lists are objective are lying to themselves), achievements in a given field, and cultural significance/impact.

Let's dive in!

Movie: Straight Outta Compton

This was a tough entry for me to select. There were a lot of movies that I loved this year, from very different genres, so much so that even narrowing my favorite films of the year list to just five presented quite a challenge.  But movies that stay with me the most are those that challenge me to both think and feel, and after reflecting about all the movies I've seen this year, one movie stayed with me more than the rest of my favorites by a slim margin.

Straight Outta Compton is the story of the NWA, covering their story from their inception to the death of Easy E.  The movie can be thought of in three stages: the group's rise, the group's fall, and the group's reconciliation.  Both the first and third stage are fantastic.  The beginning of the film introduces us to each member of the group and gives societal context to their ascent: the streets of Los Angeles.  A place of violence, racist cops, and little opportunity.  The group rises from the hood by harnessing the very anger that the hood gave them in their music to powerful effect.  The second phase is when the NWA falls apart, with Ice Cube and Dr Dre each going their own separate ways after tensions come to a head and the group disbands.  The final phase covers the group reuniting after Easy E is diagnosed with AIDS.  Overcoming ego and squashing beef is always easier when the specter of death is an imminent reality instead of an abstract idea.

While the movie loses some of its intrigue when covering the group's fall, my main problem with the film isn't that second phase.  It may be formulaic, but the first part of the movie (mixed with brilliant performances by the actors) got me invested enough to care when they started to fall apart.  The biggest problem with the film is its portrayal of women.  Women have two roles in this movie: mother or nameless sex object.  The only exception is Easy E's girlfriend, who is only around for less than half the movie.  It also goes out of its way to downplay the misogyny of the group, including completely erasing the history of domestic abuse by some of NWA's members.

Aside from this glaring flaw, Straight Outta Compton is top notch.  Had it handled women better, it probably would have become one of my favorite films of all time.  Still, the rest of the movie is so strong that it is my favorite movie of the year.  The performances are great, the characters are compelling, the social commentary about the hood (specifically the police) is important, and the emotional moments hit the mark every time.

Comedy Movie: Spy

I love comedy movies, but I never know how to rank them alongside "real" movies.  Comedy movies have such different goals from most other movies that it's hard to compare them.  So, I figured I might as well make a category specifically for comedy!  (For what it's worth, if I'd created this category last year, it would've gone to 22 Jump Street).

Spy is another Paul Feig directed comedy featuring Melissa McCarthy, continuing the hilarity train that started when the two worked together for Bridesmaids (I haven't seen The Heat, though I've heard good things about that one as well).  The movie stars Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a character who sits behind a computer monitor directing CIA Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) through his missions.  To keep this summary short and spoiler-free, early on in the movie bad things happen and circumstances lead to McCarthy's character going out to the field as an agent.

Both the writing and performances are all on point; almost every single joke hits perfectly.  My only problem is that the movie sometimes leans a little too heavily on fat jokes about McCarthy.  At times these jokes are piled on so much they become cringe-worthy.  That aside, though, this movie is absolute comedy gold.  The funniest parts come with Jason Statham's character, an unhinged loose canon who recklessly stumbles through the film with no regard for anyone's safety, including (perhaps especially) his own.

But while Statham's character maybe the funniest, McCarthy's character still stands out as the most interesting.  Cooper has a distinct character arc, gradually coming out of her passive, self-effacing shell to believing in herself and taking action.  This character archetype has existed as long as human beings have been telling stories, but McCarthy and the writing team bring enough life to the role that her character's journey feels relatively fresh and engaging.  She isn't the only prominent female character, either; her boss, best friend, and main enemy are all women who play important roles and have agency in the plot.

With almost nonstop laughs, a well-done character journey, one of the best comedy performances I've ever seen thanks to Jason Statham, and more female character agency than you'll see in almost any other film this year (or any other year), Spy is an easy pick for comedy of the year.

Animated Movie: Inside Out

The competition for this year's best animated movie isn't as fierce as last year's (Big Hero 6, The LEGO Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Book of Life all came out in 2014).  Yet even if the competition were equally as steep, Inside Out would still be my pick for movie of the year.  This is the best movie Pixar has put out since their amazing three consecutive years of instant classics with 2008's Wall-E, 2009's Up, and 2010's Toy Story 3.  Yes, this movie truly deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation as those three.

The premise of this movie is refreshingly creative.  It takes place inside the mind of an eleven year old girl named Riley, following the five anthropomorphized emotions that run her brain: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear.  The five emotions work together to take care of Riley, with Joy being the leader.  Of course, as with any movie, things go wrong and it is up to our heroes (in this case, Joy and Sadness) to set things right.

The creative premise of the film leads to some brilliant ways of representing the human mind, with tons of imaginative set pieces and clever jokes about how the mind works (or, sometimes, how it doesn't).  Throughout the movie I was excited for each new scene and location, eager to see what other imaginative things Pixar had cooked up for the human mind.

The movie is about more than the inside of Riley's head, however.  Much more.  The central conflict of this movie is Riley's trouble adjusting to San Francisco after moving from Minnesota.  The message of this movie is a simple one, but also one of the most important and emotionally healthy messages you'll ever see in a kid's movie: it's okay to feel sad.  Each emotion has its own uses in certain situations; the movie shows us we shouldn't try to suppress them to appear happy all the time.  That's an extremely important message to send to children so that they don't grow up hiding their vulnerability from people who care and suppressing their emotions.

This is a movie with a vivid imagination, great laughs, creative metaphors for the human mind, and an important message for kids.  Like with The Book of Life, my favorite animated movie from last year, this movie trusts kids enough to cover an important subject thoughtfully and is all the better for it.

Actor: Michael B Jordan

This was a difficult category to pick.  Oscar Isaac and Sylvester Stallone each occupied this spot at one point as I kept changing my mind on who to pick, and a few other names came close as well.  There were a lot of compelling performances this year.  But in the end, I had to go with Michael B Jordan.  I've been a fan since Chronicle and I thought his performance in 2013's Fruitvale Station was fantastic, so it was nice to see Michael B Jordan become an A list star in 2015.

Of course, that is entirely on the strength of his performance in Creed.  I didn't see The Fantastic Four reboot, and according to everyone from friends who had seen it to 90% of critics, it was better that way.  But in his role as Adonis Johnson, the son of Apollo Creed, I bought every minute of his performance.  I felt the pain of Adonis that came with him not knowing his father growing up, going from foster home to foster home.  I felt his enthusiasm when he tracked down Rocky Balboa to ask to become his student.  I felt his dedication in every training montage.

Michael B Jordan didn't just convince me of his dedication through his acting abilities, either- he also took to boxing quite well.  This movie has the best boxing choreography I've ever seen and, as someone who has actually trained at a boxing gym before, I can say that Michael B Jordan actually looks and moves more like a boxer than any other character I've seen in a boxing movie before.  This is no small statement.  I've seen Raging Bull, The Fighter, Million Dollar Baby, Ali, and many other good boxing movies.  Of all of those films, none of the actors involved showed the same level of dedication to learning how to box for their role as Jordan did in this film.

Had Jordan not given his all for this performance, Creed would've fallen flat.  The story is formulaic and lacks any real surprises.  While the writing helps give some life to the roles, what truly gives them their heart are the performances of the actors and actresses involved, especially Jordan and Stallone.  Not only does Jordan do a great job with his own performance, but the dynamics he has with his love interest, his adopted mother, and Stallone are all interesting and full of chemistry.  Michael B Jordan proves with Creed that he is star material, even for a movie series that has as many high expectations for it as the Rocky series does.  I already can't wait to see the next time he is on screen.

Actress: Daisy Ridley

Yes, the original cast returns and Harrison Ford does a great job acting as the wise old mentor type for the group.  Yes, John Boyega is a likable, relatable actor who helps ground the movie while also providing a lot of its funniest moments.  Yes, Oscar Isaac plays an impossibly charming and good looking pilot who makes me question my heterosexuality.  But we all know who the real star of The Force Awakens is: Rey, as played by Daisy Ridley.

Rey is a scavenger on the desert planet Jakku, having been abandoned by her parents there at a young age.  Even before she gets mixed up in intergalactic political conflict, we are shown during the exposition that she is a tough and resourceful character, while also having a kind side and showing occasional moments of vulnerability.  Throughout the film Ridley has to convey every single emotion one can think of.  If a sequel to Inside Out were made starring Rey, she'd need over a dozen characters to represent all the emotional layers Daisey Ridley convincingly gives her.

Criticism against Ridley's Rey aren't common, but among those who do have complaints the biggest one by far is that Rey is too naturally talented at everything she needs to do in the film.  At first glance this doesn't seem to have a lot to do with Ridley's acting, but it actually does.  As I mentioned above, the film establishes early on that Rey is a scavenger who knows her way around a ship and how to use a weapon when attacked by other scavengers.  Rey's journey in The Force Awaken's isn't like Luke's in A New Hope.  Luke's conflict is external and his growth comes largely in his skills, which also results making him braver yet more grounded.  To keep this write up relatively spoiler-free, I'll just say that while Rey shares some of the same goals as Luke, her conflict is a lot more internal in this film.  She's already physically capable of a lot of what she needs to do- again, not because of bad writing, but because the film establishes early on that these are skills she has already learned living by herself on Jakku.  She's not some naive farmboy on Tatooine.

In a sea of fantastic performances (seriously, naming your least favorite performance in this movie is like asking a parent to name their least favorite child), Ridley's performance stands out.  She presents a rounded character who can be brave, scared, angry, happy, sad, regretful, determined, conflicted, horrified, and somber.  The depth she adds to Rey's character is astonishing for such a newcomer and definitely deserving of an Oscar nod.  I can't wait to see her in the rest of this trilogy, and I can't wait to see what else Daisy Ridley does in the future.

Hip Hop Album: Meow the Jewels

Run the Jewels has a lot going for it: two seasoned MCs, clever lyrics that are witty and often insightful without being self-important, top notch production thanks to El-P, and wonderful chemistry.  Their music is a lot like a Quentin Tarantino movie: fun and exciting at first glance, but also done with an impressive amount of attention to detail and craft upon further inspection.

Nothing epitomizes how fun this duo is than their album this year, Meow the Jewels.  The entire album is composed of songs of theirs remixed with cat noise centered beats.  Meows, hisses, purring, bells, kitten squeals, anything you can think of.  Whereas most rappers are concerned with projecting an image of gravity and grandeur, with Run the Jewels we have two seasoned rappers releasing an album with cat noises in the background.  And, aside from being both funny and fun, the cat-infused beats actually sound great.

With strong introduction track "Oh My Darling (Don't Meow)" and standout joints like "Close Your Eyes (And Meow to Fluff)" and "Paw Due Respect", these songs go hard, entertain relentlessly, and are just plain fun.  While Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly is also excellent and is arguably much more important on a societal level, I've found myself bumping Meow the Jewels a lot more often.  As a result, it is my pick for album of the year.

Hip Hop Song: Black Friday

I mean, holy shit, right?  If hip hop is dead, someone forgot to tell Kendrick Lamar (and J Cole, and El-P, and Killer Mike, and Logic, and...)

MMA Prospect: Yair Rodríguez

Over the last few years we've seen an emergence of a lot of moves from Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and other martial arts that a decade ago were mostly ignored for "not working" in serious MMA competition.  I even wrote a post about it last year.  Side kicks, spinning back kicks, front kicks with the ball of the foot, and other such moves have been used by MMA fighters at all levels in increasingly large numbers.

The problem is that a lot of fighters have began to use these moves without properly gauging distance or setting them up.  Using some of the flashier kicks that have become popular, like the spinning back kick, leaves you out of position to defend yourself should your attack miss.  That is why it's important to throw it at the right time, when it is least likely your opponent will take advantage of the opening your attack leaves.  If not, it can cost you- Chris Weidman lost his title because of a poorly timed spinning back kick that left an opening for Luke Rockhold to take Weidman's back, get him to the ground, and lay on some of the nastiest ground 'n pound I've ever seen.

Yair Rodríguez is a featherweight who has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Because of his time invested in Tae Kwon Do, Rodríguez hasn't just learned how to throw fancy kicks but has spent years learning exactly when he should throw them and how he can build a game around them.  He throws punches as distractions from his kicks, his footwork does a good job at maintaining kicking range distance, and he changes stances to effectively change the angles of his attacks.  He is also quite capable in the clinch and has a slick ground game that is about as entertaining as any MMA fighter's.

Rodríguez is not without his weaknesses.  When pressured too much he retreats straight backward, rather than circling out; his punches are sharp enough in the opening round, but get progressively sloppier as the fight goes on; he leaves a lot of openings, like by leaving his hands too low or leaning forward when on the offense against an opponent.  But he is twenty three years old and has only had seven professional fights, three of which have been in the UFC.  It'd be weird if he weren't making mistakes, and he has years ahead of him to correct them.

The 145 pound division is already electric; it has easily become my favorite division in the UFC.  While much of the talent toward the top of the featherweight heap is relatively young and won't be going anywhere soon, it's nice to see a prospect with such potential coming up.  Seeing Rodríguez grow as a fighter and continue his ascent among the 145-ers in the UFC will be a real treat for years to come.

MMA Fighter I'd Like to See Bounce Back: Kyoji Horiguchi

I first noticed Kyoji Horiguchi in his match against Jon delos Reyes in September of 2014.  His impressive fight style immediately caught my attention: he combines the excellent range-conscious movement of someone like Machida with the head movement and combination-punching ability of someone like Ross Pearson.  His striking is, essentially, a mixture of some of the best parts of karate and boxing for MMA.

When I first saw him fight, I remember thinking to myself that he had it in him to someday beat flyweight champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, one of the most well-rounded and strategically intelligent fighters in the world regardless of weight class.  This confidence in Horiguchi only increased when he fought Louis Gaudinot.  Against Gaudinot, who is currently ranked #12 in the flyweight division, Horiguchi performed brilliantly and let his unique karate-boxing hybrid style shine.

His victory made me think he might be ready for a shot against Mighty Mouse if he got past someone in the top 10, then someone in the top 5 to earn a title fight.  Instead, Horiguchi received a title shot after his victory against Gaudinot because Mighty Mouse had cleared out the flyweight division of any other contenders.  Horiguchi fought Johnson in April and did well the first round, but as the fight went on Might Mouse's control of the fight became more and more pronounced.  The final round had Johnson dominating the match completely and submitting Horiguchi with an armbar at 4:59 of the 5 minute round, a record that can literally never be topped.

I sincerely hope Horiguchi can bounce back and work his way to another title shot, this time fighting top 10 fighters on the way up.  His fighting style is the rare combination of entertaining yet strategically sound.  If he takes the loss against Johnson as a learning experience and keeps getting better, I think he has a very real shot at winning his next title fight, provided that he is given a more gradual path instead of being thrown in head first again.  He is already off to a good start, having beat Chico Camus in September.  I hope this trend continues, if for no other reason than to keep the flyweight division interesting (seriously, Might Mouse has totally cleared out that division).

Male MMA Fighter: Conor McGregor

I'm going to get this out of the way: I don't like Conor McGregor's schoolyard trash-talk antics.  I don't personally dislike McGregor (or any other fighter) for doing it because it's a proven model for success, but I hate that the fastest way for a fighter to gain attention is to talk shit like a high schooler desperate for attention and what they think is respect.  There are plenty of ways to market fighters for their personality beyond the shit talking, but media outlets love drama and interpersonal conflict.  It's the same reason Donald Trump gets so much attention from the press.

But let's forget about McGregor the personality and talk about McGregor the fighter.  His ability to gauge/control distance, throw flashy kicks in strategically well thought-out ways, and counter with that excellent left hand are all top notch in MMA.  McGregor is excellent at using his kicks and footwork to control the range of his opponents and bait them into attacks that he then counters with his left hand.

McGregor's first opponent of the year was Dennis Siver, an elite striker who up until that point had only lost to Cub Swanson since dropping down to the featherweight division.  McGregor ran through him.  McGregor then beat Chad Mendes, who up until that point had only lost to featherweight champion Jose Aldo.  Finally, McGregor beat Aldo himself in an astonishing 13 seconds.  That's impressive for any professional fight, but especially so when you're fighting the UFC's then-longest reigning active champion.

It should be noted those last two victories might come with an asterisk of sorts.  Chad Mendes took the fight on a week's notice after Aldo had to pull out due to injury and Jose Aldo had been out of commission for over a year when the two finally fought.  But neither of those were McGregor's fault, and he did everything he had to in order to beat the champion of arguably the deepest division in MMA today (or perhaps the second deepest after the lightweight division).

2016 will be a big year for McGregor.  Will he defeat Aldo in a rematch?  Will he defend the title against other contenders like Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway?  Will he move up to lightweight to fight for the lightweight crown?  I don't know what path he'll take or how well he'll do.  But I do know that I look forward to seeing those fights (while ignoring all the silly pre-fight man drama).

Female MMA Fighter: Holly Holm

Joanna Jędrzejczyk, the champion of the new women's straw weight (115 pound) division, is an excellent fighter.  After capturing the title from Carla Esparza in the beginning of the year, she has since defended her title twice.  She deserves a lot of praise for her performances and accomplishments this year.

But the clear winner of female fighter of the year goes to the woman who dethroned Ronda Rousey, who was the UFC's biggest star at the time of this fight.  Holly Holm, who is also a former boxing champion and kickboxing competitor, beat two middle of the pack bantamweights to earn the title shot against Rousey.  Many wrote her off as not having a chance, while others "predicted" she would win simply because they wanted Rousey to lose.  Most fans wrote this off as yet another bout where Rousey would clinch up, hip toss her opponent, and eventually sink in that killer arm bar of hers.

As we all know, that's not what happened this time around.  Holly Holm used the footwork she gained as a high level striker to continuously slip away from Rousey and pick her apart with piston-like straights.  Rousey is excellent at operating once she has the clinch in a fight, but she doesn't have as much skill in setting it up.  Usually she rushes her opponents, who often try to stand their ground and strike with her in the hopes of getting a knockout before Rousey can sink in her clinch.  With her opponent standing right in front of her, Rousey would throw a bunch of wild punches until she saw an opening for the clinch.  When Holm decided to circle out and not let Rousey rush her, Rousey didn't have an answer.

Holly did a fantastic job picking Rousey apart and defending on the few occasions she did get caught in the clinch, eventually seeing an opening for a beautiful headkick that killed all wildlife in a five mile radius.  Many people afterward blamed Rousey for "trying to strike with Holm instead of using with her Judo", but make no mistake, this was Holm's doing.  In professional MMA, you simply can't walk into the clinch.  You need to set it up with strikes to create an opening.  Holm did everything she needed to in order to make sure Rousey couldn't do that.

Holm defeated one of the biggest stars the UFC has ever known thanks to sound striking strategy.  She also became the first fighter to hold championships in both MMA and boxing.  Heading into 2016, she will inevitably have a rematch with Ronda Rousey.  This winner of this rematch will be determined by who has the better footwork.  If Rousey improves her ability to cut off the cage instead of just chasing opponents, she will win.  If Holm is able to continue escaping Rousey, she will win.  Either way, it will be a hell of a match.  Until then, though, Holm has rightfully earned her place at the top of the women bantamweight division.

MMA Fight: Cormier vs Gustafsson

This category came down to a very, very close decision.  After whittling down an extensive list of fantastic fights this year, I was left with two: this one and Robbie Lawler vs Rory MacDonald.  Both fights were incredible championship fights that demonstrated the heart, technique, and versatility of each fighter.  In the end, I went with Cormier vs Gustafsson because (1)the fight felt slightly closer and (2)there were some specific aspects from this amazing bout that I wanted to talk about (though shout out to Lawler's excellent MMA boxing, which might just be the best in MMA right now).

Before we get into the details of this fight, the outcome is a perfect example of the fact that styles makes fights.  Tallying who has beat who in MMA doesn't always work because every fighter's style contains its own strengths and weaknesses.  Alexander Gustafsson got destroyed by Anthony Johnson, who was meticulously picked apart by Daniel Cormier in their fight.  If Cormier so effortlessly beat the guy who demolished Gustafsson, clearly Cormier should've smoked Gustafsson himself.  As we saw, though, that's not how things went down.

This was a phenomenal fight.  The first round made it look like Cormier would neutralize Gustafsson's striking with his wrestling and grind out a decision on the ground.  Clearly that didn't end up being the case.  Gustafsson did an impressive job using his polished footwork, strong combination punching, attacks to the body, and excellent gauging of distance.  Cormier, on the other hand, did a fantastic job of cutting off the cage with his footwork (that is, intercepting Gustafsson instead of just following him), striking from the clinch, and setting up his right hands with lighter kicks and punches, rather than just winging crazy right hands like most wrestler-turned-strikers do.

One thing that I appreciate about Gustafsson is that he isn't afraid to go for takedowns against wrestlers.  Conventional MMA wisdom says that lanky strikers should never try to grapple against stocky wrestlers.  Gustafsson reminded us here that conventional wisdom is something that should always be challenged.  Like against Jon Jones, he only scored a couple complete takedowns, but that was all he needed.  As I've talked about on this blog before, shooting for the hips against an opponent in MMA gets them thinking about your wrestling and takes away from their ability to focus on striking defense.  Grappling-based MMA fighters use this strategy all the time to out-strike opponents that have stronger striking credentials than them.  When you're a striker who can employ this strategy, all the better.

Another noteworthy part about this fight was how each fighter battled it out in the later rounds.  In MMA it is common for tired fighters to stand still in the later rounds and wing powerful, sloppy strikes at each other.  Not in this fight, though.  Cormier still used good intercepting footwork, Gustafsson still did a good job of being elusive, and both fighters (for the most part) kept their strikes diverse instead of only trying to throw wild right hands.  Even in the last round there were jabs, body kicks, lead uppercuts, lead hooks, feints, and combinations.  That is a large part of what makes a champion level fighter: not just physical attributes and their "heart", but also the ability to keep fighting sensibly even towards the end of an exhausting, exhilarating, incredibly close fight against the best in the world.

Cormier said in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that this bout made him a better man.  For those of us who payed close enough attention, it also made us better fans.  This fight didn't just prove a lot about Cormier and Gustfasson, but also about certain aspects of MMA itself.  For the first time in a few years, I am truly excited to see where the light heavyweight division is going, especially with the return of Jon Jones.  It's gonna be a hell of a 2016 for the 205-pounders.

Scientific Discovery: Liquid Water on Mars

For centuries humans have written about Mars, before the name "Mars" was ever given to it.  As astronomy advanced and people learned more about our red neighbor in the solar system, the possibility of life over there captured our popular imagination.  Could there be sentient lifeforms over there?  Could we find a way to reach out to them someday, or them to us?  If they looked like us, what are the intergalactic protocols about getting freaky with aliens?  Creative minds of all sorts told compelling stories to answer all of these questions, and more.

Toward the end of the 20th Century we began to realize that our Mars fan fiction wouldn't become true.  There weren't any civilizations on Mars.  But even with the idea of intelligent Martians being put aside, there are still a lot of interesting questions to be asked.  First and foremost: does any form of life exist?  Well, if life as we understand it does, it needs liquid water to function.  The question of water on Mars, therefore, became a big one.

In 2015, we found proof of liquid water on Mars.

Now, a problem with popular science journalism is how sensationalist it is.  It's a bit of a necessary evil, considering how few people would pay attention otherwise.  Headlines about water on Mars and speculation about the possibility of life on Mars went wild.  Often this went beyond the scope of the actual findings.  What we figured out with this discovery was that water seasonally trickles on Mars and leaves salty residue behind; there were no actual bodies of water discovered.  Scientists have a few different hypotheses about where this water is coming from.  Two of the leading ones right now are (1)that it comes from the atmosphere or (2)that it comes from the ice beneath Mars' surface.

We still don't know everything about the water on Mars yet, so we can't jump to any conclusions.  But that being said, we still made an incredible discovery about our rusty red neighbor that could hold the key to figuring out whether or not life exists.  Yay science!

Scientific Achievement: Teixobactin

I personally think science is at its best when it's being used to save lives.  Medicine is one of the best things we have done as a species, figuring out ways to cure ourselves (as well as animals) so that we don't have to contemplate our own mortality each time we get sick.  While the industry behind it is incredibly greedy and often shady, modern medicine itself is a wonderful testament to what the human scientific mind can do.

One of the challenges faced in modern medicine is the arms race between antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance bacteria.  Whenever we use anything anti-bacterial, the overwhelming majority of bacteria won't survive.  There will always be a tiny percentage, however, who are immune to whatever anti-bacterial item you're using.  These immune bacteria, being the only ones left alive, go on to reproduce and suddenly you have a whole generation of bacteria inheriting resistance to the anti-bacterial products that killed most of the previous generation.  This is why antibiotics are always becoming stronger and stronger.  We need stronger medicine as newer generations of bacteria are born from bacteria that is resistant to the previous generation of antibiotics.

Thanks to researchers at Northeastern University, we now have a new type of antibiotic joining the fray.  Teixobactin is the first new antibiotics developed in decades.  Ignore all the pop science articles that claim in the headlines there are no bacteria resistant to it, that's just because the antibiotic is so new.  Once teixobactin becomes widely used, bacteria with genes that make it immune to teixobactin will start reproducing and we will eventually have the same problems with immunity to teixobactin that we do with other antibiotics.

That said, this is still incredible news.  For now, we have an antibiotic that bacteria are not at all used to.  This means that current infectious diseases that are difficult to fight because of antibiotic immunity can be treated.  Teixobactin has the potential to save millions of lives the world over once it becomes readily accessible to medical professionals.  This is what we as human beings are capable of when we decide to find new ways to help save each other instead of new ways to kill each other.

Bullshit News Story: Muslim Brit Support for 'Jihadis'

According to an article from The Sun, one of the biggest news organizations from the United Kingdom, almost one fifth of British Muslim support "jihadis" who left the UK to fight in Syria.  The numbers are even higher in the 18-34 age bracket at about one in four.  Clearly something must be done!

Except for the fact that this article is complete bullshit.  The survey itself did happen and the report is based on an actual question, so it wasn't a complete fabrication.  Rather, it was a manipulation of information that would have even the most repressive of dictators nodding in approval.  The question The Sun points to asked British Muslims how much sympathy they had for "young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria"; the answers were a lot of sympathy, some sympathy, no sympathy, or don't know.  You'll notice that literally nowhere did the term "jihadi" come up.

See, there are a metric fuckton of groups fighting in the Syrian Civil War right now.  To even begin to try to make sense of all the factions, their ideologies, and their allies would take days, but suffice to say that ISIL isn't the only group over there.  There are many groups representing many different ideologies, including some that are fighting for democracy and human rights.  So when asked about "young Muslims" who go to "join fighters in Syria", that can mean a number of things.  It certainly doesn't automatically mean support for "jihadi" groups- which, can't be stated enough, is a word that doesn't come up at all in this question.

It'd be easy to roll our eyes and make an offhanded comment about bullshit in the media before forgetting about this story, but it's not that simple.  Hate crimes against Muslims in the UK are on the rise.  We're seeing the same thing in the US.  Whether it's The Sun or Donald Trump, whenever bullshit is spread that vilifies a group of people, we're not just dealing with intellectual dishonesty.  We're dealing with physical threats to the livelihood of living human beings, their families, their communities.  And that's complete bullshit.

Actual News Story: The Paris Attacks

If you didn't spend 2015 living under a rock, you know about the attacks that happened in Paris.  It was by far the biggest media story of the year.  On the night of November 13th, coordinated attacks happened all over Paris that left 130 dead and many hundreds more injured.  There are no amount of adjectives that can encompass all the horror and tragedy about the situation.

These attacks also reveal some troubling aspects of US and European media that require some examination.  The issue, though, is that an attack that killed 40 people and injured many more in Beirut, Lebanon happened the day before.  The attack received only a fraction of the media attention the Paris attacks did, and never became a Facebook profile picture.  As a result, few people knew it happened, and the beautiful outpour of support that Paris received wasn't extended to Beirut.

On top of that, hundreds of innocent people have been killed by coalition airstrikes led by the US that include France.  The attacks on Paris weren't a random attack, but another drop in the bucket of the horrible cycle of violence that has been going on between Western Europe/the US and the Middle East since the early 20th Century.  A cycle of intervention by what is traditionally referred to as "the West" and desperate counterattacks by those from the Middle East have gone on since before World War 1 and continued throughout the century.

The problem is that our media, thanks to an intersection of private and government interests, doesn't acknowledge this history.  A "tension between cultures" narrative is often used to describe the current conflict between the US/Western Europe and the Middle East, without acknowledging the historical legacy of Western intervention that contextualizes it.  As a result, we're given a narrative that doesn't properly acknowledge the historical background of everything going on.  Imagine walking in on someone punching another person in the mouth and having someone tell you that these two have been fighting for the last ten minutes, without clarifying that it started after one person killed the other's family.

This story and the way it was covered shows how media creates narratives without acknowledging historical context.  Media not giving us the full background is a serious issue.  By doing so, we are denied the ability to create a fully-informed opinion about one of the most important issues of our time.

Meme of the Year: Hotline Bling

All of these Hotline Bling memes were comedy gold.  Or at least comedy silver.

Video of the Year:

I first stumbled across this video on Facebook, shared by one of my coaches at 10th Plant San Diego.  The video features the coach of 10th Planet Decatur, Brandon Mccaghren, revealing the "dirty little secret" of Jiujitsu.  No, it's not some secret forbidden technique to beat your opponent effortlessly or gossip about the seedy underbelly of the Jiujitsu scene.  In fact, it's not about anything unique to Jiujitsu at all.

This video, at 1 minute and 45 seconds, is the most important video you will watch today, whether you practice Jiujitsu or not.  The "dirty little secret" that Mccaghren reveals: everybody had thought about quitting Jiujitsu.  Everybody.  Because mastering a skill, whether it's Jiujitsu or anything else, requires tons of hard work and hours invested.  On this journey, you will face setbacks; progress isn't a linear path.  There will be times where you feel you have stagnated, or even taken steps backward.  There will be times where you feel it is all pointless.  There will be times where you want to stop what you're doing and never pick it back up again.

As Mccaghren puts it: "that's precisely why you can't quit, no matter what.  You gotta keep going.  Because it's hard, because it makes you wanna quit.  The discipline and the perseverance that you learn from going through something incredibly difficult and then to keep going, that's gonna carry over into every other part of your life.  It's gonna become the most important part of your training.  Not the fact that you can choke somebody unconscious or that you can break their foot, but the fact that you know that when your back gets put against the wall, and when everything is going wrong and all you wanna do is just stop, you know you got what it takes to keep going."

Again, this goes well beyond Jiujitsu.  Anytime we stick with something that challenges us, whether it's a martial art or anything else that requires discipline and perseverance, we're building ourselves into people who can keep our cool and get shit done under pressure.

For me, being able to maintain my composure when someone is on top of me or trying to yanks my limbs in directions they weren't built to go is what I value most in my Jiujitsu training.  Same with my training in other martial arts.  Keeping my cool, making sure I don't leave any openings out of panic or carelessness, and thinking about how I can work my way out of that bad spot has translated directly over to other parts of my life.  I just finished my first semester of graduate school, and to call it stressful would be an understatement.  There were times where I felt I couldn't possibly handle the workload and wanted to quit.  I honestly considered dropping out at a couple points.  But thanks to my years of martial arts training (among other challenges I have worked through) I was able to take a deep breath, find my center, and focus on what needed to get done.  I ended the semester with a 3.9 GPA.

I may not be the biggest badass in Jiujitsu (I only competed for the first time in November), and those of you reading this might not be the best boxer or soccer player or sex architect around.  That doesn't matter.  What matters is that we stick with something we have a passion for, cultivate a skill that we can take pride in, and forge an iron will that will get us through whatever challenges we face in life.

Photo of the Year: Alan Kurdi

Sometimes we think of geopolitics as an abstract idea.  This picture is a heart-breaking reminder they aren't.

The only difference between refugee kids like Alan, the elementary school students I mentor for my job at an after-school program, and any kids any of us happen to know, whether our siblings, children, nieces, nephews, or whoever else, is where they were born. But many of these refugee children are dead now because of awful geopolitical machinations that they had nothing to do with.

Too many children have been buried, and will continue to be buried, by their parents, their siblings, their grandparents.  Not just those fleeing Syria, either.  While Syrian refugees are currently the ones most prominently in the headlines, it is worth noting the Central American refugee crisis is still happening despite no longer being in the headlines.  There are refugees being created every day in other parts of the world as well.

These tragedies are why understanding international affairs matter.  Politics aren't abstract ideas.  They're very real policies and institutions that affect lives all over the globe.  Sometimes they also end them.

Badass of the Year: Aura Elena Farfán

Some of the entries on this list have touched on the grim side of humanity, the horrors we commit against one another, the tragedies that result from the often ugly world we have created.  Especially the entry before this one.  To call these injustices discouraging is an understatement.

But the power to fight back and work for a better world is possible.  It's not just possible, in fact, but it's something that many people around the world are doing right now as I type this and as you read it.  This entry is partially for them, but also for us: a reminder that action, not cynical resignation, is what we can and should strive for.

The Guatemalan Civil War began in 1960 and lasted all the way until 1996, when peace accords were signed and democracy restored.  Yes, 1996; me and many of you reading this are older than Guatemala's current democratic regime. Democracy had existed once before, from 1944 to 1954.  But in 1954 the US overthrew the democratically elected Jacobo Arbenz and installed military dictator Castillo Armas, who was assassinated by Guatemalans in 1957.  The United States tried to impose order by backing more military dictators after Armas was killed, but stability didn't come.  In 1960 Guatemala's Civil War erupted between a repressive military government and left wing guerrillas.  Gross human rights violations occurred, 93% of which were perpetrated by the military government, with 83% of its victims being indigenous Mayan people.

In 1984, Aura Elena Farfán's brother was kidnapped and killed by the military regime.  She opposed the military regime when it was in power, and in 1992 she founded FAMDEGUA, an NGO that supports families in their search for missing loved ones who were kidnapped (and usually killed) by the military regime.  She gets results, too, which would probably explain all the death threats she gets from people still connected to the military regimes of the Civil War.

But does that stop her?  No.  Aura Elena Farfán still presses forward, continuing to support the families of people who lost loved ones during the Civil War, and fighting to get those who committed atrocities behind bars.  That takes a ridiculous amount of courage to do in a nation still plagued by corruption and violence.  For that reason, Aura Elena Farfán is my pick for badass of the year.  A reminder that a better world is possible, but only if we take up the effort to make it so.