Hi Everyone, My name is Steve, I'm 53 years old and I lived in communes in the East Village from '67-'71. During this period I became interested in eastern philosophies, especially buddhism, vipassana meditation, yoga, and J. Krishnamurti. This eventually led to my going to Southeast Asia for a five year stay. During this time I lived in buddhist monastaries and meditation centers in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Burma. I also have a keen interest in the "beat era" as well as poetry, haiku, reading science fiction, especially Robinson's "Mars" trilogy, steampunk, cyberpunk, LoTR. My favorite groups are still The Dead, Zeppelin, Janis, Jimi, Joe Cocker... some things never change. lol, the point is that I'm looking to epal with people with similar backgrounds to mine including beats. I'd really prefer folks over 50... it would be a big plus If you lived in Height Ashbury or the East Village during the late sixties and knew what the heck I was talking about, lol. Anyway, thank you all for taking the time to read this post. Steve
namaste steve10... well, i'm right in the age-group you're looking for (b.'52, grad h.s.'70)... raised in midwest (iowa, illinois, ohio (cleveland & cinci), last 2 yrs h.s. in erie PA)(& i was just young enough to listen to my dad about not going to woodstock)... so no east coast or vest coat dwellings during the frothings of the revolution... but i was playing chess in 1st grade, reading all the childrens' & "juvenile" scifi i could get my hands on (the "mushroom planet" series & asimov's "lucky starr" series & andre norton & all of heinlein's juvies & other stuff - treasure island, mutiny on the bounty trilogy, e.a.poe, whatever...) & by the time i was - what - 11, my dad was already in the habit of giving me his paperbacks picked up while in airports waiting for connecting flights... & he gave me a copy of miller's _tropic of cancer_ (mostly because it was banned in many places; i never did manage toi finish reading it) & a pb copy of heinlein's _stranger in a strange land_ (i had already read _red planet_ & thought that there was something awfully familiar about those martians, hehheh... not like the martians in _double star_ at all... (& laying around in my dad's stacks, & in the wonderful public library, other "adult" sf & mags... c'mell, the people, skylark of space, (& more mark twain than just _tom sawyer_) & much more... alan watts, aldous huxley, what-all... beat poets, & _on the road_ , & gary snyder's poems & essays, & whitman, & ginsburg &c... & by high school, spending lunchtime reading the gita or the dhammapada or whatever... y'know, "seeking"... whilst taking lutheran catechism classes... (& the pastor's son writing papers for school on the zoroastrian & gnostic & essene influences on early christan theological developments, hehheh...) 70s - college, drugs, rock-n-roll (airplane, dead, local boy buzzy linhart) & jazz & the cleveland orchestra & folk music & incredible string band & whatnot... & sufi workshops & carl sagan & BE HERE NOW & three pillars of zen & suzuki roshi & d.t.suzuki & taoteching & idries shah & tim leary & john lilly & sturgeon & furst & carlos & del rios & lin yutang & more heinlein & gurdjieff & ouspensky & masters/houston & pir vilayat & robert anton wilson & niven & pournelle & pohl & poul &&& ~ & then i fell in with some magickal folks --- but quite eclectic, y'know? --- & after "the chameleon club" showed some movies on campus, & brought tim leary to CWRU & stuff, they started an annual festival that was more than just magic/magick/majik - scientists & historians & native americans & sufis & witches & herbalists & scifi authors & musicians & assorted ummmm wierdos, hehheh... still a going concern 24 years later (starwood festival --- check out rosencomet.com for more info on that bit o' summer funzies) ~ single-parenting after a split-up a few years ago (takes 2 to make, but only 1 to break, eh?)(& it coulda been worse ---> we coulda tried to eviscerate each other instead of just, well, seperating, ugh... still friends, pretty much - well, me & her, but not me & him, heh...) ~ ~ ~ so, anyways, hey there...
Man I don't fall into that category but would love if you share some of your experiences with us on South East Asia and the buddhist monasteries.
