Personal F.A.Q.

   Alright , being that I am in an unusual field what are the challenges that I face? Now here's the whole story. In society there are two genders- male and female. Society instantly notices that there are differences in the genders in terms of ability. So each society sets upon them a role for them to perform throughout their productive lives taking advantage of each of their strenghts. Men have testosterone so are suited to manual labor. Women can give birth so are suited to child rearing and homemaking. These roles become stereotypes and society enforces them to maintain order. Mind you that society is not playing favorites or acting maliciously necessarily. Society , above all ,wants to survive and it does that by putting it's constituents in the places they can best serve it. It would be a disaster if society put women in a military or enforcement role solely.

   Okay, so that's all fine and dandy except for some drawbacks. Some women do better in roles earmarked for men and vice versa. So the problem with rigidly defining roles is that the society doesn't make the most efficient use of it's constituents.

   Let me give you an example of how society abuses it's powers. During mid century there emerged this Ethiopian black boxer by the name of Jack Johnson who became the worlds heavyweight champion. Unfortunately he came into the world at the wrong time. The society was still very rascist and saw him, as a threat to white domination. He still emerged as the undisputed champion no matter who they threw against him. Being they couldn't match him skillwise they tried to beat him politically. They blocked films of his victories from leaving the state. Next , they eanacted laws that forbade the interstate transportation of prostitutes (Which he was heavily involved with. He married two). He became a fugitive because of it. But despite all the cards stacked against him and slanted the playing field, they couldn't deny that he was the undisputed champion. When people came to his matches they came for one reason, they wanted to see him defeated by a white man. The only way they managed to do that was when nature took its toll. They placed him in a match with a fighter in his prime of which Jack was ten years off. The moral of this story is that despite the biases of your environment, you will prevail if you are the superior athlete. They can only create the illusion of inferiority if they slant the playing field.

     So that's the world as it is. I see myself as a kind of hippie that rebels against the stereotypical male roles or the gays ( I'm heterosexual) who will not be restrained by the normal role assigned to men. Yeah, it's an imperfect world but I make the best of it. As for my dances, do they imitate the women? I see movement as movement. I have no idea who first created that movement, and I'm pretty certain that nobody else does either, but I also believe that someone else ahead of me did. So my rule is, if it works for me, then I'll use it. Who the heck has a patent on a movement?

  Now , for those of you that are wondering, "Now how do you get to be like him?" or anyone that you may admire. I have a two step approach to the problem:

1. Decide to do it.

2. Do it!

   Though it sounds like an oversimplification , it really isn't. Of the two, the first is really the hardest, deciding to do it. Why? Because you will naturally make up all the excuses why you can't succeed. "Oh, well I don't have time, I haven't got the stamina, it's too embarrasing, I'm afraid of what others will think of me." I'll tell you what. Nobody ever succeeded at anything they convinced themselves they couldn't do. Go ahead , challenge yourself! The only thing you can do wrong is not try your best. The problem is that nobody commits themselves to a goal. If you think about it , that's what all great disciplines are. Religion is men and women aspiring to reach God . Nobody says that they will ever become one but as the Chinese proverb says, " He who aims for the moon often achieves more than those that aim for over the fence. It's the struggle that counts. Once you've met the goal then the motivation ceases. The only thing left is to set another goal.

   Number two, Do it. After you've mastered number one, you'll find that everything falls into place and you're cruising downhill.