Living Beyond Binary and South Coast New

Avila Beach, Ca

    Some 45 minutes south of us the central coast offers scenes reminiscent of Southern California. 

     It's hard not to smile or feel good when seeing a symphony of blue stretch the horizon and lap onto warm sand. Enjoy the vibe because we've got a brain bruiser for you below, but we begin with nice.

     Avila is bright, fresh and shiny. It was essentially rebuilt after a 1998 settlement where in Unocal took years taking the town apart, removing tons of earth, moving homes back into place or clearing property. It was all part of the mitigation of a tank farm leak.
     Long timers say before the leak and the tear down Avila was "low rent" and a not so appealing beach town. We were there during the remediation and now it is clear time, money and real estate development changes things.

         It has become a tourist and play beach, complete with resort, golf courses, hiking, biking trails, restaurants, bistros, pubs and recreation.

      A group of north coasters, from San Simeon and Cambria follow their tummies to a spot sired by a beloved chef.
      We've always enjoyed outings in Avila, though there is slight feeling of being at Disney Beach Town or maybe on the set of the Truman Show. There is a history here, but it's lost in the designer new. Great place to visit, but.....

back on the ridge

Pasta making training continues. This is the critical extrusion phase.

    Kids can lift the spirit. There is an innocence and joy that infuses. But it's not as simple as it used to be

boys and girls and transitions and identity

       

       At coffee the other day one of the guys asked if women's sports was going to be killed by the affect of trans athletes whose male DNA makes them of a particular muscle and bone structure that provides strength, speed and power to the extent of being an advantage over their female competitors.

     It's a question I'd never considered, but it is vexing isn't it?

Personal identity is more complicated when people identifying and living as a woman may have a penis or when a man keeps his vagina because he would like to bear a child. Imagine how mind boggling that sentence would have been to your parents or grand parents.

     We may identify by way of a choice, though biological functions might even be an irony of sorts. Sexual reassignment surgery is a path for some, but not for everyone. It is no longer a binary matter. 
    Living with how we are different as men or women or in search or undecided or transition brings a need for a new protocol as well as cultural cues. These are new times.
     We are all human and under it all, we are the same. Until we meld with technology and synthetic life, but that is for another day.

     the cringe factor

      Does it happen to you? You communicate with friends who are citizens of places other than the US and you cringe as you explain something the occupant of the White House tweets or says. As a case in point the recent boneheaded tantrum over Harley Davidson. It somehow diminishes us all.

       In fact he diminishes everything? Has our integrity and intelligence fallen so low that we actually deserve him? Who needs the zombie apocalypse? The brain dead rules already.      
      And now there is a new justice to choose. 
      Did I just detect another cringe?

      See you down the trail