Sunny Dipps comment was getting long so I will respond here.
At the night market you will see men with men, men with women, women with women all holding hands . Then again Thais are a touchy people so holding hands might not mean anything at all sexual. Every night you go out to a Thai bar you will approached by girls, boys, and lady boys. One of my favorite teachers is called a she by most people (everyone at school), but partying at her home she is also called a "he". All this is to say that it is not the norm to be queer, but it is not hidden or looked down upon. I hope that people in the states can open their minds a little to make the lives of themselves and others better. The problem with reformation ideas like this is they fly in the face of mutually reinforcing habits. I don't need to say anything about the "gay bashing" problem. On the gay side though I have noticed attempts to seduce straights. That it is a big problem. Can you expect a straight construction worker to accept gays if he thinks he will be harassed by them? And how can someone complain that they are not accepted and then go around trying to change others? There is little more aggravating then unwanted sexual tension. If someone is not attracted to you, let them be. This is one lesson I am very bitter about but thankful for, accidentally taught to me by a gay friend. I try to find out if a women is interested accept it if they are not. I have noticed a distaste of sexual openness in American women more then any other culture since coming here. The only student I can think of who strongly disliked me in the 3 months I was at ITM was an American girl who I flirted with for 5-10 min, realized she was not interested and said goodbye. It was not even very overt flirting. She was generally disliked for her political views so I didn't mind that she didn't like me. That brings up another point. How can Americans stand behind American foreign policy? Everybody thinks Americans are stupid and the only values we have are monetary values. Of course that makes our economy strong and that is respected... But do we have to fuck with other countries to keep a strong economy? I don't pretend to know the answer to that one. And I can't complain to much as long as I enjoy the benefits. The one thing I wish for the betterment of the United States is that people look around without judgment. Look at other cultures and when they are different, instead of saying "Bad" say "Why?" or "Wow". For that matter when we look at other people maybe we should be a little less judgmental. I try to separate my discriminating faculties from my emotional faculties. Maybe it is impossible, but I have found that I can often act appropriately without judgment. Leaving my feelings more balanced and positive then they used to be. I think it would be arrogant to say "of course I am not perfect". Instead I would like to undercut the notion of perfection. An ideal of perfection is not one that I aspire to. I aspire only to happiness and freedom from suffering.
Back to reality.
Mike and I have been planing our future. Mine in yoga/massage, his in teaching, both traveling. How can we do everything we want and do it well? I am thinking I had better go to school in the states to get certified to practice in the good ol' USA. This is not really what I want to do. I want to save up some more money and study here. Mike thinks I should go to one of the best schools in the states, make some money "rubbing some rich old lady's ass", and THEN come back here. One thing I am really good at, well one thing that I need to be really good at is taking good advice. Kristen suggested Boulder, CO. I have always wanted to live in CO. I could start next October and the program is a year long. At the end I would be able to work anywhere in the US. Until then I want to try to make my living practicing Thai massage... I mean, "Thai Yoga Therapy". I think if I asked $20/hr I could give three two hour massages a day without running out of clients? Maybe it's stupid. It would be ALLOT of work for very little money. But if I could do that from May untill October I could live well and get allot of practice in.
| 8 | Let lovers all distraught and frenzied be, |
| And flown with wine, and reprobates, like me; |
| When sober, I find everything amiss, |
| But in my cups cry, "Let what will be, be." |
| 15 | Whate'er thou doest, never grieve thy brother, |
| Nor kindle fumes of wrath his peace to smother; |
| Dost thou desire to taste eternal bliss, |
| Vex thine own heart, but never vex another! |
| 18 | Young wooer, charm all hearts with lover's art, |
| Glad winner, lead thy paragon apart! |
| A hundred Kaabas equal not one heart, |
| Seek not the Kaaba, rather seek a heart! |
| 18 | Young wooer, charm all hearts with lover's art, |
| Glad winner, lead thy paragon apart! |
| A hundred Kaabas equal not one heart, |
| Seek not the Kaaba, rather seek a heart! |
| |
| 23 | Quoth fish to duck, "Twill be a sad affair, |
| If this brook leaves its channel dry and bare "; |
| To whom the duck, "When I am dead and roasted |
| The brook may run with wine for aught I care. " |
| |
| 24 | From doubt to clear assurance is a breath, |
| A breath from infidelity to faith; |
| O precious breath! enjoy it while you may, |
| 'Tis all that life can give, and then comes death. |
| 30 | To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow, |
| Counting on morrows breedeth naught but sorrow; |
| Oh! squander not this breath that heaven hath lent thee, |
| Nor make too sure another breath to borrow! |
| 32 | This jug did once, like me, love's sorrows taste, |
| And bonds of beauty's tresses once embraced, |
| This handle, which you see upon its side, |
| Has many a time twined round a slender waist! |
| 41 | Sobriety doth dry up all delight, |
| And drunkenness doth drown my sense outright; |
| There is a middle state, it is my life--- |
| Not altogether drunk, nor sober quite. |
Omar Khayyam is brilliant, I have read him from 5 translators. This is E.H. Winfield.
2 comments:
Yikes. Thailand sounds like a nightmare!
I would have been more understanding of homosexuality in the past but every homosexual I've ever known has taken great pleasure in flirting with me even though I'd tell them to stop.
A lady boy is still a boy. A Post-op Tranny is still a man regardless of what the law says. I don't believe that trannys are truly women. I believe that trannys are fags who are trying to get straight guys to fuck them. And they are lol
Show me a gay thats respectful and maybe i'll change my views.
I grew up in a Unitarian Universalist church. I remember when I first heard what a gay person was I was asked my dad about it and he pointed out so many gay people that I grew up with that I knew that the people who were saying bad things were idiots. Not an easy thing to know growing up in Plant City. The sexual culture of the USA is very strange. It is heavily flaunted and lacking in restraint and taboo. I think the puritanical roots of the US has really skewed everything.
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