Jeff Shaw

Instructor

Jeff Shaw Updates

Spring 2024 Update

There’s a great poem by Naomi Shihab Nye called “Famous” that I always think of when people are interested in my work. Here’s an excerpt:

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

Before coming to Western, I worked extensively in environmental justice and climate justice communications, and I’m pleased to report that this work continues. I’m working with Prof. Betsy O’Donovan from the journalism department, Prof. David Sattler from the psychology department and other colleagues from across the globe on an exciting project in Tonga and Pasifika this September. The Young Pacific Leaders Regional Workshop on Media Literacy and Journalism will bring together 30 young leaders to expand knowledge regarding media literacy, journalism, and pressing issues facing the Pacific region.

I’m thrilled to get the chance to work with these leaders on growing journalism and strategic communication skills on issues including climate change and resilience. Our team will help build capacity in media literacy and journalistic practices and advance regionalism in the Pacific, a place that’s near and dear to my heart.

Another project that’s near and dear to me is Bellingham BJJ, the downtown jiu-jitsu academy where I’m head instructor. This year, we’ve been working with the WWU Judo team to expand our respective skills – and to help raise funds to send some of the judo team members to Japan in order to train at the Kodokan, where judo’s story began.

It continues to be rewarding getting the chance to educate the next generation of journalists, communicators and participants in democracy. My teaching approach emphasizes building a solid foundation of understanding first, and then paying particular attention to whatever animates the specific cohort of students I’m teaching. This term, I’m back teaching JOUR 207 (Newswriting). It’s always fun seeing where people go after that jumping-off point.

I also adapted the six-hour history of judo and jiu-jitsu series I did for YouTube into a class proposal for Western. Hopefully in the next few years, I’ll get to teach the fascinating story of how these martial arts played a pivotal role in the British struggle for women’s suffrage and flourished in Brazil’s no-rules fighting scene – all before captivating an Emirati sheik who built his nation’s physical education program around it, and coming to America, where it birthed the billion-dollar industry called mixed martial arts. The history of jiujitsu, from 1600 to the present, tells a fascinating story about intersectional identities, how cultural exchange occurs, and the purpose that martial arts play in human societies. I also have some planned academic research projects focusing on how information on self-defense martial arts is communicated to the public.

2024 has been great so far. The best is yet to come.
Winter 2023 Update

Hello from the Keflavik airport! It has been a busy season of research, travel, teaching and more. I’m just returning from a trip to Iceland — more on that below — and am excited to get back to teaching Journalism 307 this term.
Along with Prof. Betsy O’Donovan and Prof. Carolyn Nielsen, I was the third author on a paper published in Journalism Practice. The paper is called “Curious Citizens: Whose Voices Are Heard in “People-Powered” Public Media?,” and examines whether a new technology platform is causing more public radio outlets to feature sources with lived experience.
I’ve also been making Monday food runs to pick up nutritious items from the Miracle Food Network for the food pantry in the Journalism department. If you’re facing food insecurity or know someone who is, spread the word.
A poster adveritizing the Toro Cup, a jiujitsu match that will feature Jeff Shaw. The “superfight” will take place in North Carolina this March. // Photo courtesy of Jeff Shaw
Elsewhere at Western, I’m designing a course proposal for the university about the fascinating history of martial arts’ interconnection with geopolitics and personal identity. The martial art we now know as Brazilian jiujitsu emerged from Japan, played a pivotal role in the British struggle for women’s suffrage, and flourished in Brazil’s no-rules fighting scene – all before captivating an Emirati sheik who built his nation’s physical education program around it, and then coming to America, where it birthed the billion-dollar industry called mixed martial arts. The history of jiujitsu, from 1600 to the present, tells a fascinating story about intersectional identities, how cultural exchange occurs, and the purpose martial arts play in societies.
It was jiujitsu that brought me to Iceland. In addition to researching the art’s history, I’ve been teaching and attending seminars around the world. Here in Bellingham, we held a charity event that raised money for the LGBTQ+ outdoor non-profit Queer Nature. In March, I’ll be competing for the first time in three years, at a featured “superfight” event on a charity grappling card in North Carolina called Toro Cup.
The days are packed, but it’s great, as always, to be headed back to Bellingham.
Winter 2022 Update

Jeff Shaw during a 2014 visit to ‘The Burial of St. Lucy’ by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, a painting in Basilica Santa Lucia, Siracusa, Italy. //Photo courtesy of Jeff Shaw
It’s been a busy year, and this term is off to a busy and rewarding start. Teaching JOUR 190 is one my favorite things to do, and as of next week, we’ll return to campus for the first time in quite a while. This class is always inspiring, and I’m looking forward to getting together with people in person. When I’m not teaching at Western, I’m attending to my responsibilities as the Deputy Director of Communications at the national Sierra Club, where I do communications work on the club’s energy campaigns. We work to move America — and the world — beyond coal and other fossil fuels, powering our communities with 100% clean energy.

Teaching is a passion of mine, so I’ve also been teaching 12 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes a week at our space downtown, Bellingham BJJ. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling-based martial art that came from Japan to Brazil about 100 years ago. We’ve closed a few times due to the pandemic, and as I write this, we’re closed to wait out the omicron surge. When we’re open, I teach a dozen classes a week. This year when health conditions allowed, we took new competitors to various tournaments — and even won a few superfight events in North Carolina. You would think that teaching communications and journalism would be different than teaching a martial art (and it is!), but the core of the practice is the same: It’s all about conveying information in the most effective ways, so that the information can be recalled when it’s needed most.

Finally, I’m also helping to complete a few research studies with Western colleagues, and when time permits, I’d like to return to my own academic research. Prior to the shutdown, I was designing some studies of podcasts, and hopefully that’s what 2022 will bring — along with a return to good health for our communities and the world.