Wednesday, March 30, 2011
GO FOR IT ANYWAY
(Stolen from someone else) Can you imagine not doing what you're doing in your life right now, but doing something completely different? Something exciting, fun, even risky, like quitting your job and traveling around the world. Or working part-time and going to school full time to study scuba diving or basket weaving. Or owning your own home, business, plane or boat. If you can imagine it, why aren't you doing it? I'll tell you why. Because the moment you think about it, you think about all the reasons you can't. "How will I pay my bills?" "Who will take care of my family?" "Where will I get money?" "What will people say?" Well, here's another question for you, How do you ever expect to be happy or at peace if you stay where you are? If you don't allow yourself to dream, to dare, to move up, out, forward: how will you ever know what you are really capable of? Look at it this way, what's the worse that can happen? You could end up right where you started, doing exactly what you are doing. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sometimes charity workers
need to let off some steam.
http://andresomar.blogspot.com/2011/03/sometimes-charity-workers.html
Monday, February 07, 2011
Can You Call Yourself X if You've Never Y'd?
Author: Cory Silverberg
Source: About.com, 7 February 2011
Last week I received this email question from a reader: do you suppose it is proper for someone to label themselves bi-sexual if they've never had sex?
It's an interesting question, which feels like several interesting questions in disguise. Here's how I responded.
My instinct is to start answering your question by noticing the different questions that seem to be lurking underneath it. I read at least three questions here:
1.What's the connection between sexual orientation and sexual activity? Can you call yourself X if you haven't Y'd?
2.What are the defining features of sexual orientation? That is, in this case, what makes a bi-sexual a bi-sexual?
3.Who gets to call themselves what? Or in your words, when is it proper to call yourself something?
Let's start with your first question first. There isn't a precise or clear relationship between sexual orientation (here: bisexuality) and sexual activities (which I want to define as whether or not someone has engaged in any activity they or their partner consider to be sex). Having sex, whatever that looks like, doesn't make us anything. It's a behavior one engages in. So the short answer to your question is that someone might call themselves bisexual whether or not they've had sex with anyone.
Sexual orientation may have many definitions (see below) but it isn't the same thing as sexual activity. The distinction to be made here is that sexual activities are what you do, and sexual orientation describes who you want to do things with. Of course we might describe the "who" in any number of ways. Sexual orientation focuses only on gender. Which brings us to your second question. What defines sexual orientation?
First let's consider the word. Sexual orientation originally referred to how one positioned oneself in terms of a sexual goal (which might have been something you wanted to try, someone you wanted to be with, some way you wanted to be known).
In this way we each had our own unique sexual orientation to others and to the world. The way we use sexual orientation today comes from a medical model or approach to sexuality.
This approach is the one favored by most sex educators, researchers, medical doctors, and an ever growing army of sex pundits. The medical model relies on the understanding of sexuality as something we can measure, and know, and evaluate objectively. In this model individuals may have their own interests, but we can all be categorized and defined using labels that apply to everyone. The essential falsehood about these labels is that they are objective or scientific. They are, of course, as value laden and tied to things like race, class, and culture, as anything else. Sexual orientation is just another label.
Sexual orientation today is used to categorize people based on the gender of the people they are primarily sexually attracted to. The defining characteristic of sexual orientation is not what someone does sexually, or wants to do sexually, nor is it what they call themselves, it is solely a reflection of their identified gender and the gender of the people they are most interested in being sexual with.
For someone to be considered bi-sexual by the powers that be, all they need is to be someone who is sexually attracted to people who identify as men and women. This brings us to the last question, which is really about whether or not we want to let the powers that be define these things for us in the first place.
Who Gets to Call Themselves What?
The way you asked this question "is it proper" for someone to call themselves something may read at first like a question of fact. Maybe even a scientific question. But it's neither. The question you're asking, which is an excellent one, is philosophical, moral, and ethical (more how do I feel about eating meat? than do seat belts save lives?).
It's a question most people don't bother to ask themselves, but I believe we'd be better off if everyone did, because it's a question we all need to decide for ourselves.
Annoying as it is, I want to answer your question with one of my own: do you believe people have the right to identify themselves in ways that fit them as individuals?
In this context, does someone have the right to call themselves bi-sexual because that's how they identify themselves or that's who they feel themselves to be? Or do you think they need "proof" of their orientation? Do they need someone else, a professional, who applies a label based on definitions developed for everyone?
If you prefer the latter option, you have to ask yourself what proof would satisfy you? And should you, or anyone else, be in a position to demand such proof in the first place?
What does it mean to give any individual, organization, or government the power to tell us who we are? I know these questions may not seem nearly as fun as trying to figure out which celebrity or which one of your friends is "really gay" but if you're interested in treating others like people, and not stereotypes, these are the questions you need to ask yourself.
For what it's worth, my own belief is that people must be given the opportunity and respect of identifying themselves, regardless of whether or not they fit into the checkboxes established by others.
To do otherwise is to deny a person's basic human rights. Taking this position isn't always easy. People can identify in ways that, while not exactly infringing on the rights of others, can make it more difficult for others to access their own basic rights. But the alternative, which is to subscribe to a medical model that defines everything for us, is not an option for me.
I would much rather deal with the complicated responses that grow out of treating people with respect and honoring basic rights, than the silence that follows yet another labeling of someone else's identity.
Despite everything you may have been taught, the choice is yours.
Source: About.com, 7 February 2011
Last week I received this email question from a reader: do you suppose it is proper for someone to label themselves bi-sexual if they've never had sex?
It's an interesting question, which feels like several interesting questions in disguise. Here's how I responded.
My instinct is to start answering your question by noticing the different questions that seem to be lurking underneath it. I read at least three questions here:
1.What's the connection between sexual orientation and sexual activity? Can you call yourself X if you haven't Y'd?
2.What are the defining features of sexual orientation? That is, in this case, what makes a bi-sexual a bi-sexual?
3.Who gets to call themselves what? Or in your words, when is it proper to call yourself something?
Let's start with your first question first. There isn't a precise or clear relationship between sexual orientation (here: bisexuality) and sexual activities (which I want to define as whether or not someone has engaged in any activity they or their partner consider to be sex). Having sex, whatever that looks like, doesn't make us anything. It's a behavior one engages in. So the short answer to your question is that someone might call themselves bisexual whether or not they've had sex with anyone.
Sexual orientation may have many definitions (see below) but it isn't the same thing as sexual activity. The distinction to be made here is that sexual activities are what you do, and sexual orientation describes who you want to do things with. Of course we might describe the "who" in any number of ways. Sexual orientation focuses only on gender. Which brings us to your second question. What defines sexual orientation?
First let's consider the word. Sexual orientation originally referred to how one positioned oneself in terms of a sexual goal (which might have been something you wanted to try, someone you wanted to be with, some way you wanted to be known).
In this way we each had our own unique sexual orientation to others and to the world. The way we use sexual orientation today comes from a medical model or approach to sexuality.
This approach is the one favored by most sex educators, researchers, medical doctors, and an ever growing army of sex pundits. The medical model relies on the understanding of sexuality as something we can measure, and know, and evaluate objectively. In this model individuals may have their own interests, but we can all be categorized and defined using labels that apply to everyone. The essential falsehood about these labels is that they are objective or scientific. They are, of course, as value laden and tied to things like race, class, and culture, as anything else. Sexual orientation is just another label.
Sexual orientation today is used to categorize people based on the gender of the people they are primarily sexually attracted to. The defining characteristic of sexual orientation is not what someone does sexually, or wants to do sexually, nor is it what they call themselves, it is solely a reflection of their identified gender and the gender of the people they are most interested in being sexual with.
For someone to be considered bi-sexual by the powers that be, all they need is to be someone who is sexually attracted to people who identify as men and women. This brings us to the last question, which is really about whether or not we want to let the powers that be define these things for us in the first place.
Who Gets to Call Themselves What?
The way you asked this question "is it proper" for someone to call themselves something may read at first like a question of fact. Maybe even a scientific question. But it's neither. The question you're asking, which is an excellent one, is philosophical, moral, and ethical (more how do I feel about eating meat? than do seat belts save lives?).
It's a question most people don't bother to ask themselves, but I believe we'd be better off if everyone did, because it's a question we all need to decide for ourselves.
Annoying as it is, I want to answer your question with one of my own: do you believe people have the right to identify themselves in ways that fit them as individuals?
In this context, does someone have the right to call themselves bi-sexual because that's how they identify themselves or that's who they feel themselves to be? Or do you think they need "proof" of their orientation? Do they need someone else, a professional, who applies a label based on definitions developed for everyone?
If you prefer the latter option, you have to ask yourself what proof would satisfy you? And should you, or anyone else, be in a position to demand such proof in the first place?
What does it mean to give any individual, organization, or government the power to tell us who we are? I know these questions may not seem nearly as fun as trying to figure out which celebrity or which one of your friends is "really gay" but if you're interested in treating others like people, and not stereotypes, these are the questions you need to ask yourself.
For what it's worth, my own belief is that people must be given the opportunity and respect of identifying themselves, regardless of whether or not they fit into the checkboxes established by others.
To do otherwise is to deny a person's basic human rights. Taking this position isn't always easy. People can identify in ways that, while not exactly infringing on the rights of others, can make it more difficult for others to access their own basic rights. But the alternative, which is to subscribe to a medical model that defines everything for us, is not an option for me.
I would much rather deal with the complicated responses that grow out of treating people with respect and honoring basic rights, than the silence that follows yet another labeling of someone else's identity.
Despite everything you may have been taught, the choice is yours.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Backblog: European vacation 2010
So after putting up my winter vacation pictures, I realised that I never put up my summer ones. And that is just not cool.
Having a July birthday means that I must take a vacation every summer, lucky for me last year it coincided with the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and since I had never been to that part of the world (for the most part) I decided to make it into an exploratory trip into Central/Eastern Europe – a part of Europe I have always been afraid to visit (let’s be honest their history with the ‘melanin-endowed’ has been less than stellar).
Even luckier for me Prasad was willing to come along (as if he would ever pass up the chance at a trip).
We ended up cramming 5 cities (Vienna, Bratislava, Salzburg, Prague, Budapest) in 4 countries (Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary) over 10 days. It was daunting, but it proved doable thanks mostly to the fact that Europe is tiny and everything is close by, everything is accessible by trains, and we were not too ambitions in what we actually hope to accomplish in our limited time in each city.
Highlights included:
• Spending quality time with Prasad
• Meeting Chris and Brian
• Classical concert in Salzburg
• Travelling by train during the day to see the country side rolling by
• Catching-up with Wanja, Kent, & Qasim in Vienna, and Neil in Prague
• Budapest as a whole
• Sacher Torte! (you must say it with a Teutonic accent)
Having a July birthday means that I must take a vacation every summer, lucky for me last year it coincided with the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and since I had never been to that part of the world (for the most part) I decided to make it into an exploratory trip into Central/Eastern Europe – a part of Europe I have always been afraid to visit (let’s be honest their history with the ‘melanin-endowed’ has been less than stellar).
Even luckier for me Prasad was willing to come along (as if he would ever pass up the chance at a trip).
We ended up cramming 5 cities (Vienna, Bratislava, Salzburg, Prague, Budapest) in 4 countries (Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary) over 10 days. It was daunting, but it proved doable thanks mostly to the fact that Europe is tiny and everything is close by, everything is accessible by trains, and we were not too ambitions in what we actually hope to accomplish in our limited time in each city.
Highlights included:
• Spending quality time with Prasad
• Meeting Chris and Brian
• Classical concert in Salzburg
• Travelling by train during the day to see the country side rolling by
• Catching-up with Wanja, Kent, & Qasim in Vienna, and Neil in Prague
• Budapest as a whole
• Sacher Torte! (you must say it with a Teutonic accent)
 |
| European Vacation 2010 |
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Indonesia 2010
This winter in my attempt to escape the dreary grey that is London I headed to Indonesia with Michael and Peanut. Those of you who read my rants on Facebook, know what a painful process it was to actually reach my destination. Alas, once I did touch down on the humid land mass that is the world's most populous Muslim country.
I unfortunately missed on Jakarta, due to my travel dramas, but Yogyakarta, Bali, and Lombok did await.
Michael and I had a great time discovering a country that both of us have been eager to visit. And though Bali left a lot to be desired, Lombok was an absolute paradise (one which will surely be lost once the new international airport opens up in 2012).
Highlights of the trip include exploring Borobudur and Prambanan temples (and we know how much Peanut loves old temples). Exploring Ubud in Bali. And the beaches of Lombok.
The seafood was sublime, the beer cold and the company most excellent.
And though I would not go during the rainy season again (when Bali says rain, they really mean it - no monsoon I have ever been through can compare); next time I would skip Java and Bali go straight to Lombok and continue exploring east.
Here are a few pics if you are interested:
Now I need to figure out where to go next, before my suntan fades!
I unfortunately missed on Jakarta, due to my travel dramas, but Yogyakarta, Bali, and Lombok did await.
Michael and I had a great time discovering a country that both of us have been eager to visit. And though Bali left a lot to be desired, Lombok was an absolute paradise (one which will surely be lost once the new international airport opens up in 2012).
Highlights of the trip include exploring Borobudur and Prambanan temples (and we know how much Peanut loves old temples). Exploring Ubud in Bali. And the beaches of Lombok.
The seafood was sublime, the beer cold and the company most excellent.
And though I would not go during the rainy season again (when Bali says rain, they really mean it - no monsoon I have ever been through can compare); next time I would skip Java and Bali go straight to Lombok and continue exploring east.
Here are a few pics if you are interested:
 |
| Indonesian Vacation 2010 |
Now I need to figure out where to go next, before my suntan fades!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Penile hygiene-Everything you didn’t know about the hygiene practices of fishermen in Kisumu, Kenya
Genital hygiene practices of fishermen targeted for a topical microbicide intervention against sexually transmitted infections in Kisumu, Kenya
Kwena ZA, Bukusi EA, Gorbach P, Sharma A, Sang NM, Holmes KK. Int J STD AIDS. 2010;21:435-40.
Research on hygiene has been relatively limited in the current era of rigorous observational studies and clinical trials. Kwena and colleagues set out to investigate the perception and practices of genital hygiene among fishermen working on the beaches along Lake Victoria, targeted for a topical male microbicide hygiene intervention. They conducted 12 focus group discussions involving fishermen (n = 130), recording the discussions in Dholuo (the local language) and transcribing them verbatim before translating into English. Transcripts were double-coded and analysed using constant comparative analysis. Despite easy access to lake water and recognition of a link that may exist between poor genital hygiene and the risk of penile infection and poor sexual relationships, few fishermen regularly washed their genitalia due to fear/embarrassment from cleaning their genitalia in public, traditional Luo beliefs such as that washing with soap would reduce the fish catch, lack of time because of their busy schedules, laziness and lack of responsibility, and excessive consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs. Hygiene practices of the fishermen were poor and could contribute to genital infections including sexually transmitted infections. Given the fishermen's poor genital hygiene practices, they may benefit from hygiene intervention, including that provided by penile microbicides, which can be applied in the privacy of their bedrooms.
For abstract click here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20606226
Editors’ note: This qualitative study among primarily Luo fishermen at 32 beaches along Lake Victoria is an example of ‘formative research’. A variety of methodologies can be used in formative research to better understand the behaviours, attitudes, and practices of a population in which a trial is to be conducted. Formative research can also help discover how best to reach priority populations at the stage of programme design. The focus here is on understanding the poor hygiene practices of uncircumcised fishermen in preparation for a topical penile wipe intervention. One of the more striking beliefs that emerged in the focus groups was that the vagina cleans the penis. Another finding was that women are less likely to comment about a man’s poor hygiene if it is a transactional sexual relationship, such as when a woman receives free fish or fish at a reduced price. The idea of a penile wipe is not new – military forces with limited access to water in combat zones in both World War I and II used a penile microbicide to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections. Despite the fact that the water of Lake Victoria is all around, lack of privacy may be the most important reason that the penile wipe concept would be attractive to uncircumcised men.
Kwena ZA, Bukusi EA, Gorbach P, Sharma A, Sang NM, Holmes KK. Int J STD AIDS. 2010;21:435-40.
Research on hygiene has been relatively limited in the current era of rigorous observational studies and clinical trials. Kwena and colleagues set out to investigate the perception and practices of genital hygiene among fishermen working on the beaches along Lake Victoria, targeted for a topical male microbicide hygiene intervention. They conducted 12 focus group discussions involving fishermen (n = 130), recording the discussions in Dholuo (the local language) and transcribing them verbatim before translating into English. Transcripts were double-coded and analysed using constant comparative analysis. Despite easy access to lake water and recognition of a link that may exist between poor genital hygiene and the risk of penile infection and poor sexual relationships, few fishermen regularly washed their genitalia due to fear/embarrassment from cleaning their genitalia in public, traditional Luo beliefs such as that washing with soap would reduce the fish catch, lack of time because of their busy schedules, laziness and lack of responsibility, and excessive consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs. Hygiene practices of the fishermen were poor and could contribute to genital infections including sexually transmitted infections. Given the fishermen's poor genital hygiene practices, they may benefit from hygiene intervention, including that provided by penile microbicides, which can be applied in the privacy of their bedrooms.
For abstract click here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20606226
Editors’ note: This qualitative study among primarily Luo fishermen at 32 beaches along Lake Victoria is an example of ‘formative research’. A variety of methodologies can be used in formative research to better understand the behaviours, attitudes, and practices of a population in which a trial is to be conducted. Formative research can also help discover how best to reach priority populations at the stage of programme design. The focus here is on understanding the poor hygiene practices of uncircumcised fishermen in preparation for a topical penile wipe intervention. One of the more striking beliefs that emerged in the focus groups was that the vagina cleans the penis. Another finding was that women are less likely to comment about a man’s poor hygiene if it is a transactional sexual relationship, such as when a woman receives free fish or fish at a reduced price. The idea of a penile wipe is not new – military forces with limited access to water in combat zones in both World War I and II used a penile microbicide to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections. Despite the fact that the water of Lake Victoria is all around, lack of privacy may be the most important reason that the penile wipe concept would be attractive to uncircumcised men.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Walk All Over Poverty
Please sponsor me for CARE International's 25km walk, with monies raise going towards our vital Rapid Response Fund that enables us to be amongst the first to respond when emergencies strike.
http://original.justgiving.com/andyoms
http://original.justgiving.com/andyoms
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Galapagos - Part 4
Slowly but surely I am trying to put up my Galapagos pics. This is the last set from San Cristobal.
Turtle Poop!! :-D
Turtle Poop!! :-D
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Fundraising Walkathon - Please Give Generously
http://original.justgiving.com/andyoms
I am participating in the CARE International UK's Walkathon in order to raise funds for the Rapid Response Fund which enables CARE to provide fast, effective relief to people in need as soon as emergencies hit. Most currently the fund is being used inwhere torrential floods have affected an estimated fourteen million people and the situation is constantly evolving. Whole villages have been washed away. Many families are now left without shelter, clean water or food, and are also facing the risk of disease. With rains forecast to continue, the situation is likely to deteriorate. Thanks to the Rapid Response Fund, CARE International was able to respond within a few days.
What is the CARE Walkathon?
The walkathon is a 25km walking challenge along the riverside in Windsor. The route comprises mostly theThamespath and the Jubilee cycle path. It can be slightly muddy (depending on the weather) in places, but it is a non-technical flat walk.
Where will my money go?
All funds will support CARE’s Rapid Response Fund (RRF). Our RRF enables us to be amongst the first to respond when an emergency occurs. For example in an emergency like the Haiti earthquake, where 222,000 people were killed, as many as 1.3 million were left homeless and many women were forced to give birth in makeshift camps, your £100 could provide 20 mothers with newborn kits containing a receiving blanket, layette gown, cloth nappies, safety pins, bars of soap and socks.
- £3 could provide a shawl for a person in an emergency.
- £10 could provide a week’s worth of heating and cooking coal for a family in an emergency.
- £25 could provide 2 families with safe water kit (water container, jerri can, bucket, bathing soap, and laundry soap) in an emergency.
- £30 could provide a family hygiene kit.
- £32 could provide 2 families with a safe water kit.
- £49 could provide a family with a kitchen set including items like plates, cups, utensils, and cooking pots in an emergency.
- £64 could provide 5 families with an emergency survival pack.
- £159 could provide 14 families with high-energy biscuits.
How can you sponsor me and donate?
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: CARE International UK gets your money faster and, if you’re a taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Galapagos - Part 3
Continuing to slowly put up my Galapagos (work) Trip pics here is from when I went snorkeling around San Cristobal.
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