Redheads and, um, turtlenecks

After some of my recent posts, my friend Leslie keeps telling me to share my opinions about redheads, their um, turtlenecks, and bonfires. Funny thing is when I hung out with the surveyor guy, we went to a place where there was a fire pit and it made me think about this one time in particular...

I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was a practicing Wiccan. I found out that there were public rituals, so I decided to go to one. It was a burning man ritual at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Ocean Beach is one of my most favorite places in the WORLD to this day, and I absolutely love it there, when it is SUNNY! However, most of the time you go to Ocean Beach it is cold, foggy, and drizzly. This day it was cold, but luckily clear. The ritual started well. We made a circle, dug a hole, and made a bonfire. They had made a 8' tall wicker man that they would later place on the bonfire as part of the ritual.

Ok, I wasn't at all new to wicca or rituals, so I was excited to be in a community of people at a public ritual. I was excited to see that there were families with younger children that were being tought to love the Goddess and God. Bonfires are cool, so I was even more excited. There was music and drumming, so we were getting into the whole ritual. As the evening went on, after the wicker man was dropped on the bonfire, the other people were getting into dancing around the bonfire. Cool. Before I knew it many people were stripping down NAKED and running to the shore and went swimming in the freezing water. Once they were frozen from the water, they then came back to the bonfire, and started dancing, still NAKED, around the bonfire. People, young and old, skinny and quite large, all dancing around very close to the fire, despite sparks being sent off by the bonfire. They are obviously suffering from hypothermia from their dip in the ocean, so they probably can't feel their skin?!

Ok, Here I am in my winter jacket standing in the spot I had been all along, watching in surprise what was going on. I was NOT going to get NAKED because I was FROZEN with my jacket on, and I was NOT going to get in water about 1 degree above freezing temps, since I was FROZEN with my JACKET on. Yet, I stood there unable to take my eyes away from what was happening. I wasn't uncomfortable with the people or nakedness, just cold.

So what does this have to do with redheads and turtlenecks, you might ask? "But, Gwen, You said they were Naked, what do you mean about turtlenecks?". Well, I will TELL you. Now, there is nothing absolutely nothing wrong with redheads. It's just a matter of personal taste. I'm not crazy about redheads, but I have learned that some people are. Now, there is also nothing wrong with uncircumsized men. I had never seen one, but they are out there and lead happy fufilling lives. Ok, we left me standing, FREEZING, at the edge of a circle of people watching people dance NAKED around the bonfire. When I was watching all of this going on, I happened to notice a rather strange looking man with long curly red hair, and freckels all over him. He was also naked, and he was flopping around, so I did look down and find that he was not circumsized. I have nothing wrong with an uncircumsized man, just had never seen one prior to this. Not only was it something I had never seen, it was also dancing, flopping, and flinging all over the place. I was not aroused, more like watching a trainwreck. I knew I shouldn't be staring, but I just could not look away for the life of me. It was like it was all happening in slow motion. I'm probably lucky that he didn't see me staring at his little soldier, or I'd have to fight him off with a stick!

To this day, I cannot look a red headed man in the eye with a straight face. Many people think I am a girl next door type who has led an uneventful sheltered life. Well, that's not ENTIRELY true. I just remember my experiences and smile.

Gwen

For more information about the SF Bay area's Wiccan community events, please visit http://www.reclaiming.org/