Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

Maggid: We Are Commanded To Tell The Passover Story

The internationally acclaimed storyteller Laura Simms once said that she "tells stories in order to destroy story." I've always understood that to mean that storytelling wakes us up to the fact that we are always telling ourselves a story, living out of stories that we have in our heads — often stories that don't actually have any connection to reality in the moment. Personal stories, family stories, tribal or national stories: we are characters in all of them.

This is a kind of madness, but it a madness all humans live by. If we are attentive when we hear a story well told in a culturally relevant ritual setting, the story helps destroy the illusion of reality we place on the story we live. It wakes us up to other possibilities and other actions we might take. It opens us up to the hearts of others, and their motivations. In this way, ritual storytelling is a kind of Buddhist meditation. Certainly it is the way Laura practices and teaches storytelling, and I am always profoundly grateful to learn from her.

So it's about to be Passover. The time when Jews are commanded to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt. The story of our enslavement — and our freedom. There are many things I love about this storytelling ritual, not the least that it is a living ritual that has continued for more than 2000 years in this form. But there are also things that trouble me. One passage in the Haggadah I always flinch at when we read it is the phrase:

"For not only one enemy has risen against us, in every generation men rise against us to destroy us."

While history is certainly filled with examples that could support this statement, I find myself wondering about the victim mentality it leads to. I wonder whether reading this leads us to recreate this story by telling it generation to generation. Is this a story we want to live?

And it leads me to a question about slavery — are we enslaved by the story? Can this ritual help free us from the very story we are telling, so that we both honor it, and learn how to act in the world in fresh ways, free of the narrow vision it gives us? Don't get me wrong — I am not about throwing the story out. I'm only suggesting the most traditional thing one can do at a seder — talk about the story as it is told, but this time, talk about it as story and the ways in which it creates our way of seeing reality. At least that's one thing this Jewish Buddhist is planning to talk about at his first night seder this Monday.

And of course, in memory of Yvonne DeCarlo, who died not so long ago, and played Nefertiri in DeMille's 50's remake of his original The Ten Commandments, at the appropriate moment, we will all sing out in unison:

Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn,
splendid, adorable fool!

Queer Jubu Heroes: Mark Thompson

Okay, to start Mark Thompson isn't a Jubu, but that doesn't mean he can't be a Queer Jubu Hero! Because he is a pioneering voice in the world of Gay Spirituality. And this month at the LGBT Community Center in NYC, he has an exhibit of photographic portraits of many other queer heroes of mine, including Harry Hay and Ram Dass.

The show is called Fellow Travelers, which given Hay's communist connections has at least two layers of meaning. It's in room 310. I wandered in one day, recently, since I spend a good deal of time at the center every week, and was thrilled to see the leading spiritual lights of our community, honored with this exhibit. And if you haven't seen it, it will be up until April 26th, 2007.

It's co-sponsored by White Crane Institute, which publishes a magazine that explores gay men's spirituality in depth — and has published many articles with the men whose faces grace these walls. Stop by, and say a prayer of thanks that these men do the work they do.

Perfectly Potted

This vase was thrown by Koji Susukida, one of the many traditional potters inspired by Shoji Hamada, the man responsible for reviving the Japanese folk ceramic tradition. Susukida lives just down the road from Hamada's old studio in Mashiko, and works on a kick-wheel. His apprentices wake up at 4am, and start wedging the cold clay. If you sat in his studio, apart from the electric light, and the radio there is little that would tell you that you're in the 21st. Century.

Bet you were thinking that after yesterday's post on kosher pot that a subject entitled "perfectly potted" was going somewhere else. Nope. Contemporary folk ceramics are one of my passions.

Susukida works with salt glazes — so that even the bricks in his kiln take on a beautiful glazed effect. Should you find yourself in Mashiko, look for his work at any of the cooperative pottery shops  — where  the local artists have banded together to sell to the public outside of the gallery system.

Pot's Not Kosher for Passover? Pardon Me, I'm Sephardic

Reuters reports that an Israeli pro-pot advocacy group has determined that this alternative inebriative is not kosher for Pesach:

The Green Leaf Party announced Wednesday that products of the cannabis plant have been grouped by rabbis within a family of foods such as peas, beans and lentils that is off-limits to Jews of European descent during Passover.

Note that it says Jews of European descent. The Ashkenazi. That's because the Sephardic rabbis have always allowed peas, beans and lentils -- as well as rice. So besides being a Jewish Buddhist, on Pesach, I'm Sephardi thank you very much.

The question remains however, what is the proper blessing before lighting up? And is it different if you use the loopy leaf as an ingredient in a recipe? Inquiring Talmudic minds want to know.

There's an answer to be found over at the blog of another queer jew (though not a jubu):

Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech, who specializes in kashrut supervision of odd foods ...Blech said, Ashkenazi Jews would only be prohibited from eating it. Smoking pot or wearing hemp would hypothetically be okay...

Of course, that's only one answer. We're Jews remember. There are lots of opinions, and there's more than one way to be Jewish. So ask your rabbi his or her opinion. One warning however. Just as the "Got Milk" campaign suggests that eating chocolate and not having milk around is a scary thing. Smoking pot, then getting the munchies and a dry mouth while facing a table full of matzoh, well, you'll finally know why it's called the bread of affliction.

Life Comes To An End

    Life Magazine will once again stop publishing. In a week where Adweek declared that traditional advertising was dead it should be no surprise that the living dead magazine Life is about to go. And why? Because the publisher would only run brand advertising. But since Life has been running as a Sunday supplement, and these magazines are supported overwhelmingly by direct response advertising — and because the NY Times reported that Life's publishers had an issue with that — Life is dead again, this time most likely with a stake through its heart.

I don't mean to sound flip about this. I am horrified at what is happening to print as a medium today. And I am sad to see Life go. Or more accurately, I was sad when it first died in 1972. I still have my Woodstock commemorative issue from 1969 (along with my Woodstock ticket and program book, a rarity because it was barely distributed) and The Year In Pictures 1971, in which I appear in a photo essay on Gay Activism.

It was a summer night, and Merle Miller was speaking at the Gay Activist Alliance firehouse. Life came to take photos, and the leadership asked those who wanted to appear in the photos to sit in a certain area. I was 19 years old, and I went right for the front row. Ancient history now. But history I was part of.

Today, well, this is the medium. YouTube and who knows what's next.

Athletic Support

Adfreak cites research by Harris that shows people seem just as likely to be influenced by out gay sports celebrity spokespeople as by any sports spokespeople. That being queer shouldn't exclude you from being on the Wheaties box.

Rumors of his being queer is what kept Olympian Carl Lewis from his breakfast moment. But it does not seem to be getting in the way of John Amaechi, who is appearing in advertising. Of course, let's keep it real. Here's what the NY Times reported that the CEO of HeadBlade, which is using Amaechi, had to say:

Mr. Amaechi ''is the perfect storm,'' said Todd Greene, chief executive at the HeadBlade Company in Culver City, Calif., which specializes in products for bald men, because ''he's African-American, a basketball player and gay, and those are all huge demographics for us.''

''And he uses the product,'' Mr. Greene said, adding that he learned Mr. Amaechi was a ''HeadBlader,'' as Mr. Greene calls his customers, while deciding whether Mr. Amaechi would make an effective spokesman.

In other words, the target market is gay. Nice that the Harris poll shows opinion trends moving in a good direction. But I don't see Amaechi on the Wheaties box yet. I did see him at the GLAAD Media Awards the other night though, and he is really larger than life is many ways (get your head out of the gutter). Sure, he's big. But he is clearly big-hearted, and like another former basketball player I admire, Bill Bradley, smart in a way that gets attention. Maybe he should do what Bill did and run for office someday. It's better than being on a cereal box any day.

Take A Breath: Autoerotic asphyxiation

The New York Times front page today ("Teenager Casts Light On Shadowy Game")reports about a “choking game” that teens engage in. Not a new thing — when I was teen sci-fi and comic fan going to sf conventions, one comic artist I knew, Vaughn Bode died in just this way. However, there is no reason for this practice to continue given what we know about breathwork and sexuality. Joseph Kramer combined the techniques of cathartic breathwork, massage and erotic touch to create Body Electric. And the reality is that there is no safer and surer way to experience the holiness of sexuality than by utilizing this technique (either on your own or in the safe container of a relationship where you can be vulnerable, since there is no moment more vulnerable, or beautiful, than a non-ejaculatory orgasm experienced in this way). Of course, don’t expect Body Electric techniques to be taught in schools any time soon. Cathartic breathwork is also known as holotropic breathing, and as the Radiance technique. Some people know it as rebirthing. When done with erotic massage, the technique most resembles what is taught by Drs. Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks in their book, Radiance: Breathwork, Movement and Body-Centered Psychotherapy. All these techniques work from the same principle: breath is what connects us to the Divine. Buddhists certainly understand from meditation, that when one is conscious, every breath is a prayer. And the last line of Psalm 150 is: “Every breath is a praise of God.” When this is consciously connected to what can be the spiritual opening of orgasm the results can be mind-blowingly transcendental. When it happens in the container of a committed relationship — well, words fail me. And so, while this JuBu understands the first noble truth that life is suffering, there is not reason to add to that suffering with autoerotic choking. May all those who seek the Divine in unskillful ways find true Love and deep Joy.

Queer Product Watch

I'll never forget the day my old boyfriend Hiroshi brought some of these home. The wicked grin on his face told me he'd snagged something that was just his kind of mischief. Defying US Customs, we brought a few to NY when we moved back to store in the fridge just for laughs. It kept it's shape and size (ahem) for almost ten years before I chucked it in the last move. Without the aid of Viagra. Makes me wonder what it was really made of — probably the same synthetic materials found in those McDonald's shakes that never melt or lose their consistency even if left out in the sun.

Dharma Tech

As if in answer to the quesiton "Would the Buddha Wear a Walkman?" Beijing-based electronica band FM3 has created an pretty little device they are calling the Buddha Machine. Inspired by another Chinese gadget that plays Buddhist chants endlessly, the Buddha Machine plays the band's ambient electronic trance music over and over (only one track over and over unless you change it) until the batteries run out.

I don't really have an issue with using technology to explore altered states of consciousness. After all, Bio-feedback machines have helped people for decades. And I'm a big fan of "sensory-deprivation tanks," despite the fact that Huxley eventually considered using drugs or technnology for transcendental expreriences amounted to spiritual breaking and entry. However, none of this "dharma tech" is branded with the name of someone who is revered by millions. There is no Jesus Machine — many Christians would be offended at the thought and there would be media outrage. A Mohammed Machine? That would be inviting a bit more than verbal attack. But Buddhists?

How do we resist commercialism and not fall prey to what Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche called spiritual materialism?

Low and Highlights of the GLAAD Media Awards

The controversy made it to the NY Times on Monday — GLAAD recognizes the MSM for positive portrayals of GLBT people, but ignores GLBT media. So magazines like the Advocate, networks like Here and Logo, And Kate Clinton didn't ignore it. Awarded the GLAAD pioneer award (saying that she had been introduced once not as a Stonewall lesbian but a Stonehenge lesbian), Clinton thanked the MSM for supporting her 30+ year career — exactly two times. And then she thanked GLAAD in advance for making certain that GLBT media will be recognized in the future. Good for her. It's great that GLAAD does the job it does — they've held the media's (that's the only time you will ever see me write the word media's) feet to the fire over the years, and there is no question they've made an important difference. But there's no point ghettoizing our own. To add to the weirdness of the controversy, LOGO was there filming the entire event for broadcast on the network.

Clinton also noted the transition from a gay movement to a gay market. And the crowd was certainly filled with advertisers, agencies, networks, glbt folk who work at these places (and I'm one of them) and who fit the description of being demographically correct homosexuals. What is a demographically correct homosexual? The DCH is the target market/trend setter that so many advertisers seek to reach and influence.

Many of us confuse being sought out by these companies for political acceptance. And while it is true, it sometimes really does help move things along, it does not take the place of real legislative action. After all, one of the corporate sponsors of the award dinner was Coors. And we all know they give a lot more money to people who oppose everything GLAAD stands for. But they'll happily sponsor a dinner so they don't look so bad, and hope we'll stop paying attention and drink the kool-aid/beer.

Jennifer Hudson introduced Patti LaBelle — and after an odd rambling speech in which Patti praised Jennifer for, among other things, not being Beyonce, they joined in a simple duet of "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen," that brought the crowd to its feet cheering wildly. One of those transcendent moments and well worth waiting for.

There were lots of awards, and lots of celebs. That's not necessarily what interests me. What does interest me is an award that went to a play by Douglas Carter Beane: "The Little Dog Laughed." This retread of his earlier success "As Bees In Honey Drown," was filled with brittle superficial comedy got away with being extremely homophobic and racist because it was supposedly about internal homophobia and because it supposedly exposed the homophobia in Hollywood. No news there. Alan Ball's "All I Will Ever Be," suffered critics slings because it resembled Dog in that it was about a relationship between a hustler and his client. The difference is that Dog was cynical and heartless. And "All I Will Ever Be," really explored racism and power, fantasy and desire, homophobia internal and otherwise in ways that did not flinch in the face of deeper human emotion. Ultimately, Dog was cowardly — though popular because its main character is a powerful woman who was written to resemble nothing so much as witty drag queen. Ball's play was the braver and the better of the two. And didn't even seem to be nominated. And I think that says something too.

I am pleased to see that GLAAD is going to start seriously watching religious media and working to change things there, as well as in sports media. And Frank Rich of the Times won an award for his coverage — he is a hero, even if he isn't queer.

Whoopi Goldberg was smart, funny and succinct — and she threw herself at John Amaechi much to the amusement of all. That man is big! And speaking of men, there were soooo many handsome men. The after party was positively weird. I mean, can you imagine a dance floor, a famous DJ, hundred of gay men and no pectorals on display? Hey, people paid good money for these suits, and no one was taking off their jackets.

My favorite bit of tasteless swag? Baseball cap with the word BOTOX spelled out in rhinestones.