Sat., Sept. 23, noon-4 p.m., locations vary, 267-258-1962

In the far-off days of my youth, I nourished my soul with books about mages and wizards and sword-fighting mice. I would have liked very much to be a girl warrior (some tragic fashion mistakes came out of this longing), but now I limit dreams of heroism to getting to the gym before holiday dinners. Then last Saturday I found myself at the Schuylkill River Park for Damion Waltermeyer's beginner sword-fighting class.

Waltermeyer, a long-haired dude with five different black belts, gives classes around the city (knife-fighting!) as head (well, only) instructor of the Philadelphia School of Modern Kenjutsu and Aikijujutsu. The latter is a type of sword fighting (literally, "sword methods" in Japanese), and it was what the other five attendees—only some of whom looked like D&D stereotypes—and I had come for.

Dogs were barking and people were staring as we practiced attacks and blocks with a wooden sword called a bokken. "I'm really not very aggressive," I said apologetically each time we switched partners. But it turned out I kind of was—not especially skilled and not at all coordinated, but fairly quick and violent. Like a small rodent that's cross-eyed but determined.

My favorite was the footwork drill where the defender is unarmed but gets to knock the attacker in the throat. All the swinging and dodging was enough to get me out of breath, and my right arm was glad I had to leave before we started sparring. When I walked back over the Schuylkill three hours later, my calves were shaking but my heart was without fear.