Karl profile picture

Karl

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I'm an English professor and I'm recently disabled, so my days of travel and long walks on the beach are probably behind me forever. However, I have a lot of fond and not-so-fond memories of living in Europe and traveling the globe.Spiritually . . . Sensitive subject. To use the vernacular of the very people who condemn me for being gay: "Love the Christian; hate his Christianity." I think most people are vastly superior to the religions they support and are more than eager to show that once they stop listening to what their religious leaders tell them to think, feel and do. I think the very concept of a religious institution is inherently evil, though I respect the longing to find a spiritual focus and a sense of purpose in life. I'm not adverse to the idea of "God", just not in the way that most Christians and agnostics would define "him" (the notion of God's maleness, itself, being part of the problem). If I were to choose a religion for myself (and I probably won't), I would lean toward Wicca.I'm gay and living with a disabled life partner since 1991, and as a registered domestic partner since 2002. As the prospect of legal marriage lurks in the shadows here in California, I believe that, in the eyes of the universe (or God, if you like), the life I've made with him makes him my husband. End of story. Although I am happy the cause of gay rights is making strides in the U.S., it still has a long, long way to go before the culture (not the legal system) values the rights of GLBT people as equal to straights.

My Interests

WRITING LITERATURE TEACHING [Access the Instructor Web Page ] MUSIC, especially Gary Numan [Check out my website Numa Records: The Formative Years ; latest update is about Hammer horror legend Caroline Munro and her Numa single, "Pump Me Up."] PARROTS PARANORMAL INVESTIGATING [Visit Pacific Paranormal Investigations (founders, Glenn Pitcher and David Walters)] OTHER PARANORMAL PHENOMENA [Investigate PPI on MySpace to find out more] QUEER CULTURE [Check in to Planet Out , a nexus for Queer politics and culture] PLANETARY and ASTROPHYSICAL SCIENCE [Visit Space.com for the daily news of the universe] HUMAN SEXUALITY

I'd like to meet:

Just a quick word about "Adds": I'm excited to be networking in such a diverse community of thinkers. If your MySpace profile, though, is a portal for pornography, or if you are a pornographer or a purveyor of pornography, I'll have to deny your request to be added as one of my friends, even if you're a nice person. I'm not against pornography; I honor it as a protected form of speech, and I'm certainly no prude about human sexuality. However, my homepage is closely connected to my profession as an educator. Again, don't take it personally; I certainly don't begrudge you the joys of being open about your sexuality. It's something I'm just compelled to do. I hope you understand.In meeting prospective friends at MySpace, I pledge to remain ever vigilant about my own filters and possible biases, and hope you reciprocate. I openly enjoy people who are broadminded and have many different interests. However, we all have non-negotiables, ones that I hope you share as well: bullying, even if it's just an attitude; intolerance; misogyny; sexual exploitation; and mean-spiritedness. I'm no Pollyanna. I'm a great lover of debate and eagerly enter in discourse about all sorts of controversy. However, I honor respect and comity in all discussions. :)Despite these fairly heavy-duty criteria, I am a fun person to be around. (Or, rather, I'm not unpleasant to be around!) I have a very cynical, sometimes slippery, sense of humor but, I believe, it belies a compassionate nature.

Music:

As with everything else, my musical tastes are eclectic. With age, I become more and more judgmental of the industry. Most of all, I distrust the marketed fodder: cookie-cutter music that, like television programming, is primarily intended to sell merchandise rather than promote musical artistry.Musically, I like Kate Bush and Gary Numan. (I run a website about the Numa Record acts of the 80s, called Numa Records: The Formative Years. (Quarterly updates include tributes to each of the eleven singles by the eight artists other than Numan that were released on the label.) These two styles of music define my general tastes as well, and the artists who fall into the categories implied by Bush and Numan are: Tori Amos; Nine Inch Nails; Annie Lennox; Rammstein; Cocteau Twins; Placebo; Death Cab For Cutie; Peter Gabriel; Sulpher; Tik 'n' Tok [There you go, Rod!]; Casey Stratton; and others that are up and coming, like Alien 6. (Some might call a few of these obscure, but, with all due respect, so what? Does good P.R. and popularity make musical artists better than they were beforehand? Errrrr, nope!I'm also an amateur remix artist and have a fair number of examples of my work on-line, on two of my websites. Latest remixes: Noise Noise (Mix 2 Fade) [Gary Numan] The American Way (Manifest Destiny Mix) [Hohokam] The Picture (TFY Cover Shot Remix) [Caroline Munro]

Movies:

I have a huge interest in anime these days and am thrilled that animation has finally caught on again as a legitimate form of movie-making and storytelling. My favorites are, of course, the character driven anime: Samurai Champloo, Gankutsuou (Count of Monte Christo), Fruits Basket, Gilgamesh, Cardcaptor Sakura, Outlaw Star, Full Metal Alchemist, Witchhunter Robin, Heat Guy J, DNAngel, and, of course, the classics: Cowboy Bebop, Utna, Lane, etc. I respect the Japanese culture of anime, too, that allows for a subgenre of gay stories and characters an equal place of importance in its industry; American animation is, alas, too often more interested in making fun of gay culture via parodies and sad stereotypes.As for actual filmmakers and movies, I love the story-driven sci fi and fantasy, especially the ones with literary basis: Lord of the Rings, Farhrentheit 451, Forbidden Planet (ahhhh!). The Alien series is brilliant. But, I swoon over the older classics. I think the early to middle years of Bette Davis's career produced some of the best movies ever to come out of Hollywood.Documentaries I respect: Fahrenheit 911, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph, Paragraph 175, Out-foxedJust too much, really, to list here!

Television:

The Sopranos and Six Feet Under (I know, I know: It's not t.v.; it's HBO), Queer As Folk, The Comeback, Battlestar Galactica, Project Runway, Top Chef, Ghost Hunters, Di Grassi (yes, I'm pathetic for a 45-yr-old), The Daily Show, South Park, Boondocks, Drawn Together, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.

Books:

I'm a college English professor, but I wouldn't exactly describe myself as a bookworm. (Believe it or not, it's more common than you might think for professors having to make their specialized academic interests more of a hobby, secondary to reading and grading student papers!) I'm into literature about death and dying, and I teach a course called Views of Death and Dying in Literature. However, I also take a keen interest in literature about gay issues, race-related issues, philosophy, gender and sexism, politics, . . . (I have a deep and abiding respect for enlightened dilletantism.)I'm a writer as well and a creative writing instructor with cross-genre interest (poet, dramatist, short fiction writer and essayist). I've had a life-long love for James Joyce--well, since my senior year in high school, that is.

Heroes:

I admire people who take heroic stances--such as Kweisi Mfume, Cindy Shehan, Larry Kramer, Martin Luther King, Jr--and I believe that there are individuals who can be called heroes for their acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. To call any of them MY heroes, however, just isn't something I do.

My Blog

Exploring the Universe (a eulogy for my father)

WESLEY SHERLOCKAugust 6, 1923 ~ May 22, 2007My father has died.I know that, for many, a father's passing forces one to pause and reopen great stores of emotional baggagesome with ambivalence, some wi...
Posted by Karl on Sun, 27 May 2007 07:55:00 PST

Do doctors CARE?

I rant only when I am trapped in a corner of paradoxical circumstances, especially when those circumstances have been masterminded. Then, I feel I have been made a fool as well as a trapped. For thi...
Posted by Karl on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:18:00 PST

Queen Mary: A Bloody Good Time

I returned from my first paranormal conference on Wednesday, at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. I realize that those who are not interested in paranormal subjects will not advance beyond th...
Posted by Karl on Sat, 20 Jan 2007 02:27:00 PST

How Our Health Does Suffer

Once again, I find myself watching in sheer horror TLC's latest reality based program, Honey, We're Killing the Kids. My horror is not aimed at the lifestyles of the people depicted in the show. Rat...
Posted by Karl on Tue, 30 May 2006 11:14:00 PST

A Life Less Paranormal

This past Friday, I partook of a ritual drama in which the quest for a spiritual nature was taken about as literally as it can get. I participated in a ghost hunt. My first, in fact. ("Hunt" makes ...
Posted by Karl on Sun, 28 May 2006 03:45:00 PST

Rate My Students dot org

I'm bringing to a close one of the worst classes I have ever taught. No doubt, some of my students will soon be rushing off to "RateMyProfessor.com" to lob at me their flaming pitch of dissatisfactio...
Posted by Karl on Fri, 26 May 2006 12:53:00 PST

I, Professor . . . (Part One)

It's a time of celebration for me: After sixteen arduous years of slogging through part-time teaching assignments, I have at long last been hired by Grossmont College as its next English Professor. ...
Posted by Karl on Sun, 21 May 2006 06:41:00 PST

That Queer Feeling You Get

I semi-regularly participate in my college's Banned Books Celebration by giving a lecture and a reading from a work currently banned. Many of my colleagues do absolutely brilliant jobs of elucidating ...
Posted by Karl on Tue, 16 May 2006 01:33:00 PST

My Mother's a Fish

They say that God is in the details. I like that expression, though I'm by no means persuaded to believe in a god because of it. I do, however, understand how comforting it can be to be teased out o...
Posted by Karl on Sat, 13 May 2006 09:02:00 PST

Physician, Be Heeled

What a strange and all-too-familiar week it's been with regard to hospitals and doctors. I have to say, since becoming the caregiver to my partner fifteen years ago, and undergoing my own series of m...
Posted by Karl on Sun, 07 May 2006 04:59:00 PST