Two people amongst the morning occupants of the park across from my office building routinely do their morning exercise there. A middle aged white guy who does Tai Chi, and an older Chinese lady who... we'll I don't know how to describe what she does, except to say that we call her "Floppy". She just flops her arms and legs around. Maybe it has a name, but it sure looks like a homemade exercise.

What's great is the juxtaposition between Floppy and the other guy, Nameless Man. I'm sure he thought Tai Chi was mystical eastern exercise/meditation ritual. Now he's faced with this woman. She's obviously old, but robust, whatever she's doing is working. And what she is doing, though she is Chinese, is definitely not Tai Chi. He continues to do Tai Chi. It's like he's said, I have exoticised you in the past, and now I see you as you are. Yet I have also found something that works for me.

11:08:53 PM       comment []