river lake people

i have been trying to put a few pictures of my trip into the mountains online but they always end up sideways. i will be consulting my computer geek homeboys soon. i was able to sleep at my home a good two nights before i packed my bags for another move, this time south to the mountains of Yunnan. i will meet my man Sammy B there and we will do the run from Kunming up through the Naxi and Bai areas of northern Yunnan to the Yi and Tibetan areas of southern Sichuan. I hope to roll through Muli Gorge and re-visit Lugu Lake. I have friends and unfinished business there. the trip should end in Hanyuan, where i will spend spring festival with my gong fu family. my master looks to have landed the job i set up for him in Beijing with a security firm. It will be a proud and relieving moment for me and my master when he does get the job. he will be making the kind of money he needs and this job will inevitably lead to other great opportunities.

in Jiu Zhai Gou i met a man whose wife is from my hometown in Germany (frankfurt) and she is the head of the ZDF tv station here. That station does long documentary spots and such for the people back home. I pitched the story of my gong fu family to them -- the 100 year old yi jing masters, the grandmaster and his struggles during the cultural revolution, my master and his modern day struggles in a society with little need for true gong fu men and his eventual redemption in the Olympics. I think they are going to do it. if so, my family in germany will trip. they will get to see it. cross your fingers for me ya'll. the text version of this story -- or a small part of it, will be running in guernica later this month. will holler when it does.

now i suppose i should let you know what a river lake person is. he has a bag slung across his shoulder. he has herbs in one pocket and charms in the other. he wanders with no thought of whether or not he will arrive, or indeed where he will arrive at. he can take care of himself anywhere, anytime. in his bag is a change of clothes and most likely a book or three. he has a woman or several, but they are far away and with others. he only knows what its like to love them when he passes through. it might be like this forever and he knows it. a true river lake person knows gong fu, in china. but my entire tribe is made up of hunters and gatherers, jewel dealers and vagabonds, pirates and hobos. i am a proud member of a river lake tribe that spans the globe, undying. women can also be river lake people, but in my experience, they would rather make us into earth and wood.

"flower man loves earth girl"