Tag Recreation

So I’m headed out today & decide to go out of my way to get a cup of coffee, So I take a different route then usual & there is this guy sitting at the side of the road banging the  dirt out of his shoes & his feet are kind of “odd” looking so I turn around & offer him a ride. He wants to go to a soup Kitchen (That I didn’t know existed) behind a bar (That I did know existed) so I take him. On the way we pass a bunch of his friends walking to & from the place & he cranks my stereo & waves to everybody we pass yelling “Hey Man! look over here!” & I’m laughing my ass off as I drop him off. He asks if he can have the protein bar on my seat & I give it to him & he waves good bye from the door of the place with a huge ear to ear grin, The Bum who arrives at the soup kitchen in a Corvette…he’s the talk of the town. He’ll remember that on his death bed (which didn’t look far off) & I drop the Vette off for some maintenance & hop in a cab to get the Sentra…the Cabbie, “Oliver”  immediately brings up that he’s a retired trucker…and he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to help people or “learn lessons” when he traveled around the country. I thought “how bizarre that he brings that up?” & I tell him my story. We decide that you’re in certain places at certain times for a reason. So I head home…and the guy building Ladyhero’s sidewalk tells me if he hadn’t been here he would not have just met the guy who stopped next door & offered him a job! So I tell him the whole story too about certain place at certain time. Every time I turn around today I’m having it put on a platter in front of me that you are in a certain place at a certain time for a reason. Let it happen…and act when it happens.
 

Somebody just very politely (from the UK of course) asked me:
“Excuse me sir, can you explain why it’s better not to wear a mask?”
Answer:
Oh sure thing Brother.
I’ve never been a big one for Secret Identities anyway…it’s just too easy to find out who somebody is nowadays anyway. They would just run my tag if they really wanted it 🙂
aside form the secret ID thing Masks (Cowls especially according to Adam West) just aren’t as practical in reality as people thing they are, this time of year they’re unbearably hot, limit your vision, and God forbid you get into a confrontation & somebody cranks it…you’re blind as a bat & in big trouble. I know they’re a Superhero staple…but I just don’t think they work to well in reality.
 

So follow me on this one… “Bystander effect” where something happens & people stand around and watch…or worse Video a drowning person for their youtube channel.
Sunday I was headed home up McMullen Booth when all the traffic in my lane slows to a dead crawl & gets all swervie up ahead…when I finally get up there there is a Damn BOX SPRING off a King or Queen size bead laying across the lane! No body is doing anything accept trying to get around it. I stop & dive out to grab it, and suddenly the guy behind me does the same thing. We grab it together, toss it in the grass, & take off.
So…did my stopping “Break the spell” of Bystander effect? This is not the first time this has happened to me, just the first time I’ve realized it fully that people act after I do. Has this happened to any of you? does this make what we do actually more important? Opinions? Thoughts?

…And it was a “Vigilante Superhero” short. I heard them talking about the Heroes rig & gimmick while he was suiting up & heard some of the things they were thinking about & recomending like “He needs a cape” etc. You just bite your lip & be humble…They didn’t hire me as a technical advisor 🙂
It was made for the “48 hour Gorilla Film fest” where they apparently have 48 hours to shoot a genre film. they got action hero. That night there were plenty of squibs & blanks going off. It’s also funny to watch for me, Nobody would hit S&^% shooting this way 🙂 http://youtu.be/u-8RP8owjas

So I’m on my way to ST.Pete to meet Knight Hood with Artisteroi…
…and we pass a couple of Largo cop cars with their overheads on at the side of the road behind a van that has a rim but no tire what-so-ever on the rear passenger side. We decide to offer the cops the use of my Floor Jack, maybe we can pick it up enough to get the rim off. We do a U-turn & swing around behind them & I get out & walk up, it turns out it’s a Sergeant & a road Officer & the Sergeant looks at me & says “Out doing your good deed for the day?” and smiles. I offer him the use of the jack but they have a wrecker on the way. Odd thing is everybody on the scene is bald, even the van owner so I say OK I can’t help but I’ll tell you the bald guy joke” …
“What did the bald guy say when his daughter gave him a comb for his Birthday?”
“I’ll never part with it.”
We all had a good laugh & Artisteroi & I took off, some time you just bring Humor…but it helps.
 

I think anyone who is serious about doing something with the RLSH concept should find their niche, the thing they’re passionate about, and build something with it.
I knew I wanted to do something; paying more attention to crime reports or humanitarian injustices gets me fired up, but then, it always has.  So it took some soul-searching to come to my “Super Epiphany”.
I’ve decided to make one of my first public appearances this summer at a youth camp for cancer victims/survivors.  For those children, one of them being my son, handing out food to the homeless or scattering drug dealers across a street corner might sound “cool” or the nice thing to do, but it has little to do with their underlying battle, and it doesn’t take much creativity to see it as everyone’s battle: FEAR.
Fear prevents two people from talking.  Fear makes tomorrow scary.  Fear makes rejection horrifying.  Fear makes sitting at home alone sound like a good idea.  Fear replaces accountability, decency, goodwill, ethics, morality, and everything else that keeps our soul attached to our skin bags.
I see my son rolling like a tank through softball-sized brain tumors, radiation… learning how to read braille.  His goal is to be an FBI agent, altered slightly from his previous desire to be a soldier like daddy.  He has no FEAR.  He plays soccer, paintball, rides his bike, and he can barely see shapes.
If an 8 year old boy can bound out of his own grave, and glide through a canyon on a zip line at summer camp, can’t each of us wipe away the apprehension that prevents us from being “Super”?
One afternoon at a checkpoint somewhere southeast of Baghdad I said “farewell” to FEAR when I used my body as a shield to protect a fellow soldier.  It made me ALIVE, reborn if you will, and solidified me as a servant to my brothers (or in that particular case, sisters, too).  I’m going to help others wave their fears “goodbye”.  That’s what SUPER means to me.
 

Originally posted: http://www.unexplainable.net/Simply-Unexplainable/Real-Life-Supervillains-Invade-Home.shtml
By Chris Capps
Real life Superheroes have been a subject in the news media for some time now, gradually picking up steam and gaining attention (and in some cases notoriety) for their well intentioned interpretation of comic book culture by living out the philosophies of our favorite caped crusaders on city streets around the world. But this latest strange case sees not two real life superheroes, but rather a duo of never-do-wells who invaded a home in Manchester and stabbed a cocker spaniel. The injury was not fatal, but we are left questioning if this is the reverse side of the good done by those who wish only to do good in the world – and wear a costume while doing it.
The intruders in this case were two men wearing masks and improvised capes made from trash can protectors who gained unauthorized entry to the home of one woman at 10:40 on Sunday night. The owner of the house had just stepped outside for a cigarette, but when she returned she noticed two men attacking the family’s cocker spaniel with a screwdriver. Terrified, the woman retreated, but when the burglars saw her there they retreated, allowing her a chance to see the bizarre trash can liners they had draped around their shoulders. Police later reported to the BBC news that they did not believe it was a personal attack and that the woman’s home had been picked likely at random in an effort to steal her belongings. Obviously, the woman was deeply disturbed by the events, and the fact that her cocker spaniel was not seriously injured did not erase the fact that an extremely strange pair had broken into her home.
So we’re left asking the question, why were they wearing such strange outfits? And could this be the criminal’s response to the increasing appearance of real life superheroes? Could masked crusaders for good and equally masked monsters of society one day battle it out in a real life battlefield that smashes every conception we have of law and order and leaves only a wasteland of props mixed in with real life weapons? In a world where justice doesn’t always prevail automatically, and there is no known deus ex machina guaranteeing good will always win out over evil, the prospect has a disturbing ring to it.
But real life superheroes have for years stated that their mission is the improvement of society through peaceful intervention – often taking up pet causes themselves to clean up their communities of more than crime. Many are ecological advocates, such as Captain Ozone or various others who have set up their own version of the neighborhood watch.
But there is one factor to this that suggests real life superheroics and real life supervillainy may one day become an issue. As technology improves and is gradually integrated into our human form through bionics, could we one day run across people who have dedicated their entire lives to transforming their human form into one possessing what we today would consider superpowers? Perhaps then we will be forced to take the masks and capes a bit more seriously – whether they be worn by heroes or villains.

Superheroes Anonymous Costume Workshop

 
Superheroes Anonymous will be holding a COSTUME WORKSHOP on Thursday, March 3rd, at the wonderful venue, Spacecraft Brooklyn! This event will help aspiring and active Real Life Superheroes develop and design superhero identities and realize their inner superhero. With the materials and skills of the SPACECRAFT team – we can create nearly anything to accompany your superhero uniform! It’s the perfect time to become acquainted with the work of SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS and to create a unique superhero costume that can never be bought in a store!
The price of admission is $20 and will include all materials needed to turn a normal wardrobe into a fully functional SUPERHERO COSTUME! We will also be providing FREE BEER for those 21 and older.
Though we will be providing materials, participants must bring a BASE WARDROBE that they want to be modified. That means a basic shirt and pants (or spandex!) to be turned into a super-heroic uniform. For example: we can help you make a mask, design a cape or breastplate or sew cool designs and accessories onto your jeans or a shirt, but we won’t be able to provide the spandex shirts or motorcycle jackets.
PRICE: $20/person INCLUDES: Costume Materials & Unlimited Beer
DIRECTIONS: L train to Bedford Ave, walk South to S. 4th St.
PLEASE RSVP TO [email protected]
 

While riding my motorcycle to work the other day something happened to me that made me start thinking.  I met another biker and without a thought, we each extended out left arm and pointed toward the  center line of the road.  This is not unusual.  It happens all the time.  That day, however it struck a chord in my mind that has led me to write this blog tonight.

Im not a stereotype “biker” by any means.  I dont ride a Harley and I dont wear leather.  As a matter of fact, in my plaid hoodie and blue backpack, I probably look like a fat nerd who got talked into buying a bike in an effort to look cool on his way to college.  In truth, I bought the bike for a cheap form of transportation because I couldnt afford another car payment…I keep it because its fun to ride and gets over 60 MPG…You just can’t beat $5 every two weeks for gas back and forth to work.

However, even though I am different from the stereotype, I almost always get a salute from passing bikers.  It doesnt matter if its someone in black leather, a blue jean vest, a flashy professional looking jumpsuit, or whatever, the ritual repeats itself over and over.  A simple salute is exchanged between men and women who have a common bond in their joy of riding motorcycles.

Im sure many of these people and I would have a hard time riding an elevator together if all we had to go on was our individual personalities, yet as we ride past one another we salute as if to tell each other that we are part of a brotherhood that overcomes those differences.  We may never speak to each other in person, but we honor each other with a simple hand gesture…A Salute.

Tradition tells us that the salute originated from the practice of knights in armor tipping their visors to show their faces to other knights when they rode past each other.  It has evolved over the years to become a sign of respect for authority.  Ranking officers in the military are saluted by enlisted men and lower ranking officers,   The Flag is saluted during the national anthem, revielle, and taps.  We salute heroes, elected officials, and people we genuinely respect,

The salute is a sign of respect, but at the same time, it does not say that you agree with 100% of what the person you salute represents.  A soldier can salute his commanding officer while not liking the oficer as a person.  He can salute that officer, accept his orders, and (so long as those orders are lawful) he can carry out those orders even if he does not agree with them.

So where am I going with this?

I’m glad you asked.

I feel we need something similar to the biker salute in the RLSH community.  We have message boards.  We have My Space and Facebook pages.   We have Blogs and You Tube accounts.  We even have new articles and reality TV shows.  What we lack is the common courtesy to acknowledge each other as peers if only in the sense that we are ALL people who have chose to be creative activists in colorful costumes.

Imagine if we took a moment to simply salute those who chose to don the cape and join us in trying to impact the world.  Imagine if we didnt worry about if the person wore spandex, leather, or denim.  Imagine if we didnt care if they wore a cape or a trenchcoat.  Just imagine if we didnt care of they wore a mask, goggles, or a visor.  What if only for a moment we just acknowledged that they were trying to do something positive in a creative way just as we have chosen to do.

Perhaps the media wouldnt be so quick to splash our disagreements on the evening news and in the morning papers if we were united by the act of respect that is attached to a simple salute.  Perhaps not…but that doesnt change my opinions on the matter.

We need to stop greeting newcomers with the hard line stance that turns them away and greet them with a brief moment of respect.  “Welcome the the RLSH community.  Let’s make this world a better place together.” Should be the greeting that a RLSH recieves from another RLSH long before hearing “You’re doing it wrong!”

And while we are at it, lets learn to agree to disagree.   Im not going to agree with everything you say or do.  Im sure you wont agree with everything I say and do either.  But, we can each learn to operate individually without having a big flame war or chest puffing contest.  In other words, we dont have to like each other but we should show respect for each other.

Im sure many of you will think Im wrong.  You feel that there is no hope for the various factions to get along.  I would offer that I am not asking you to dance together, but merely to remain cordial and keep the infighting between us while showing a united front to the world in general.

The US Navy and US Marine Corps have a well known rivalry.  However, sailors and marines work together to protect this nations interests on a daily basis.  When there is a threat that affects one, you can be sure the other will be there to watch their back.

Why can’t we have that in the RLSH community?

If you’re a crimefighter, I salute you.

If you’re a charity hero, I salute you.

If you’re hero support, I salute you.

If you are an oracle, I salute you.

If you’re trying to make this world a better place in any way, then I salute you.

Keep up the good work!

by Geo Punk
I only recently found out about rlshs. I was a boy scout all through middle and high school, so I have always enjoyed helping people, but when I got into college, I stopped being able to do stuff to help because of my ridiculous schedule. While I am still in college, I have decided to become an rlsh so I can once again help my community. Although I cannot do much now, when I return home in May I will actively serve my community. As of now, though, I can patrol campus and the surrounding area every now and then. I think I could be a real help to the campus now, because there tend to be attacks and muggings here when the weather starts to warm up at night. This blog will serve as a journal more than anything. I only refer to myself as an rlsh due to lack of any other description. I don a uniform and go out to help people. But, honestly, I’m just winging the superhero thing.
Last night, I was on patrol alone (As I will be most of the time. I am the only rlsh in my area as far as I know.) and I spotted a man looking into a rather nice car on the side of the road. The man looked and acted like he was probably drunk, and, honestly, he looked like he probably didn’t own the car. I turned on my flashlight and pointed at him, as I was going to ask if he needed any help, but when the flashlight beam hit him, he looked at me briefly and took off. I’m not sure whether I stopped him from breaking into the car, or if I just scared the crap out of him.
-G. P.