You Can Do It

Lately, been suffering from a lot of confidence issues lately due to a lot of recent changes in activities, friends, and my career path and have taken a lot of time to reflect about what I've done for a quarter century. This past weekend, I went camping with my “sword fighting” group called the “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society”. On these camping trips, we play our “nerd foam fighting combat game” during the day, and eat, drink, and be merry around campfires at night. I usually have a group to camp with, but most of my close friends from Davenport, Iowa were unable to attend this event. I want to feel like I’m worthy of success and fitting in. When I told a bunch of my friends I had nowhere to camp this event, they all welcomed me with open arms and even offered to setup my tent. Aside from knowing I'm an accepted part of the Belegarth community, I have 2 really good friends at home to help me realize I’m never alone. I was even able to successfully meet new people, which I was proud of.

I also took a recent leap of faith, which has been on my mind for quite some time. I decided I no longer want to continue on the career path I chose in college, Web Development. To also confirm that decision, I’ve somehow been phased out of all my committees and leadership positions within the IT field. There was even a conference I was recently supposed to volunteer for, a place for college students pursuing technology could network and find career and certification opportunities. They for some reason stopped contacting me. I also departed from 9 to 5 land, the place that kept my wallet safe and gave me a springboard to figure out what I want to do with my life. Now, I have turned into “Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver”, rideshare driver at large hoping my blog of the same name or other projects of mine get noticed. My blood family doesn’t necessarily support my decision, but my real friends call me brave. I’m aware dreams come in baby steps and not overnight. You have to work gradually to achieve your goals. Every time I question whether or not I’m capable of attaining success when I feel down, I always flashback to how I was able to earn my black belt for Shotokan karate. The test of physical and mental strength was quite the strenuous fiend.

December 5, 2015 quickly approached. I spent all day at home relaxing, practicing a little, refreshing my memory on Japanese terminology, picking up my gi, and picking up one of my roommates from work thanks to him being oh so kind enough to watch my exam. When I arrived at the testing venue, I frantically applied my essential body oils for mental balance that I rub behind my ears and topically for medicinal benefits, chugged water, and waited to be placed in line to test. I was of course the oldest one in my testing session, but that’s because being a 20 something isn’t a very popular demographic in my karate club. I ended up having to test among kids who were about 15-16 years old when I’m supposed to test with people 15-35 years old. While I was waiting for my name to be called, since there were less people than usual in my testing group, I was to either test in front of the dojo owner or test for the most senior instructor who I tested in front of when I tested poorly prior to taking a 5.5 year karate hiatus at the end of my junior year in high school. Testing for the senior instructor would be my redemption to show him how much I’ve grown in the 7+ years since the last time I saw him. When my name was called, it was no surprise to I’d have to test in front of the senior instructor.

It was time to kick some ass and take some names. I took a deep breath and waited in my ready stance for the test to start. “Downward block assume!” was called. The fire was lit. As we were doing warm up punches and kicks down the floor, of course my contact decided to almost fall out; doing front kicks forward and backward down the floor while having one functioning eye felt like a half blind man trying not to bump into walls. My contact eventually popped back in. The proctor called, “Inward block reverse punch”; “Downward block reverse punch”; “Knife hand block”; “Front kick, spear hand thrust”. I was desperate for water and gasping for air. It also felt weird when the judges were staring at my loud breathing, but I’d rather be breathing loud than not show any fighting spirit. My “kiai” spirit yells were louder than the sound of hearing a firetruck siren from your house. Once the basics portion of the test was done, it was time to do our katas. Before beginning the kata, you announce the name of what you're performing; “Bai Sai Dai”, channeled from my heart through my mouth. The executed kata was successful. Next, it was time for the colored belt katas. Thankfully, we had to do these katas for the tournaments; I completely spaced on having to do those katas for the first degree brown belt going on black belt test… oops! “Heian Godan” gets called and it went very well too of course. After katas were performed, it was time for target tests, to see if we could punch a target and escape in time and kick a target. I hit the focus mitt with as much drive as I could with plenty of accuracy. Once the target tests were over, we were asked Japanese terms and needed to execute the move corresponding to the Japanese term called out. “Kosa Dachi”; “Shuto Uke”; “Mawashi Geri”. All of those were called out correctly. We were then asked how many classes we attended, if we went to any tournaments, and if we went to the kickathon service event fundraiser to raise money for charities involving helping sick children. For the final portion of the test, it was time to do one point sparring, meaning each person goes to the front of the line and does a block/counter technique to the person throwing the attack. When it came my turn, I was luckily presented with opportunities to catch people’s round kicks, spin them around, and followup with a punch. By the time the test was over, my legs were ready to collapse faster than an olympic sprinter who just won first place.

The day after the exam, it was time to receive my results. I arrived at my class, and it was announced in front of everyone by the instructor I had growing up as a child that I had earned my black belt. I pictured myself in my dreams crying my eyes out in the middle of class, but instead, I wasn't surprised. It took me about 8+ years to earn my black belt. Victory is mine and I am now worthy of the official title of badassery! If I am capable of earning my black belt, I am capable of achieving my dreams with hard work and passion by my side.

Open Mic Nite Performance Of "The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill"

My performance of "The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill", which took place on August 12, 2015 at the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park, Chicago.

For approximate words in this piece, click here!

Enjoy!

The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill 2015

Where on earth can you go to find a bunch of nerds dressed in medieval costumes hitting each other with foam weapons, see the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine McParty Bus, a super cool person spending well over a grand on an open bar for almost 200 people, camping, fizzball, fire art, monster characters, random pirate songs and tons of singing, a random mediocre cover band, a bullywog wedding, a lake to go swimming, camaraderie, happiness, a party that puts college parties to shame, and way too many mosquitos for your own good?

Welcome to the world of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society, a group of open-minded nerds who enjoy beating the snot out of each other with sticks all in good fun.

On August 7-9, 2015, the realm of Dunharrow hosted a weekend event near Kankakee, IL called “Kill, Grill, and Chill”.

After packing at the last minute as usual and getting off of work a little late on Friday night, I headed to the event at eventually o’clock pm to finally meet up with my friends from Iowa who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Thankfully by the time I arrived, the cover band was still playing and I hadn’t missed anything. After I finish getting ready to go wandering around the campgrounds for the night, I am first introduced to the lovely fellow who spent over 1500 dollars to provide an open bar for the entire event population. I created my drink-a-riffic concoction and proceeded to wander some more. I witnessed lots of pirate singing and embarked on several adventures to get myself ready for the main day. Of course, I decided to stay up until 5:15am. Oops!

Five hours of sleep and waking up in my car covered in sweat later, I turned on my battery-powered fans to cool down, and got ready for the day. After a random adventure to a KFC/Taco Bell, I changed into my fighting garb (uniform) and went off to battle.

Once it cooled down and fighting ceased, it was time for fizzball. One episode of debauchery singing of the Star Spangled Banner later, several teams of 3 who created their own baseball bats took the “field”. The opposite team pitched and you had to bust open 3 beer cans and whoever busted their cans into the most pieces wins, in nutshell. If you get an “out” (3 strikes), you have to chug your beer. If you cleanly sheared the top part of the can off, you would win bonus points. No running or bases are a part of this game of craziness. It was super epic and I’d like to give it a shot next time.

After fizzball and a ceremony to let newer fighters into my realm, it was time for feast and wandering into the night. At the pavilion of magicness, another open bar awaited. Even the “mundanes” (regular non-belegarth people at the campground) wanted to join in on the fun. Just outside the pavilion, a fire is roaring, drums and music are played, and a fire hooper and fire breathers perform their arts. The bullywogs, aka the frog people, had a wedding and smashed a watermelon.  After awhile, I decide to wander off with a new Chicago friend I met who just so happened to be the driver of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine McParty Bus. A bunch of people wandered in and out of this old fixed-up and painted public transit mini bus that looked like a giant van; it had lights and a pretty stellar sound system. Plenty more craziness and singing later, it was time to hope I didn’t acquire west nile virus when going to the bathroom because the mosquitos began to get nasty during the middle of the night. By the end of the night, it was me, a different super tall friend of mine, and three mundanes in the pavilion at 5:30 in the morning. Once they were too tired and wanted to go to bed, I begin to head back to my friend’s tent to crash as I run into two of my Iowa friends driving around the campground. I end up getting in the car with them and chilling until morning.  At that point, I ended up pulling an allnighter. Once everyone packed and split, I ended up going to get food with my Iowa friends and drove home. At least the weather held until cleanup time again. Thank you Kill, Grill, and Chill for being another successful event and to Belegarth for continuing to be a such an accepting and welcoming environment where I could be my colorful and flowery self to be able to spread positivity and joy to all. I’m going to go hibernate in my bed for awhile. DUNHAROOOOOOOOW!!!

If you’re interested in feasting in this fun old time, feel free to check out the following Chicago area (city and suburbs) practice locations which are currently active:

The realm (practice area) of Galahad practices on Saturdays from 3-6pm at the at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt (by Columbia College)
Facebook Page: Morva; Galahad Medieval Combat Society

The realm (practice area) of Yggdrasil practices on Thursdays from 7-9pm in Oz Park (by DePaul University, 2021 N. Burling St., Chicago, IL, 60614, 10 minute walk from the Fullerton Red/Brown/Purple line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Yggdrasil Belegarth Realm


The realm (practice area) of Esgaroth practices on Sundays from 3-6pm at Foster Avenue Beach (5200 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60640, by the Berwyn/Bryn Mawr Red line)

Facebook Page: Morva; Esgaroth Belegarth Realm

Chicago Area Belegarth Practices

The realm (practice area) of Galahad practices on Saturdays from 3-6pm at the at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt (by Columbia College)
Facebook Page: Morva; Galahad Medieval Combat Society

The realm (practice area) of Yggdrasil practices on Thursdays from 7-9pm in Oz Park (by DePaul University, 2021 N. Burling St., Chicago, IL, 60614, 10 minute walk from the Fullerton Red/Brown/Purple line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Yggdrasil Belegarth Realm

The realm (practice area) of Esgaroth practices on Sundays from 3-6pm at Foster Avenue Beach (5200 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60640, by the Berwyn/Bryn Mawr Red line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Esgaroth Belegarth Realm

The realm (practice area) of Nightfort practices Sundays at 4:00pm to 7:30pm (or sundown/too many bugs) at Citizen’s Park, 511 Lake Zurich Rd, Barrington, IL 60010 (weather permitting) from approximately May-October. Winter and bad weather practices are at the Village Church of Barrington, 1600 E. Lake Cook Rd, Barrington, IL 60010
Facebook Page: Nightfort: Belegarth Medieval Combat Society

The realm (practice area) of Dunharrow practices on Tuesdays from 5pm to sundown at Wing Park, 1000 Wing St., Elgin, IL 60123
Facebook Page: Dunharrow, BMCS

The realm (practice area) of Obsidian Hollow practices on Saturdays from 2-5pm at Big Sky (Ken Carpenter) Park, 600 Harvest Gate, Lake in the Hills, IL, 60156
Facebook Page: Obsidian Hollow

The realm (practice area) of Muxlovia practices on Saturdays from 5-8pm at the Bible Baptist Church of Romeoville, 301 W. Normantown Rd., Romeoville, IL 60446
Facebook Page: Muxlovia

The Warrior's Song

I have always been told how interesting and different I am, but this time it’s because I am a female warrior, foam fighter, and martial artist. I enjoy stepping on the battlefield and putting up a valiant fight; sometimes on the field, I am literally among several other guys, including ogres, and no other women. I may lack in physical size, but my speed, heart, and endurance make up for it. When you look into my eyes and see raging fire, and see my smile, the unicorns and rainbows, and giggles melt away, it’s time to say goodbye; anyone who crosses my path is toast. It’s game on!

It is now time for battle. My uniform is ready to go. My power levels soar through the roof and my agility will help me maneuver like a gracefully-ice skating ninja. Yes, they are well over 9000. I have my battle cry ready, my mental images of me defeating my opponent intact, and all of my built up stamina behind me; my energies and spirits are higher than a level 100 Pokémon who never gives up.

In karate, you hear the referee say “hajime!”, which is Japanese for “begin”.

In foam fighting, you hear the referee say “weapons up… lay on!”

Once I hear that, I take a deep breath and it’s off to fighting land, as I carry myself with my heart, pride, skill, stamina, and resilience. I obviously don’t win every battle I have, but in the end, it’s about giving it your all, having fun and bettering yourself with each fight. Especially with my medieval foam sword fighting, the object of the game is to have fun. As the Horde monster characters say, “if we have fun, Horde win!”

My battle cries and karate kiei's come from within my heart. I've been doing Shotkan karate for about 8 years and currently wear a belt 1 shade away from black; I am one test away from achieving the ultimate goal, and will hopefully get there around X-Mas time. Fortunately, this bowl of cool sauce translates into foam fighting and back very well!

Being a warrior doesn’t just mean being good at fighting. The foam fighting craziness is more than just whacking each other with foam swords. It’s about finding yourself, finding your style, and finding your family. Being the only girl (or pretty close) doesn’t matter because everyone treats you as a person. It’s like saying a man and a woman are people in the same way red and blue are colors. No one will go easy on you, but out of respect for women being physically smaller than men, they won’t totally wail on you. I am a warrior not just to stand up for myself or claim how strong I am, but I am a womanly warrior to represent other females afraid to enter male-dominated activities and battles.

In the midst of battle, I will sing my warrior’s song; after battle, I will sing kumbaya next to a campfire with my friends and family and enjoy the loveliness . Who cares if being a warrior isn’t exactly the highest activity on the social scale. In battle and nerd-dom, we come from all walks of life, such as computer programmer, teacher, lawyer, businessperson, office worker, and much more. We are all people looking to unite in commonality and camaraderie. If you are interested in seeing more of this foam fighting coolness I speak of, our next meeting is at 3pm until sundown on Foster Avenue Beach on Sunday. Search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” and “Morva” on Facebook. I can’t wait to see your lovely faces get down to fight and have some fun! Cheers to fighting, fun, and being a female warrior!

The Unconventional Sport

Note, this is based on a fantasy, but all information is 100% real! What live action game can you call a “sport”, call garb a “uniform”, hit people with foam weapons, and be a giant nerd?

Um….. The adventures of Dankey Kang mcZorldo?

NOPE!

It's called "Belegarth”!

What the…?!?!?!? Is this LARPing?

Not really… there are other live action battle games similar to this, such as “Dagorhir”, “Nero”, and “Amtgard” that contain more LARP-ing aspects than Belegarth, but this is simply a combat game with foam-padded weapons. Even though this game is based off of Dungeons and Dragons with lots of sprinkles of fantasy, I can best compare this to an extension of point sparring in martial arts. Yes, I am also a martial artist and have been studying Shotokan Karate collectively for about 8 years. Most LARPing and lore (also known as “battle or character stories”) are a part of the community and done off to the side.

When I was living at home, my parents would always give me this weird look whenever I’d be dressed up in my garb to go to practice or have new weapons shipped to their house (because you can build or buy them). They’d be like “OMG LARP”. Eventually, I ignored their making fun of me attitude and they eventually had to accept the fact that this is something I love! Too bad for them and any other haters!

Whenever I tell people I do this “Belegarth” thing, I generally refer to it as “Medieval Combat Club” or “Medieval Foam Sword Fighting” or just sword fighting. Since the vast majority of the population has no idea what this is, I get plenty of questions. Another one of my favorites is, “is this based off of role models”? The answer to that question is “I guess”, because it will at least give people some sort of reference to draw a visual image to. The atmosphere is very “renaissance faire” like. There is no jousting though…

Well, how do you play?

In short, you can use up to two one-handed weapons or one two-handed weapon and a shield. Weapons consist of swords, bats, warhammers, axes, daggers, spears, giant swords, bow/arrows, and much more. There are other projectiles you can use such as javelins even a knitted rock shaped like a one-up mushroom. While dressed in garb and carrying around your fighting name (mine is Maron), yourself, your weapons, and your optional armor and/or helmet, enter into battle. If you hit two limbs (arms/legs) with sufficient force, hit the same limb two consecutively quick times with sufficient force, or hit in the torso, back, or butt, you “die”, meaning you are out until the next round (which generally isn’t more than a few minutes) or lose the fight, depending on whether or not you’re sparring with one other person or in a larger battle. This game is also based on the honor system, so take your hits people! There are also “heralds” (the referees) who ensure no one is cheating, and everyone is playing safely. Weapons are also checked to ensure they are properly padded and safe for combat. We don’t want anyone getting hurt… Also, make sure to wear safety glasses. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting permanent eye damage because of arrows… Eeeeewwwww!

Growing up, I was decently athletic and always involved in sports (on top of my 8 years of martial arts experience), such as fencing, track, and I could even consider Dance Dance Revolution and marching band a sport. You don’t have to be athletic or in super amazing shape to participate, though it’s nice to feel super nimble. I started doing this lovely activity with 60 extra pounds on me and was still able to play just fine. I even met someone who helped me get rid of the weight through Belegarth. How awesome is it to meet people in some “different” type of community who can help transform your life?

I also get asked if there are tournaments, winners, or losers. My best answer to that question is as long as you’re having fun, you win. You may not win the particular battle, but you still win in general. Tournaments are like Easter eggs in video games. They generally are hosted by someone at a national “event” (which can take place during an entire day or a long weekend).

Events don’t take place all the time, but they’re not too difficult to find. For example, there is a weekend event this weekend called “Armageddon”, which I am attending. For a day event, it’s generally hosted in a gym or large outdoor space and you fight, chat, and hang out for about 6 hours. Most of the time there is a feast afterwards consisting of tasty noms such as chili, kebabs, beef barley soup, and anything else that’s quite delicious (and always homemade). There are also after parties sometimes too, which are like adult versions of college parties where people know how to handle themselves and not act obnoxious. Armageddon and other events of the sort are weekend events, in which you go camping, fight, be merry, and be off the grid. It’s definitely nice to get away from responsibility and commitment land for awhile!

If you’re interested in joining this group of epic nerddom, the closest practice to here is Foster Avenue Beach on Sundays at until around sundown or when people are done for the night. You can search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” on facebook, or “Morva” on facebook to find out information and updates about the practices. Belegarth is even cool enough to have Fox News come out and record us doing our thing in Elgin tomorrow (6-2-15) at Wing Park at if anyone is really interested in seeing what we’re all about. I hope to see you lovely people come out and fight, nerd up, and be merry!

Here is the awesomeness that happened on June 2 that was on Fox News: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/clip/11584227/hundreds-gather-in-elgin-park-get-medieval-in-live-action-role-play

Enjoy your adventures in nerd town!

From Black Sheep to Pink Wolf

After my college years, I transformed from the black sheep to the pink wolf as a young lady searching for my identity.

I feel like I don’t mention this too much anymore, but I’m an identical twin. I finally found my identity just before turning 21 when I went to Israel in January, 2012. I attended a Jewish group trip called “Birthright” for about 2 weeks with my sister. We were basically attached at the hip our entire lives, but I began separating from my sister because she convinced her crew to dislike me; I decided to not deal with it anymore. When we went to the Western Wall, I put my entire body against the small section of the wall reserved for women. I cried to God, praying I would be able to reveal what I masked my entire life.

Prior to the trip, in college, I served as the secretary of the IT department club during my junior year and reached a point of almost quitting the club. After the trip, two months later, I knew I had a laundry list of club-improvement ideas and ultimately decided to run for president. To my confidence-lacking disbelief, I won the election to serve as president for my senior year. My sister didn’t attend any meetings during my term as president. This was the first time when people began to see me as “Rebecca” and didn’t even know I had a twin, despite having the same major and attending the same school. No more being called “Duxler”, “Duxlers”, “Dux”, “Dux Trux”, “Duxler Twins”, anything else associated with my last name, and my favorite, “Rachel”. No more feeling like I was stuck under my sister’s shadow. I was finally liberated and could start being myself without fear of ridicule.

During my term as club president, I excelled, began getting noticed in the department as a standout, and even won some scholarships and awards along the way. On my last day of finals second semester senior year, I was given advice on how to handle finding my identity, how to attract people while being different, and how to survive living at home again post-graduation from a 37 year-old marine veteran. From that point on, the old me began to vanish.

After my commencement ceremony a couple days later, I had to move back home; my extracurricular involvement ceased due to school ending. Sadness struck. My only escapes were going to work, going home and sitting in my car to cry, or sitting in my room alone crying myself to sleep most of the time no thanks to the hostile environment from my parents. I was always the target of bullying from my immediate family, as well as some of my relatives. I was called fat all the time because I graduated college with some extra weight. I was put down and criticized for any existing reason. Anything my parents couldn’t take responsibility for, ranging from my dad’s ulcerative colitis flare-ups to misplaced car keys was my fault. I felt like my best friend was my laptop. This was the second most depressed I had been in my entire life.

Thankfully, my friend Josh was a lifeline to me. Around July 4, 2013 I asked him for advice on how to get out of this rut. He tells me, “hey I’m interning in the suburbs, you should come to my medieval combat club called “Belegarth” with me.” Without hesitation, I accepted his offer. I showed up in my work out clothes, was handed a foam sword and shield, and made my attempts to go fight. I did well on the field for my first practice ever and people were actually treating me well. After practice, we went to El Faro, some taco/Mexican food restaurant, to all hang out together. After Josh drove me back to my car, my heart told me this was something I would invest much of my time in… without my sister. My sister had always wanted to do activities separate from me. This time, it was my turn to make the separation call.

Fast forward to October, 2013, I went camping with Belegarth for the first time. Belegarth camping trips are called “events”, which generally last for a weekend or more. After getting a spear to the face during one of the line fights, the spearman apologized to me. Oddly enough, we realized we knew each other indirectly from high school fencing; he introduced me to his practice leaders, one of them being a man named Danny. Danny and I chatted for awhile and I would later grasp his initial reputation as someone who was super helpful and could fix physical ailments.

Around Thanksgiving that year, I asked for advice on how to handle more family abuse when I ran into him at a practice; he told me he was a holistic doctor, owned his own practice, and handed me a business card. We exchanged numbers, and I called his office the next day.

After being under his wing for about a year, I lost 60 pounds, my depression and anxiety weren’t overtaking me anymore, I sustained being able to live on my own, I finally fell in love, and I realized how wonderful Belegarth people truly are. Not only is Belegarth a place of healing for me, it is a place where I can be my whole self, be free from traumatic scenarios, truly realize my identity, and even dig deeper into the martial arts side of me.

Another very memorable Belegarth moment was actually off the field. Given my history of being bullied, at one of my camping events, I randomly encountered a lovely man named Chris at night. After talking to him, he told me he was surprised I was ever bullied. His compliment moved me to tears, and now he is one of my dearest friends in Belegarth.  To top it off, instead of people wanting to avoid me or pick on me, they are trying to find me on Facebook and hang out with me. People actually want to be my friend for who I am. Thank you Belegarth for being oh so sacred to me and for helping me transform from the black sheep who got picked on all the time to the pink wolf, my lovely and quirky-warrior self. Now, I’m just me, and that’s how I’ll always be!

The Belle Warrior

In the spirit of posting more content, I went to my first ever storytelling open mic (on 5-1-15) and what better story to tell than the happenings at a Belegarth camping event. This is basically an explanation of what a typical event day looks like in short story format from my (Maron's) point of view. Enjoy!

Since I live in Chicago, I have also posted the current locations and Facebook pages of the area practices (meetups). If it's your first time, we have loaner gear for you. Just show up in workout clothes and prepare to sweat :)

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Note: This story is based on a fantasy, but all of this is 100% true!

Maron has never been the typical face of society. As a pseudonym for the lady standing behind the mic, she stands for style and smiles, minus the sass. With her life being a large adventure consisting of being a poet, web developer, martial artist, sword fighter, chef, nerd, healthspirer, blogger, youtuber, warrior, musician, musical producer, singer, lyricist, short story artist, volunteer, comedian, photographer, dance game master, aspiring gameshow winner, novelist, teacher, mentor, public speaker, and now a story teller, for this segment, we shall delve into the land of nerdom, which connects with being a warrior, martial artist, and sword fighter. Maron is a full-fledged fighter despite over 80% of the combatant population being male. Oh well!

Welcome to the “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society”: A land where people wear medieval garb and whack each other with various foam weapons.

Well, what on earth is that? How is this even something remotely fun? It seems kind of… weird

Fun? The entire group revolves around foam, fun, fighting, friendship, family, and food! People from everywhere land (98% nationally) gather in one central location to enjoy the awesomeness!

This past weekend (April 23rd-26th), Maron had recently returned from “Spring Wars”, one of many “events” where several hundred people gather on a campground and camp, fight, socialize, and be merry for several days while enjoying being off the grid for a bit and not having to worry about adulting.

Maron arrived at YMCA Camp Abe Lincoln at approximately 10:30pm in Davenport, Iowa, aka smack dab in bu-fu nowhere, and went to “troll” aka check-in. She then entered the distant land of Selonia, aka her cabin, and set up shop, changed into her medieval garb, and went wandering for the night.

By the end of the very cold night, I ended up in “Hellhammer” camp in a circle talking about living in Chicago and taking the train.

The next morning, we all wake up at morning o’clock, which is generally between 8 and 10am because we don’t really check our phones or wear watches, take our foam weapons to “weapons check” to ensure safety and that the weapons meet the length/weight requirements and such, and you take them with you once they’ve been checked. Once your weapons are checked, make sure to eat some breakfast. It can span from a granola bar, cereal, eggs, lots and lots of bacon, coffee, tea, and you can even hit up Lady Feri, the food vendor, who sells the tastiest unhealthy indulgences ever, such as a bratwurst wrapped in a cheese quesadilla… Mmmmmm, fattening! Afterwards, you change into your “fighting garb” and prepare for the epic battles, which last for several hours. You can fight with a sword/shield, two swords, dagger, spear, two-handed sword, javelins, and even throw a “poke ball rock” (made of yarn) on someone’s head and win the fight against that person. After one of the days of fighting, there was a 5 man tourney, where Maron decided to join last minute with one of her fellow Selonians, two fellow Chicago folk, and a random newbie from Canada… Yes, people come to these things all the way from freeking Canada!

Next, it’s time to clean yourself up, change in to your feast garb, go to the “feast hall” (or tent), and eat even better than you can at home… unless you’re a chef like Maron is. This time, beef/vegetarian Chili and beef stew were served the first feast night and garlic/onion pork roast, pulled chicken cooked in a wood fire, ratatouille, and salad were served the second feast night. Mmmmmm, the tastiness!

Once feast has been served and cleaned up, it’s time to have some drinks and be merry… people even home-made their own beer, meade, apple pie drink, and much more. Maron’s palette of drink is always left smiling.

Since there is way more to these events than can be described in 7 minutes, for a small piece of nightlife pie, let’s just say that on Saturday night, Maron and the Selonians decided to adventure to “Pirate Camp”, the land off in the distant dark scary mudpit downhill maze past the scary, poisonous trees. Thankfully, the camp was able to be spotted easily because that’s where the main fire was. Drunken pirate songs were sung, cowbells were hit, jolly jolly grog was passed around, and fire spinners were spinning their fire sticks. After awhile, Maron had enough grog and wanted to go wander around some more until she encountered the Jesters Court, another group of fighters. One of the Selonians, named Flea, decided to wander with Maron and ended up in the Jester’s headquarters, located right next to some campfire and the crab shack, where Geyser was setup. Flea was a very sleepy Flea and decided to pass out in one of the Jester’s tents. Lots of conversations about history and the Children’s Crusade later, we needed to “flick Flea back to Sylas camp… or wherever”… hurmph… Shenanigans were definitely had in the Jester’s camp, but at least Maron and the Jesters ensured he got back to his bed safely!

As much as this story can expand forever and ever, if you’re interested in entering this fun-loving community and the best thing that has ever happened to Maron, there is actually a practice on Sunday from 3:30pm to sundown (weather permitting) on Foster Avenue Beach, 5200 N Lake Shore Drive off the Bryn Mawr Red Line. For more information, search for the facebook group “Morva” or “Esgaroth”. Hope to see you lovely people come out and fight and be merry sometime!

For other places to check out the Belegarth community, here are some other Chicago (and suburban) practices, all of which are currently active:

The realm (practice area) of Nightfort practices Sundays at 4:00pm to 7:30pm (or sundown) at Citizen’s Park, 511 Lake Zurich Rd, Barrington, IL 60010 (weather permitting) from approximately May-October. Winter and bad weather practices are at the Village Church of Barrington, 1600 E. Lake Cook Rd, Barrington, IL 60010

Facebook Page: Nightfort: Belegarth Medieval Combat Society

The realm (practice area) of Dunharrow practices on Tuesdays from 5pm to sundown at Wing Park, 1000 Wing St., Elgin, IL 60123

Facebook Page: Dunharrow, BMCS

The realm (practice area) of Obsidian Hollow practices on Saturdays from 2-5pm at Big Sky (Ken Carpenter) Park, 600 Harvest Gate, Lake in the Hills, IL, 60156

Facebook Page: Obsidian Hollow

The realm (practice area) of Galahad practices on Thursdays from 7-10pm at the Southeast corner of Michigan and Balbo in the Chicago Loop (near 829 S Wabash, Chicago, IL 60605)

Facebook Page: Morva; Galahad Medieval Combat Society

The realm (practice area) of Muxlovia practices on Saturdays from 5-8pm at the Bible Baptist Church of Romeoville, 301 W. Normantown Rd., Romeoville, IL 60446

Facebook Page: Muxlovia

What is Belegarth?

Yeah, I've been thinking about it all day, so why not write about it? Today's rantriffic mood will tell all! And yes, this is kind of long, but I'm a writer what can I say?

That moment when the word "belegarth" crosses your vocabulary in a sentence among a bunch of "normal" people… such as your 40+ year old coworkers in your oh so lovely corporate office job. Obviously at first, they're going to be like a deer in headlights, but that's the reaction that most people have when they see what we do.

So what the heck is this "belegarth" thing anyways?

Pronounced just like bel-garth, it's basically a medieval foam sword fighting buffer combat sport. Long story short, you're playing some crazy awesome game, trying to kill people (in the game of course), whacking each other with these foam weapons while dressed in medieval garb and possibly some armor… yes, it is legit armor. The people MAKE THESE THINGS THEMSELVES for crying out loud. The craftsmanship that goes behind things such as leather tooling is absolutely insane! I wish I could do that, but you can of course buy your gear too! The most intricate thing about this game is completely based on the honor system (there is a referee though).

When someone asks "is this LARPing"? Technically, the answer is no (belegarth doesn't specifically LARP, but you can do it on your own or there are closely related games, such as amtgard and nero, which are more along the lines of LARPing). To make it easier on people who probably don't want to listen to a rant, I just answer "yes", and they pretty much get it to an extent after that.

Inn case you're wondering why belegarth isn't necessarily LARPing, LARPing has a story to it while you're playing the game and belegarth you can do it on your own, but the only object of the game is to hit people! And it's a ton of fun!

When someone asks "do you just beat the crap out of each other", same as above, I just answer yes while of course giggling after I say it. But this so called "sport" represents a lot more than beating each other with foam weapons and wearing garb.

I've only been in it for a little over a year now, I've been to several mini events and 3 camping events, going on 4 (Ocfest yaaaayyyy!!! :D) and I can honestly say it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's also pretty gnarly that martial arts translates very well (thanks Shotokan Karate), and I've been doing that for about 7.5 years total now… with that plus my contact sports background, it at least gives me a little bit of a heads up. Martial arts experience or not, stepping on the field for the first time was scary and stepping on the national event field for the first time was so scary that I basically almost cried, but was happy that I managed to kill someone!

When I mention the honor system, you "admit" when you get hit. Your reputation carries throughout the game, which teaches you about life. Yes, you learn all of these super handy life skills that you could never imagine, such as vanilla extract and water to ward gnats off. I wouldn't have even thought of that. Not only that, but I've been able to very well utilize my fruitful amount of leadership experience to a great degree. There's even a "guild" that promotes leadership and service (which I of course joined). There's so many ways to get involved! In my opinion, it's better than any college party I've ever been to because people know how to handle themselves and aren't total dumb idiots. People watch each other's backs to ensure all safety. People also craft their own Meade, beer, apple pie drank, and other tasty concoctions (food and drink) and it's soooooo good unlike anywhere else. If you don't choose to partake in "those types of activities", no one will ever force anything upon you and is very respectful of your decisions. The camaraderie is amazing as well! Oh, and you're camping for days! ;)

But life skills is the least of it… it's the PEOPLE that makes this such a special place for me and probably thousands of other people all over the world. And in case you're wondering if there's a party and nightlife, absolutely yes there is!

What types of people even do belegarth? The honest answer is that nerds do it because the game is a fair neighbor to Dungeons and Dragons, and I would even degree that it has a close relationship to chess. Am I a nerd? Yeah, of course I am. I'm a freeking web developer, was in band from 5th grade throughout all of college, and the list goes on for a pretty long while. But I'm also a sorority girl… and not your typical young lady either. People from all walks of life join in this awesomeness and everyone is welcomed with open arms. That alone blows me away because I've never walked into a place on day 1 and been treated so well. These people are seriously the most genuine people I've ever met. When you live in a world of people who try to fit a certain mold, it's nice to have people who are actually comfortable being themselves… as am I. I've always been a nerd… I've always been different… but it takes a fair amount of confidence to enter this newfound world because it's nothing like you've ever seen before… but as I've been told, everything happens for a reason, just like joining belegarth.

They had a local realm (place to practice) where I went to college, but to me, and for most of society, they'd take a gander… just long enough for a short glance, and just continue walking. And that is exactly what I did for all 4 years of college. Most people see this as "weird" and would never even dare go in there. I was also pretty busy trying to graduate and get a job, but that's besides the point. My friend at school invited me to come practice a few times, but I was too busy with the over-involvement cycle I was already in, which meant that the timing wasn't right. With the strong desire for a new beginning and to get out of my post-graduation slump, another invite from the same friend was suddenly brought to my attention… my response this time? Sure, I'll give it a fair chance. I had never done it before and deemed that I had no right to prejudge this before actually trying it… and I have never looked back since.

I feel like most people find out about this sport through either word of mouth or being a passerby in the park where people are practicing, but someday I want this to be more widespread than that :)

Belegarth is the most family oriented group I've ever seen in my entire life (and I've been involved in plenty of groups and organizations). People view their unit-mates as their LEGITIMATE family. I am dead serious. It is that real. I was told in my sorority that "in order to receive much, you must give much" while all having a central focus on love being the highest pillar in life. All of that heavily translates to this sport, which is why people have been fighting for most of their lives and even bring their kids into fighting. I am literally happy EVERY SINGLE TIME I go to a practice, even when I'm in the worst possible mood. Everyone helps the new people get adjusted, tell them the rules, and make sure they're comfortable, while everyone immerses in a cycle of paying it forward.

Not only is this community more welcoming than anything I've ever seen, have the most genuine people I've ever met, and have a very heavy focus on family, honor, and moral values, everyone is always willing to help everyone. There's always a bad seed somewhere, so don't feel alarmed when you see some, but don't let those people turn you away. But for about 99.5% of the time, people have your back and will want to be there for you if you "seriously needed something" (the .5% accounts for people being people, but I'm of course being generous about it). After first joining, being overweight and such too from college, I was still in a pretty big slump and felt as horrible as can be… going to work was even difficult at that point (but I still managed to pull through regardless). At my first camping event, during line battles on that Saturday, I totally got full on nailed by a spear in the face. I didn't cry, but it felt bad enough to make me need to walk it off bracing pain while he felt pretty bad and took an "honor death" because face shots aren't legal shots. A series of events from the past coming back together means that belegarth is definitely a very small world (I had known him from high school fencing and ran into an unexpected person totally out of nowhere).

He introduces me to one of his realm leaders, who I encounter at one of my practices, ask him for advice totally out of the blue, and he tells me to come talk to him. Me being like, "um I did NOT expect this reaction", pauses for a second and nods. By "come talk to him", meaning that he's a holistic doctor and owns his own business. You definitely meet people from all different walks of life, but this oh so wonderful person helped me kick my poor mental health to the curb, lose over 35 pounds, and become far more motivated in general than ever. I have never been this happy, and it is in a large portion thanks to joining belegarth.

Now do you know what belegarth is? It's family, friendship, fun, and honor all wrapped up into some crazy fun nerd game. Yay for nerd bring the new cool!

I never introduced myself, but if you got this far, my name's Maron McNight (my fighting name of course), and you can find me up in the windy city (Chicago) and practice most commonly at the lovely realm of Nightfort, located in the northwest burbs.

Here's some Facebook groups of the surrounding area realms in case you're interested in joining this awesomeness :D

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nightfortbelegarth/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Dunharrow/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/261680253897125/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/morvachicago/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/belegarthbriarwood/

Here's the wiki page for the sport in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belegarth_Medieval_Combat_Society

Here's the most up to date map of active realms in the US (or close): https://maps.google.com/maps/u/0/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107125570793823288790.000452cfe9579612b42af&z=4&dg=feature

And here's the most up to date list of realms (on the main website, which is geddon.org): http://geddon.org/Category:Realms

If you're not from Chicago, have no fear, see above and you can find somewhere to go play. Now do you know what belegarth is? I hope to all who join find amazing pleasure and fun in this lovely land of play sword fighting for adults!

6 Misconceptions People Have Towards LARPing

Before I say anything, first off, LARP means live action role play, and if you're wondering if I take part of any of this, yes, I absolutely do. I am a part of a group called "Belegarth Medieval Combat Society", which is actually more of a boffer combat sport with some optional LARPing aspects involved. Similar games to this include Dagorhir and Amtgard, but there are plenty of groups like this all over the world!

To those of you who are going to pre judge any sort of LARPing game or boffer combat sport before actually trying it, these are some comments I've heard from people when I'd go to tell them about these activities, as well as what I've heard from the grapevine in general:

1. "This is really stupid..."

If you haven't done any of this before and think you can sit there calling it stupid and go judging away, you have no right. If you genuinely dislike these types of things, so be it, but you have no right to judge anyone just for wanting to have fun in an extremely nerdy fashion. You also can't just assume something sucks based on rumors. To be honest, when I saw the club practicing at my college, I basically just glanced and walked away because I cared what other people would think about me because I'd be doing something as "different" as this. It looked kind of silly, and I thought all of the people were a bunch of weirdos, despite not knowing a single one of them. One day last summer, a dear friend of mine who was in the club at school invited me to a practice around where I live at home because he was in town for the summer and it decided to give it a fair chance. Little did I know that deciding to give this a fair chance would be one of the best decisions I've made to this day. Being a part of this sport, let alone massive community of awesomeness and nerds, has made an immensely positive impact  on me... in just a year! I have been meeting the most genuine people I've ever seen in my entire life and I am eternally thankful I was introduced to this. The moral of the story is that you never know until you try and you can't judge a book by its cover to assume that something is going to be totally weird (in a bad way) until you've picked up a sword or at least talked to someone who's in it to determine whether or not you're interested!

2. "Everyone who participates uses this as some kind of escape and does drugs"

This was mostly brought up by family members who are clearly unsupportive of me, but this is definitely false, especially the part about drugs. The sport I do is actually more of a boffer combat sport and not "LARPing" unless you do roleplaying on your own. I can see why people would think this is some kind of an escape because you dress up in medieval garb in the middle of the park and hit people with foam sticks. For me, going to practices and events are just "a trip to happy land" for me because I'm consistently surrounded by good people and am always happy every time I attend any kind of function for it. Also, with being in an organization that's on many college campuses, drinking and drugs do happen in college. Not only that, but hanging out with these people is much safer than going to fraternity parties because people legitimately care about your safety and everybody watches out for everybody. If you're new to the game as well, people keep an extra special eye on you (during the night life part of the game) to make sure that you're happy and want to continue coming back. Plus, good luck doing drugs and going on the fighting field... you'd be a useless blob!

3. "These people are all losers... go meet more 'professional people'"

As much as this awesomeness is not resume worthy (in most cases), I have learned more life skills by being in this sport than any of the other activities I did in college... yes, this includes being the president of the club for IT majors during my senior year of college. Luckily, any leadership experience you gain in school seems to translate very well for this. Being a part of a group like this has exposed me to people who come from all walks of life, ranging from male nurses to college students to web developers to teachers to iron workers to holistic doctors and everything in between. I'm sorry if you think that the only way to be successful is sitting in an office at your lovely 9-5 job doing whatever and climbing up the corporate ladder or working some white collar job in your field of study from school... because it's not. I'm also sorry if you think that people need to always be "normal" all the time and do "normal" activities, like volunteering, joining a group to meet new people and discuss the world, and being involved in professional organizations in your field, which I do anyways. Not only that, but just because I make one bad group of friends, realize it pretty quickly, and get rid of them doesn't mean I'm going to be foolish enough to make the same mistake again. These people who you may consider "losers" have real jobs, can support themselves, and some even are married and have families. Of course, you may find a couple worms in your giant basket of apples, but we are all the same people as everyone else with as much or more life ambition than you have. We just have different tastes in our hobbies than you do!

4. "Everyone is really, really weird"

Weird... what even is weird? I feel like weird is the new cool and creepy is the new weird. And who cares if we're all weird anyways? We're having fun, and that's all that should matter! If you get to know these people on the inside instead of staring at the medieval garb they're wearing, you'll realize that you're meeting some pretty interesting people with nice stories to tell who are very far from fake! I'd also be kind of bored if all of my friends had "typical jobs" and did "typical, non-weird activities" because being different is fun and not being typical is and should be the new norm! This is a type of community you won't be able to find anywhere else and I am thankful to now be a part of something as wonderful as this! So think twice if you think these people are all "weird", because that's just a false generalization!

5. "Go do something better with your time"

...says the person who sits on the couch every waking moment watching TV. Hey, at least I'm doing something fun, spending time with some of the most wonderful people I've ever met, and in my case, am getting tons of exercise. Thanks to this awesomeness (and of course eating right, further exercise, etc.), I've been able to lose over 30 pounds so far. You're probably just jealous that I'm having so much fun all the time and found something I'm truly passionate about besides for my career, music, writing, and karate! Yeah, it's not an activity you'll hear your typical person say they do, but I work in an office and everyone I've told who I work with is super interested and fascinated by what I do. They always ask about it, especially when I return from a camping event (which I use vacation time to go). As long as you still manage to go to work every day, are doing something you love, and still have your eyes on the prize of success you're craving oh so much, just live your life and screw what other people think about how you spend your time!

Also, if you see some of the craftsmanship that's involved with making leather armor, making weapons, making garb, making chainmail, etc., all I have to say is HOLY CRAP! These people make beautiful works of art while putting hours and hours into what they do and I wish I can do that! Yes, people make their own stuff for this (and you can of course buy it too)!

6. "Go get real exercise because no one cares about being healthy"

With what I do (belegarth), running around and hitting people is actually a lot more difficult than it looks. In fact, you need a ton of coordination and endurance to stay fighting for a long time. Imagine being in the hot sun and running around hitting people for hours... if you don' t think "that" is exercise, then you go try! I've even hit a point where I'm trying to figure out how my karate skills can be used for this and vice versa! Water is always heavily promoted and people will always bring some (or sometimes bring giant coolers) to make sure you drink water! Worst case scenario, there will be a fountain or someone to share with you if you forget water because if you fight long enough, your body will tell you to drink water! Because of the possibility to obtain sports injuries, people will be on your butt if you complain about feeling injured, go fight full blast, and come off the field feeling worse... We want people to keep fighting, not be hurt!

Unfortunately, in terms of health consciousness, I have found that the population of people who want to be/eat healthy all the time seems to be a minority. I could be wrong, but that's what I've noticed... not just with this, but in general. Thankfully, everyone is extremely respectful of how you choose to eat. More importantly, if you have food allergies, especially at events, everyone is extremely wary and will not knowingly give you food that you're allergic to (but you need to tell them you're allergic of course). After practices, people like to go to McDonald's, a buffet, a burrito place, or anywhere that is seemingly unhealthy. If you don't choose to partake, your decision will not be made fun of at all. When I do go, it's a nice bonding experience and health conscious me over here just gets the least unhealthy thing on the menu that I can find so I can enjoy the company and not feel horrible about what I ate. Everyone is just very supportive in general. However, when you're at an event camping overnight for a few days and alcohol is involved, don't expect to have the best diet that weekend (and don't eat or drink too much either). I CAN say that because of doing this, I met the person who ended up inspiring me to reach my optimal health potential, so thank you belegarth for just helping me to become a better person in general (and healthier too of course)!

If your friends or even your family doesn't support you doing something like this, SO WHAT! It's their opinion, you're doing something that is SAFE, FUN, and MAKES YOU HAPPY. It may not be resume-worthy in most cases, but as long as you're HAPPY, that's all that should matter :)

For more information about what I do, be sure to check out http://www.geddon.org/Main_Page and like "Belegarth Medieval Combat Society" on Facebook :)