All that hard play can be hard work, and the deeper it gets, the realer it becomes. From degradation to grace and back again, turning forever on itself like a mobius strip. Beat, Beat-Up, Beatitude: words to fly by from the jam-sweet lips of angel-headed hipsters. Top or bottom, sometimes retreat is a good option. For those times, just outside the dungeon (aka The Heart Lodge) mildly hidden in the landscaping, a small magical nishikigoi (koi) pond waits. A rock ledge provides enough room for a semi-lotus, and a fine venue for adventures in ego dissolution. Flash of Orange. Take me…OM…country roads…splash sky water…gone.
Category Archives: Spirituality
Beatitude and Beat in NorCal: Saratoga Springs Nishikigoi Pond
California’s Saratoga Springs used to be a stagecoach stop. That was way back in the 19th century day. Now it is a “retreat and conference center.” Yoga retreats, raves and weddings are part of the draw, but they also host Leather and S/m Club Runs. The 15 Association does the annual Boot Camp run every June. Leather Levi Weekend does a mixed ‘Twisted Summer Camp’ run in August, and this year, a new mens’ run called Gear Up premieres in late July.
Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Gardening, History, Leather, Nishikigoi, Northern California, Photography, Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged 15 Association, BDSM, Beat, Beatitude, California, Culture, Gay, Gear Up, Koi, Lake County, Leather, Nishikigoi, Photography, Retreat Center, S/m, Saratoga Springs, Spirituality, Stage Coach, Yoga, Zen
Running The Gauntlet – Jim Ward Book Event at Mr. S Leather
Jim Ward at LDG, May 2011. Photo: Gay Highwaymen
Friend of this site Jim Ward founded The Gauntlet, and is widely regarded as the grand-daddy of the modern body piercing phenomenon. Now he has published a history. In May, he spoke to a packed room at The Leathermen’s Disscussion Group in San Francisco. Running the Gauntlet—An Intimate History of the Modern Body Piercing Movement tells the detailed story of “how Jim discovered his own fascination with body piercing and went on to found the industry.” Full of wonderful and terrible stories and amazing photographs, it includes details of his friendship with the heavily pierced and very gay Louis Rove – the adoptive father of the notorious Carl Rove. Other interesting bits include how the color purple came to signify piercing in the hanky code, and how he was collared to his long-term partner and Master, Drew Ward.
On Saturday, July 16th, 2011, from 1 to 5 pm, Jim will be at Mr. S Leather , signing books and chatting. Mr. S is at 385 8th St at Harrison in San Francisco, four blocks south of the Civic Center BART Station. If you can’t make it to the book event, and you want a copy, you can order one at the Running The Gauntlet website, here. Jim will even sign it for you.
Posted in DIY and Maker Culture, History, Leather, Photography, Scholarship, Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged BDSM, Carl Rove, Culture, Gay, History, Jim Ward, Kink, Leather, LGBT, Louis Rove, Photography, Piercing, Purple Hanky, Queer, Sexy, The Gauntlet
Cute boys graduating Stanford…
…including this site’s own Aidan Abroad. Congratulations to you and to all your classmates! Pictured here: graduation ceremonies in the departments of Religious Studies and American Studies. Aidan wrote his honors thesis on the response of the Metropolitan Community Church to the AIDS crisis. Photos: Gay Highwaymen.
Posted in Photography, Scholarship, Spirituality, Stanford University, Youth
Tagged American Studies, Gay, Graduation, Photography, Religious Studies, Stanford
Who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris?
A Pox on All Gurus! This video of a live Frank Zappa show from Sweden in 1973 is not particularly gay, but resonant in a lot of different ways. This Mother (of Invention) stares down The Mystery Man and tells it like it is. Whether it is snake-oil or salvation, spiritual hucksters are as American as…well, nevermind! “Who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris? Look here brother, don’t you waste your time on me!” Take home message: think for your blinking self.
Posted in Music, Spirituality, Sweden, Video
Tagged Cosmik Debris, Cult, Frank Zappa, Guru, Mothers of Invention, Music, Mystery Man, Video
Wild Turkey Road Kill #2
Running Turkey. Not fast enough…
Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Mendocino County, Photography, Spirituality
Tagged Abstraction, Art, Death, Highway, Photography, Roadkill, Turkey
Wild Turkey Road Kill # 1
Flying Turkey hits the road in an act of auto-abstraction. Buzzards delight. CA Hwy 162 near Bloody Run Creek. On the road to Covelo where locals say the Indian Wars are still underway. White and 1st Nation teens, bored, fight. No new thing under a Sunny day. Return via Dos Rios. Two rivers home.
Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Mendocino County, Photography, Spirituality
Tagged Abstraction, Animal, Art, Death, Highway, Roadkill, Turkey
The Dr Pepper Sutra
Bigger than a housecat. Smaller than a lion. Dangerous, but bubbly and surprisingly refreshing! The Buddha Nature sharpens it’s claws.
Posted in ANIMALS: Human and otherwise..., Collecting, Photography, Signage, Spirituality
Tagged Buddha, Dr Pepper, iPhone, Lion, Photography, Pop Art, Sutra
Hang Up Your Troubles! Meat Hook Ritual as Catharsis for HIV Diagnosis
Jorge Vieto in "Ritual"
Friend of this site Jorge Vieto is featured in the short film Ritual, directed by Jorg Fockele. He hangs suspended by hooks, his body swinging free in a ritual of body/spirit integration. Vieto is a well-respected young Leatherman, and a Fraternal member of The 15 Association. He uses extreme physical rituals in part to process the emotions evoked by a positive diagnosis. Vieto spoke with Scott Brogan of the Bay Area Reporter about the psychology of the scene here.
Filmed in the Dungeon at Mr.S, Ritual will screen in the afternoon at 1:15 pm at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, Friday June 24th, as a part of the film compilation entitled STILL AROUND from The HIV Story Project. Brought to you by Frameline and the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.
Posted in AIDS, Film, Leather, San Francisco, Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged 15 Association, Art, Culture, Film, Gay, HIV Story Project, HIV/AIDS, Hooks, Jorge Vieto, Kink, Leather, Ritual, San Francisco, Sexy, Suspension
Following Savage Campaign for Queer Youth, Peter Fiske says “It Gets Better” But DOES It?
But does it? Well-known Leatherman and friend of this site Peter Fiske has made an “It Gets Better” video and posted it on YouTube. We are, of course, re-posting. Kudos, Peter! It is fantastic. Of course. Messages of future promise are great, and can be just the thing to turn despair into hope. But. But. But. The “It Gets Better” video pep talks, started by columnist Dan Savage last year in an effort to curb high rates of suicide among queer youth, have really taken off. Cool. More on them here. Great campaign, but…it is not enough. Not nearly.
By all means, keep these positive messages coming. But. But. But. There are a few problems here. First off, it does not always get better – and we know that. If it always got better, dead friend of this site and Frameline co-founder Mark Finch would not have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. A popular, successful adult gay man kills himself. Or: youthful co-conspirator WRG, handsome, smart, set to inherit two fortunes, dead in a hotel room in Rio with a spike in his arm, the body stripped of valuables. They had to identify him by dental records. Just two examples. It did not get better for either of them, and they were pretty well set to overcome the past.
But. But. But. Another problem: The most vulnerable queer kids may be those least likely to be able to respond to these messages. Consider two scenarios:
One: You are 17, a junior in high school, with loving, educated PFLAG parents, a nice group of theatre friends, early acceptance to UC, and a problem with the school bully who taunts you with calls of “Faggot!” and elbows you in the hallways to the amusement of his toadies. It makes your stomach churn.
Two: You are 17, living on the periphery of San Francisco’s Castro district. You left Idaho and your violent Christian Identity family at 13 when your mother caught you with another boy. She broke a bottle over your head as you fled the house. See the scar? Arriving in SF, you met guys who turned you on to meth and fucked you raw. Already shell-shocked from childhood, you seroconverted at 14, have been on the streets for four years, and look really rough. Half-crazy with rage and despair, you kick trash cans and shout in frustration, sometimes sit on the curb sobbing. Everyone avoids you.
These are two pretty extreme, but true, examples. “It Gets Better” is a good message, but it is not enough. The kids need more than words. Even the UC-bound good gay kid needs more than words. And seriously damaged youth need a lot more. They also need the tools to survive a world which will continue at times to be hostile. Food. Shelter. Protection. Health care, including mental health and substance abuse help. Access to education, job-training, connections and good adult mentorship. Spiritual support, including services for survivors of religious abuse. They do not need to be encouraged in magical thinking: “Oh…if I can only get to San Francisco! It’s like Oz! Everything will be fabulous!” Yes, sometimes it gets better. But: it does not always get better, and it does not automatically get better. If we actually want to see the kids flourish, we need to open our eyes to the full scope of the horror under which some queer kids come up – and add real resources that are equal to our encouraging words. We need to get real.
Posted in Activism, AIDS, Human Rights, Leather, San Francisco, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Sickness and Health, Spirituality, Youth
Tagged Abuse, Culture, Dan Savage, Gay, Homeless, IDAHO, It Gets Better, Leather, Pep Talk, Peter Fiske, Queer, San Francisco, Spirituality, Suicide, Video, Violence, Youth
Other Blogs: Joe My God’s classic Pride Rant “Watching the Defectives”
One of the web’s very best, Joe Jervis of Joe. My. God. has been blogging for over eight years, and has built a loyal and lively readership. Unlike many queer sites which strive to create safe spaces for their readers, JMG operates more like a free zone. The unmoderated comments section is always entertaining, informative and challenging…and often offensive. This is a good thing. Debate is healthy. Covering up rot just breeds more rot. And we’ve all got our rotten elements. Air helps dissipate the stink.
Joe published a rant in 2006 in which he talked back to the ‘normal’ gay people who want to rid pride parades of ‘defectives’ – those nice folks who discuss “how we might go about ‘discouraging’ certain ‘elements’ from taking part in the parades.” We all know who the elements are. Joe’s nice gays spell it out: “Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in assless chaps?” The more outre the image, the better the press.
Of course, freaks have always made for good spectacle. The ancient Romans even bought and sold deformed human slaves at specialty ‘monstrosity markets.’ We no longer generally buy and sell living human bodies, but we do trade in representations of those bodies: images, words, memes. We deal in abstracts: Semiotic Weaponry – wars of words. Violence is inherent in communication. We undo and remake one another with our choice of words, appearance and other social signifiers. We attract and repulse one another. Vanillas might be put off by Leather’s overt sexuality and we might gag on their cologne. Punks and preps trade shade. We insult each other on purpose and accidentally. Dykes can see patriarchal oppression in a nice basket, and few gay men want to look at naked jiggling double D-cups – even with those little pieces of electrical tape over the nipples. One guy’s hot hairy bear is another’s disgusting old fat man. You think that intersex or trans boy is an attractive man? The guy next to you might think she’s a stupid self-deluding bitch. Feelings are real, but they are not facts. We can modify our interactions to minimize psychic damage, but the potential to offend others with our particular “defects,” or to participate in a particular ideology by our presence, will always be there. Only solitude and silence guarantee against this. We can stake out a spot on the mountaintop or disappear into the depths of a shimmering nishikigoi pond. Not a bad plan for serious self-reflection, but eventually we just might want to rejoin the party. Maybe.
Joe continues: “I’m not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It’s OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our “debauched” celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.” For the rest of the rant, click here.
Posted in Drag, Internet, Leather, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged Culture, Drag, Freaks, Gay, Intersex, Joe Jervis, Leather, Pride, Punk, Queer, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Semiotic Weaponry, Semiotics, Spirituality, Trans, Violence, Watching the Defectives
The Gay Highwaymen 