The fourth installment of This Is My Thing continues our mission to talk with people about the things they do just for themselves – not because it’s their job and not because it’s a responsibility, just because they love to do it. The stuff you do because it’s your thing.
On this episode of This Is My Thing, we’re talking with Anna Beard about her love of swords and sword fighting. For Anna, that love started early, through exposure to pop culture that featured swords made of lasers (Return of the Jedi) and steel (Lord of the Rings). “A book's not worth its salt unless somebody’s swinging a long sword at some point and talking about the name of their sword,” Anna says. Years later, that love of fictional swords became a love of real swords as she learned the art of sword fighting. And later still, that love of sword fighting became of love of teaching others how to sword fight.
On this page, you can listen to the on-air version of Anna’s story, but if you check out the KUT News Now podcast feed, you’ll find a much longer version of this piece – including the sound of Anna showing us an actual sword fight and of her giving producer Juan Garcia a quick lesson.
We’ve talked to a lot of other people about their things and those stories will be coming in future weeks. You’ll hear from a guy who found his creative spark by milling lumber in his Cedar Park driveway, a skater who will tell us what ‘aggressive roller skating’ is and what it means to her, someone who builds amazing things with LEGO, and plenty more. Stay tuned!
And want to hear from you about the thing you do just because you love it! You’ll find an online form a little lower on this page where you can tell us about the thing that brings you joy, calms your mind, or feeds your soul in some way.
