A tale of distinction.

I was an extra on the film Amistad while they were filming in the New England. I think Connecticut. Now I understand why when I was younger, I couldn’t understand why older people sometimes can’t recollect some things.

During lunch time there was a big tent full of tables and chairs so we could sit and eat. There were hundreds of extra there. I noticed after a couple days on set that all the different ethnicities where all sitting together eating lunch. Sitting only the with the same race that they were.

I got thinking that most people would rather sit with people just like them. It must be a comfort and a small sampling of why many people never leave where they were born.

I was always interested in other cultures since I was very young.

I went to Community College in my mid twenties and felt more alive then I ever been. I would meet all types of people for all over my state. It was here that I encountered my first gay friend. Being a straight man from where I grew up, that was a milestone.

I transferred to Emerson College in Boston and rented an apartment near Fenway Park. The diversity of people from all over the world were in Boston. My aliveness moved up a couple more notches.

I worked full time, went to school full time and had to put time aside for scene study meetings and a musical rehearsals. I never felt freer.

I went back home after I got my degree and would find work in NYC or New England to continue to learn and gain knowledge.

I decided to move to Los Angeles and engulfed myself in the differences of people and the great stories they had about where they came from. Worked on film/tv/commercial sets, at all the big studios and on location.

If I saw a homeless person, I would start a conversation with them. My fiends would comment to each other, “he talks to everyone.”

Later I lived in an apartment in a building that housed scholars and intellectuals from all over the world. It was sponsored by the Getty Museum’s Research Institute.

I met some very interesting people. One scholar who got the, “artist in residence title” knocked on my door. Now my wife at the time was the housing coordinator of this building so if anyone needed anything or had a problem, they would contact my wife.

I didn’t meet this gentleman as of yet. He knocked at the door and I opened it. He asked for my wife. I said hold on and walked over to her. I said, “some homeless guy is at the door asking for you.” She looked at the guy and whispered to me, “That’s the artist in residence not a homeless guy.” I replied, “ he looks homeless to me.” I met so many cool people.

I became a Freemason at a lodge that’s membership was very diverse. A group of men from all over the world whom I might have never met and learned about if I never opened the door to the lodge.

I’m very satisfied living in a melting pot of diversity and enjoy it. That doesn’t mean that we all agree on everything but we can come to an understanding of differences. I raised my kids that way.

If you rather hang and live with your own kind and that’s where you find comfort and solitude, that’s cool. I understand the differences.

The United States of America is a great country.

c 2023 Chu The Cud

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