Published 2009-08-26T00:00:00Z”/>
Therese Marucci
<strong>Safety in small towns,</strong>
I don’t know how to throw a punch, I don’t know the best place to kick somebody and I definitely don’t know how to put anybody in a headlock.
Basically, when it comes to self-defense, I couldn’t be more pathetic. Sure, I can scream just as loud as anybody else, but that’s the best I can dish out. My only chance at survival would be if my attacker had really sensitive eardrums.
Before college, this never really bothered me. I come from a small town where you only see a police car on the road once a month. Car crashes happen here and there, but any sort of rapist or gangster is just about unheard of.
I was always a cautious kid to the point that I would carry my stuffed animals around with me in case there was a flood in Sacramento. But I had even more cautious parents.
My mom would follow me to elementary school in the car while I rode my bike with my best friend. If I ever wanted to walk to somebody’s house, they had to meet me half way.
But now that I’ve been in college a couple of years, I’m starting to realize how seriously important self-defense training can be. Attacks happen here. Rapes happen here. We don’t have our parents to implement safety procedures anymore.
The bad guys are out there, whether we like it or not. It’s about time we all &- guys and girls &- know exactly what our plan would be if we were to be approached by an attacker.
My only real lesson in self-defense came from a couple late-night screenings of “Miss Congeniality.” I might remember her silly acronym SING, solar plexus, instep, nose and groin, but putting it into action is another story entirely.
I’m not proud of this fact. I want to be able to say I’m hardcore and could beat everybody in a fight.
Chico offers so many defense classes, I feel pretty ridiculous that I haven’t signed up for any of them. There’s nothing stopping me other than pure procrastination
Rape Aggression Defense offers free classes to all female students on campus. For more information on the class, read the safety article on D-1. R.A.D. classes are given by the University Police, and provide students with risk reduction strategies and techniques to defend themselves.
Even martial arts classes are available on campus to add to your class schedule.
This is not the time to be ignorant to the violence in the world. It’s the time for us to step up and take control of our well-being.
Therese can be reached at<a href= “javascript:void(location.href=’mailto:’+String.fromCharCode(102,101,97,116,117,114,101,115,101,100,105,116,111,114,64,116,104,101,111,114,105,111,110,46,99,111,109)+’?subject=re%3A%20Therese%20Marucci%3A%20A%20word%20to%20the%20wise’)”>[email protected]</a>
