By bluerasberry on 2011-03-05
I said, “Why don’t you come live in Benares at my place for a while?” So Pradeep from Mumbai Gay Pride got on a train and came 1600km to visit me from Mumbai. A couple of days ago was Shivratri. I was really sick but Nandan had made special arrangements to go backstage at Tilbhandeshwar […]
Posted in festival, India, religion | Tagged Hinduism, sickness
By bluerasberry on 2010-07-09
Saturday July 3 was the Fremont Zombie Walk. I regret not having pictures, but there were three of us together as zombie scientists in lab coats. Here is a picture of me without blood or too much makeup. I participated in a pie-eating contest organized by The World is Fun, and since it was no-hands, […]
Posted in festival, Seattle | Tagged blood, competitive eating, death
By bluerasberry on 2010-06-22
The Fremont Solstice parade was on Saturday June 19. I had worked with this guy named Dave who is a physicist and in a band called the Shamaniacs. I enjoyed talking to him because he was good at explaining popular science. The parade was great as usual and everyone brought their dogs and I petted […]
Posted in festival, HIV, Seattle | Tagged Fremont, Seattle Gay Pride
By bluerasberry on 2009-11-22
I won first place among eight people in a mashed potato-eating competition at Greenlake on Sunday November 22. It was sponsored by Greenlake Bar and Grill, a local restaurant. The contest details are here. Here is a facebook video of the event. My strategy was to use water to get the potatoes to slippery consistency […]
Posted in festival, Seattle | Tagged competitive eating, contest
By bluerasberry on 2009-06-29
I spent Gay Pride this year at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center booth recruiting for people who might be interested in receiving an experimental HIV vaccine. The general criteria is that we are looking for people of all genders and sexual orientations who are between the ages of 18-50 and who are willing to […]
Posted in drug, education, festival, health, HIV, non-profit, presentation, research, Seattle | Tagged Gay Pride, HIV, vaccine
By bluerasberry on 2009-02-23
In Hindi, “maha” means “big,” “Shiva” is the god, and “ratri” means night. February 23, 2009 was Shiva’s Big Night. I went to Traveler’s Chai Shop to celebrate, as Allen and Leon (the proprietors) often host Indian cultural events. This night they were also showing some locally-made ceramic shivlings. They were not particularly Indian but […]
Posted in art, festival, religion | Tagged Shivaratri, tea
By bluerasberry on 2008-07-03
I attended Gay Pride in Seattle 2008 as a presenter in the non-profit section of the expo. I was representing Sanjeevani Booti as an American agent and I was trying to raise awareness and get social support for issues relating to HIV in India. I talked about Benares. I told people that it was the […]
Posted in drug, education, festival, health, HIV, India, Nepal, non-profit, presentation, rights, Seattle | Tagged expo, heroin, Seattle Gay Pride, volunteer, war, women's rights, youth rights
By bluerasberry on 2008-04-12
Seattle has a population of about 580,000. For the Gay Pride festival last summer the recorded attendance was 200,000 with 100,000 from out of town. I know that the organizers always inflate these numbers but still it means that a lot of people are involved in this. Nandan and I are getting more serious about […]
Posted in education, festival, presentation, rights, Seattle | Tagged gay rights, hijra, HIV project, NGO, Sanjeevani Booti
By bluerasberry on 2007-03-25
Ashu begins as a beggar On Friday March 23 I returned to Varanasi from Azemgarh. I had gone for Ashu’s janeu. There were I think ten of us in the van and the trip took two hours. As usual, I slept most of the way and had no regard for crammed conditions. Puja was beginning […]
Posted in festival, India, religion | Tagged death, Hinduism, medicine, ritual, youth
By bluerasberry on 2007-03-05
Yesterday was Holi and I had a blast. I had little idea of what to expect, but as the holiday approached I began to realize that this was a major festival. For about three weeks now I have watched as piles of sticks and burnables have piled to over ten feet high at crossroads and […]
Posted in festival, India, religion | Tagged Holi