Glistening vesrsus Perspiring

So it has been a few days since my last entry but developing into a Southern Gentleman is a lot of work. There is protocal down here that I need to learn. For instance, did you know that Southern gentleman do not sweat but they perspire! And a Southern Lady does not sweat but she glistens. Being a Yankee can be daunting faced with the reality of having to change my biology not to mention the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what a gay man does in the South, especially a gay Yankee!

Do I stick to my midwestern heritage and sweat like the men in the steel mills?
Do I glisten like a lady sipping "sweet tea" in the middle of the afternoon?
Do I perspire like a gentleman caller greeting a Southern Bell for a spell on the porch swing?

Then I began to think about being gay. Have I ever really had to conform to any standards set forth by society? Being gay gives all homosexuals the opportunity to forge our own way.

We don't meet for coffee, we trick!
We don't get engaged, we move into together!
We don't get married, we develop open relationships and sleep around on another!
We don't get divorced, we move out and move in with the "other" man!

So what makes me think I should fall prey to the Southern norm and perspire? Why don't I stand proud as a gay man and perhaps chose not to sweat at all? Or maybe I just spend all my days in air conditioning and overt the opportunity altogether.

These are the things that plague my mind since my arrival in the South. It's times like these that I miss the constant threat of being mugged in New York City. I miss the loud subways, and path trains with odors that come from neither a perspiring gentelman or a glistening lady. The smells that migrate from within the bowels of the city from decades of sweaty Yankee's. Ah yes, some of my own sweat lies within those dark tunnels.

I think from now on I chose to perspire with a slight glisten. Afteral, it is my right as a homosexual to forge my own path.