I never mentioned, but I'm on vacation! Yay!
I of course forgot my camera and feel dumb as a post because of it. I was walking across one of the bridges today at Niagara Falls and this woman strikes up a tiny conversation and says "Would you like me to take a picture?" while she looks me up and down, no doubt searching for a camera on my very travely looking person. After telling her that I didn't have a camera with me she gave me the strangest look, as if I was some sort of pink wildebeest wearing that backpack, and just walked down the bridge.
Tourists. Bah.
Anyway. I'm in Niagara Falls at the moment, and leaving tomorrow. I got here by way of Toronto, and will be leaving to visit NYC for the first time.
There will be more later, especially back posts from things I've journaled about on the trip.
Until then!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Bones and Blood
Water is fluid.
It comes to our shores from ocean or sea. Currents will carry the same water around the world and back again. Storms will carry it any distance, in any direction. It is placeless, eternal, and shared amongst the world.
Rock, stone, tree, bone. These things are static. Things of earth are rooted and concrete. They inhabit a place for so long that they become nothing but place. Earth knows nothing of maps or path - everything about the Earth is present and immediate.
It is the same with blood and bone. My blood comes from my ancestors and connects me to them. It connects me to my living relatives, no matter where they are across the planet. It is the nature of blood and water to flow.
My bones come from the earth. From the place of my birth. A mother eats from the soil of her home, and that then hardens to bone in her womb. Bone is a part of the land much as a tree is, or a boulder.
Blood will flow, and with it passion. Passion may take one to many places, but the bones know where they're from, where their own native land is. My bones come from this land, and this land is my native home.
It comes to our shores from ocean or sea. Currents will carry the same water around the world and back again. Storms will carry it any distance, in any direction. It is placeless, eternal, and shared amongst the world.
Rock, stone, tree, bone. These things are static. Things of earth are rooted and concrete. They inhabit a place for so long that they become nothing but place. Earth knows nothing of maps or path - everything about the Earth is present and immediate.
It is the same with blood and bone. My blood comes from my ancestors and connects me to them. It connects me to my living relatives, no matter where they are across the planet. It is the nature of blood and water to flow.
My bones come from the earth. From the place of my birth. A mother eats from the soil of her home, and that then hardens to bone in her womb. Bone is a part of the land much as a tree is, or a boulder.
Blood will flow, and with it passion. Passion may take one to many places, but the bones know where they're from, where their own native land is. My bones come from this land, and this land is my native home.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
An Alternate Immune Support, Part One
I'm always interested in a new way to treat something. I don't believe that the answer to any ailment is a single medicine, and every alternative will have it's own quirks that allow for a healthy personalization of a treatment.
I started an Elderberry glycerite a few days ago. I've never made a glycerite, so I was excited to try. Beyond that I've been wanting to experiment with an alternative to Echinacea. Echinacea isn't strictly good for long term use and I wanted to try something a little bit more gentle. Elderberry is supposed to be a fantastic immune supporter and a mild tonic. It's also a diuretic.
That's all I've got. I'll post again once I've processed the slurry.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Bear Pride and the Inevitability of Human Prejudice
This weekend marked my first ever Bear Pride event. It was just as fun as I could have hoped. Saturday was a dance party and "Mr. Bear Pride" Contest, and Sunday was Wet n' Wild at Steamworks. There were plenty of very attractive men, and the variety of temperament and attitude was a wonderful deviation from the traditional view of what "Bear" has to mean.
All too often "Bear" is held up as this standard of gay masculinity both inside of the Bear community and inside of the larger Gay community. The Bears look at it as a badge of pride to be carefully gaurded and the larger community sees gruff, demanding exclusion.
The truth, of course, is very much more complicated and precarious. For being a small sub-community the Bear community is surprisingly diverse in its constituents. There were black men and white men, latinos, asian men. Some men were hairy as sin while others didn't have anything but smooth skin from the neck down. Ages ranged from 21 all the way to a few men who must have been 80 or older. Of course there was a spectacular range of body types from lithe, lean, and defined to thick, chubby, or just plain bulbous.
There was, as I mentioned before, also a delightful variety of humors. It seemed that everywhere you looked there were stern, overtly masculine men. That's to be expected, honestly. But in every glance you also got the fun queens and the men who aren't ashamed if you know that they knit or cook or the like. It's like any large group of people, I suppose. You have your social butterflies and your loners. Most people, of course, are somewhere in between. There's always a wide range of mannerisms to be found, although sometimes that creates schisms.
You can imagine that the Bear community isn't exempt from plain old human prejudice, as much as it pains me to say it. One hopes that when a community forms outside of "normal" social boundaries that said community will be peaceable inside of it's own construct. This is almost never true, of course. The Gay community is already composed of the outcast, the hated, the irregulars. The Bear community then subjects itself to even further classification and boundaries. If the Bear community was internally peaceable this further division wouldn't necessarily be an issue, but there are still problems inside of the community.
The young sneer at the old, the old scoff at the follies of the young. The chubs resent the otters and the muscle bears pretty much snub everyone. The leather bears look down on those of more mainstream sexual tastes. There's so much more. I could list these various prejudices for countless lines. I don't really feel like doing that.
The problem here isn't that the young cubs prefer sexual trysts with other young cubs. That's a matter of personal preference, and it's not even true across the board. Personal preference is not to be confused with prejudice. It becomes prejudice when a young man can't even bring himself to talk with someone more than 10 years older than him, or when a cute little muscle bear doesn't want to dance next to the big chubs on the dance floor. As in far too many human interactions personal preference quickly becomes prejudice through rudeness and insensitivity.
I have my own personal preferences. I prefer men not much larger than myself in girth. I generally don't enjoy the sexual company of men more than twice my age, though this is more of a case by case situation as time goes on. I'm not often into men who consistently wear makeup or do crazy things with their hair. I don't like it when men wear scented product. There's more, of course. Little things that sometimes matter, sometimes don't. I try not to let this become prejudice, though. There's no need to be rude or hurtful. Kindness can go a very long way in preventing harm by silly prejudice.
I'm admittedly a grumpy ass, but I'm very rarely unkind. I never aim to actually hurt someone, and I don't really understand how people can actually intend it.
I do believe I'm beginning to ramble. Long winded isn't my normal style. To surmise, I had a fun weekend. The only downside was that I couldn't help but notice just how egotistical and rude so many of these otherwise wonderful men are when they meet someone who doesn't fit their personal definition what what a Bear should be. It's an enormous pity and we're better off without.
All too often "Bear" is held up as this standard of gay masculinity both inside of the Bear community and inside of the larger Gay community. The Bears look at it as a badge of pride to be carefully gaurded and the larger community sees gruff, demanding exclusion.
The truth, of course, is very much more complicated and precarious. For being a small sub-community the Bear community is surprisingly diverse in its constituents. There were black men and white men, latinos, asian men. Some men were hairy as sin while others didn't have anything but smooth skin from the neck down. Ages ranged from 21 all the way to a few men who must have been 80 or older. Of course there was a spectacular range of body types from lithe, lean, and defined to thick, chubby, or just plain bulbous.
There was, as I mentioned before, also a delightful variety of humors. It seemed that everywhere you looked there were stern, overtly masculine men. That's to be expected, honestly. But in every glance you also got the fun queens and the men who aren't ashamed if you know that they knit or cook or the like. It's like any large group of people, I suppose. You have your social butterflies and your loners. Most people, of course, are somewhere in between. There's always a wide range of mannerisms to be found, although sometimes that creates schisms.
You can imagine that the Bear community isn't exempt from plain old human prejudice, as much as it pains me to say it. One hopes that when a community forms outside of "normal" social boundaries that said community will be peaceable inside of it's own construct. This is almost never true, of course. The Gay community is already composed of the outcast, the hated, the irregulars. The Bear community then subjects itself to even further classification and boundaries. If the Bear community was internally peaceable this further division wouldn't necessarily be an issue, but there are still problems inside of the community.
The young sneer at the old, the old scoff at the follies of the young. The chubs resent the otters and the muscle bears pretty much snub everyone. The leather bears look down on those of more mainstream sexual tastes. There's so much more. I could list these various prejudices for countless lines. I don't really feel like doing that.
The problem here isn't that the young cubs prefer sexual trysts with other young cubs. That's a matter of personal preference, and it's not even true across the board. Personal preference is not to be confused with prejudice. It becomes prejudice when a young man can't even bring himself to talk with someone more than 10 years older than him, or when a cute little muscle bear doesn't want to dance next to the big chubs on the dance floor. As in far too many human interactions personal preference quickly becomes prejudice through rudeness and insensitivity.
I have my own personal preferences. I prefer men not much larger than myself in girth. I generally don't enjoy the sexual company of men more than twice my age, though this is more of a case by case situation as time goes on. I'm not often into men who consistently wear makeup or do crazy things with their hair. I don't like it when men wear scented product. There's more, of course. Little things that sometimes matter, sometimes don't. I try not to let this become prejudice, though. There's no need to be rude or hurtful. Kindness can go a very long way in preventing harm by silly prejudice.
I'm admittedly a grumpy ass, but I'm very rarely unkind. I never aim to actually hurt someone, and I don't really understand how people can actually intend it.
I do believe I'm beginning to ramble. Long winded isn't my normal style. To surmise, I had a fun weekend. The only downside was that I couldn't help but notice just how egotistical and rude so many of these otherwise wonderful men are when they meet someone who doesn't fit their personal definition what what a Bear should be. It's an enormous pity and we're better off without.
an update of moving importance
So, I repeat, we moved.
Theo and I have our own place on the very northern edge of Chicago now. We're literally half a block from being in Evanston. It felt like the boonies at first, but I've gotten used to it. That I can walk to work now is rather helpful.
The new apartment has its quirks, of course. Hot water only truly happens in the shower. The kitchen light doesn't work (my fault!). The cat has gotten herself into the chimney twice now, and we're not even supposed to have a damned chimney.
It's also a very pretty apartment, I admit. Very large, lots of open space. There's a full pantry, which is possibly my favorite space in the house.
Here's our mantle and fireplace. It's in the south, which is pretty neat.
So here's the rest of the main room, still disheveled from the move. In the first picture you can see all the way to the back door, through the study and the kitchen!
I promise that more pictures of the space will appear, but only as my photography ends up improving. Here's a little bit of a fun craft project, though.
I had to figure something out to do with the lids to our pots, since I can't stand having them in some random cabinet, and I also can't afford the counterspace to use one of those ridiculous lid racks. So I did this. It hangs below my wonderful spice shelves.
That's really everything I have. Here's a picture of our heinously evil cat to end.
Ooooo, evil!
Theo and I have our own place on the very northern edge of Chicago now. We're literally half a block from being in Evanston. It felt like the boonies at first, but I've gotten used to it. That I can walk to work now is rather helpful.
The new apartment has its quirks, of course. Hot water only truly happens in the shower. The kitchen light doesn't work (my fault!). The cat has gotten herself into the chimney twice now, and we're not even supposed to have a damned chimney.
It's also a very pretty apartment, I admit. Very large, lots of open space. There's a full pantry, which is possibly my favorite space in the house.
Here's our mantle and fireplace. It's in the south, which is pretty neat.
So here's the rest of the main room, still disheveled from the move. In the first picture you can see all the way to the back door, through the study and the kitchen!
I promise that more pictures of the space will appear, but only as my photography ends up improving. Here's a little bit of a fun craft project, though.
I had to figure something out to do with the lids to our pots, since I can't stand having them in some random cabinet, and I also can't afford the counterspace to use one of those ridiculous lid racks. So I did this. It hangs below my wonderful spice shelves.
That's really everything I have. Here's a picture of our heinously evil cat to end.
Ooooo, evil!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A Singer's Remedy
So we moved. More on that later.
Last night Sooj and K showed up on the doorstep. That's always a really nice find, even when expected. We hung out here for a while and got them settled in, then had Shivian over to hang out for a bit. There was I-HOP involved, and then more house time.
Sadly Sooj is feeling under the weather, and has had some throat problems the last few days. As she has a concert tomorrow she's needed a bit of a vocal pick-me-up. Here's an easy, classic remedy for a sore throat and cough. I like this recipe because it promotes healing of the throat as well as easing the cough and the discomfort.
Ingredients
1 Tb Yarrow Flower
2 t Licorice Root (chopped)
Juice of One (1) Lemon, fresh
1 Tb Honey, more to taste
All ingredients preferably sourced organically/locally. Steep Yarrow and Licorice in approx 4 fl oz water (about 2/3 capacity of average mug) for 5 minutes. Remove herbs and add remaining ingredients. Stir well, drink as needed.
Last night Sooj and K showed up on the doorstep. That's always a really nice find, even when expected. We hung out here for a while and got them settled in, then had Shivian over to hang out for a bit. There was I-HOP involved, and then more house time.
Sadly Sooj is feeling under the weather, and has had some throat problems the last few days. As she has a concert tomorrow she's needed a bit of a vocal pick-me-up. Here's an easy, classic remedy for a sore throat and cough. I like this recipe because it promotes healing of the throat as well as easing the cough and the discomfort.
Ingredients
1 Tb Yarrow Flower
2 t Licorice Root (chopped)
Juice of One (1) Lemon, fresh
1 Tb Honey, more to taste
All ingredients preferably sourced organically/locally. Steep Yarrow and Licorice in approx 4 fl oz water (about 2/3 capacity of average mug) for 5 minutes. Remove herbs and add remaining ingredients. Stir well, drink as needed.
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