Interview with the Battler

INTERVIEW WITH THE BATTLER

by James (jimjunior2001@yahoo.com)

Interviewer: Good evening, my name is James Johnston. I am here this evening with a young lady whom many of you have heard about; interestingly, her name is Jill Johnson, so we have two “JJ’’s” here this evening.

Jill: Good evening, James, how are you?

I: Fine, thanks, and thank you for agreeing to being interviewed for this program.

J: No problem; actually, I had to do some soul searching. I am not really one who likes to be the center of attention, but if my being here and talking can inspire and empower some women out there, then I am glad to do it.

I: First off, Jill, what do you do for a living?

J: I teach High School English at the inner city high school.

I: I see. Do you enjoy your work?

J: You bet I do. Everyday is a chance to inspire and uplift students; it kind of goes along with what I hope I am doing tonight, inspiring and uplifting.

I: Now we will get into the details of your encounters in a bit, but I must point out that two of your encounters were school related. I hear you once had to fight off an angry parent and you also took on three of your school’s football players.

J: Well I would not phrase it that way; I would say they took me on.

I: OK, correct. In any event, despite that, you still say you love your job?

J: Without a doubt. Most students and parents are easy to deal with, but there a few that can potentially cause you trouble if you are not careful; I can’t imagine there is any teacher out there that does not experience these kind of people.

I: Very true. Now you said you teach in an inner city school; did that have anything with you learning self-defense?

J: Yes it did. Before I took the job, I made sure to teach myself self-defense, for things can get rough in the city.

I: You taught yourself self-defense?

J: Absolutely, I had no master, no classmates; I studied and practiced it myself. I had an empty room in my apartment; it was a little dojo, so to speak. I practiced my moves in that little room. That space became mine, where I could be who I wanted to be, and I was able to translate it into a mental and psychological realization that my body is my space, and no one can touch it or do harm to it without my consent.

I: Space is an important part of your philosophy?

J: Yes, James, absolutely. Boundaries are very important. We all need to have fences around us, and yes, gates and doors to let things in, but a lot of stuff we need to keep out. Learning self-defense helped me grow in appreciation of and nurture my personal boundaries. You could say as I began to learn I had a fence made of straw, but now, I have a solid bulletproof glass wall around me. It is not tight; I have plenty of room to breathe, and it is see-through, so you can see me, but you cannot get to me without my consent. The wolf can huff and puff but he will not blow this wall down.

I: That is a good analogy. You could say that men see how beautiful you are, and they run to get you, but they turn out like the bird that sees food inside a house, but keeps flying into a glass window.

J: Not a bad analogy yourself, James.

I: Thanks. What other principles are important to you?

J: Well related to that; another way of looking at the glass wall is that it keeps out the storms. Inside the wall, there is calm. I can feel calm when all hell is breaking loose outside me, when men are bringing the heat so to speak, I can remain calm, keeping my breathing focused and my mental and spiritual energy focused where it needs to be.

I: Interesting, interesting. I think that will come up again as we discuss your specific incidents. Let me ask you a blunt question; why do you think men attack you so much?

J: have thought about that a lot, James, and the best answer I can come up with is that I am young, good looking I guess, and perhaps I look vulnerable being very lady like. Since I have learned self-defense, I have not been afraid to venture out alone, and maybe I put myself in situations more so than the average women where it is highly plausible an attack may occur. For example, I like to take walks at night, I like to get exercise by parking a decent distance away from buildings, so yes, I think that has something to do with it. Another reason is that I live my life by truth, and I will not compromise. I will not compromise religious truth, academic truth, any truth, and bodily truth, and that frustrates some people.

I: Excellent, excellent. It is amazing some of the stories I have heard about you. You are only 6’, 160 pounds, yet you have handled men who were taller and bigger than you. Looking at your body figure, you look, I hate to say it, average. You are not overly muscular, you do not really look like one who can exert much power or should be able to fight men of some of the size and build you have fought.

J: That is what self defense taught me, James; it taught me that there is a power within each of us to control ourselves, namely our fears, anxieties, and by doing that, we can control others who try to control us. I like to call it “girl power”.

I: So it is first and foremost about self-control, and that has to come before the control of others?

J: Absolutely, James. I learned to control myself and once I did that, no man could take that control away from me, and some, unfortunately, I had to control myself before they realized they could not control me.

I: I find it amazing, too, that not only have you fought and defeated several men bigger and allegedly stronger than you, but the minimal amount of damage to yourself that you have sustained is quite impressive.

J: Yes, one or two bruises and scratches, but that is it. You mentioned “strength”. I learned that muscular strength is not everything. Yes, it is important, and I do work out regularly to build that up, but as you know, I have defeated a few very well built buffed men who were strong physically, but not as strong as me in other areas.

I: Such as?

J: Such as mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They are not calm or rational, two things one must have in a fight. You can outsmart your opponent, but the only way you utilize your mental capacity is if you are emotionally calm, and not clouded by pride and ego about your body or your machismo. You know, as much as I have hurt some male bodies over the years, I have hurt more deeply, and if I take any satisfaction in bruising anything it is the male ego.

I: Good point, Jill. Is there anything you’d like to say about self-defense in general before we go into the specific battles you have fought?

J: To all the ladies out there, learn it! It is worth the time and you will be a better woman than you ever imagined.

I: Finally, some of your stories have been published and one reader commented that you like to “hurt people and get them in trouble”. Is that accurate?

J: No, not really. I do not like to hurt people, and it is more they who get themselves into trouble by attacking me. I only hurt people to stop them from hurting me. Then again, the reader does have somewhat of a point; I do like the feeling of bruising male egos, so in that sense, I do like to hurt men if only to teach them a lesson, and as I stated before, empower women.

I: Well said, and we’ll take a break now before we discuss your specific battles. We’ll be back.

* * * * *

I: OK; we’re back now. Jill we’ve discussed your principles of self-defense, what it means to you, and what it can mean to others. Now we will discuss what has made you a little famous, and those are the actual instances where you have had to use your self-defense skills.

J: Sounds good. Please excuse me if I get a little excited as I recount these; they do make me gitty a little, especially the first few.

I: No problem. The first encounter I heard about you took place late one night in an alley behind Brentwood St. Describe.

J: Well James, that night was my first encounter. I was only 19 years old (I am now 25). I was still training to be a teacher. I had known at that time for a while that I would like to work in the inner city, so I had been learning self-defense. This encounter inspired me to study even more intensely; I saw what the possibilities were.

I: Really?

J: Yes, this was the most exciting. There were three men that evening and every time one of them fell to the ground, I got this most exhilarating feeling, something I did not experience again until I met my current boyfriend Jim.

I: You have a boyfriend named Jim?

J: I do.

I: What a coincidence. Have you been teaching him self-defense?

J: Well, I am now that my exploits are being publicized. I didn’t want him to think I was some kind of freak or really different, so I did not open up to him that side of my life for a while. But I learned that good guys can truly respect girls who know self-defense, so all you girls out there, do not be afraid to share this side of your life with your potential mates; in fact, you may want to bring this up early on. If he is a good guy, he will respect; if he is not, you will know right away. I got lucky in the fact that my man turned out was one of the good ones, and I regret not telling him earlier. I carried a little anxiety in me that need not be.

I: I think one of your encounters involved him, did it not?

J: Yes, the one in my living room, which I think we will discuss later.

I: Yes, indeed; let’s get back to the one in the alley.

J: Yes, yes. Anyway, it was very late, probably after midnight. Like I said before, my self-defense had allowed me to feel confident walking alone, and I needed to get out of my place after a night of intense studying. I turned into the alley, thinking it would be a shortcut; unfortunately, it turned out to be a dead end, and before I knew it, I was trapped by three gang members who called the end of the alley their home. Obviously they had been drinking and were a little ready for some excitement. I walked right into their trap. A few minutes later, though, I walked right out.

I: What did they do to you?

J: They were calling me names and whistling. That’s innocent enough, but they surrounded me, and I knew that I could not simply leave. I talked to them for a few minutes later, telling them I was simply lost, and would be on my way, but they kept asking me to come with them. I said no, and tried to leave, but kept getting pushed back. I knew then that I would have to fight my way out.

I: What did you do?

J: Two things; I pushed up my sleeves, and got into a defensive stance. When they saw me do those two things, they knew I was ready for a fight, and they got themselves ready by brandishing knives and turning their smiles into angry faces. Let me say something here to the girls out there; I don’t know about others, but I would get into the practice of rolling up your sleeves before any potential encounter; it gives you a feeling of control, puts you on the same level as the man, and shows your potential aggressors that you mean business.

I: Good points; we do not have time tonight to describe every detail of every encounter, but I would like it for each one, you could give me two or three highlights.

J: No problem, James. For this one, a few things stood out. One, I know I shocked them when I ran towards one of them, instead of trying to back farther away. I remember the look on their faces of shock when I did that. That moment of surprise gave me the opportunity to slide down under the knife, pound my first into his groin, and then use that momentum to flip him over into one of his buddies. I remember looking up at my arm and hand as it made contact with him; it was my first ever punch, and I remember it as vividly now. It was a full moon, and it reflected brightly on my arm as it made its way up.

I: Wow the element of surprise. The smile on your face right now is contagious. It is indeed making you gitty! What else do you remember vividly about that night?

J: Something funny. I jumped on top of one of the men, and one of his buddies thought he could knock him off by hitting me in the back. However, I quickly rolled off, keeping his knife hand pinned, and his buddy who was attempting to punch my back wound up punching his friend in the chest, instead, the same one whose groin I had hit! That was so funny to see.

I: That is funny. Anything else?

J: I remember being able to stop the force of one of the man running at me with full force; I just stuck out my hand and arm. , focused all my energy, and he was stopped dead in his tracks. It was like I put the power of the whole universe into my hand; it was so exhilarating to see the effect. I remember also looking at the three men sprawled on the ground after I had knocked them all out, and feeling such an overwhelming feeling of empowerment. I examined my hands and arms and said, “Wow you did all that?” It was quite, as I said, exhilarating.

I: So really you took the initiative that evening and totally surprised them?

J: Yes, you could sum it up that way. That night, I took the action to them, and they were not ready for it.

I: Now this second encounter, the one on a beach, seems to have garnered the most attention from the stories that have been published. It seems the visualization of a lady dressed in a bikini is arousing enough, but couple that with her using self-defense skills adds something else to the picture.

J: I would say who I fought has something to do with it, too.

I: Good point, Jill. The man apparently was a weightlifter, very well built.

J: He was; at one point during the battle, I called him “Mr. Charles Atlas”. It was more a taunt at that point because by then, I had him pretty much on the ground to stay, and I used those words to wound his ego even more than it was.

I: Wow, so what were the circumstances here?

J: It was early in the morning, I was watching the sunrise at Costa Beach, and there was no one else on the beach at that point, except me and as it turns out, him. He apparently had been on the beach all night; he had definitely had a few drinks. He came up to me and asked me to come with him. I said politely that I would rather not, but he persisted. I then remembered my first encounter and I said confidently, that if he did not, he would get hurt. He laughed I remembered and I then realized I would probably have to show him.

I: You must have felt somewhat confident, because after all, he was one man, whereas before, you had dealt with three.

J: Yes, I was. I did get a little nervous when I stood up, and realized how much bigger he was than me, but then I calmed down, and got refocused.

I: OK, name a few highlights here.

J: I remember a few things. One is him putting his hands on my shoulders, and me knocking them off to his surprise, quite easily. Having his arms off to the side allowed me to move into his face with my hand quite easily and I got the first blow. That set the tempo for the rest of the fight. In fact, he commented that I was a "chick with claws”.

I: Funny.

J: I prefer to think of myself as a woman with good hands. In any event, I wound up hitting him in several vulnerable areas. No matter how well built a man is, ladies, there are places you can hit him that can not be developed by weightlifting. After hitting him in enough of those spots, he fell down. In the end, I gave him the gouge to his most vulnerable part, the eyes. After that, he wasn’t moving till the cops came.

I: It seems the lesson of this battle is to know where to hit. It seems to be that it is the most effective, as this fight appeared not to have lasted too long.

J: None of my really do, James.

I: True, true. Now we get to the first battle that involved your vocation. Tell me what happened.

J: This encounter occurred the evening after parent-teacher conferences. A parent wanted to confront me physically, but not in front of everyone. He was so irate; I had given his son an average grade. This is an example of something I mentioned earlier and that is I stand up for truth. I do not give “A’s” for average work. If it is average work, it deserves a “C”. My standing up for the truth of all things is one reason I believe I get attacked so much.

I: Wow, I respect that. What do you remember most here?

J: I would say two things. One is that he grabbed my arm and I recall the look on his face when he saw how easily I escaped by pushing down on the weakest part of his grip. The second thing I remember is grabbing his punch in mid-air and pushing back down in on him, using his momentum against him, something self-defense teaches.

I: That’s true; I hear self-defense, among other things, is about turning disadvantages into advantages.

J: Yes, it turns things upside down. The girl becomes the aggressor, she is in control, and the man becomes vulnerable and controlled. His strengths become weaknesses, and her apparent weaknesses are shown to be strengths. This incident is a clear case. This man clearly was not ready for the things I did to him. The high kicks, the catching of his punch, the easy escape from his grip. He was clearly frustrated at the end, and he started cussing and swearing. His encounter with me did nothing to make him feel better; he was only more frustrated at the end than he was at the beginning. You see, James, when fight me or any girl, what they try to do is transfer what is in them to us; their anger, passion, etc. Self-defense allows us to prevent that from coming in. It is not simply about fighting something physical, it is fighting off something emotional too, the effects of which can last far longer than physical pain. In the end, as is demonstrating here, the negative emotion stays in the man, while the girl remains free, safe within herself.

I: That is a powerful lesson. Anything else about this encounter before we move on?

J: In this case, when the cops came, they had a hard time believing me; in fact, it was not until my final battle, that I showed them once and for all what girl power is all about that they were really truly convinced, but we will get to that later.

I: We shall. Now your next encounter was the only one that involved someone somewhat famous and that is the Smasher, the famed local professional wrestler. Now here was a man who was undefeated in the ring, and you beat him. How?

J: Well, James, I have to say when the male mind is obsessed with something, he can lose a lot of anything positive he has. In this case, the Smasher was famous, loved by many, and big and strong. If he was disciplined and focused on maintaining something positive, there is no way I could have beaten him; however, I can beat any man of any shape or size who is not focused on maintaining positive energy; negative energy cannot be controlled in and of itself, it must be controlled by positive energy and that is what I brought to the ring and what was the Smasher’s ultimate undoing.

I: Your encounter with him, like the last encounter, did have some connection to teaching, right?

J: Yes, a lot of my students idolized him, and he coerced one of them into leading him to me.

I: I am sorry to hear that; is the student alright?

J: Yes he is, thankfully.

I: Good. Now what stands out about this encounter?

J: Well, a few things. This was the first one I did a tomeonage throw where the girl, holding her assailant’s arms, falls gently backward, planting her foot in his stomach, and throws him over her. She lands softly, and he lands hard. It had an effect, but I needed to do a lot more before he was finished for good, being the big man that he was.

I: What did you do?

J: I wound up giving him a few good kicks and punches. My speed and flexibility made it difficult for him to hit me, while making it easier for me to get into positions where I could attack him. However, still, after all these, he was still coming after me and I knew I needed to do something that would put him out permanently.

I: And what was that?

J: Well, James, like the first battle, I decided to go after my attacker. Using the rings as a support, I threw myself into him, and then did a summersault over his head so that I was clamped around his back. I then tightened my arms around his neck and that was the beginning of the end for him.

I: He could not throw you off?

J: Every second my arms were around him, his breath weakened and thus, he was weaker. Those first few moments were important; I kept kicking his arms away until he was too weak to do anything of significance with them. I made sure to breathe as much as I could so I would get more energy while his dissipated. Eventually, he collapsed to the mat, and I freed myself.

I: In self-defense, they teach you escape from headlocks, do they not?

J: Yes, and if we had both been standing, he may have been able to do something. However, I kept the action moving by flailing my feet and then planting them with force in his sides, so he had something else to think about. Most of the time when men give women headlocks, they give them nothing else to think about physically and thus, it is easier to escape by turning, pushing down on the arms, kicking, and/or punching. However, in the case, the position I was in, and the things I was doing, made it impossible for him to do any kind of effective counteraction.

I: Wow. What else stands out about that night?

J: Another funny thing. After the fight, I needed to use a phone, and the closest was in his house, which was right next to the ring. I wound up kicking his door off its hedges; I guess adding a little insult to injury, you could say. On a more serious note, this encounter really got the attention of my students and it made them respect me a little more, and I noticed quite a lot less chatter about wrestling at school after this. You see, youth are very impressionable. They are influenced by the culture which likes “distractions”. Sports, like wrestling, are one. Sex you could say is another. What students need is to be able to do is tune into timeless values, like respect, dignity, patience, and justice, and a teachers job is to help them do that. Incidents like this make those timeless values attractive and they will see that their distractions are not all they are cracked up to be. Once they see this, they than will be open more to the pursuit of truth, like the truth is that women have dignity and power, and that needs to be respected and nurtured.

I: Yes, the truth theme you mentioned earlier.

J: Exactly, James. Specifically to the truth about girl power, it is something both boys and girls must learn; they both need to learn that girls have it. They both must nurture it, and without the support of both sexes, it will never develop. I guess then I need to say thank you to all the men who tried to attack me.

I: That is funny. Now we get to the encounter that may have affected you the most personally because the men you fought hurt your boyfriend.

J: Yes, it was very difficult. Jim ran in there and tried to be my protector, but he got himself hurt, and I had to go in there to try and save him.

I: A woman saving a man, how have times changed?

J: For the better, I would say, but only if everyone realizes it. If some are still living in fear, then there will still be suspicion, worry, and doubt, and there will be no peace with this development. For it to be effective, and believe me it can, everyone must embrace it, and I hope this interview tonight is a start in that direction.

I: I think it will be. Go ahead with that evening.

J: Well once again there was an element of surprise. I made it look like to them that I was focused solely on going to Jim; I surprised them with a quick kick as I was walking toward him. The kick was so powerful it knocked a hammer out of one of their hands. My foot may be small, but when I focus all my energy into it, it becomes very powerful. Anyway, I was indeed concerned with Jim, but I feared if I ran away, they would hurt him, and if I simply went to him and did nothing about them, then we both could be hurt further. That is why I did what I did.

I: What happened after that initial kick?

J: Another kick to the head which knocked him out. Eventually one of the men regained the hammer and he tried to hit me, but I blocked his arm, and then with my other, struck his chest with my palm and it knocked the wind out of him. That weakened his grip and I pulled the hammer out of his hand, and struck him. That knocked out all the air, not just the wind, you could say. The other man then ran off in fear.

I: Now you didn’t share any of this with Jim for some time did you?

J: I did not; girl power was still my little secret then. At this point, we are about halfway through the battles. When my battles became more notorious, I opened up to him. Like I said earlier, I do regret it, but I survived. Now we spar together.

I: Who wins?

J: I still do, but soon, he may start to win a few. We shall see.

I: Good. Anything else you wish to say about this encounter before we move on?

J: Just that I did escape from a bear hug during this one. Guys out there, bear hugs are stupid. You leave your face, groin, stomach, knees, legs, and feet all vulnerable to a hit.

I: I point I am sure which many men will ponder this evening. Let’s move on. Now this next encounter happened in a very unlikely place, a church.

J: Well, just like society, James, the church is made up of sinners, so while you would think humans would be on their best behavior in church, sometimes conflict can still happen.

I: From what I understand, the man tried to take money from you.

J: James, to be honest, if I had money, I would have given it to him. It was a poor old man, but I honestly had no change. He tried to take my purse, which had stuff I essentially needed. This is the one encounter I have regrets about. This man was not trying to harm me personally, but to take material possessions from me. In retrospect, I could have offered to walk to the nearby ATM and pull some money for him. I think I just reacted when he grabbed my arm. I was pretty frustrated that I was now being attacked in church of all places.

I: What happened?

J: With one arm, he grabbed my purse and the other my other arm. I kneed him in the groin, but he still held on to my purse. I pushed his other arm of me with my free one, but he wound up grabbing my neck as he fell back a little. Eventually, I wound up grabbing a hold of that hand, extending his arm beyond what it should be, and used my other arm to push down and break his arm, and then his wrist. I do have regrets about breaking his arm and hand, although I hear he is fine now.

I: You keep in touch with him?

J: Yes, I do. I walked him to the hospital afterwards, and I have since seen him a few times to give him most of all moral, but a little financial support. We go to church from time to time together. In retrospect, I did not need to break his arm and hand. I could have simply forced him to the ground and run away. But then, you know what; we would not have developed that friendship, I would not have had the chance to talk about girl power to him, so maybe it was meant to be.

I: You talked with him about girl power?

J: Yes, I did. He asked how I learned to fight, and I told him about making ordinary girls extraordinary, about packing a lot of power in our little bodies, and the psychological edge it gives us.

I: He learned a valuable lesson, did he not?

J: Yes, he did. This was a memorable encounter for me in that it was the first one where my assailant-turned-victim actually reformed in front of my eyes, and I got to see the fruit of my girl power. This would happen again in one my later encounters.

I: Now the next encounter was in a bar, right?

J: Yes, the old watering hole on Smyth Rd.

I: Yes, I heard it can get rough there. Now what stands out about this one for you?

J: Well this was first one in which there were spectators, namely the bartender, and about five or six other patrons.

I: I heard they gave you a round of applause afterwards, correct?

J: Yes, they did. I was a little embarrassed by it, but when it did happen, I could not help but break into a smile. The bartender called me a “remarkable woman”. That was really the first time I felt that perhaps my light, my girl power, was not meant to be hidden under a bushel. The world needed to see it. Tonight, is the culmination of this desire.

I: Yes, a good way of looking at it. Now what about the encounter itself?

J: It was against two guys. One guy started rubbing my arm. He would be rubbing his own arm in pain a few minutes later because I put some much painful pressure on his hand, which shot through his arm, that he had no choice but to go to on the ground. The other guy was his buddy and he saw what happened and put his hand on me. However, he wound up on the ground to thanks to my gripping his arm and knocking him off his feet with a kick. He fell hard, but still had some energy, so I grabbed his ankle, and turned it hard, breaking it. He could not get up, but his friend did, with a knife. However, I grabbed that arm and pushed the knife back to him, using my right arm and right leg as supports to make sure he did not fall away from the knife. When he hit the ground, I then released those supports, and used both my hands to turn his wrist completely around, breaking it. Observing those two guys on the ground reminded me of the scene in the alley. That battle, when I was 19, had a similar result, but this time, at age 23, I kind of expected the outcome. I did not have that same level of arousal, excitement, or personal satisfaction when I saw it happen, although all those things were still there to a degree. I only started to smile and experience that same degree when I heard the applause of the patrons. I really realized that this was a gift not only for me, but for others, and from that point forward, I realized true happiness in girl power must include sharing the gift with others.

I: I note that this is the second encounter that involves weapons. The boys in the alley had knives, too.

J: Yes, but don’t forget the living room robbers had a hammer, not really a weapon per se, but something you can use to cause pain in addition to what it is in the body.

I: Any thoughts on weapons in self-defense?

J: To me, a man using a weapon is a sign that he does not have the confidence that his body alone can do the job for him. Self-defense teaches that the body can be a killing machine, if necessary, even girls’ bodies. Our hands, arms, legs, and feet can be used to cause pain, and even kill someone. Thus, when a man attacks a woman with a weapon, it means it is a battle between a body that is not confident it can kill versus one that knows it can. Who has the advantage?

I: Does the weapon not even the odds?

J: I like to think of it this way. A weapon is something artificial. Girl power teaches respect for the body, how natural it is, and that nothing artificial should enter into it, be it the effects of a weapon, bad food, fake love, or chemicals and drugs, etc. There can be developed a natural resistance to anything artificial. Nature always wins in the end.

I: Very good way of putting that. Anything else you would like to say about this encounter before we move on?

J: If you think drinking and driving is bad, try drinking and fighting!

I: Alright, we are on to the final three encounters. The first of these three occurred in a bank.

J: Well it was a two part battle. I disarmed one man in a bank and the other in a parking lot. It’s classified as one because the man in the parking lot was an accomplice of the man in the bank who was trying to rob it.

I: Now Jill, these men were only after material possessions, like the man in the church was. Why did you confront them?

J: The man had a gun and was crazy. I honestly thought he was going to shoot someone, and someone I knew worked at that bank. By this time, I felt I had developed my skills enough to be able to handle the situation without harm to anyone but him.

I: I see. What happened?

J: For the man in the bank and the man in the parking lot I fought later, I used techniques I had picked up from the Commando series written back in the 50s. For the first guy, I struck his wrist with my palm and turned to my left so that I was perpendicular to him and the gun was pointed harmlessly downwards. I grabbed a hold of the gun in such a way that he could not shoot it, and using my other hand, pushed backwards on his wrist, causing him so much pain that he went naturally to the ground. The second guy, instead of striking his hand, I grabbed the barrel of the gun directly, turned it aside, and then used my hands, just like in the last case, to get him in an extremely painful position. This guy I added insult to injury by pulling on his hair, too.

I: We are running out of time, so we have to move quickly. Anything else about this encounter?

J: This was the last one that happened before you called. Due to my busy schedule, there has been a six month lapse between then and tonight. There have been two encounters since then, but I have a feeling there will not be any after tonight. Also, this was the only time when I had two separate encounters on the same day at different times.

I: If I understand correctly, you were followed by the accomplice of the first man?

J: Yes, that is who that second man was. They were working together. I foiled them both. I did want to say one other thing. I think this encounter shows that it is all about position. Men think they have the advantage of being stronger than women. However, girl power teaches that if in an encounter, a woman gets herself in a good position, she can utilize all her power while the man is in a position where he can use very little of his. If a woman enters an encounter calm and collected, she will retain her balance while easily disrupting his. Notice in all these encounters I remain on my two feet while the men keep falling down. Naturally you would think it would be the other way around, but they fall not because they are weaker but because I outsmarted them.

I: OK, on to, hmm, is this another encounter in a parking lot somewhere?

J: Well that first one was in the parking lot of a drug store; this one now took place in the parking lot of a movie theater. It was between me and three of the football players on my school’s team. They were upset because I had given one of the star players a failing grade in English, making him ineligible for the big game coming up. They tried to take their frustrations out on me physically, something they would not do on school grounds. To fight them, I again used techniques from Commando. The first guy pulled on my hair, but I flipped him over me after letting him experience some pain from my thumb for a few seconds. The next one tried to hit me, but I parried the blow and then moved my hand so that the heel was on his chin and the fingers were in his eyes. This, as well as me putting my other arm around the wait, caused him to lose balance, and he fell. The third jock grabbed me from behind, but I grabbed a few of his right fingers and pushed upward on his left arm. Keeping my grip, I turned and in seconds, his hands were tied together not in front of me, but behind me; he was grabbing air, it was funny to see. I forced him to the ground and kicked him behind the ear. One of them wound up getting up, but I got him to the ground again. Just like the first battle, then, there was me standing, with three guys on the ground.

I: And these guys were football players, big fellows?

J: Yep, James, three guys and little old me.

I: You were older being their teacher.

J: In that sense it was the reverse of the alley battle. There, I was the young one; here I was the older one. However, this all shoes that it is not about age. It is about girl power, self-respect, balance or lack of it, and skill.

I: You’ll be able to defend yourself even after 40?

J: You bet, James.

I: Tell me, Jill, do you work out?

J: Yes, I run several miles each morning, do 250 stomach crunches, and 100 push ups. That is all I do in addition to my self-defense training.

I: How about eating?

J: I try to eat well. I make myself eat at least one salad a day, and I only am allowed one sweet per day.

I: What else do you do to stay on top of things?

J: I pray regularly, go to church weekly. I have silent times every day where I enter into the deepest part of myself. It is very important for one to communicate with that level often. You will see in my final encounter how useful that is.

I: Let’s get right to it then, the final encounter.

J: My favorite.

I: Why?

J: In this one, I took my girl power to a whole new level. In this encounter, I did not stop an attack. I let the attack happen and it still did not hurt me. He did what he wanted to do, and I still won the battle.

I: It took place in a park. The man hit me once in the stomach, and once in the face. However, neither of those hits had a significant effect on me. You see, before each contact, I entered into that deep place I mentioned. It is a place of calm, tranquility. I was in such deep peace that I barely felt the punches. I also let him squeeze my hand as hard as he could, yet he could not hurt it. I was centered, and when I desired, I easily moved my hand from his grip.

I: Wow.

J: Yes, and oh, I forgot to mention one more thing about that last battle, and it actually connects to what we are talking about here, and that is there was reconciliation afterwards between me and the football players. I reached out to them when they came back to school after recovering from their injuries, and I apologized for what happened, even though I know it was not my fault, and they knew it, too. You see, girl power is about empowerment, but it also teaches humility, and that there is no need to make yourself the center of the world. You learn to tap into a power deeper than yourself; you realize that all things are connected, and that no thing or person is stronger or better than another. Thus, you learn not to carry grudges around. I have forgiven all my attackers, and some of them I have met up with afterwards. A few of them are still angry and will not talk to me, but most will. Human beings are generally good. They need a light to show them the way. I hope I am revealing some light this evening.

I: You are, you are. Anything else about this final battle?

J: Just that I wound up giving a demonstration to the police about my girl power. I chopped a piece of wood with my bare hand.

I: Very good, Jill. We have now summarized very briefly all your battles. Like you said, I suspect there will be few for you if you hang around here. J: I hope so.

I: Well, Jill, I want to say thank you very much for your time this evening. We have learned a lot about you and the girl power you wish for all women to have and men to respect.

J: Thank you, James. It has been a learning experience for, me, too, helping me to articulate and express what goes on inside me.

I: Your welcome, Jill, and to all of you, a good night.

THIS IS THE END OF THE INTERVIEW AND ALSO THE END OF THE JILL JOHNSON BATTLE SERIES; THANK YOU ALL FOR READING THESE; PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR INQUIRIES