Nephew's Baklâ Joke

During a conversation I was having with my partner, Michael, today over lunch, I remembered a joke our nephew made during a camping trip a year ago.  I want to recount it here so I don't forget it.

At the time our nephew was 8-years-old, and I had just taken him to the campsite restroom.  As we returned to the tents, he said to me, "When I go with my mom to the restroom, she takes me into the women's restroom.  But what if I went in there alone?  What would all the women in there think?  I could tell them, 'Don't worry.  I'm baklâ.'" We both then laughed.

For anyone who doesn't know what baklâ is, it's the Filipino (Tagalog) word for "gay" or more specifically, "effeminate gay man," but this does not fully capture the meaning of the word.  In that instance, I realized that (1) he was connecting with me as an uncle in a relationship with his other uncle (such a joke would've unlikely been uttered to his parents), but then (2) as a Filipino born in the US with multiple gay uncles, he is growing up with quite complex views on gender...more complex than what is captured in the categories "Hetero vs. LGBT."

Then and now he's doing all the sports-stuff that boys often do (plays basketball, soccer and football), and spends hours upon hours in Minecraft.  Somehow I doubt he'll take on the identity baklâ, but his momentary identification that day I remember with a smile.

(For more information, see Martin F. Manalansan, Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora,  Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2003.)

Erotic Detours (or Destinations!)

 
 

As I work on my fantasy novel, I keep running into a conundrum...

Lots More School Ahead

Been accepted into the English department (Ph.D.) at the University of Washington.  Will begin this autumn.

Will also begin learning Japanese  >_< ...Yes, I will begin learning a language from scratch in grad school, which I know will be rough on top of everything else I'll have to do.  I could resume learning German, which would be logical (lived in Germany for many years as a kid), but I feel that I'd probably use Japanese more in the long run.

Settle Down with a Chinese Girl?

Last night I stayed after class and worked one-on-one with my sifu.  I've been learning Wing Chun for a little over six months, and I think I'm progressing well, thanks to having dabbled in martial arts years ago.  Though I miss the animal energies of my last art (snake, crane, monkey, tiger), the techniques in Wing Chun seem more effective.

We were about to part ways for the evening when we started talking about life.  The discussion led to if I get into a Ph.D. program how I'll have to learn another language, which might be difficult, especially if I choose a language like Mandarin.  My sifu mentioned how it's better/easier to learn a language you'll use -- if you travel to a place.  "You can settle down with a Chinese girl," he suggested (rather orientalist-ly).

Hummingbirds in the Wintertime?

Practically every day I see pigeons, crows, seagulls, starlings, robins, chickadees, sparrows.  Closer to the water, there are ducks, geese, eagles, herons and the list goes on. The Seattle Audubon Society says there's over a hundred species of birds that live in the city.  They all have different ways of interacting with humans.

Seattle also has hummingbirds.  Today, one came up to me, noticing me watching it through my bedroom window.  I was in awe as it hovered, investigating me.  I asked what it was doing here in the wintertime.

Year of the Water Dragon

...which I'll remember as

the Year I Grew Out My Hair.

Refocusing on Fiction

I received an email yesterday from a reader of Ockham's Razor.  He thanked me for "the sweetest love story" he's "read in ages" and to "implore" me to "write a sequel."  Such a comment made my day, but I told him that I will leave a sequel to readers' imaginations as I have no plans to write one.  I'm currently working on a fantasy novel, and if the romance is what hooked this particular reader, I informed him there will be plenty.