Comments

This morning I had the good fortune of checking in on the "everything self-defense" blog by Tom Callos. I must say it was a pleasure to view "Just Yell Fire". I can't believe that I have never come across this tremendous piece on women's self-defense. Your daughter, Dallas and her friend are truly ambassadors on a subject that is only taken to lightly.

I have been teaching martial arts and situational self-defense since 1978. Only since 1997 has my school focused on the anti-abduction of children and the protection, rape prevention, and quick escape for women. We have implemented much of the information that is offered on this DVD through sources such as John Hall's "Date Escape" and Tony Blauer's "Rape Prevention".

The key that makes "Just Yell Fire" so solid is "who" is presenting this film. The two girls, the police officer, and Dallas' instructor give the targeted audience a much better presentation. It will be so much easier for girls and parents to pay attention and to stay interested.

I truly look forward to scheduling and evening with daughters and parents so that we may view "Just Yell Fire" together. I'm not sure if it's possible for me to download and burn the video to DVD. But I will give it a try and I look forward to sending as many parents as possible to your website.

I currently teach grades 6 8 Health classes. Violence prevention is a topic that is included as part of the 8th grade curriculum. Last fall a student told me of your web site and DVD. I previewed your video and thought it was absolutely excellent. I was able to show the video to four classes totaling approximately 120 students. At the end of the quarter when students filled out their course evaluation, 68% of all students felt that the Just Yell Fire video was the most important part of the course.

Needless to say, due to the importance of information included in the video and the overwhelming thumbs up, I want all 268 of my students to have access to the important and possibly life saving information included in the video.
Thank you for all your doing to keep kids safe.

Hello, my name is Muna from Lebanon. I have to say that i think your movie is great and i would like to share the film with my class and school. Thank you for all the hardwork and keep it on...

First off I want to tell you I saw you on Montel & thought what you are doing is very impressive. It is wonderful seeing teenagers doing something so productive to help others in the community.

Not only does your video help teen girls & women, but I want to order one to have my young son watch it to help fight off any child predator that might try to abduct him. I really think your video should be shown to all young children as well to prepare them for circumstances that may arise such as attempted child abduction. Unfortunately we see all too often on the news what happens to young children who are caught off guard by these predators. Your video is a wonderful tool to help better prepare children to defend themselves. Again, thank you for making such a wonderful video to help others.
I will pass the word on to everyone I know.

Teaching girls that they CAN defend themselves

I am interested in becoming a certified trainer for Just Yell Fire. I gained my Master's degree in Library Science last May with an emphasis in children's and youth services, and hope to find a job soon as a public librarian. With the amount of contact I will have in that field with young and teenage girls, as well as contacts with schools and other libraries, I would like to find out how to become involved and help promote your program.

I have been training in aikido as a self-defense art since June, and will be testing for my first rank soon. The more I learned in aikido, the more it made me aware of how girls and women in America are socialized about violence. Movies, television, and popular media seem to promote the belief that girls and women cannot win or escape in a situation where we are under attack by a man. Recognizing this made me interested in finding out what programs were already available to promote girls' and women's self-defense. I discovered Just Yell Fire by Googling "women's self-defense". I was thrilled to find that someone has begun a movement to counter that socialization early in women's lives, beginning with teaching the girls who are most at risk that they CAN defend themselves and escape an attacker, even if their attacker is much larger. I myself am only 5'1", and the techniques that eliminate an attacker's advantage of greater height are also especially applicable to me.

I live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and I would like any information available on training for certification for Just Yell Fire, either locally or in neighboring states if necessary. Many thanks to you, Dallas, and everyone else involved with Just Yell Fire for your caring and hard work.

First, let me congratulate the endeavors of these teenagers in doing such a great service to mankind. What a creative way of getting the message out! I am doing a basic life-skills class and want to incorporate this DVD in one of our lessons. Thank you for making a difference.

While working out at the gym today, I saw your organization's segment on the Montel Williams show. On the TV next to the one showing your segment was a news report on Fox News showing an 18 year old girl that was just abducted from a Target in KS. My daughter was working out at the gym with me. I would like to request one of your DVD's for her. I want her to have the information that she needs to help her know what to do if she ever finds herself in that kind of situation.

What a wonderful job the girls did, creating a video targeted toward girls and how to protect themselves in uncomfortable and/or dangerous situations....There can never be too much said about this issue......and for boys too....expecially during today's day and age. The world is definately not as safe as it used to be, and BRAVO to the girls who made the movie 'Just Yell Fire' and their efforts to help keep others safe. I just happen to be home from work today to see the Montel show.

I checked out the link for your daughter's film. Very cool! I was thinking about it this morning when I was on the treadmill and CNN had a piece on ladies that were potential military recruits being raped by their recruiters. They interviewed this one person, who was sixteen at the time of the rape, and her responses made me think that she just didn't have a clue how to fight back. I hope your daughter's movie empowers women to not only learn how to fight back, but to take action when they need to!

So pleased to know you and your work

This is a comment sent in to our trainers Leila Rae Sommerfeld and Valerie Mainridge of Gresham, OR

Thank you again from our entire team! You and Valerie did such a fabulous job. Several of our volunteers commented at the end that your traiing was the best self-defense class they had ever taken - and several had attended classes in the past. you adapted your presentation to fit perfectly into our time constraints and skill level. You and Valerie brought such great energy and enthusiasm to our class. We especially appreciate you taking time on a Sunday. We feel empowered to continue to advocate for sexually exploited women in and around Portland.

We are so pleased to know you and your work. I hope this is only the beginning of our partnership.