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Friday, May 13, 2005
BAGHDAD BY THE BAY posted on 5/13/2005 11:34:00 AM by agentCB
CULTURE posted on 5/09/2005 09:18:00 PM by agentCB
i write this entry in a [insert famous coffee conglomerate name]'s coffeeshop in SF. sunshine is with me, well actually she's in an interview about 33 stories above me.
as i sit here writing this, i wonder out loud if people still refer to SF as "baghdad by the bay." back in herb caen's time, (a famous columnist for the SF chronicle... the man from whom i adopted my "3 dot style" of journalism...)
hold up...
there's a dude in the table in front of me who's making some backward glances at me. hmmm i wonder what he's thinking... this cat is of the "metrosexual variety." not to be stereotypical, i'm fighting the urge to think he's checking me out. so instead i will wonder what it's like to be a gay guy...
take a minute to contemplate, if you will... if u or i were of a different orientation. i mean, it's already tough as it is 2 make eye contact with someone from the opposite sex and to muster up courage to talk to them...
THEN, imagine having to formulate this conversation in your head:
gay dude: ok that guy is hot
gay dude: now is he on my team? or is he playing on the other team?
insecure hetero dude: what the fuck is this guy lookin at?
so i imagine, this is where gay guys turn on their "gaydar" and do the acid test; checking for compatibility and minimal system requirements (u like how i geeked that out? haha).
i wonder how gaydar works. i wonder if it's like in the predator, where no matter where a gay guy hides, you can see that shit. through walls, concrete, crate and barrell... (haha sorry, i couldn't resist the crack... i shop at crate and barrell myself, it's all love people.)
even if a cat is in denial, it still would probably exude in some form or fashion. you can't run from your destiny.
ok so homeboy is gone now. if i was gay and single perhaps i would bat an eyelash back. but alas, i am straighter than highway 5 between LA and sacramento, thus i will continue waiting for sunshine to finish her interview.
wish us luck! out...
Monday, May 09, 2005
just came back from another presentation. this time i spoke in front of a class of school counseling pps students from national university. i was asked to talk about working with A/PI students in sacramento county... but get this...
in a half hour...
so how do you talk about 50+ different cultures in half an hour? you don't. i gave 'em tips on how to educate themselves so they could work with their clients better. the presentation went pretty well, given the amount of time i took to put the outline and materials together. i spent a good 2 hours working on the outline at work. most of it was crossing out shit that i wouldn't have time to talk about. the other part of it was trying to be practical when i challenge these people to learn more about other cultures or to open their minds.
i must say, it was fun to facilitate and speak to this group. during the question and answer session, it started getting heated as people said their piece on culture... and believe me, we had many different perspectives represented.
it started getting good as people were raising their hands one after the other in response to what another person said. one cat made the faux paus of saying this phrase first: "i'm not a bigot or trying to be racist or anything but..." which basically disqualifies anything he says after it. haha jk.
it was funny because his comments were actually valid and not racist to me. i don't know what others thought, but i handled his question rather well, reminding him that America gives people the right to live any way they want to.
so i had that cat in one corner of the octagon... and in another, i had what i call the "banana" of the bunch... this one gentleman who felt that "america was the best country in the world." his rationale of course being that he's lived in other countries and didn't like them... hell he might be right.
that doesn't mean we as americans don't have a history of fucking other cultures in the ass and taking their shit... maybe that's how we got better...
it would have been nice to say that, but very non-facilitatorish of me to do so. plus, he has some points. i wonder if he knows the history. i do like america, but shiet, i'm not gonna say it's the best country... i don't think i can live anywhere else... maybe canada. my ass is spoiled... to reliant on electicity nowadays... with my electronics addiction and all (read: tech geek) but anyway, i think i got some good points across and gave people a framework on how to deal with different cultures that walk into their offices. i only hope they remember this one point; education and awareness is key when it comes to working with other cultures. and education my friends is a two way street...
with many lanes...
and potholes...
and cars that drive fast...
and yeah... i forgot what my metaphor was about...
