Indology, Eastern culture and spirituality, Samskrtm, anthropology, learning new alphabets and languages, ritual, budget travel, political humour, social change, intercultural communication, vegetarianism, Bharatanatyam and Asian classical dance.
Music
Dead Can Dance; Patti Smith; the Velvet Underground; L. Subramaniam; Iggy & the Stooges; Saturday morning cartoon theme songs; PiL; Ramones; hard 70's funk; B52s; Certain General; Gang of Four; James Brown; Hun Huur Tu and Tuvan throat singing; Sur Sudha; Public Enemy; the Exotic Ones; the Shakers; early Fairport Convention; Jimi Hendrix; AC/DC "Back in Black"; Cream; Art of Noise; New York Dolls; big band and swing (Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman)
Movies
I like movies about eccentric outsiders & loners, and their odyssey - can't imagine why. BARAKA; Kundun; Matewan; the Fisher King; the Matrix; Pee Wee's Big Adventure; Scrooge with Albert Finney; A Charlie Brown Christmas; the Big Lebowski; Baraka; O Brother Where Art Thou?; the TAMI Show with James Brown; Wayne's World (1 & 2)
Television
Pee Wee's Playhouse; the Daily Show with Jon Stewart; Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher; Just Shoot Me; Sherlock Holmes Mysteries; The Simpsons; original Looney Tunes; Maude; Mary Tyler Moore; Eyes on the Prize PBS series; Peanuts holiday specials
Books
Mark Twain; Rudyard Kipling; VS Naipaul; The Wisdom of Forgiveness by the Dalai Lama; Cynthia Heimel; Dave Barry; Empire of the Soul by Paul William Roberts; the Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux
Heroes
Patti Smith, Muhammad Ali, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Annie Besant, Swami Vivekananda, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mata Amritanandamayi, Gloria Steinem, Mark Twain, Martin Luther King Jr. and figures of the US Civil Rights movement; all the Tibetan monks and nuns in jail for resisting Chinese rule; the Chinese student who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square.
Sirensongs's Details
Status:
Single
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Hometown:
Chattanooga, Tennessee USA
Ethnicity:
Other
Zodiac Sign:
Scorpio
Education:
College graduate
Occupation:
Spiritual investigative reporter
Sirensongs's Schools
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro,Tennessee
Graduated: 1997
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Mass Communications & Cultural Anthropology
Minor: History
Clubs: WMTS Radio and Channel 12 student television
About me: *Nutshell: Native Tennessean now living in south Asia.
*Official third-person version: Sirensongs came to India in 2002 to further her six years of study of the ancient temple dance, Bharatanatyam. Apprenticing with a revered master in Madras, she learned a great deal; however, most of it was not about dance. Disillusionment and childhood memories of "Tintin in Tibet" led her to adventures all over India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal....
If you're still reading: I am a Dalai Lama-head. So far this year I have seen Him about 8 times. Yes, I feel a little more enlightened....Besides Bharatanatyam, I have also studied Sri Lankan, Manipuri, Odissi, classical ballet, yoga, and Spanish Flamenco dance. During my years in India I've taught English at Auroville Language Lab (Tamil Nadu) and the Rangjung Yeshe Institute of Buddhist Studies (Kathmandu).... I hold a certificate in Spoken Sanskrit from Rashtriya Samskrt Samsthan (deemed university, New Delhi) and am a lifetime member of ABHAI (Assoc. of Bharatanatyam Artists of India).... My writing and photographs appear all over the freaking internet; check out www.sirensongs.blogspot.com.
...I am inordinately proud of my ability to read street signs and bargain (successfully) with taxi drivers in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, French and Nepali.... My Tibetan, however, is still a total disgrace.
*Quote: "Why do people come to India to 'find themselves'? India is where you go to LOSE yourself...." Create your custom cookie at ..
Some of us still return here, brought back by our desire to see, a perfect entity--ha, to paraphrase. 15 seconds of YouTube here features me on politics. A video blogger joined the media throng on my corner, across from Belmont University, site of the second presidential debate, and taped a crowd of us holding a spontaneous Obama rally. His unexpected questions to me occur about 30% into the vid: 'So what do you like about Obama?' and 'What's wrong with McCain?' I could have said "stop tape" for a re-take, but as it is, a somewhat droll, Harrisonesque reading of the festivities. Wonder where I learned this look... http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=LzJUZVOdPeE
In case you haven't yet heard it, the re-mix of "Within You, Without You," from the "Love" soundtrack, gained airplay and this apparently official video. Hope the cables there crank it! Notice the drum pattern from "Tomorrow Never Knows," nearly a year earlier in '66. Love.
Hey Sweetie! I just wanted to pop in and say I love you and am thinking about you. Anastasia will be 11 in one month, can you believe it?!! She has done beautifully this first year playing the viola. Troy says that she and Hanako are in training to become new members of the Secret Commonwealth! Wishing you much love, health and happiness...
where you hiding out these days milady? still in kathmandu? I am going back to the states from April 14th until August 4th..... but then ill be back in Chennai for another year. We should go to Thailand for vacation next year. Vietnam is also a blast. I still really wanna meet you. be well sista, thessaly
If you go to Thailand you gots to take your thangatchi! I speaks fair Thai.... and its muh favorite country. ( keep in mind though, that Thai visas are even more annoying than Indian visas..... maybe we should hit Vietnam together.... I lurve Vietnam
Those photos were taken at Murundeeswar temple in Thiruvanmiyur.... just a stones throw from Kalek Shetra. So good to be seeing you again. Is the visa mess sorted out?
now I KNOW i done sumpin wrong... cause you have stopped by... wanna tell the Madrasi what it is? where are you currently located ( should i bother asking?)
how was you Divali akka? mine was really nice.... even though I almost died in a motorcycle accident tuesaday last. hope all is well with ya. Hadn't heard in awhile, so thought I would check in.
The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crisped and sere - The leaves they were withering and sere; It was a night in the lonesome October Of my most immemorial year; It was hard by the dim lake of Auber, In the misty mid region of Weir - It was down by the dank tarn of Auber, In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
