Tibetan tests!
Fur Elise
Chopin
Impromptu
George Sand (wanting to be her)
Meditation, Meditation
Future ideas
money trouble
halloween ideas
soccer
friends
the liver and what it does
HOWL
That is just a quick blurb of my mind lately.
This past week I saw the movie HOWL, which is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.....
I suggest reading it. It changes you in a way that I cannot describe on paper. The movie was about the poem and how they were trying to ban it off the shelves and prove that it was not "literature." Really spectacular visceral animation of the poem. Take the time to just let the words soak in. Beautiful.
So this month is coming out month and it has been a tragic month of suicides of young gay men. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/us/04suicide.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=several%20recent%20suicides%20put%20light%20on%20pressures%20facing%20gay%20teenagers&st=cse
At Naropa we had a breakfast for the GLBTQ club and many questions about the current issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered kids were jostled in my mind. Something needs to be done. Support groups need to be implemented into the school systems. This is something very real that needs to be addressed. Over the meditation weekend we did a Toglen practice for these boys who are now in the bardo crossing over. Please keep these boys in your mind and all of the teens who face oppression every day. I know in my own experience as a high school substitute there were not only violent oppressions but subtle comments thrown around about people who were "different." I know high school kids are very loose when it comes to throwing around words that can be harmful; therefore the institution itself needs to set the precedent in allowing someone to have the freedom to express themselves/orientation and being mindful of our words. My personal HOWL is to change the way we think about sexual orientation in this world. It is not so black and white. Gender is not so black and white. It is a social construction. I received the pink blanket while my brother received the blue. WHY?? I want the orange blanket. I remember this one story when I had my birthday party at the roller rink at age 10. My brother was 8 and he picked up the skates that all the other girls were getting. They were pink. My mom discretely went over to him and said, "Buddy I think those are the girls skates." He dropped them on the spot with this face of horror and went to find the "boys" skates. Do they have to be the "girls" skates? When did pink become a girl color?
I grew up mostly hanging around boys as most of my classmates know. I didn't play with barbies. Only to amuse my sister SG did I pick up the ken doll and pretend. I grew up playing football and working on the farm. I was frustrated with wearing dresses. I loved working on the farm with the guys.
So this issue about gender and sexual orientation is quite interesting. Rita Gross is doing some great work on this topic in the Buddhist world. Pick up her book. That is all for today.
Hope everyone enjoys the day!! Now off to studying.
