I thought about him as I woke up this morning... [poetry]

I thought about him as I woke up this morning.

I'm not sure whether it was the bad dream

Or the fact that sometimes, you can't help but miss

What you can't hold, what you can't touch,

What impregnated your body and touched your mind

In the violent and charming ways of a hummingbird

Flapping yellow in the virgin purple of a prunella.

I thought about him fondly, passionately, angrily,

Wondering what it meant to be in love with a man

Whose flesh you tasted, whose heart you ate,

Whose body you tied and buried, with your own hands...

Maybe specters haunt us in uncanny ways,

Like cold breeze sifting through door sills,

Uninvited, into everyday life, late night dreams 

And spring mornings as we lay spread eagle

Licking the taste of blood off our parched lips.

Maybe abandoned lovers leave stains that, 

No matter how hard you try, how hard you rub

(Bleach, detergent, soap...)

Come back and show dissimulated dirt

Under carpets, covers, bandages, skins

And under the pretence of joy, sunshine, clear skies

And bittersweet dew of memories on Spring mornings.

How Did National Masturbation Month Begin? [NaMaBloMo]

[If you don't know what NaMaBloMo is, please read here.]

So when and how did the month of May become National Masturbation Month?

Well it all started when Good Vibrations, a sex-shop in San Francisco, California (link here) decided to declare May the National Masturbation Month back in 1995. If we feel that the taboo around masturbation is yet to be broken in 2011, imagine what it must have been like in 1995? (Incidentally, 1995 must also be the year when I started consciously touching myself.) 

Good Vibrations thought it was high time to raise awareness about masturbation and sexual health. The idea for National Masturbation Month was itself triggered after Jocelyn Elders (who was, by the way, the first Afro-American to be appointed Surgeon General of the United States, and that was in 1993; do the math) was invited to talk about AIDS at a United Nations Conference. Elders said that "[Masturbation] is part of human sexuality and perhaps, it should be taught." Due to the controversy that followed Elder's statement, she was fired by the White House in December 1995. (Thank you, Mr. Bill Clinton.)

However, Good Vibrations still picked up on Elders' suggestion and in 1995, the first National Masturbation Month occurred in San Francisco (and some other parts of the USA).

Stand Up! Don't Stand for Homophobic Bullying [a video]

I just watched this wonderful video, made by BeLong To, an Irish organization for LGBT youth aged 14-23 (link here.) It's one of the best youth anti-bullying videos about homophobia I've seen yet, so I thought I'd post it here:

How TV Ruined Your (Love) Life

Charlie Brooker made this wonderful series for the BBC, called How TV Ruined Your Life. It's everything I like (and according to some who know me quite well, it's everything I am): cynical, critical, darkly humorous, verging of pungent bitterness... Ah, British humor!

This summer, I am starting a working group and running a series of workshops on polyamory. I think I'll screen this episode of How TV Ruined Your Life in my first workshop-- we're discussing representations of relationships in mainstream media, seeing how they frame our own imaginary and expectations about what our relationships are and/or ought to be and we're establishing ways to identify, acknowledge and come to terms with these moments.

This particular episode, "How TV Ruined Your Life: Love," is a must-watch for all the cynical lovers out there and/or for all the polyamorous lovers out there.

Note to myself: maybe I should start a cynical lovers' group along with my poly- group!

Let's Masturbate! [NaMaBloMo]

Since I haven't been blogging much over the past couple of months (blame my thesis for sponging up all my writing/editing time), I found the perfect way to make it up in the month of May. 

May, as some of you may know, is the National Masturbation Month in North America, which could, in effect, be turned into National Masturbation Blogging Month (NaMaBloMo). This month, at The Queer Behind the Mirror, we will try to bring in as many posts as possible (poetry, art, anecdotes, stories, articles etc.) about masturbation. And if there's something you want to share out here, please feel free to get in touch with me [thequeerbehindthemirror (at) gmail (dot) com] and I will be happy to repost, crosspost and guestpost your masturbatory pieces, thoughts, art...