Taijiquan Journal Writers and Artists Featured

Afaa Weaver, a long-time taijiquan student, poet, playwright, and professor of English is featured as the cover story in the November-December issue of the prestigious Poets & Writers magazine. Weaver is a disciple of Huang Chien Liang, grandmaster of the Tien Shan P'ai system, and has studied in Taiwan. He wrote an article "Taijiquan and Healthy Living: Tien Shan P'ai's Grandmsater Huang Chien-Liang Shares His Views" in the Winter 2004 issue of Taijiquan Journal. Recipient of an NEA fellowship, an MFA from Brown University, a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at National Taiwan University, and a Pew fellowship in Poetry, Weaver is now professor of English at Simmons College in Boston.

Creator of "The Yang and the Rootless," Taijiquan Journal's original (and probably the first ever) taijiquan comic strip , cartoonist, author, illustrator Jackie Urbanovic's children's book Duck at the Door hit the New York Times Children's Books Bestseller List. A sequel Duck Soup will be out in January.

Science writer Sandra Blakeslee's book The Body has a Mind of its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Most) Everything Better. The book, written with her son Matthew, explores the interesting areas of brain science--how the brain forms "body maps" and how those shape our perceptions and can change our lives. Blakeslee interviewed Taijiquan Journal editor Barbara Davis for background on methods such as taijiquan for improving body sense. Blakeslee's article "When the Brain Says 'Don't Get Too Close'" appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of Taijiquan Journal. She is a science writer for the New York Times with a special focus on the brain and how it works.

Back issues of Taijiquan Journal are still available! See our website for further information.