As a follow up to last week’s feature of the week, “Wildcat On The Move,” Anna Griffin sent a few stunningly beautiful photos of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They are breath-taking! Enjoy the photos and all KIA features of the week at the Kiado-Ryu website.

As nature has her wildcats, so does the Karate Institute of America, and our Wildcat, like Nature’s, is on the move!

Anna “Wildcat” Griffin is the 55th Black Belt of the Kiado-Ryu. She began her KIA journey at age 11. In 1998 she earned her 1st Dan Black Belt rating. True to her call sign, Wildcat is as tough as they come and a true legend in KIA history.

Anna, a former United States Army veteran of eight years, relocated from the central plains of the U.S. to the Northwest where she is now working in the insurance field. Last week she paid us a visit when she traveled to SoCal to help her parents relocate to her neck of the woods, where much of her family is now living.

In so many ways the civilization of the 21st Century lives in the delusion that symbol is more important than substance; that the character of who we are has been turned inside-out and upside-down to where it’s more important to be superficially adorned with the trappings of celebrity, fame, name, power, wealth, status, popularity and gamesmanship than it is to be anchored in principles of character, humility, honesty, honor, dignity, purity and substance.

Always with a smiling, optimistic, positive attitude is Terry “Slider” Bass, the fiftieth Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America, pictured here in his ubiquitous blue gi. Slider achieved his first dan on 13 December 1997.

Possessing a strong, noble and generous character, Slider has been a staunch supporter of the KIA and other students, often attending the Black Belt tests of prospective candidates.

As a fighter, Terry is very crafty, skilled, determined. He also loves to mix it up when he can, having sparred often with fellow KIA Black Belt, Dan “Basai” Asay during a fifteen year period, which unfortunately terminated due to their personal injuries.

Swords are sharp … and cutting. The word “Shuto” is defined as a hand used like a sword in striking. Jerry “Shuto” Alston, the 28th Black Belt of the Kiado-Ryu (1994), not only used his hands as cutting implements on his opponents but he also used his mind as a cutting instrument to whittle his adversaries down to size.

In fact, one of Shuto’s greatest assets, if not his greatest asset, is his mind. Jerry Alston is smart, sneaky smart, and he has won many competitions and matches using his number one weapon—his intellect.