The Librarian, the Glitch, and the Wardrobe

HEMA stank is real. In historical European martial arts (HEMA), we sweat in our gear. And sometimes we have to share that gear because it’s pretty expensive for one person. It’s not as gross as it sounds, but that is because we politely spray down all the communal gear before putting it away. Our club is also lucky to have other amenities and equipment to keep the stank under control.

My contribution? I started a wash log for the jackets. I organized a simple spreadsheet, identified each jacket, and noted when I washed one. No one asked me to do this. And the jackets weren't looking or smelling particularly offensive. Another volunteer gifted me some sports laundry sanitizer to get started. I just thought that my experience in libraries and wardobe could be applied here in HEMA, and I was right.

Metadata is data about other data. It's context that better explains the information initially presented. For example: In a library, a book's metadata includes the author, the publishing date, and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Wardrobe for a production means maintaining sizes and repairs, establishing a wash schedule, and delegating across a team. And if anything goes wrong, it is noticeable immediately.

I specialized in metadata because I like having more information to make better decisions and increase accessibility. I minored in theater costuming because I thought it was fun. Initially, metadata was work and costuming was a treat. With HEMA, I saw a gap my experience could fill.

This was about two years after losing my dream job. I had been struggling. I felt like a glitch in a system that I suddenly didn't understand anymore. All my experience, studying, and sacrifice had been for nothing, and that was painful. Over a decade of my life just didn't matter. I couldn't make people see why I mattered. But I'm starting to see that effort is not wasted, knowledge accumulates, and there is space for me to exist outside of that dream.

So I clean our jackets. My wardrobe-librarian brain couldn't resist.

And when life (or a jacket) starts to stink, I'm going to try and reflect on the experiences that led to that stink. Not with negativity, but with gratitude. That build-up came from effort, focus, sweat, and a deeply rooted curiosity to understand myself and the world. The stink doesn't get to stay, but it's not as offensive anymore either.

HEMA stank... it's real.