Richmond regularly tops lists of high-crime cities, and just a few weeks into my new job there, I was "reacquainted" with this unfortunate aspect.
While walking to my car late one night from the office on campus, sick with the flu and carrying a couple bags of books, it seems that I was selected as the target of a gang initiation, whereby the candidate inductee must start a fight with the victim. Luckily I kept my cool during the incident and all ended OK, but it was not a pleasant experience, and it was a good reminder that, when in the real world, all is not milk and honey.
Thinking now of practical self-defense options, here is a movie made in about 2002 by a Western martial arts group who got together at Frogmore Grange, Coventry, England. Participants enjoyed tea and crumpets before the days' activities of walking stick fighting, pugilism, and jiujitsu, followed by a three-course meal in a Victorian dining room:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiTAtJI_uU
Self-defense laws being what they are, especially on university campuses, certain self-defense options are precluded from consideration. However, the cane or walking stick certainly seems viable. Here is a transcription of a self-defence article from 1901:
Self-defense with a cane is a component of Bartitsu, the martial art made popular in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Other resources for this line of self-defense and training include:
Be safe, and be prepared!
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