"Jim Charter" <jrc### [at] msncom> wrote in message
news:3fbebd14$1@news.povray.org...
> St. wrote:
> > "Jim Charter" <jrc### [at] msncom> wrote in message
> > news:3fbc3e34$1@news.povray.org...

> >    Jim, you're a boxing fan?

> Boxing always fascinated me though I very much grew up in a culture
that
> tried to ignore it, fearing its feral, outlaw nature.

    I can understand that. Here, as a true 'Champ' or 'Championed'
sport, i.e. the papers love it if we do well in the heavyweight
division, it's almost a way of life, and yet most will say that they
don't like it.

 I always watched
> any title fights that were luckily televised.  It was a furtive sort
of
> hidden interest.  I think I always was subject to its metaphorical
power.

   Yes, and what power that is, and can be. I guess it's no different
to the ol' gladiators really.


>
> I think I discovered "On Boxing" by JCO years ago actually while
> browsing in a bookstore.  I was familiar with her as an author
though
> I'd read only a few of her things.  When they call her work
> "unflinching" they mean it.  When you read her stories you
definitely
> flinch.  She grew up relatively close to me in North American terms,
in
> the same Great Lakes Basin landscape on the American side of the
border
> that I was intimate with on the Canadian side.  She famously
attended a
> one room school house.  Well I went to a two room school house and
had I
> been Oates' age it would have been one room. ( I think she's about a
> dozen years older than me. )  She taught in small colleges in the
Great
> Lakes region just like the one I went to. Her stories recreate that
time
> and place, well, unflinchingly.

  What a fascinating time you've had.


> The thought of this slightly-built
> feminist writing on the subject of boxing was too much for me to
resist.


  ...And now you've got me going too. I'll look out for her or order
something from the bookshop.


>
> There is a pub a block away from me here called "The Telephone Bar"
> http://www.telebar.com/
> It features three large red English telephone boxes set into its
store
> front.  It's the pub I always go to.  So I took my copy of "On
Boxing"
> there one holiday afternoon and sipped English beer and read the
thing
> in a single sitting.  If JCO could treat the subject so lovingly, I
> learned to feel less guilty about watching it and more appreciative
of
> its nuances.  She made me very aware of the mental side of it.  The
> feint within feint within feint.

 Ooh, yes. There is a lot of that feinting going on.

  I used to train at a boxing club in Portsmouth, Southern England,
when I was 12 years old - I loved the training, but more importantly,
I loved the sparring - *they* could belt the hell out of you, but
*you* could do the same back... ;) This was all with the proper
headguard, gum-shields, etc., heh, it WAS great fun, really.

>
> So I very much enjoy watching it now, for its science and its
savagery.
>   But it is an existential involvement.  I am not really conversant
with
> the sport; don't really know its history.

I know some history, but you would have to ask me the question
first...  ;)


Ron did the tracing I'd
> sometimes considered doing but never really dared to.  I thought he
> pulled it off wonderfully.

  You know, that image of Rons is fantastic. It captures the right
scene for me. I appreciate his work more each time, and I have to say,
yours too. Have you two got a bet on?  ;)

> >
> >    As for the IRTC 'Decay' round - well, I'm not voting or
commenting
> > this time because again, I really can't comment on the excellence
that
>
> I did the voting but then screwed up my login/password so my votes
were
> rejected.  I'll have to work in the comments I made about "Champ No
> More" some other way.

   And I'm sure you can do that.

>
> > I see. I also didn't enter myself because I've recently gone
through a
> > very traumatic experience that I wish never to be repeated. It's
just
>
> I am grieved to hear that.  You've been missed.  I hope traumatic
> doesn't mean tragic.

   No, not tragic thankfully, but at the time, I thought it was going
to be, (it takes a lot to frighten me, but this, I don't want to
experience again). Thank you for your concern Jim.


>
> >
> >
> >  Thanks for that, she's a good writer.
> >
>
> I think she's the real McCoy.

   Yes, indeed.

   ~Steve~

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