Gaia: Queer Mythos, Stories, Evolving a New Paradigm of being Gay - MISCELLANEOUS/OTHER TOPICS - What is the new paradigm for being gay?

Re: rock and roll shaman book

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 02:52:01 GMT

intention... intention?

or is it depending on consciousness and what they allow to come through?

or both?

:-)
d

Re: rock and roll shaman book

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 01:00:12 GMT

yes, yes, it's the whole notion about rock concerts and dj's getting the ecstatic pulse going

but where
and for what....
intention intention....

rock and roll shaman book

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 05:14:54 GMT

well... the whole concept makes sense given the way that a dj can feel the energy and work things accordingly when they are spinning somewhere and how they move the crowd through music, so i would think that to tap into the energy and work with it and much like when someone does a healing circle, people are drawn and repelled based on the energy. so the whole idea makes sense.

i can get my hands on a copy eventually i think based on what i found online. looks like some university libraries around have copies, and as long as they can do interlibrary loan i can borrow it. i wonder if it is public domain yet.

i tend to read slow and i am trying to get through this book on african shamanism at the moment. some books i read faster, but this stuff is going in slower and more densely as are some other books that i want to read. maybe i just need to scan them for chunks because i am backing up with this stuff. i seem to always wind up working with people more than i research lately.

om...
d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:21:53 GMT

well keep searching, it is not usually in libraries... tho i don't know much about internet libraries????
it's a very very very cool book if you can get your hands on a copy...if i had a copy i'd send it to you on loan,
i had borrowed a friends' wanted to get my own and bumped up against the 125 dollar ticket for it as well..
rock and rolll

it also talks about the the circus and the roll of harlequins and jazz and houdini and gypsy culture all the way back to the shamans of siberia....
pretty cool stuff.

banjo, dulcimer, etc....

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:22:21 GMT

banjo... or a dulcimer after seeing that guy play a dulcimer over the weekend and loving that up.... or even a guitar or a combination. maybe i would be just as happy having someone else playing the banjo and doing my thing as a storyteller or singer or some such thing. one of the story tellers had another guy up performing with her.

i guess i will just sit with the energy and see what unfolds. keep following the pieces and see where they go. assembling the puzzle.

i am definitely aware of the energy some of these folks have and how it affects things, but hadn't thought of them in terms of shamans thus far so much, and it makes sense as a form of group healing/transformation work. something even about just knowing that book name is already working away at me.

thanks.
d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:04:00 GMT

hrm... i did find it at a library locally oddly enough. well, one not too far away that i can maybe do a loan from. other books probably should read first, but wonderful to know about and added to my list.

-d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:02:16 GMT

interesting... hrm...

sounds fascinating... yeah, it is a pricey book. 125.00 at the only place that i could find it at the initial search. at least they have it i guess. certainly don't have the budget for it, but i guess i could check other options for it. interlibrary loan??? lol. that doesn't sound likely though eh?

-d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:25:22 GMT

you
my
friend
are my
part of my
inspiration cauldron

and yes,
YOU
shall
make it so
to become a
song and dance man/woman
with banjo in hand
and call the spirits forth

check out the book, (hard to find and expensive )
:::: The Death and Resurection Show
the history of rock and roll and shamanism.....

kiss,
willow WONDER

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 16:59:21 GMT

hey willow...

i noticed i mispelled your name up there. eek. typo.

i looked at your new pic in the profile and noticed the 'willow wonder' in there and have to comment on how i love that word 'wonder' and how it seems to me the essence that i crave authentically. distinct from a lot of visual noise or other things.

i turned on the tv... ifc the other day. i like some of their films, and other films on there lack something. i think what they lack is the wonder and the magic of things and even painful films or stories can have wonder and magic. many of them have visual interest or attempt it. like attempting something weird for the sake of being weird.

i found myself contemplating a banjo lately. not sure if i have mentioned that here, but i may mention it a few times in that it feels like this aspect of embracing some deeper parts of myself. this child that grew up singing folk songs and countryish folk songs. a part of me craves willie nelson and kenny rogers lately, something i would likely not have really allowed for myself. somehow it seems appropriate to mention in this thread. i think partly because i associate so much of the country stuff to wyoming and colorado and other places with poor track records around gay issues. i have sorta viewed that as not a domain for gay folk, and somehow inferior to the glamour of urban gay life.

more and more if i see a future with someone i see a future where i can listen to folk music comfortably and have that aspect of my soul enjoyed. i am following the energy of that, but just watching how a part of me felt suppressed by a guy i liked who hated when i had folk music on. hated the twang of things. at least he likes john denver though. i guess it was a country twang he couldn't enjoy. for me there is an authentic joy that comes through in some of those songs that doesn't come through in the more protected glamourization of so much pop.

i wandered youtube.com the other day and found video of a drag queen playing the banjo and for me i think that is what my soul craves. that is what seems like a new gay paradigm. one where we can embrace ourselves beyond gay commercialization, beyond american cultural commercialization. to really explore who we are vs. trying to fit into one area or another.

i love your image in the photo willow. thanks for sharing it. your images remind me of some of the tibetan masks and costumes that they use. not that they so much look the same, but they are alive and vibrant in a way that one doesn't see a lot of in modern culture. what are your inspirations?

-d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 04:45:22 GMT

I loved reading this thread ...

I really don't get to bent out of shape trying to classify sexuality. I think sexuality can be a very fluid and personal thing. Since I was 12, I identified as gay ... maybe I had it a bit easier than others, but what matters to me is that people respect who I am, and being a gay man is a very significant part of who I am. I don't mind at all if people want to say I'm homosexual or queer, that's no big deal to me ... I just want to be respected as an equal regardless of sex and sexuality.

Shalom,

JuJu!

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 04:24:13 GMT

we are on the inside looking outside of the inside....
ya know?
i was just talking with a new fae friend in vancouver today,
and how easily we "box" and categorize our "I-dentities"....
some call me a "glam fae", others see me as a "hippy"
and others find me as a "new age" and on...
and ya know,
i'm just a willow in the wind... sometimes munk, sometimes hermit, sometimes wizard, sometimes a boy in the cornfield, sometimes a sexy dancer, and on ....

it's these roles we play that become attachments...either by ourselves to our pysche or by others....
as for me, Am I gay, Am I a woman or a man?
alas,

I was asked onece at a dinner party, "are you a witch?"
"hm.... trick question," i replied, "you mean the good witch/bad witch thing?"
"you look like a witch".... said the other
"Well then I am neither a witch or Not a witch then..."
"You are magical"
"Indeed and so are you"

as we seek to find our truths and to learn more about creating the dream hologram we desire, releasing ego attachment to identities seems to be where i am at these days...
I love the picture,
i have up
it's from a dance I did for a show " Flight of the Jaguar Magician"

the song was
"Dancing Gold Into your eyes"
"Mirrors of myself"
Your eyes are my mirrors
Beauty is our dance....

this i think, is one of the veins of being gay i enjoy....
dancing beauty into each others eyes

and then
another friend in hawaii, a hemophrodite, queries me on drag and identity,
and I offered,
that we role play, we shapeshift, we (i), wear masks....
I am a creator and my body is a palatte of material and ethereal imagery....
i say,
why not have fun,
even if---
that means
wearing overalls in a cornfield with no underwear...
tee heee
yum yum yum
aum.
namaste, sweet david
your voice, is your song......

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 04:17:52 GMT

i think my consciousness needs to prepare for the wonder that is willow. i feel a bit less T E R R I F I E D than i did the first time you mentioned something like that. you are a whole big bunch of creativity and color (of course in your pic you come in unhuman colors even :-) but over time as i read, explore and gestate in the wonderful essences of the soul/mind, it seems a bit less of a terror and more of a potential delight to interact in person.

it is funny, reminds me of a friend who met me a few years ago. first time on the phone with me he freaked out at my voice. may have mentioned that in this group at some point. anyhow, over time he lets himself be more genderfluid at least by his definitions and more expressive. for me i think creative expression is a bit scary for me. all the color. all the life. there is a part of me that just likes my mellow little monk life and maybe i am supposed to, but obviously letting myself explore a bit beyond that. to some i am wildly alive and creative, but up against shanee and wilow, i feel like a wallflower and happily so. on the outside looking in? on the inside looking out?

-d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 02:32:58 GMT

nah, its about trusting the flow
synchronicity
and
sponteneity
and
perhaps a bit of faerie dust...
as i know all wonderfully welll
that willow wonder the contessa willl
roooooooost and perch somewhere soon
and pick up the creative wand and spread creative juices again into the ethers...
perhaps i'll dance over your way one day....
mmmmmmmmmmmm

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 02:19:01 GMT

the path of willow and what a quirky adventurous path it seems to be. sounds like an interesting one. glad someone is walking it. would overwhelm me and make me cry probably (not much of a traveller) but very cool :-)

-d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:56:50 GMT

fabulous!
check this link out:
http://www.queermatters.org/

and stay tuned, i'm hoping to put on a rad fae mythos show in OhIo sometime ....
i just need to get a grant for the theatre piece...

ps, i'm from columbus

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://deepwoodsart.gaia.com — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:53:44 GMT

teetee heehee....
someone told me they got a hardon from looking at those paintings....soft porn...
hmmmmmmmmmm ummmmmmmm
ok, i'm all over now, went to washington, wolf creek, and breitenbush and saw all the rad faes up that way, now i may be manifesting burningman,,,, and oh that zuni is calling me in the next few weeks...i'm on a

expect
the
unexpected
path
rightnow...

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://shaneequajackson.gaia.com — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:10:05 GMT

Hello everyone,
Very interesting topic! I love the posts. First, I suppose I should introduce myself: I'm Shaneequa from Cincinnati, Ohio- it's a pleasure to be a part of this pod.
This discussion reminds me of a course I took back in college entitled "Gender and Genre: The Epistemology of a Queer Identity". In this course, we discussed (among other things) the "rules" associated with classification of gender and/or sexual orientation identity. Gender identity has traditionally been defined according to biological characteristics (thus shunning those who are transsexual or intersexed); while sexual orientation is much more subjective (assuming that sexual "desire" is the underlying basis for queer identity.) The quest for a new paradigm for gay identity challenges these orthodox notions of identity classification by proposing that "gayness" or "queerness" encompasses more than sexual preference or physical desire.

So what does it mean to be gay? By classical definition, anyone who engages in sexual relations with a member of the same sex is gay. This is fine, except that I was "gay" before I ever even thought about having sex. And what about all those in the gay community who are celibate- are they not gay? Apparently, this crude definition is inadequate. So we need to find a more dynamic and inclusive method for queer identity classification.

Throughout recent years, much scholarly discourse has centered around the creation of a "queer" epistemology. Utilizing paradigms found in such disciplines as Feminist Theory and Afro-American studies, many have sought to establish a "Queer Theory"- a methodical approach to understanding gay identity within the context of a canonized epistemology. In most instances, Queer Theory has been quite instrumental in challenging classical views on gay identity and classification. Queer theorists often define gayness as a cultural or social phenomenon, leaving to rest the age old myth that sexual orientation has everything to do with sex. More often than not, many Queer Theorists argue that sexual orientation, like race, reflects a multitude of cultural and communal characteristics that cannot be defined by biology alone.

Aside from the progressive shift of paradigms established by Queer theorists in the world of the academia, we are still plagued by a multitude of questions and dilemas when it comes to gay identity in the "real world:" What does it mean to be gay? Who is gay and who is not? What about bisexuals? Or closeted homosexuals? Or transgendered people? Is a man who becomes a woman still gay? Or how about a male-to-female transsexual who engages in sexual relations with a woman- is she now a lesbian? The questions go on and on. As a gay male who is also a "drag queen" (what a lame term!LOL), I often wonder where and how I fit into the gay community. Do I represent a different "breed" of gays? Am I "gayer" than a man who dresses traditionally, or am I "less" gay because of my perceived femininity? Some would argue that I am "transgendered"- yet another umbrella category for a multitude of identities. As for me, I typically choose to define myself as Gay because that is the term most commonly applied to me by others, and it's a term that creates less confusion in the public arena. Even so, I still can't help but to wonder just how accurate such a term really is, particularly because there is yet a sense of concurrence among glbt people as to how to classify queer identity.

I have yet to come to any concrete conclusion with respect to a personal understanding of gay identity. Perhaps it is less necessary to define gayness as it is to create a pardigm wherein all diverse definitions and classifications are embraced. We as glbt people are very diverse, and therefore we must design a paradigm that reflects this diversity.

Cool topic- definitely gives me alot to think about...

Namaste,
Shaneequa

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:24:43 GMT

cool bill... love the clarification and elaboration there.

thanks,
d

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://telesterion.gaia.com — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:53:36 GMT

I don't usually use the word 'straights' for sexual preference - to me 'straights' are the suits, the suburbanites, the normals, center of the herd, center of the bell curve types.

So I say 'hets'. ;-}

Re: What is the new paradigm for being gay?

http://folksoul.gaia.com — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:44:29 GMT

osho has a book on sex and i think there are a number of books on conscious sex for 'hets' :-)... however, not enough mention of them in the mainstream in either community i would think, although 'body electric' thankfully gets some decent attention in the gay community.

-d