I studied Shim Gum Do with Kim Chang-sik at his temple in Brighton, MA, and got my 1st Star Black Belt in Zen Sword there in 1991.
John Heinz Jr was a student there at the time. He amd I used to talk to each other a lot. One time I was talking about entrepreneurship, and John called me "the last true America."
We referred to Chang as "Sabonim," and I thought he was a pretty interesting character. One time he was showing me a new form, and I was having trouble with it. I kept trying it over and over, and finally asked him: "Am I getting better?" I'll never forget his answer: "Better? You expect get WORSE?"
I saw a video of Sabonim doing a blind-folded watermelon cut on a student's stomach. He did a cartwheel with a sword in his hand, came out of it and sliced the watermelon in half while it was on the student's stomach. Very impressive.
Sorry to hear that Sabonim turned out to be a Kerry fan.
I respect all the oriental martial arts. You have a great story there about your Shin Gum Do studies with the master and with the young Heinz. I've driven by the place quite a few times... think it was on Chestnut Hill Ave in old church looking building.