By Cranford Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) What do you picture in your mind when I say “kitty?” Is it cute? Is it adorable? Fluffy? A cuddly purring ball of furry happiness? What about when I say, “putting your cat in the tub for a bath?” Still adorable and sweet? Probably not. How about irritated, determined, razor footed monster, with a mouth full of needle teeth? Cats…
By Cranford Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) On March 14, 2017, a young woman was kidnapped in Birmingham AL. But after several terrifying hours, because she kept her focus on surviving and then got creative, she escaped! Thank goodness for her clarity of thinking and a positive mindset. I won’t recount her story here. You can read the whole thing by clicking the link below. What I…
Self-Protection Includes Communication Even When It is Difficult Sarah Beaulieu is a Boston-based writer, speaker and advocate who has spent the last several years interviewing men and women about sexual violence. We found her TED Talk the other day and loved the message she is sharing. In a world where 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have been sexually assaulted, society is looking for a way to stop the violence. It starts with being willing to have…
By Cranford Blackmon I love what we do through our company (LaBCaF.com). What I don’t love are the things our classes and blog posts are meant to stop, or at least decrease the likelihood of happening: sexual violence, assaults, abduction, and domestic violence, to name a few. Our focus on “self-protection” is our effort to teach women of all ages to avoid trouble rather than have to handle it with “self-defense.” You know the old but accurate proverb “An ounce…
By Cranford Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) At the time of this writing, I am the step-dad of 7 and the granddad of 6. So you might guess that my wife Penny gets the occasional text or call that goes something like this: “Mom, I have no idea what to get Cran! Any ideas?” I’m pretty sure that same message goes out to millions of moms every…
By Cranford Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) We’ve all heard that the effects of pepper spray are not permanent, right? We know the burning sensation, the blindness, and the difficulty breathing are all temporary. We know that pepper spray isn’t meant to permanently injure anyone. So what IS it for? It is to redirect an attacker’s attention to the sudden painful effects he is now experiencing due…
By Cranford Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) “How do I protect myself?” “How do I protect my children?” These are very common and very important questions that every woman either has asked or should ask. Well, I have asked the same questions about the women and girls in my life. If you have looked around the LaBCaF website, you know the reason I created this company. If…
By Cranford Blackmon If you have been to any of our classes or kept up with these illuminating articles that I write, you know that “situational awareness” is the most basic skill that must be learned before any other can effectively be used for your own safety. Great gun skills, awesome martial arts skills, and so on are great to have. However, if you are so unaware of what’s going on around you that you allow Baddie McBadguy to get…
By Cranford Blackmon I would guess that the majority of you who read this have some familiarity with at least one sport. Either you played or you watched. Maybe you watch your favorite professional team or you watch your favorite 6-year-old play or something in between. The point is this, you probably have at least some small understanding of how a particular sport or game is played. Now you don’t have to be a sports fanatic to understand what I’m…
By Cranford Blackmon If you have read our website (www.LaBCaF.com) or taken our classes, you know we created LaBCaF to teach women to help themselves avoid danger, AND to stop someone who is actively trying to hurt, kill, or abduct them. We don’t teach sport combatives, or fitness classes. Our belief is that the prime responsibility of keeping someone safe belongs to THAT person! I am responsible for MY safety. You are responsible for YOUR safety. The only instance where…
by Penny Blackmon (Update: Some of our programs have changed. Subscribe to our email list to stay up to date.) It is common for women to feel that if they were attacked, they wouldn’t be strong enough to fight off their attacker. They can feel that it would be easy to be over powered by a man, that they are weaker and more vulnerable. We have had students tell us that after taking Modules 3 & 4 (Legs and Brains…
By Cranford Blackmon Throughout our lives, we’ve all heard people say “There’s a right way to do something, and there’s a wrong way.” If you’re a grown up, you’ve probably said it to someone with less wisdom than you. It is, for the most part, true. Of course, there are times when there are multiple “right” ways, and there are certainly a multitude of “wrong” ways to do things. But that’s a rabbit hole we won’t go down today! So…