It gets a little funny when I meet someone new and must at some point explain why I am called cougar and/or why I wear animal costumes with a higher-than-average frequency when I neither date young men nor attend Cosplay conventions. And so I must tell you now my friends, that if you have never had the opportunity to wear an animal costume YOU ARE MISSING OUT. You needn't have identity issues or strange furry sexual fetishes to see the appeal of encasing yourself in fun fur for an afternoon; only a desire to delight friends and strangers and an appreciation of absurdity.With regards to my own personal experience I should say also that if your dancing has ever been made fun of, if you have ever wanted to turn a cartwheel but realized you are wearing a skirt, or basically, if you have ever had a body and been embedded in a sociocultural matrix that places upon it, and you, certain expectation and restrictions, then panda suit is your excuse to be bold.
And if you happen to be in Beijing on one of those rare days when visibility extends beyond 200 feet it is a marvelous excuse to go to Jingshan park for some cavorting.
I did in fact come back to Beijing for a few reasons unrelated to this, but this was both inevitable and necessary.
With chief collaborator and photographer Anna.
The kids, unsurprisingly, loved it. Which got me and Anna thinking... if this whole academic career doesn't work out (and even if it does), perhaps I can get a gig on the side teaching Chinese at birthday parties for rich kids whose parents are anxious about the coming century of Chinese dominance. Reasonable rates. Call me.
3 comments:
You're hired. I have a funeral to attend and it needs some spicing up.
This looks like a new panda suit. Did you have it custom made? Did you bring it back to Seattle with you? Do you wear it while you write? Is your cat afraid of it?
Yes, new suit! Got it on taobao for 350rmb. Zelda doesn't much like it when someone is wearing it but she doesn't mind it stowed in the corner.
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