As luck would have it, I managed to flee the city for Bear Rendezvous weekend and not even realize I’d been smart enough to do so…
This is one of those four annual events where it’s usually much more pleasant just to leave town for the weekend, the others being Pride Week (month? eternity?) and the Dore Alley and Folsom Street Fairs. Nothing per se against that whole “bear thing”, but it seems to me it’s just another way of defining oneself based on sexual orientation rather than on any actual personality traits…
And, contrary to popular opinion, it’s no less contrived than the leather scene, the circuit scene, the pageant scene, and all those other assorted scenes I find a little tedious. To paraphrase the immortal words of Lisa Simpson, all those big trucks and big bellies are very daring and rebellious. In a conformist sort of way…
Nothing against big bellies either, by the way, as I possess a substantial one myself, sculpted through rigorous training with Funyuns, miscellaneous pork products, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It’s nice that us big fat hairy guys can find love too, and yes, people gravitate toward what interests them sexually. But is it really necessary to pretend that a “community” exists because of it?
Remember when the fabled path to enlightenment used to be about “finding oneself” rather than about “finding one’s community”? Those of us in the fast-growing contrarian individualist community do. And we’re gonna have us a rally soon, dammit…