Kiado-Ryu Black Belt #46

It is with a sad heart that I share with you the passing of Liz Avram, call sign “Quasar,” on Sunday, 27 October 2024. She died of stage 4 cancer and was 61 years young. Her husband, Dean, was kind enough to pass on the sad and heartbreaking news. It would be appreciated if Kiado-Ryu students could send prayers to the Avram family, especially to Liz’s beloved husband.

If you believe that martial arts training is designed to enable you to beat up on others, I would suggest you look within yourself to assess why you feel a need to impose yourself on others. I would then suggest you look more deeply within yourself to determine the true meaning of martial arts training, that training that guides you upward to the higher ideals of nobility and self-mastery, for in the end the true test of our skill and achievement lies not in our mastery of others, but in mastery of ourselves. As the famed Pythagoras so eloquently stated, No man is free who cannot control himself, and most certainly, martial arts training teaches us to control ourselves before anything else.

Trixie—she’s cute, loving, fun, petite and, as her name implies, a “Bringer of Joy.” Makes perfect sense. However, if you were a bad guy with bad intentions, you’d think she would be an easy target. Mistake. Huge mistake. Appearances can be deceiving. So can smiles.

Trixie is, indeed, a trickster. What is inspiring is that she’s now a Kiado-Ryu Green belt, meaning that she’s half way to achieve the coveted KIA rank of Black Belt, of which only 8 females of the 65 individuals holding that esteemed title out of the 3,300 who have achieved it in the Karate Institute of America’s 45 year history have succeeded. Thus, she could be historic!