What does one do with a liberal arts education? How about hop around the globe studying people who jump off and around buildings?  That is what Blake Evitt, a former Davidson French major decided to do directly after graduation in 2010.

If you listen to Pod’Cats, you may remember Blake.  Blake is a practitioner of Parkour, and is spending this year studying the French martial art with funding from the Watson Fellowship.  Commonly known as “free-running”, and recently featured in a James Bond flick, Parkour started as “l’art du déplacement.” Literally translated, it means the “art of displacement” or the “art of movement.” The goal of the art is to provide the basis for moving from one point to another regardless of any obstacles in the way.  As it has evolved, Parkour has become less of an athletic pursuit and more of a life philosophy. In fact, the concept of overcoming obstacles is what initially drew Blake to Parkour. Continue reading →