Well-timed Humbling Experience

Whenever I think I’m getting somewhere with Tai Chi, somebody – usually my teacher Patricia – comes along and gives me a good knocking.

Same thing happened the other day in New Orleans! I was out on the Riverfront Green doing HunYuan Chen Style Taijiquan yesterday, as usual, when I noticed a guy standing nearby watching me. I could tell at a glance that he had mastered the art - they always look with open, friendly expressions.

I should mention that, over the years, lots of people have watched for a few seconds as they go on by, running, biking or whatever. And once, another Taiji practitioner actually joined me on the green for a session. But we ignored each other and just did our own thing, and then went on our separate ways without a backward glance. He was much better than I was and I hoped he would return, but he never did. I read somewhere that if you work out long enough out in the park, other Taiji people will eventually join in and soon you have something going.
Well, this morning it was different. I realized instantly that my observer was a high-level martial artist, and he in turn could see that I was still quite new to the art. As I went through Feng’s Hunyuan 48- form, I tried to settle down, relax, unblock, qi, focus, yi…

But it was no use. I made a mess of the form. I was so embarrassed! But when I finished and turned to leave, he addressed me as a fellow student of Taijiquan.

I told him that I was a beginner. Only 10 years. He responded that we are all beginners at Taijiquan. Would I like to see a few seconds of his form? I sure did! So he began, and I instantly recognized the movements of a great master of the martial art - he made it look easy! I felt humbled, mesmerized and eager to learn from this fellow, although time was short. Gerry would be popping over within minutes to collect me for our morning walk to fetch the newspaper***.

We exchanged introductions and talked. It turns out that Ron Panunto has been studying martial arts for the past 35 years and, for the last 15, he has been teaching Tai Chi, all styles - Chen, Yang, Wu and other martial arts. As we spoke, I realized that he deeply understood Taiji concepts and that he pronounced them with well-practiced Mandarin. I’ve been too lazy to study Mandarin but should have a firm understanding by now of Taiji basics – not just pronounced correctly but actually applied. I needed to meet this guy.

He pointed out several key problems I have and quickly put me on course to improve my structure and form, helping me grasp internals that I’ve been working on for years! I learned more in 5 minutes from this guy than I have working out on my own for the last 3 years. It was a humbling experience – I have a lot of work to do! And there I was fantasizing about going to Beijing and training with Feng!
Thank you Ron! Your 5 minutes gave me lots of work to do!

If you live near the Philadelphia area and want to study Tai Chi with somebody who has not only mastered the art but can convey the teaching, check out Ron Panunto.

***I should mention that hubby Gerry often watches me do the form, wherever we are in the world. He’s my hero! One time, we were just out walking in the square in Managua when two thugs attacked us! One knocked me down and I could hear Gerry just kicking and punching and sending them both flying! When it comes to safety, I look to Gerry more than anything I could do with Tai Chi – even though I practice a martial art. I still can’t fight when attacked. Thank God for Gerry!

Meanwhile, New Orleans is under threat from the oil spill. More areas were closed to shrimping today.

We watch ‘Treme’ on HBO, Sunday nights at 9 p.m. and recognize a lot of people in the show: Derrick Freeman, Kermit Ruffins, Troy Andrews, John Boutte and many others. We also recognize well-known New Orleans characters, played by actors like John Goodman. This is a New Orleans story and we are riveted! Remember the first season of ‘24’? ‘Treme’ is another world, equally as riveting. It is recent history unfolding – and everything just comes back.

The Word is Out

The Word is Out: I am New Orleans’ Biggest Party Pooper

Shot of Margaret, Beth and me in New Orleans.

Margaret and Joe Bellah, Beth and Greg Crane, Jon and Abby all discovered this during the course of their visits to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. The Cranes and the Bellahs joined us for the first Jazz Fest Weekend – Beth celebrating her birthday, Margaret celebrating retirement, all of us enjoying a wonderful reunion not achieved since the old days in Costa Rica. Our old friends planned their trips separately and only later discovered that, by some wonderful coincidence, the visits overlapped. We were all in town together! We tried to coax Nina and Ross to join us but it was all too last minute – this nana of six needs a bit more notice to just go traipsing off to New Orleans with old pals!


Shot of me and Beth on roof.

We had a wonderful time together, and also apart, as our friends explored all over New Orleans.

Another coincidence – everybody scheduled trips during Jazz Fest. We accompanied our visitors most days but had the first rainy day of the Festival to ourselves – where we found ourselves huddling under a rickety Daiquiri tent (daiquiris in hand, of course) for 3 hours, sheltering from the torrential rains threatening to collapse the overhead tarpaulin cover, which was collecting too much water. The guys kept pushing up at it with their umbrellas, hurling great waves of water cascading down the open sides. But we were very well organized – two of the guys held off the waterfalls with open umbrellas to their backs, gallantly keeping the water from reaching the rest of us inside.

Who were we? Why, 30-some people who’d just purchased daiquiris on our way to the Gentilly Stage when the sky opened up. So we parked ourselves temporarily under the tent and listened merrily, if a little damply, to the sounds coming from the stage. Coincidentally, we met a bunch of people from Michigan, and I must say that we had an absolute blast.

When the six of us went to the Festival on Sunday, there was a huge mucky bog in front of the main Acura Stage – as Beth and I found out a little too late! Yuck! But the crowd didn’t care; they were up and dancing in it! We sloshed over to the Blues Tent, the Jazz Tent, Congo Square, the Economy Hall, and so on and on, until we went home mucky and tired but having enjoyed a great day. However, the party was just getting started all over town. Knowing that all the restaurants would be filled to overflowing, we had smartly made reservations a few days earlier at GW Finns, where the six of us feasted on fresh grilled shrimp and the best fish you can find anywhere. That was, of course, before the oil spill happened in the Gulf, making that memory one to cherish even more.

After dinner, the real action starts – you can hear your favorite local artists at small intimate venues (or large trashy ones, if you are so inclined) all over town – extremely important if you missed them at Jazz Fest. And the music goes on all night – the last act at Tipitina’s starts at 2 a.m.

Trouble is, being an early riser and feeling good at breakfast, I am always gung ho when Gerry reads off all the acts playing around town that night: Charmaine Neville at Snug Harbour, Kermit Ruffins at Vaughn’s, The Jazz Vipers at The Spotted Cat, etc. But then the time comes around – normal starting time is 10 p.m. – and, country hick that I am, I just kind of poop out by then and want to go to bed! Everybody stares at me in astonishment whenever I admit just wanting to go to bed, rather than to a club. Yesterday, in fact, several people from Obit just stared at me when I confessed to rising early. What on earth was I thinking? I’m in New Orleans…

Anyway, we still managed to do a lot during the day with our visitors – a street car to the Garden District, then all the way to Audubon Park and Tulane University – much lovely walking there. Yes, I know I had a blister that day and pooped out on that too…

The main message to Jazz Fest goers is, book your restaurants for dinner in advance or you will be disappointed.

When Abby and Jon arrived for the second week-end of Jazz Fest, we got very lucky with a cancellation at Brigstens. More rain arrived also, but we didn’t let that slow us down – at least not during the day. We heard Abby’s brother-in-law, Derrick Freeman, sing and play drums at Jazz Fest with Kermit Ruffins at Congo Square. They must have recorded Derrick’s performance, because we heard him sing it again on the bus ride going home. They then performed again on stage at Rock ‘n Bowl, starting around midnight. We got there around 10 and almost managed to bowl despite the crowds (in fact, we actually started before getting thrown off the lane by the people who had reserved it…). Great music and dancing. Lots of booze. However, I couldn’t make it to midnight to watch Derrick perform with Kermit. So, poor Gerald took me home by taxi. The secret is out: Biggest Party Pooper in New Orleans!

Now for a change of topic and mood. An oil rig exploded out in the Gulf of Mexico and we watched news reports of the search for eleven missing workers (sadly, never found). Then the focus turned to the oil spill – gushing from nearly a mile down below the surface of the sea. It was, and still is, causing high levels of stress as everyone waits, oil pouring inexorably into the Gulf, day by day creeping closer to the shore. Oyster, shrimp, and general fishing are all stopped, and the prohibition area is expanding each day.

Another catastrophe is creeping towards New Orleans. But the best minds are now focused on capping, sealing, relief drilling, burning, etc.
But no, you cannot smell oil in the air in New Orleans, no matter what the news channels say. It’s as if the disaster unfolding close to the south-eastern coast of Louisiana was happening somewhere far off – that shape expanding day by day like an amoeba.

We love this town with a passion and are bracing for the worst, while hoping for the best – first floods and now oil (in Costa Rica it was landslides and fires!). If this contraption they now have to contain the oil works, the whole team will be hailed as heroes. And we need heroes in this world right now.