Epigonos

Nice face (especially without the make-up), nice body, mediocre voice.

The full beard is a bit much for me but I could deal with it. Being the body fascist I am, however, the fact that in some of the photos he appears to be way out of shape bothers me more.

As far as I'm concerned the guy’s ad and azdr0710's review provide me with all the information I require. I NEVER hire straight guys and I NEVER hire guys who aren't enthusiastic kissers. With this information I know Trophyhusband and I are definitely NOT a fit.

I've always loved low hangers -- front, side or back are all just fine with me.

I always ask potential hires what their fee would be for thee hours including about an hour for lunch or dinner. If it averages out at $200 an hour or less I'm a go if more I'm a pass. We have had near 0 inflation for the last couple of years so I find these increases hard to justify. Now if these guys can get it more glory to them they just won't get it from me.

As far as I can tell the “War on Drugs” has been an outrageously expensive abysmal failure. I have always been upfront here that I’m a reactionary fiscal conservative Republican BUT a social Libertarian. With that out of the way I firmly believe we should STOP playing around, get real and legalize ALL drugs and that goes for marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, etc., etc. People could registrar and then buy their drugs at government shops. This would put the American crime syndicates/gangs and the Mexican drug cartels out of the drug business and the profit could go to various social programs. My one huge CAVEAT is that registrared drug users should be denied certain occupations and drug testing should be mandatory and random for those occupations. Anybody in the transportation area comes immediately to mind thus airline pilots, train engineers, bus drivers, or semi-truck, for example, should be fired if traces of drugs are found in their systems. I would also probably add to that group doctors, nurses, teacher, and police officers.

I have also always preferred clean shaved guys, HOWEVER, I will readily admit that the guy is much better looking with the highly trimmed beard

I would love to spend some "quality time" with Marylander1940's number 2 and 3 in his second group. Both guy have great faces and great bodies.

BSE I’m not quite sure what you meant by the following: “Your Spanish may be fluent, but your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired.” How do you have anyway of knowing whether or not my “reading comprehension leaves something to be desired”? Just as a matter of clarification I taught, for over twenty years, Spanish Literature and Latin American Literature. I have been retired for a dozen years but I still read the authors of the La Literatura Revolucionario de Mexico in SPANISH. My favorite South American author happens to be Jorge Luis Borjes and he is best read in Spanish as his works don't translate well into English. I am in total agreement with you, however, on the following: “ I figured that the ridiculous CA certification standard was some feel-good, diversity-motivated push. Merit? What the hell is that??” What it is, is absolute bullshit.

BSR you point is well taken and the official reasoning behind the Spanish Language Certification exam is interesting and is done for three reasons. 1. A college/university major or minor in Spanish required major time and effort. It is much easier to major in U.S. History or Ethnic Studies, for example, and then pass the Spanish Language certification exam and be able to teach the class without taking a single class in Spanish. 2. There are not enough people graduating from colleges and universities with Spanish majors and minors to fill the need for Spanish language teachers. 3. In California there is a major bush to but minority teachers in classrooms to provide "role models" for minority students. This policy encourages Hispanic students to pass the exam so them can enter classrooms in an area where there is a need for teachers and positions are readily available.

I learned Spanish grammar and literature during three years of high school Spanish and four years of university Spanish. I learned to SPEAK Spanish fluently by living for three years in Mexico and Guatemala. One does not learn to speak a foreign language fluently in a classroom studying for an hour a day. One learns to speak a foreign language fluently by living in a country where the language is spoken – it’s called total immersion. One has an excellent accent or one does not because one has an excellent ear for accents or one does not.

I tend to disagree regarding the desirability of having a native Spanish speaker teaching Spanish - especially in California. Here in California a native Spanish speaker can become qualified to teach Spanish, in a public school, if he or she passes a competency exam; many have never taken a class in Spanish grammar or literature. The exam although written is objective – true/false and multiple choice and many who pass it are virtually illiterate. They don’t know Spanish grammar and their vocabulary is a terrible combination of Spanish and English. In other words they don’t speak Spanish they speak Spanglish or Cholo. Examples being: English Spanish Spanglish/Cholo To eat lunch Almorzar Lonchear Shoe Store Zapateria Shoeteria Brakes Frenos Breques Truck Camion Troque Market Mercado Marketa to park Estacionar Parkear This type of Spanglish/Cholo works just fine along the U.S. Mexican border but is worthless when one tries to speak with someone anywhere else in the Spanish speaking world. As a rule non-native Spanish speaking teachers know the grammar and vocabulary of the language and even if their accent isn't great their students learn correct Spanish. Having a good accent in any foreign language has more to do with how good an ear a student has. Some students will naturally have an excellent accent and others, no matter how much they try and no matter how good the accent of their teacher is, will never have a good accent. In graduate school I took a class from a professor who was one of the world's leading authorities in twentieth century Mexican literature yet every time he opened his mouth and spoke a word of Spanish I shuttered. It was immediately obvious that he had a tin ear as he spoke Spanish with a heavy god-awful gringo accent.

The Parisians have the reputation of being rude and intolerant with non-fluent French speakers. I’ve been in Paris a number of times and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a bump-rap. I don’t speak a word of French and I have always been treated with the upmost kindness. I’m convinced it all relates as to how they are approached -- isn’t that the case ever where? I apologize for interrupting them and for not speaking French and then ask my question. I have always been treated graciously and on more than one case an individual has gone out of his/her way, walking me some distance, to make sure I’m going the right way. I am extremely fond of the Parisians!!!!!

Many years ago I had a crazy language experience in Kolkata (Calcutta) India. I was staying in the Kolkata Oberoi Hotel (then the finest hotel in the city). Returning to the hotel one afternoon I saw and overheard two women, obviously a mother and older daughter, absolutely furious because the desk personnel couldn’t understand them. They spoke ONLY Spanish and simply couldn’t understand why no one at the desk understood them. I asked the desk manager if he would like me to translate as I spoke Spanish. The look of absolute relief on his face was something to behold. I then offered my services to the two women and they happily accepted. I translated and arrangements, for them to rent a room, were quickly made. I had no further dealings with the two women but from that moment on the hotel manager and the desk clerks treated me like a god. To this day I still find it difficult to believe that somebody would expect a hotel desk clerk in Kolkata, India to speak Spanish.

When Spanish double ll (usually pronounced like y in the English word yellow) is pronounced instead like a j and thus calle becomes caje is a porteno accent and is limited primarily to the area around the Rio de la Plata of Argentina and of Uruguay. It is most often associated with Buenos Aires. The accent developed because of a large influx of Italian speakers to the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is about the only regional accent that I like.

Deej you make an excellent point. I lived in Guatemala, for two years, and the Spanish there is indeed very different from that in Mexico. The reason is, that in Guatemala, a country roughly the size of Tennessee there are 21 Mayan languages and 2 non Mayan languages spoken. Many of the Mayan languages are unintelligible to each other. All of these indigenous languages have had a huge influence on the pronunciation of Spanish and many indigenous words have entered the Guatemalan Spanish vocabulary. At the conclusion of my Peace Corp tour the State Department sent a Spanish Language expert to examine and grade each returning volunteer’s command of the language. Present also, during the testing, was a local Spanish language expert who entered the testing process only when we used a local word, expression, or grammatical construction unique to Guatemala.

I don't remember the exact wording but there is an old proverb which states that people always pray, swear, and count their money in their native language. I rather like that!!!!!

Being fluent in Mexican Spanish I find my understanding of Italian and Portuguese interesting. I can generally get along very well verbally in Italian but can read very little I can generally get along very will with written Portuguese but can't understand much verbally. Spoken Portuguese always sounds, to me, much like Spanish with a VERY strange accent spoken through a mouth full of mush. My Spanish accent and vocabulary are MEXICAN thus I find I have some difficulty understanding the spoken Spanish of Central and Northern Spain, yet I have no problem in the South. It is interesting that most of the Spanish conquistadores who conquered Mexico, Central America, and South were from Andalucia and Extermadura in the south of Spain and they carried to the Western Hemispheric their form of Spanish.

My father immigrated from Europe in 1910 as a child. His native languages were Slovenian and German. My mother spoke only English thus our household language was English. In high school I took Spanish for three years and at the University I majored in Latin American history and minored in Spanish as an undergraduate. In graduate school I switched the two. I spent a year in northern Mexico studying Spanish in Saltillo and after graduating with my B.A. I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Guatemala. Upon returning from the Peace Corps I became a high school Spanish teacher and taught for 36 years. During that time I spent much of my vacation time in various cities and resorts all over Mexico. Spanish is my second language and I'm as comfortable in it as I am in English. I have never, however, been able to switch back and forth between the two. I definitely do not have the ability to simultanuiously translate from one to the other -- the ability to do so is a special gift (skill) that I have never possessed. Yes, as an English speaker, one can get along in most foreign countries. However, speaking the language shows a special interest in the country and people one is visiting. It also opens a mired of doors that are not always opened for English speakers only.

Hey jawjateck great to hear from you. Right now my dance card is quite full. Additionally I'm waiting until he has a place for in calls. When that happens I just might take one for the team.

I cannot testify to the validity or lack of validity of Micah Brandt's review, that's Daddy's job and frankly I think he does a damn good job. I can, however, testify to the fact that when I contacted him he came across extremely well. We only communicated through email and texting and he was polite, pleasant, and informative. I only make appointments that include lunch or dinner and a couple of hours of play time and his fee was, for that type of arrangement, definitely in my price range. The ONLY reason I didn’t set up an appointment was, at that time, he was only available of out calls.

In the California public universities there is a vast difference in the meaning of publish or perish between the University of California system and the California State University system. In the University of California system, “publish or perish” has a much tighter definition than it does in the California State University system. In the University of California system the time between required publications is much shorter than it is in the California State University system. Additionally where one publishes and what one publishes are defined very differently in the two systems. At the University of California one must publish “significant” articles in major publications or publish “major” books or textbooks. At the California State Universities one may publish articles in just about any journal or magazine available and at rather infrequent intervals. Up until about fifteen or twenty years ago the California State Universities were known as California State Colleges. The California State (Collages) Universities did not and generally still do not offer PhD programs. Their main emphasis was on teaching NOT research. Over the last few years this difference has blurred somewhat and the two systems have begun to work together on PhD programs. As is sometimes currently the case the hands on research is done at a specific California State University and the academic text work is done at a neighboring University of California which also grants the PhD in the name of the University of California.

It amazing how the meaning changes when you omit a word and then don't do a good job proof reading. Sorry about that it should have read "high school" as you well know purplekow

As I see it Ivy League Schools are not the major problem. Many, if not most, of those school have huge endowments, some even into the billions of dollars, and thus many of their students have some form of student aid. Ivy League Schools aren't dependent of state and federal dollars even though some of their programs receive federal research grants. The real problem is the state universities and colleges. Schools in the California State University system and the University of California system are collapsing under the weight of administrators. The number of non-teaching deans at these school is overwhelming. I taught high for over thirty years and my teaching load required me to teach five classes a day five days a week for a total of twenty five hours. My nephew just took a tenure tack position at one of the California State University Schools. His starting salary will be $65,000.00, he will received a subsidized, on campus, one bedroom apartment. He will be required to teach nine hours a week, spend three hours a week sitting in his office supposedly available to students and six hours a week doing research for a total of eighteen hours total. He is unhappy with the amount of time he will be required to teach because, to his way of thinking, it takes time away from his research time. He is a member of a science department so research is an important part of his job but what amount of research is required for professors in the social sciences -- not a lot and they have the same teaching load and the same starting salary.

Damn purplekow I am in TOTAL agreement with EVERYTHING in your last post.