What I Learned From Spending My Weekends Punching People

Description

On President Trump’s 80th birthday next Sunday, professional fighters will attempt to beat each other up on the South Lawn of the White House in a newly erected arena called the Claw. There’s even been talk that the fighters might emerge from the Oval Office, then do battle in an event featuring a shower of patriotic fireworks.

I teach at a state university in Boise, Idaho, a town that’s a blue dot in a red state, and most of my friends and colleagues, as well as most people on my social media feeds, are already horrified by the prospect of this coming spectacle. I get it. But what many of my friends don’t know is that, for several years now, on Saturday mornings, I say goodbye to my wife and kid, head to Straight Blast Gym, lace up 16-ounce gloves and trade uppercuts and body kicks with a group of highly accomplished fighters. I’m training in muay Thai, one of several fighting styles commonly used in M.M.A.