Skip Ellsworth in new Bruce Lee biography

[misplayed-hand]

I just checked out Matthew Polly's new 500 page biography on Bruce Lee from my local library's new non-fiction section. I thought some might be interested to learn that a man named Skip Ellsworth is mentioned on pages 95, 96, 98-102, 108, 109, 114.

Pretty soon several students at the Seattle Judo Club, where Jesse was an assistant instructor, began inquiring if they could learn from Bruce. One of them was Skip Ellsworth, who grew up as the only white kid on an Indian reservation, fighting Native American youths on a daily basis amid dismal poverty. "During Bruce's very brief first demonstration of his kung fu, he hit me in the chest with both palms so hard that my feet left the ground and I flew backwards for what seemed like ten feet before I slammed into a wall," Skip remembers. "Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. It only took Bruce Lee approximately two seconds to make a true believer out of me.""

Bruce's street-tough students introduced him to another crucial aspect of American culture - guns. Leroy Garcia and Skip Ellsworth taught Bruce how to shoot pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns. The gave him his first gun, a Colt .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol with black handle grips. "Bruce totally loved it," says Skip."

[panderson03]

wow. so very cool! I'm going to have to add that one to my reading list! thanks

[Shark]

That's pretty cool.
I was lucky enough to take the class in their awesome home, but never got to meet Skip.

[Marsha]

I am new here, need lots of information about building a log home. Are there any classes planned?

[panderson03]

https://www.buildloghomes.org/shop/

[loghousenut]

Marsha, don't stay new for long. We'd love to have you over on the member's side of the forum.


PS... You just missed a class last weekend.

[adubar]

wow. so very cool! I'm going to have to add that one to my reading list! thanks

You might want to look up Sid Woodcock related to that time period. There may be a link to Skip's history there too. Though I don't know the exact dates that Bruce and Sid knew each other, Sid did bring his background as WWII OSS in China and later Indo-China after the CIA was organized as an in-theater operative. Sid had learned and taught Japanese and Chinese arts and at the time he knew Lee, he brought more to the table in terms of developed knowledge of Chin Na (joint locking, controls and takedowns) which he shared with Bruce and his students.

As a civilian, Sid was in the arms trade and helped bring the Detonics (smallest 45 based upon the 1911) to market. He taught weapons and armed combat as well. As instructor to CIA operatives and later civilian life.

It might be that both Lee and Skip met him at that time. The firearms interest would be a commonality and certainly the wider firearms interest public was fairly well integrated on a social level in Seattle back in the day. Sid was never far from both martial arts or firearms. He thought of them as all martial arts. A weapon, is a weapon, regardless if it has black powder or not -- an extension of the human body.

I tend to think that Bruce held similar views.

[panderson03]

Thanks, Adubar!

[Basil]

I took the last class that skip taught, in the house. My wife started watching Northern Exposure recently, and it brought back a lot of memories of that wild place.

[loghousenut]

I just watched an old episode of Gunsmoke... The one where Chester and Miss Kitty stole Doc's buggy and hightailed it toward Wichita.

The buggy reminded me of Skip's place.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[Ellsworth]

Today it occurred to me that the .223 round might have been inspired by the '223 women' of WWI.

But, I don't know enough to have a real opinion about it.

[Ellsworth]

I recently heard this version of I Am Stretched on Your Grave for the first time.

https://youtu.be/s8EQQK-uN2Y?si=uzy4x9IrwGsnsn9x

After about 1.5 days of research, I now understand that song differently than in my youth.
In my youth I had the same understanding as expressed by this man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvF_JsSgtVU

I believe it's worth expressing that the song works masterfully as one about the long struggle for Ireland's independence and unification.
It was not just the singer, in the first video from 1980, who sang a powerful rendition.
It was not just the singer's name, which would have been called out as "King, Phillip!" during a roll call.
It was not just his worker's coveralls, nor his age in 1970 and 1980 and the events around those times (arguably the prime of his youth and the prime of middle age).
It was not just the Pavilion, which provided shelter to the singer and audience and which might mirror one possible meaning of the song lyrics "blackthorn and [hoax?] frost."

It was almost every line and every word that caused me to add to my understanding.

The hardest line to 'reinterpret' for me is the one about a maiden head intact, but one way it can work is if it symbolizes virtue (which knows no gender).
And that the judgement was perhaps expressed to a comrade after a battle.
Or could be referencing the Principle of Double Effect. Or perhaps it's statement of desired outcome -- a unified nation after the blackthorn and frost.
I'm thinking about this section.

Regarding the second link/video in this post, I had never heard of Hozien before, but I have just watched a few interviews.
Hozien seems like a smarter man than I, and may have known of alternate interpretations.
Watching his performance led me to compare the the US Wikipedia page for this song, to the one for Rocky Road to Dublin.
He did a good rendition too.

I do not take this proposal lightly and my research did not start from scratch.
Considering the topic, it's worth mentioning that as a complicated Agnostic I earned a BPhil from a Jesuit college after earning an A.A. degree from a Community College.

I do not know which topic is potentially more of a 'hot coal in the hand' for me, that song or Bruce Lee, and I mean that with deep respect.

[Ellsworth]

Since I'm mentioning tough topics, there's a another that carries particular gravitas for me, the Civil War.

Both sides called different men with the name Ellsworth a hero.

In the vernacular of the era, I would probably best be described as an Anti-Federalist leaning Abolitionist who adopts general nonviolence.

I have met one person who was both an ardent, anti-abortionist and a staunch Democrat.
He held both views simultaneously, for he grew up in foster care, but only because he had been spared the knife.
His position is surely difficult to hold, but it is not a logical contradiction.

I made a mistake once, in an unfamiliar place, going about what anyone would consider, safe, ordinary business.
Due to stress, haste or just the lull/mundaneness of ordinary life (aka, because I'm normal), I missed the picture before telling a story. Hindsight is 20/20, and anyone can be took.

Therefore, for the foreseeable future, if I speak about Bruce Lee and his students it will be publicly, on the internet, and as permanent as possible.
Most likely on this forum.

Starting with these three things:

1. I hold no belt and have always said, "My father taught me enough about Kung Fu to be dangerous, to myself."
2. I am still a student of whatever topic I speak about, and will be for life.
3. Two pictures might summarize one aspect of Jesse Glover (or two aspects, or more aspects). He was the first African American I met and I passed the sociological/psychological based experiment regarding race that he cooked up, my father cooked up, or they both collaborated on.

These are not the easiest topics for me to think/write about and I try to approach them with humility and the knowledge/worry that I might express something incorrectly or have a misunderstanding. So I will ask forgiveness for that in advance, and please know that the motive is to share perspectives for the common good.

Occasionally the muses gift me with a moment of levity, as I struggle with these topics, today's was creating a joke.

"An Irishman, an Englishman and a Scotsman walk out of a bar, and there wasn't a punch line."

[Ellsworth]

There is another Irish song, that after many listens and much research I had to reconsider.

It's called the Rocky Road to Dublin.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNHafuFbxLc

Because the lad didn't stop until Liverpool, yet the title implies that his destination was still Dublin and therefore Liverpool was just another step on the path.

It's been about a year or so since I mentioned this to an Irish-American man, and I have also told one random stranger.
Maybe someday I'll hear an opinion back from someone with more knowledge than I, on this very respectfully expressed interpretation.
And maybe someday I'll wish I didn't, for after my research Tuam became an unsolvable mystery of sadness and horror for me.

[Ellsworth]

I misspoke and will try to correct that with as much clarity that I can gain in a couple days.

I do not have a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, rather I have a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy.

The implication might be, as you move beyond the A/B, there is no Mastery.

Having never met Bruce, it was still partly his good influence that set me on that course.

[Ellsworth]

On the topic of Irish songs, and idea popped into my head yesterday.

There once was a band from Kilkenney,

Their sound was as Seattle sounding as many.

Their first album was released in 1994, as far as I know.

Right around the time that South Park started killing Kenney, in every episode.

Until the the very first season that Kenny did not reappear.

That was the same year that something else 'died' in Ireland.

It's a horrible rhyme I know. And might be something akin to fan fiction.

Personally, I enjoyed South Park in my youth, and hope that Deep Voodoo makes great progress, with haste.
For in learning how to create deepfakes, The creators of South Park might restore to the court system something that has been lost:
The ability to validate digital evidence.

The above might best be considered 'fan fiction.'

Disclosure: in my youth I did donate to Sinn Féin. It's a voluntary tax I still weigh and consider.
As a poem that rhymes throughout, the above sucks.
I have not given this much deep thought.

[Ellsworth]

There once were 3 cats from KilKenny.
They roared out Loudly, "Curb dog!"
If it had been plural,
Then surely it would have been in more than, one direction.

[Ellsworth]

On the same topics (fighting, cartoons and influence):

The history of cartoons on film in America, has been one of slowly receding racism.
There are many examples, but perhaps there is one that has yet to be addressed.

Warner Brothers took the name Elmer and added a British slang last name that rhymed with dud.
And then they had a rabbit call him Nimrod, again and again.
All for the 'entertainment' of children.

Nimrod: other than the biblical reference, at a pure guess, at one time in America it may have meant something like 'nimble rods from Kentucky.'

I have yet to figure out all the details of Robert E. Lee's usage of the word as an insult, and I likely never will.
I've already formed preliminary judgment, that it connects to Elmer, and that leaves me disliking the Racist Rabbit.

I could be wrong about some of the above, maybe someone sharper than I can unpack it.

When Greenday first came out I did not like their sound.
They have a decent song or two, but generally they still are not my kind of sound (which is a-ok).
But just recently I read an article where one of their member's explained why they picked Nimrod as an album name.
I thought that was pretty cool.

Disclaimer:
I'm now biased on this issue, I'm anti-Bugs Bunny.
What first led me to reconsider Bugs Bunny was learning about Francis E. Brownell.
I am replacing my Zippo with a Nimrod, which was one of the things I noticed along this path of discovery.
- Or I might get a Zippo engraved with Elmer Fudd. The story deserves a prop.

[Ellsworth]

Today it occurred to me that the .223 round might have been inspired by the '223 women' of WWI.

But, I don't know enough to have a real opinion about it.

I'm learning how long it takes Google to index this forum.

It's not one month. Maybe it will take 2 months?

I had genuinely expected 1 month or less, based on my past google searches for Ron's last post on this thread.
His appeared a lot quicker than mine.

[Ellsworth]

Since the Celts won the playoffs, I'll share what I hadn't planned to:

It was within the last two days when another possible interpretation of the poem I Am Stretched on Your Grave occurred to me.
The poem, might be from the perspective of Ireland's original religion.

It took listening to almost every version of the song on Youtube, and noticing that occasionally artists change a word or two.
Doing so usually changes the possible meaning of the line and/or verse.

The band Dead Can Dance, for instance, changes the line, "for I smell of the earth and am worn by the weather [/ whether?]."
In their version it becomes, "for I smell of the earth and am slain by the weather [/ whether?]."
If I was going to make a change it might be, "for I smell of the earth and am tumbled by the weather [/ whether?]."

Eventually, thinking about that line led to a question, "What is in Ireland, that is important, and might fit the description in the original wording?"

Perhaps stones. Giant stones, some vertical and half buried. Some horizontal.
As physical objects they smell of dirt, and are worn by weather.
As religious objects they have all sorts of potential meaning.
I plotted a few on google maps and quickly realized they are spread across Ireland, not just in the North or the South.

(edited to add, they are often called Standing Stones. I was trying to avoid the abbreviation S.S. and trying to avoid thinking of how Hitler adopted other culture's symbolism in a quest for power).

The hardest line imho, is "Thanks be to Jesus, we did what was right."
But, the nature of art, religion and influence could create this reading, "Thanks bee, to Jesus. We did what was right."
It is the kind of literary interpretation that stings.

I have studied the history/religion of the Druids a little bit over the years.
Generally, this interpretation can fit.

The worst possible interpretation of a line goes to "my apple tree my brightness." Because at one point during the Troubles, bombs were used to spread pain and 'knowledge.'
And that is a possible revisionist interpretation that can be used to radicalize.

I feel that I have reached my personal depth of possible experience with this poem and now set it aside. (edited to add, I just realized Claddagh rings were created around the same time as the poem was written. Implications for "hands held in mine?" Obviously I'll revisit the poem someday)

And maybe the poem/song is just about the grief experience of a man who lost his loved one. Conventional.

There are zero covert messages in anything I have posted on this thread.

I do not do Sudoku, rather I do mental exercises like what I did with this poem, to try and keep my brain gears working.
This time, I shared.

Congrats to the Celtics, go Boston!

Disclaimer: I've never watched a basketball game and hold zero team biases. (edited to add, we all know I watched the Globetrotters once as a kid, but I hardly remember!)

Edited to add: Here are additional ideas.
- If it's about two adult lovers, then the gender/sexual identity has been assumed as traditional. The poem could have been written by a gay male or a lesbian, about their significant other.
- It could be something akin to an 'audio short' version of Romeo and Juliet ('forever').
- It could be about a mother grieving for her daughter. The daughter may have passed from either sickness, starvation, warfare, domestic violence, or herbal abortion (blackthorn).
Remove assumptions of gender and sexual orientation and it seems like there are six possible (re)interpretations for the poem, or perhaps better expressed as 'layers of understanding.'

The phrase "stretched at your head" could have between three and twelve (or more) possible interpretations. The minimum groupings are physical, mental and geographic. Everything I've expressed about this poem may be a stretch, it's simply considering every possibility.

Edited to add:
With anonymous poems, especially ones with potential political implications, it seems reasonable that nationality/language of the author cannot be proven or assumed.
Regarding this poem, Irish, English, Scottish, Italian, Spanish and perhaps Latin seem most reasonable possibilities for language of composition.
What could the implications be on meaning, if it was crafted using a different language?
Or if it was crafted in Irish, by a fluent 'Irish as an additional language' speaker?
And to think in 'author' is a fallacy, because so often great written work is made by writers/collaboration.

The poem is recorded as having been authored before the Romantic era, yet a conventional reading of the poem perfectly expresses/represents it.
At the very least there's likely preservation and education bias at work.

[Ellsworth]

I do not know anyone on my mother's side of the family,
in any significant way.

I am not a part of their family business /businesses
I do not attend their important life events.

The last was a funeral, over 20 years ago.
Before that, a wedding, about 40 years ago.

I did not grow up wealthy or attend an ivy league school.
It could be said my mother did, but there would be a lot of qualifiers in the explanation.

My father spent his most formative young years living on a Native American Reservation.
My mother was born in a different country and spent her early years there.
Yet I cannot claim to be a second generation immigrant.

What does this have to do with a thread about Bruce Lee and martial arts?

Years ago I owned a vehicle, it's head gasket was failing.
It had been parked in front of a friend's shop awaiting repair, scrap or donation (it was an older, high mileage vehicle).

It had been there a long time, long enough to show up on google maps street view.
It was a major street pretty close to facilities owned by Tesla, Space X, Blue Orgin, Microsoft, Google.
Lots of experimental cars with self drive systems whiz around the area.

One morning I am awoken by texts and phone calls, my vehicle had been stolen over the course of the night.
So I was busy dealing with that issue for the first hour of my morning.
When I had time to relax a little I used my phone to look at the news.

One of my cousin's names was in the headlines.
Over the course of that very same night, his California privacy initiative had been 'stolen' by big tech.
A watered down compromise was reached with the State Legislature, "problem solved!"

I had zero awareness that he was involved in politics. He, and that side of the family, sure weren't part of my life thought process.

I've spent more than a few hours in the subsequent years contemplating the flaws in Occam's Razor.

Occam's Razor dictates that the theft was random. Spurred by the desire for a joyride. Or the desire to chop a vehicle for parts.
The flaws in Occam's Razor (dictate? imply? create the possibility that) there are many other possibilities.

I mostly pretend to be like Alfred E. Neuman regarding this issue and 'don't worry.'
Crap happens, crap doesn't happen, that's life and old age.

[Ellsworth]

What Bruce Lee lacked, in those early Seattle days, and in that multicultural group of friends, was a Native American.
The closest thing he had, was my Father.*

One of the things I admire about Bruce, he was an inherently multicultural expression at a time when the world needed it.

*I do not mean to imply that my father's experience was equivalent to that of a Native American resident.
I'd say that he thought deeply about the experience and had a lifetime of growing understanding/appreciation/respect for the People.
It is implied that finding a Native American at the UW in 1961 might have been difficult, much less one wanting to obsess over martial arts.

Edited to add:

I won't add a thousand words of not enough, but I'll add more than two.
Consider...
A Chinese guy and a Japanese guy in the early 1960's.
A black guy and a white guy, in the early 1960's
A latino in that mix.
They also broke economic barriers, some were doing ok, some were scraping by.
Arguably 7 nations: China (imperial), China CCCP, Britain, Japan, Mexico (respectful guess), America, and where Jesse Glover's ancestors came from.

It's very possible that I'm missing some things that should be added to the above list(s).
I'm not a Bruce Lee historian / expert. I simply think and I try to think simply.

[Ellsworth]

The one person, that I currently find most comparable to Bruce Lee:

Greta Thunberg.

Feel free to ponder the question with me: What are the similarities and differences between an opera singer and a professional dancer?

[Ellsworth]

I'll add one more, and I'll try to do it with one line.

'If you want to see the fight in 3 dimensions, then imagine it happening on Penn and Teller's Fool Us.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93gcf30R2hY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8GEGEqVECQ

One should not find disrespect in that, only more respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-QSNwc3lk
Edited to add: I was unaware that Brooke Burke was part of the show. I got confused and thought she took over as host (heck I still don't know).
But, since on the subject... Ordinarily a person can google a 'celebrity's name + IQ' and and get a result with a number.
I dub that the 'Ashton Kutcher effect.' I can't find an IQ estimate for Brooke Burke. I would guess it's 140 or above.

Clearly I am not the first to contemplate the physics of the 1" punch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHYkNlsxPs

Addendum, zero disrespect intended for Steven Ho by posting that Conan link.
The height difference between him and Conan illustrate, in an exaggerated way, the principles of physics and biomechanics involved.
Hit the belt and Conan will hinge. But the problem is, no one can hit that dancing Coco!
The psychological aspects, you can think through for yourself.
And fwiw, I only locked onto my understanding within the last couple years.
The whole thing caught me by surprise and without a lot of lived experience I'd have missed it.

Would this post had been better if it was literally, just the sentence and nothing else except the first two links?
'If you want to see the fight in 3 dimensions, then imagine it happening on Penn and Teller's Fool Us.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93gcf30R2hY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8GEGEqVECQ

[Ellsworth]

Here's a thought that has been developing over the last two days:

I know nothing about this source (the poster or the forum). I found it yesterday while trying to verify that Leroy Garcia is Latino-American.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bruc...t5143-s10.html

I'll paraphrase post #16 from that thread.
'In an article from the late 1980's, some guy said that folks thought Bruce was crazy for shooting pigeons in the middle of a city.'

I personally don't recall reading such an article, no surprise, so I'll take it at face value (the article exists, the paraphrase is faithful).

To me, having known some of the people involved, with my understanding of that window in time and a broader historical context, the paraphrased story became a reference and then it became a lesson.

The key: Passenger Pigeons.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...senger-pigeon/

By the end of the lesson a person should understand it contains elements that could be used as metaphors, by any number of factions.

[Ellsworth]

I once drove dang near from Portland to Seattle on I-5, at 35 mph.
Slow lane, hazards on.
Sunny and clear day, AC on, tunes on low.

On my trailer was a large Delta floor drill press.
I had not moved a lot of floor presses prior to that.
I knew the basics, and it was strapped down solid.

That whole trip, I went exactly as fast as I felt comfortable.
Every semi truck that passed me, surely appreciated the telegraph of my hazard lights.
As I approached Seattle, I think I heard a few yell "Don't leave Ballard again!"

The drive made me contemplate a concept:
'Balancing an upside down pendulum.'

Edited to add:
The ticket would have likely read "Impeding traffic."
I'd probably have to tell the judge, "I'd rather plead on impeding, versus vehicular manslaughter."
That's half a joke, but surely you get the point.

Edited to add:
The issue was the used trailer was newish to me.
I didn't have a lot of experience with torsion axles, they are bouncy.
Tossing on an extra 1000 lb of ballast before leaving the house would have solved my speed limit problem.

[Ellsworth]

Google: "general non-violence" "fight or flight"
Google: "general nonviolence" "fight or flight"

At a glance, there's no formal, modern system of none-violence.

Not one that addresses/includes/honors the current scientific understanding of human biological driven responses.
Not one that incorporates aspects of Animal Liberation Theology (or that seems to debate if aspects ought to be included).
Not one that tries to be highly compatible with modern mental health principles (takes into account, fits within the framework, uses as justification, et cetera).

I do not know if any of the above are necessary for the pursuit, but they could potentially contribute to an understanding.

[rckclmbr428]

The only thing violence ever solved was conflict