Darlene Pineda

via Facebook... I am in total awe. "Naziyah Mahmood is a woman of contradictions.She was a scientist for the European Space Agency, an artist and soon to be published writer/poet. Also, she is a deadly martial artist and weapons collector while being a peace loving woman of faith. Naziyah has overcome a tough upbringing and disability to become an academic of excellence……who can also kick your butt." "We’ve practiced many other martial arts to develop ourselves. We’ve trained together in empty hand arts such as Ba gua and Xing Yi (Quan) Aikido, Hapkido, Taekwondo and Tai Chi. Also on the pressure point arts, Dimmak, Fa Jin, Kyusho Jitsu and the internal martial arts; Qigong and Gicheon. For me though, the weapons arts are one that I especially love. I’ve enjoyed working on the Chinese Jian and Dao as well as the Nunchuku and the Korean twin swords.My favourite weapons (to train with) are the Jingum (Korean Steel single edged sword) and the Mokkum (it’s wooden counterpart) but the one sword that is most personal to me is a particular Japanese Katana. I’m a bit of a sword collector and historian. In fact my room is covered with them. My mum hates coming in there as it looks like she’s going into an armoury! I’ve got all sorts of weapons."

Darlene Pineda

via Facebook... *flips table* We suck these people in with promises of glory and, to be fair, secure jobs in a crappy economy. And we break them into tiny pieces. And all the king's horses and all the king's men don't even try to put them back together again...

Darlene Pineda

via Facebook... Yes, but this especially: " In other words, while I don’t identify with Craig Hicks’s murderous actions, at some level I must take ownership of what he has done because he identifies with my community. " That. It matters.