This is the way I’ve chosen to deal with the things in my life that I hold to be sacred. I’m not embarrassed of a thing.
Oh I’m a Jedi.
I am a Jedi.
So hell yeah I’m a Jedi. I think it’s…I think it’s a good thing for me to be.
My name is Alex Bird. I live in Saugerties, NY. I live with my wife Kerri and my son Elias.
I joined the temple of the Jedi order on July 2nd of 2014.
I was on Facebook and all of a sudden it said Jedi gathering 2014. I said get out, these people actually get together.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find a community less about here let me tell you about my newest
revelation and more about I’m gonna go try and find out how the universe is organized. You wanna come? Yeah let’s go find out.
I think of the temple as the people in it. There is no physical structure. This almost entirely happens online.
The temple of the Jedi order has a doctrine. Also that doctrine is constantly under debate and discussion. The doctrine is there to provide us with
a basic structure and if people choose to disagree that’s quite valid.
I was raised in the Catholic church. I spent roughly a year in India and I shaved my head put on my robes.
I was ordained. Atheism feels real, feels true, but doesn’t address needs.
The need to feel like one is part of something, connected to something. That doesn’t go away.
Empire Saber Guild is the New York chapter for Saber Guild International, which is a costume charity performance group that’s Lucas Film recognized.
Saber Guild is not at all affiliated with the Jedi religion as a whole, but there are some members in the group who do follow a Jedi path.
My name is Amy Chrzanowki. I am a member of Empire Saber Guild.
I was adopted when I was six months old. Like every girl I kind of wanted to grow up and be Princess Leia
and when I read her bio it actually said that she was adopted by Bail Organa. And that was the first time
I’d seen kind of a leading female uh role model who was adopted and that was kind of inspirational to me as a kid.
My back story and Garda’s back story are really inclined with each other. I was found on the bottom like one of the lower levels of 13/13.
As I call it the projects of the Star Wars galaxy. The projects of the Star Wars galaxy.
It’s true. I hate to say it but all the black Jedis in sith came from one fucking planet. I didn’t make this shit up.
So yes we’ve been preparing for winter con, multiple rehearsals till nine ten o clock at night.
It looks good. The timing is just off. Your only in act one right?
From beginning to end an Empire Saber Guild show starts with the script and then we go into audio recording.
We set stage blocking. We set our fights and then we go from there.
Master! You let him go!
I am here to serve.
To Monty Python?
You truly think you can take us all traitor. That sound different.
Yours and Spitfire’s fight. If that’s not sharp by Wednesday I’m cutting it in half.
It can totally get stressful when crunch time happens. I think the biggest weight on our shoulders is that we are Lucas Film recognized and
we want to make sure that we represent Star Wars the best way possible.
When you fall.
Yeah.
I need you to fall from exhaustion.
Watch like Passion of the Christ.
No.
Alright. What? What?
That’s good. Curb stomp him. Again. Maybe not.
At the end there must be a clear winner. A clear loser. An awesome death and a really cool finishing pose.
We are not professional stunt or choreographers
We are just like normal people everyday that enjoy doing this and doing the charity of Saber Guild.
Tomorrow is our final show of the year. It’s winter con. It’s the Christmas spectacular In New York and it’s a big time for us.
You guys should be proud of yourselves.
Two sides. One force.
In order to become a Jedi Knight one must have 200 verified degree points, but also satisfy whatever the requirements of the teacher are.
It makes the buzzing sound. The dog hates it.
What comes with being a Knight is more about responsibility than any kind of gift or honor.
The ceremony is, it’s quite simple. It happens in uh a chat room and then I will take my oath and that’ll be it.
This is the culmination of roughly a year and a half of uh work and study.
Time check.
Ten minutes.
Oh my.
They teach you in the temple not to show emotion.
At this point it’s just do the part your here to do and everything will go well.
What is protocol if you crap your pants on stage?
You finish.
Get to your positions.
Two sides. One force.
I feel a dark presence on that imperial cruiser.
Foolish Jedi. There is no hope for you.
There’s already ten people here. That’s nice.
Master!
Where is the holocron?
I gave you an order. What are you thinking?
I am not my brother.
Then embrace what makes you strong.
What. This can’t be. No!
I do feel a deep sense of satisfaction of the task.
I will end you slowly and revel in your screams.
Together we. We could’ve ruled the galaxy.
No. Together my brother and I could’ve saved it.
One force!
Hows it feel man?
It feels good. It feels really good.
Oh my little star.
We’re gonna go back they have pizza at the table so we’re gonna celebrate a little bit.
I guess what’s next is um finding out if anyone wants to be trained.
Our number one goal as a Lucas Film group is to raise money for charity and today we are helping the empire state
gains and we are raffling off a battle ready lightsaber at our table tomorrow.
We have to own the fact that we’re borrowing our myth from a bunch of movies, but they give us a really solid starting point.
I actually have no clear intention of raising my son as a Jedi. What is extremely important to me is that
I raise my son to basically be a stand up guy, to do right by people and to let people be who they are.