The Changing Techno-Face of Society

I remember a time, not so very long ago when people went to a bar tavern or restaurant to socialize with their friends. Now they come with their I pads and I phones and the like so that they can sit amongst other people and play their private games in public. This is confusing to me. The other day I asked a friend what they were doing all of the time with their smart phone. She told me that she used it to check on the weather. Really, let me see, we have had over 80 days this summer over 100 degrees, yesterday was 106, the day before was 104 and they need to check the weather. It's fucking hot, it's been fucking hot and will probably stay hot with a chance for cooler temperatures as the fall and winter set in. For this you need a smart phone to check the weather. Well you must be pretty fucking dumb. Another friend constantly complains about his I-Phone and what it is costing him per month. I asked him why doesn't he just get a cheaper old school 'dumb' cell phone? He replied that he likes to use the navigation ap when he goes out of town. Then I pointed out that he hasn't been out of town in over a year so he was spending over $1200.00 per year in connection fees to own a several hundred dollar phone to use an application that only applies to him going out of town which he never does. The real answer is image control. Everyone wants everyone else to think that they are state of the art even if they have no use for the gadget. A year ago, my wife and I bought a new 'used pickup truck, it doesn't have GPS or WiFi or cruise control or power windows. We have to know were we are going, or not really care, we have no use for WiFi in our truck or anywhere else for that matter. If we want to cruise down the highway, we put our foot down on the accelerator and leave it there and if we want to roll down the window, we don't push a button, we use a crank. Now I realize that I am using technology to vent my feeling out into cyberland but I am using a three year old computer and as I don't have voice recognition software, I am still typing my thoughts out on a computer. The next time you go out to a bar or restaurant, try leaving technology behind and try talking to someone before we all forget how.

Technology Spoil Us

The other day I was having a conversation with some friends and the subject of traveling and getting lost came up. I commented that back in the mid 1970's I lived in Nevada and we would frequently have people call in to the airport that they were lost. They were usually from one of the flater central states of the U.S. and thought that flying through the mountains would be easy. Wrong, very quickly, one mountain looks just like another. Anyway, we would ask them to describe what they saw, we would then figure out where they were. We woulf tell them to fly in circles and one of us would fly out to their location and lead them back to the airport. One of the young people in the conversation then innocently asked me, "Well why didn't they just turn on their GPS and follow that. I pointed out that GPS was not invented for another twenty five years or so. She looked stunned. Just because it exists today doesn't mean it existed forever. Peace and love 'til later.

Billy and the Commune

I am in the process of writing a new play titled 'Billy and the Commune'. It is the story of a young, very sheltered gentleman from Abilene, Texas who goes to New York City in the very early spring of 1968. Through a series of misfortunes, he finds himself living in a hippie commune in the city and experiences life first hand. He is so enamoured of this new lifestyle that he brings his equally sheltered finance up to the city to experience life for herself. I will bring you updates as the play progresses. Peace and love till later.

Technology Will Ruin Us All

A good friend of mine is currently undergoing Tech withdrawal. The battery on her laptop has died, ergo, no inernet and she left her phone charger for her i-phone in Houston, so she has no cell phone use. She has to actually talk on her house phone. Oh the humanity. I fully realize that you are reading this blog through the advances of technology but I also realize that if I can't get online for a day or two or a week, who cares. Same with my cell phone. All it does is make and receive phone calls, how archaic is that. I remember a day when computers were the size of rooms and used funny cards with holes punched in them and your phone was wired to the wall. It was really cool if you had a long phone cord and could get 12 feet away from the wall. Mail also came once a day from the mailman. Peace and love till later.

Shit Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Last week I was having a visit with a friend of mine and we began talking abouty our past. It seems that he and his first wife were from a very small town somewhere in Texas. He went on to relate that they got married in the winter of 1966 and continued to live there while he looked for a perminent job. In March of 1967 he found a job in California. Both of their families warned them of the dangers of California. There were "crazy people" living out there that just weren't right. Be very carefull they were told. They packed up their few belongings and headed of to San Francisco, California. When they arrived, they rented a room at a boarding house accross the street from Golden Gate Park. Honestly, In 1967, could there be a better place to be living. The story continues... He told me that a few nights after they moved in, there was a knock on their door. Upon opening the door they found one of the hippies that lived next to them, inviting them over to his apartment to join him in smoking some "really good shit" that he had just recieved. He looked at his wife who was staring at him in disbelief. They both thought that they had been invited over to smoke some manure. They immediately declined the gracious offer. The people back home were right! These people just weren't right. With the passage of time and a little street-wise education, they discovered what "good shit" really was. Peace and love 'til later.

Barack Brings Woodstock To Washington

Yesterday while watching the inauguration of the 44th President of these United States I could not help but think of Woodstock when during the swearing in of the president, the camera panned out to show a view of the mall showing a crowd of a reported 1.9 million people. The scene immediately brought back images of the crowd scenes of Woodstock forty years earlier. The people present possessed the same hope for a better future as did the Woodstock attendees. The only differences were the music, drugs, sex and degree of nudity. Of course,the temperature was in the twenties which may have had something to do with this. In fact, some of the people may well have been at both activities. I can only hope and pray that President Obama can bring about the changes that the country desperately needs. Of course if he can do all of this, he will also be found jogging on the Potomac River. I sincerely hope that our politicians with the guidance of our new President can fix the many problems that face our country. I wish you peace and love until later.

A Rough Way to Loose Weight

While I have been on quest to loose weight. I cannot reccommend the method that I followed. On October 12th, 2008 I suffered a stroke due to a cerebral hemmorage. I was making my wife some granola when the stroke hit my left arm and I thought to myself that this isn't good, washed my hands and walked over to the kitchen table and called for my wife. She called an ambulance and off to the hospital I went. The stroke left me paralyzed on my left side. After almost seven weeks in the hospital I returned home to find that I had lost almost 110 pounds since starting my diet in March. A hell of a way to loose weight. I am currently undergoing physical therapy a couple times a week and am slowly regaining use of my left side. Still having to type with only my right hand witch is a real bitch. Anyway, I hope you are all doing well and peace and love till later.

Across The Universe

It is a very gray day outside, Hurricane Ike is passing about seventy miles to the east of me and it is the perfect day to be thoughtful and introspective. I just finished watching the movie "Across The Universe", a different type of movie. It is the type that makes you turn inside yourself and your memories and make you think. It is placed in the U.S. in the late sixties during the Viet Nam war and forces you to remember and relive the memories of that time in our country. The movie masterfully uses the music of the Beatles to great effect where the music becomes the movie. I love movies that make you think, and this one certainly did. As I watched the movie unfold in front of me I could not help but think fondly of two young women that came into my life last year. They are the embodiment of Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and her spirit. Jaymi and Alex are two individuals who will most likely make a change in our world for the better in our future. If reincarnation exists, they are definitely two souls that have come back from the sixties to help us find our way through the future. It is my wish that everyone be lucky enough to know people such as these women. There are a handful of women in my life that I am blessed to have as part of my life and these two are definitely part of that group along with my wife, my daughters, my California girl and my San Antonio lady. Damn, I am lucky. Peace and love till later.

Still on a Loosing Streak

Just dropped in to say that I have now lost 51 pounds so far. Everything is going well adn I am comtinuing to loose. I have collected one more offer to go skinny dipping. This diet is really worth it. ;-) Check out my newest blog online at www.Thefatoldfartsdigest.blogspot.com . Peace and love til later.

The Hidden Hippie Goes On The Skinny

Well I guess it is time for the hidden hippie to regain his hips of all those many years ago as I have become a little too hippy as it were. I looked more like the bouncing Buddha rather than the hidden hippie. The years fly by and the pounds add on. I have decided to strip myself of all those years of unwanted pounds. I started this quest about seven weeks ago and have lost around 34 pounds so far. My goal is way out in front of me but I have the desire and motivation to get to my slender destination. I am walking at least 5 miles a day and am eating sensibly in order to shed my couch potato visage. As if health were not a large enough motivator, I have two younger hippie chicks that wish to go skinny dipping with me when I reach my goal. Now that is motivation. Peace and love until later.

Fully Refreshed

The trial of the Dude Commune was an unmitigated success. Saturday was a long time coming but once it arrived, it was worth the wait. The day was beautiful, warm sun, blue skies, birds chirping, very few insects. The group of participants were a perfect match of personalities and profiles. We had young and old liberals, older conservatives, and at least one libertarian. We all enjoyed hiking when we felt like it, cooling off in the creek when the necessity arose, and napping when that seemed like the thing to do. For a while, sitting under a tree watching the green meadow grow seemed like the right thing to do. All cell phones were turned off on arrival, some of the participants even made a ceremony out of turning them off as they entered the property. After a wonderful dinner and with the approaching darkness, we gathered around a campfire to discuss life, love, marriage, politics and whatever else seeped into our consciences. At one point, probably around 11, some of us took one more opportunity to take a dunk in a stock tank and then returned to the camp fire. About 1 am we all toddled off to our tents and slept the sleep of innocent children until it began to rain around 4 am. Even the rain was comforting, although there were one or two thunder claps that probably could have been eliminated. Around 7:30 I awoke and started cooking breakfast for the rest of the party. It was still raining but not very hard. It was very peaceful and quiet this Sunday morning in the country. Rain tends to muffle all of the unpleasant sounds of our society. No distant cars could be heard, only the gentle falling rain. As I prepared breakfast, the rest of the group began to appear out of their tents. Breakfast was enjoyed under a canvas shelter, I am not that in love with the rain. After breakfast, everyone loaded up their essentials and we headed back to civilization. From the comments made by the participants in this weekends' activities, it was the most relaxed all of us had been in some time. Civilization and society are a necessary evil in our lives but the lack of them for a few days is heaven on earth. Peace and love till later.

Commune Trial

This weekend I am going to have a small trail run of the Dude Commune idea. I am going camping with some friends on our property. Hopefully the Weather Gods will cooperate with us. I will let you know how our commune with nature develops. Imagine, no cell phones for 24 hours, isn't it great.

Noble Love

I am familiar with two young women who are about to graduate from college and embark the most noble profession that I can think of. They are about to join the Peace Corps and give two years of their lives to help people in third world countries that they do not know. Can anything be more noble, in a time when most people go through their lives with their heads shoved completely up their own self-important asses. One of these women seems to be filled with self doubt about her future, this is normal in almost all graduating seniors from college. What is exascerbating her situation is a group of self centered individuals who are filling her with this self doubt because of their own self interests. They are telling her that she does not love enough or even worse is incapable of loving people. This is utter nonsense. Can a person exhibit more love for her fellow man than by joining the Peace Corps to help people in foreign lands. She will most likely live in a small hut or home miles from nearest other Peace Corps member with a family that she has never met. This is a display of caring and courage that humbles me. Doesn't love? This women's aura practically glows. She could light up a dark room with her warmth and personality. Being in either her presence, or her Peace Corp bound friend's presence makes you feel better and happier. Both of these women are representative of the very best qualities of the sixties ideal and human nature in general.

Both of these women are passionate about their beliefs and values and have no problem defending their positions to anyone. It is rare today to find individuals with these qualities and I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to call these two women friends. Anyone who questions either of these women's motives is self absorbed and just plain foolish. All I can do is give them my undying admiration and support. Bless these two young women in their future and wherever it takes them.

The Rat Race Is Calling

I hope everyone is enjoying their own version of a Happy Holidays. It has been stated many times in the past by many people that we are all in the rat race of life. We all trudge along on our own personal hamster wheels spending our days and nights trying to maintain our balance. If you happen to change jobs, in reality, you are just jumping onto a new hamster wheel. I suppose the best that we can hope for is to find that particular wheel that suits each of our own personalities and desires with the best fit. In a more perfect world, we would all be happy with our positions in life but too many people are never happy with were they are. Advertizers have convinced most of us that we all need the newest widgit for us to have a happy and fulfilling life. In most cases, this is bullshit. All you really need is yourself and enough clothing and money to be protected from the elements and starvation. If you are fortunate to have a family around you then in most cases you really do have all you need. Don't let the rat race and technology run your life.

I was at work last night and had a group of six women come in and spent the better part of several hours in my busines. During this time, even though there were more than enough people present to have several rounds of rousing conversation, these six women never let more than a four or five minute period of time go by without the necessity of text messaging someone or calling someone, usually with no other purpose than to see what they were doing. Are people really that fucking nosey or are they so insecure that they can not stand the thought of someone doing something or being somewhere that might be more exciting than what they themselves are currently doing. At one point they even joked about how did they ever get by before the advent of cellphones and text messaging. Do we really need to stay in this tight of a correspondence loop with everyone we know. I doubt it. The existence of the free world really does not hang in the balance. Later in the evening, after 1 AM, to be exact, three other customers all came in wearing their Star Trek-like Blue Tooth cell phones in their ears because apartently they are all so important that they need to be in constant contact with fan base but still need both hands free for drinking. At least they have their drinking priorities straight. I can appreciate that.

I predict that within the next couple years that there will be another back to the earth revolution. I think that some people will hopefully realize that they still control their own lives, technology does't. They will discover that they have become captives of a technological world and retake control of their own lives. Heaven to me has become the time when I go out to the country and walk for hours with no phone calls or text messages. No one to bother me and my wife in our all too brief commune with nature. Maybe my wife and I are the strange ones but neither of us desire to be in constant communication with the rest of the world. As the author of this blog, it is obvious that I enjoy technology but I hopefully keep it in its' place and I control it rather than it controlling me. Try regaining your life. Try turning off your cell phone for fifteen minutes once a day. I know it will be hard to do at first but it is a good starting point, and by the way, when you are out with your friends, try paying a little more attention to them and less to your cell phone, it is the polite thing to do. Have a great year filled with peace and love.

The Dude Commune

I have been toying with the idea of building a, for lack of a better term, a dude commune or visitation commune on some property that my wife and I own outside of town. The purpose of this would be for world weary people to come and regenerate themselves for 3 or 4 days. When the visitors checked in they surrender their cell phones and beepers and begin a period of technological celebacy. There would be no television or radio or telephones readily available. For this would be a time to regenerate your soul or inner self in you prefer. A time to relax and get back in touch with yourself and your loved ones. You could spend your days walking in the country, playing in a creek, hot-tubbing, getting a massage, helping in the herb garden, star gazing at night and simply contemplating your navel or reading a book. Anything would be allowed except for communication with the outside world. The food would be simple, healthy, delicious and nourishing. There would be plenty of privacy and no silly organized, required activities. You want to lay naked in the sunshine and get a tan, skinny dip in the creek, no problem. You want to take a second honeymoon with your spouse, make love under the stars on the deck of your cabin, no problem. Life here will be simple and good, like the world should be. No stress, no demands, just relax and put your brain back together.

To Pube, or Not To Pube

Years ago, back in the 60's and 70's, most women (99%), over the age of puberty had a field of luxurious curlies garnishing their nether regions. Admittedly, some may have have gone overboard in this department. I remember one young lady that brought visions of a machete or weed wacker to mind. Most women did keep them trimmed nicely but not waxed clean as is the fashion today. I guess you could say that there is some merits in the truth in advertising method that is in vogue now but there was a degree of mystery in the bushes of days gone by. What wonders were being hidden behind that soft carpet of twisted fur? Some of them quite frankly don't need to see the light of day, a little camouflage would definitely help. There is one woman that I know that between the razor-rash, five o'clock stubble and the fact that she looks like she has been hit with an axe would definitely benefit from a little bush. Maybe it is just a liberal political statement, No More Bush, who knows. If nothing else, the pedophiles of the world should be happy as most women now look like they are nine years old again. If you are going to clean up your crotch, then I would suggest waxing as an alternative to shaving. It's neater, smoother and you would have to go through the ordeal nearly as often. But what is wrong with a little fur? You should look like a woman, not a little girl. Check out this video and you will see what I mean about the situation, http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=143058875331636119&q=cat .

Yup, I Was Right

I just came back from a trip to buy some incense, patchouli, if you are interested, from the little shop I mentioned in my last posting yesterday. I asked how their Salvia Divinorum sales were going and they told me that they were through the roof. They said the only thing that the news coverage accomplished was giving them lots of free advertising. The few people that used to buy Salvia came in to buy more before it sold out or disappeared and lots of other people that did not even know of the existence of the shop or of Salvia have been in to check it out and to purchase some. If you are wondering, I did not buy any as I am naturally high on life and don't need any help. Peace and love till later.

Inadvertant Advertising

A little over a week ago, a local television station was hyping one of their local news features for the evening broadcast. There tag line was something along the lines of "Local Store selling potent hallucigen!" As I had to go to work before the evening news broadcast, I asked my wife to watch the program to find out what was being sold and where. After the news, she called me and told me that the news story was about Salvia Divinorum, an herb grown in Mexico, central America, and Hawaii. It contains a pyschedelic compontent known as Salvinorum A. It can be chewed or smoked and from what I have read, it is found to be very unpleasant by most people who experiment with it. The herb is completely legal in the United States as are Nutmeg and Morning Glory seeds, two other common products that you can trip on if you are so inclined. If you are more interested in it and its nauseating side effects, check out www.erowid.com for more information. Back to the news story. It seems that a local shop that sells, posters, incense, beaded curtains, tee shirts and the like was indeed selling the herb. As it is completely legal and most likely 99.9 % of our local population did not know of it's existence, there it sat on the shelf, almost no one knowing it was there. But the television station trotted out a list of local people who were outraged that such a substance was for sale in our fair community and of course, the city should do something to protect us from this demon. Made me think of the 1937 movie Reefer Madness. The afternoon before this program aired, virually no one knew of it's present, I certainly didn't and have been in that shop many times, and thanks to the stations free advertising, now thousands knew about this psychedelic herb for sale, right here in river city, my friends. Sometimes I think people would be better off if we were not quite so well informed by the well meaning do-gooders of our society. Maybe there is an upside to this, instead of our youth looking for an illegal six pack of beer or bottle of booze, the well meaning television station has now informed them about a legal pyschedelic they can all take. Sometimes I wonder and other times, I just don't know. Peace and love until next time.

Photo-Nymph

Every now and then I will write a posting that does not have a social commentary or point to it. It will just be a story from my past. This is one of those. It was a warm day in late spring with beautiful blue skies. Sounds like the opening to an old Dragnet series, doesn't it? As you may have assumed from my Amy From Austin posting I have been into photography for a long time, actually I began as a child back in the 1950's. I have met a large number of women over the years that I have had the priviledge to photograph. This young lady came to me through a mutual friend back in the very early 1990's. She and her husband were from a small town about 40 or 50 miles from where I lived at the time. Her husband first approached me while we were shooting in the country on some property that I owned. He asked about shooting her in the nude. He wanted to know what she would have to do as she was 'shy' to ask herself. I told him that it was easy, she had to take her clothing off. I have always been amazed at how many women are shy about talking about being photographed in the nude and once the clothing comes off, they don't seem to care if it ever goes back on. There was one woman I knew that wanted me to shoot some nudes of her in my studio. I set up the background while she changed into a very loose fitting robe. I had her continue to wear the robe while I did the final lighting adjustments and exposure reading with her in the correct position. When I was ready to shoot her I asked her to remove the garment that she was wearing. At this point, she quietly asked me to turn around. I asked her to repeat her statement as I did not her her. Once more she told me to turn around as I was not going to watch her undress. What the hell, it's her time and money so I turned around. Moments later she was ready to shoot and I turned around to find her totally naked, lying in the position that we had discussed. For the next 45 minutes we shot various poses, all nude. At the end of the shoot, she once again asked me to turn away from her so that she could put her clothing back on. A few days later, she came into studio to look at her proofs and picked several of the images. As she was leaving, she remarked that she couldn't wait th get the finished images so she could show all of her friends. Are you scratching your head yet, I was. I digress, meanwhile back to the couple, as I said, she was too shy to ask me herself about shooting in the altogether so she had her husband ask the all important question. At the end of our brief conversation, he disappeared into the old farmhouse where I had been photographing her at an old window. Within a minute or two, his wife appeared at the glassless window were I had been shooting her clothed just a few minutes before. The only difference was this time the only thing she was wearing was a smile. We shot at the house for a few more minutes and then she wanted to venture down to the creek which flowed rather idyllically about 100 yards away. She took to the creek like the preverbial duck to water. I have photographed a great number of women over the last 40 years or so but I must admit, this young lady was one of the most beautiful women I ever had the priviledge to work with. Her husband was understandably proud of her and completely cool. She was one of the most natural posing people that I have ever photographed. Once she took her clothing off, she became completely comfortable with herself. She truly was a little nymph. She had a quality about her that was rare, she was completely at ease and never carried herself with any airs of being anything special. She was just what she was, thats all. She would have been right at home at Woodstock and pictured her there many times in my mind. We finished our shoot and headed back into town, I took plenty of time loading my equipment back into the back of my SUV in orfer to give her plenty of time to dry off and get changed. She was in the back seat and her husband was in the front. We drove down the lane to leave the farm and reached the gate at the main road. Her husband jumped out and opened it for me. We then headed the 6 or 7 miles back into town. When we were almost back to the city, I happened to glance into the back seat and noticed that this young lady was just now starting to put her clothing back on. She had been just sitting back there, window open and enjoying the breeze. I continued to photograph this young lady over the next several years and used her many times as a model in photgraphy workshops that I held from time to time. I always considered myself very lucky to work with this young model, who wouldn't. As this has been a rather cool, windy winter day, I hope these images have helped warm you up and removed the winters' chill.

The Best Time of Your Life

A week or so again I was talking to some of my friends when one of them posed a most interesting question, "What was the happiest time of your life?" On the surface, this sounded like a very easy question, but after some thought, it isn't. There are hopefully several happy times in everyones life. The happiest moment, the happiest day, the happiest period of time. I asked for some clarification as to which happiest time they were asking about. They wanted to know the happiest period of time. The most difficult of the three for most people. After a few minutes thought, I replied that for me, the happiest period of time was when I was a teenager and had the good fortune to live in the Bahamas for 15 months. This was from June 1964 until the end of August 1965. I can not think of a better place to be. Swimming in beautifully clear, warm water virtually everyday with the exception of a few hurricaine days. The experience of learning in a different type of school and educational environment. At that time, the Bahamas were a part of the British Commonwealth and therefore the the schools and most of the teachers were from England With the exception of one being from Hungary. This was with out a doubt the best year of learning that I ever had in my twelve years of public education. The English firmly believed in corporal punishment and whippings and caning were the rule of the day. Because of this, behavior problems disappeared within the first day or two of class each semester. Students all rose when the teacher entered the room and stood until they were acknowledged by the instructor. You also rose and stood at the end of each class. There was nothing perceived as wrong about showing respect for your elders and each other. We had a two hour lunch break evryday and quite often would go down to the beach to go swimming. It was not unusual to see someone sitting in class in the afternoon with wet hair. I lived on Grand Bahama Island in Freeport before it became a very popular tourist destination. There was a topless and nude beach, quite informative and educational for a boy my age, drinking at almost any age was tolerated as long as you did it in moderation. Moderation was something that everyone learned in order to keep their priviledges. Instead of a ice cream truck driving through town at night, the was a liquor truck, all you had to do was walk to the end of your sidewalk and the truck would stop. You could order all of your liquors, beers, mixers and ice. Your order completed, he would drive down the street to the next person standing at the curb. We had soft drink machines on the street that sold ice cold beer instead of soft drinks. All you had to do was put in your 2 shillings, 28 cents at the time, pick your desired beer, press the botton, and it would appear at the bottom of the machine. Quite often, after school, I would walk over to a friends house and we would enjoy a BeefeatersTM Gin and SchweppesTM Bitter Lemon. A very refreshing way to end a day of studying at school. The Bahamas were a very interesting mix of instense discipline and freedom. You were free to do quite a few things as long as you did not take advantage of your freedoms. During the time I lived there, whites made up only about 20 to 25 percent of the population. The rest of the population was comprised of Bahamians. These were blacks, potential slaves, that were left on the islands when the American Civil War started. The entire population of the island was less than 10,000 people at the time. The Bahamian blacks were of a different mindset than the American black. They were a very sweet, kind and honest people. The white people on the island were always welcome in th small villages on the other parts of the island such as Hunter, Seagrape or Eight Mile Rock. You were welcome in their bars and could dance with them because in their minds, they did not perceive a difference, you were just another person who had come to have a good time. My father would frequently go out to these small towns and bars to play music with them as he was a dyed-in-the-wool musician at heart. He was always wecome with open arms. There was no racial bigotry on the part of the Bahamians, there was some racism present on the part of the American whites when they first moved to the island but with rare exception, this disappeared after they had been there a while. This was completely diferent from the racial tensions and strife that were so prevailent 120 miles away in th mainland of the United States. Crime virtually did not exsist on the island and almost no one locked the houses when they were away in town. Spending fifteen months in a population where I was the minority taught me a great deal about looking at situations form all sides. At the time, I always thought it was strange that the whites that had moved to the island were there to help 'civilize' the native population. They were introducing the need for posessions, money and competion between individuals. This was something that previously really did not exist. The average Bahamian lived in a small house usually placed up on small pylons several feet above the ground. As most of the villages were located on a part of the island that was only several hundred yards wide, the land was only 3 or 4 feet above sea level. The highest point on the whole island was only 22 feet above sea level. By building their houses up on piers, this allowed the occasional high tide to simply flow under the house rather than through it. They all owned a few chickens, planted asmall garden and owned a small boat or dingy. When they were hungry, they ate, usually fish but sometimes one of their chickens, when they were tired they slept, and when they were horny, they made love to their wife or girlfriend. They were all deeply religious and all went to church every Sunday. To me, it seemed like they had a pretty good life and had figured out life pretty damn well. Leave it to us to come into their paradise and insist that they have to go to work everyday, punch a clock, and make money so they can be happy. Bullshit, it seemed to me that they were the truly cizilized people. This was definitely the happiest period of my life and would recommend that if or when you have children of your own, that you move to a small island for a while to let your children learn how to live life. I went back there several years ago with my family only to find that the island had been completely Americanized. It is still a very visually attractive place but it sucks now. None of the character it had all those years ago is still present, it is now nothing more than a tourist trap. You will have to find your own island, but rest assured, they still exist, I found one, but I'm not saying where it is. Peace and love to everyone until next time.