Order from the Chaos

All the posts

In Vino Spiritus

by Doug Nichols | Sep 7, 2021 | Baker, Jack, Biagini, Gerard, Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches U - Z, Faulkner, Ralph, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Fencers P - T, Funke, Erich, Greco, Anthony, Halberstadt, Hans, Lane, Arthur, Mayer, Helene, Nadi, Aldo, O'Brien, William, Shurtz, Skip, Visconti, Edward

The Latin meaning of that, according to Google Translate, is “Wine of the Spirit”. As a philistine in the ways of Latin, I’ll have to accept it. No clue. Truly.

Voices From The Past

by Doug Nichols | Mar 8, 2021 | Baker, Jack, Biagini, Gerard, Blog Post, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers K - O, Fencers P - T, Halberstadt, Hans, Mayer, Helene, McDougall, John, Northern California, Schools/Clubs, Selberg, Charles, Shurtz, Skip, Snyder, Al, Stanford, UC Berkeley

A number of people over the years have done impersonations of the inimitable Hans Halberstadt and they range wide in both style and substance. Charlie Selberg knew Hans well and would often quote him during fencing lectures or footwork drills.

A Trio of Deliveries

by Doug Nichols | Mar 2, 2021 | Baker, Jack, Blog Post, Brownlee, Laurance, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Funke, Erich, Halberstadt, Hans, Piller, George

Some interesting pieces of memorabilia got floated in front of me and I had to scramble to collect all the loose change under the floor mats in my car and count out pennies from the change jar, but I couldn’t resist making a deal for them.

August and Everything After

by Doug Nichols | Feb 22, 2021 | Blog Post, Burchard, Peter, Cabrillo College, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers F - J, Fencers K - O, Halberstadt, Hans, Huddleson, Demi, Mayer, Helene, Mitchell, Maxine, Northern California, Schools/Clubs, Stanford, The Fencing Center

I’ll say up front that I’m sick of my desk and computer. I still spend long parts of my day here, but motivation to string my thoughts together in a coherent way have been sparse.

Short Stories

by Doug Nichols | Aug 10, 2020 | Blog Post, Borack, Carl, Bradford, Vinnie, Coaches, Coaches A - E, Coaches K - O, Coaches P - T, Coaches U - Z, D'Asaro, Michael, De Jong, Duris, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Fencers F - J, Fencers K - O, Fencers P - T, Johnson, Stacey, Marx, Bob, Marx, Michael, Mayer, Helene, Mori, Torao, Nadi, Aldo, Northern California, Oregon, Richards, Ed, San Jose State University, Schifrin, Peter, Schools/Clubs, Vince, Joseph, Washington

A number of things have come my way recently through various paths. Taken individually, they add to the collection in nice ways, but don’t necessarily give me the grist to crank out a full story around them.

Herbert Rhodes: Fencer/Politician

by Doug Nichols | Aug 3, 2020 | Blog Post, Brownlee, Laurance, Coaches, Coaches F - J, Coaches K - O, Fencers, Fencers A - E, Halberstadt, Hans, McDougall, John, Nadi, Aldo, O'Brien, William

Serendipitous. Is that a word? Spellcheck isn’t trying to correct it, so I guess I’m on firm ground. Serendipitosity happens a lot around here. I find one piece of information, an image, a packet of photos. Time passes. I find another piece that fits into that puzzle. Then, quite unexpectedly, something comes across my desk…