Authors
Note: My peace of mind was
attacked. Acute bronchitis is curable but the evil minds of men are not. It
makes me question the point of my sharing blog articles with public Facebook
pages. I had originally thought the exposure would enable me to see copies of
my two Taiwan oriented books sold, but that hasn’t been the case. I enjoy
writing blog pieces about topics I am interested in, but negative reaction is
making me think twice about exposing anyone in Taiwan, good or bad. The truth
is, I liked Paul Davies and looked forward to going to The Recluse party for weeks.
I was taken aback by the reaction to my article. I thought I clearly stated I
liked Paul and wanted to get more involved with his projects.
I went to The Refuge for the first time yesterday. It is right up Dong-Shan
Road to the right of the little traffic circle on Buzi Road, but I got lost
anyway; ended up doing a loop up and down the Da-keng mountain slope and back
to the 7-11 on the corner of Buzi Road. After I got straight, the place was
remote but easy to find. Around sixty guests paid 300 NT each to get in to
the "4th Hobo Happiness."
The
Refuge is in what must have been a beautiful, western-style, two story cement
tiled home on a cul-de-sac, with walled entrance and a large patio and private
backyard. It is not beautiful anymore. If it were made of wood and not cement,
it would be rotting apart. They may have gotten it cheaply after the 1999
earthquake affected the zone which it is in. The grounds are in shambles.
Things are makeshift in the public area.
The
reason for my visit was to attend a Facebook advertised “4th Hobo
Happiness,” with musical guest Jack Conqueroo, a Robert Johnson-styled
electric blues guitarist, harp player, and singer from Canada. He was rather
good, though his set was too short. The act before him, of
two drunken male guitarists singing Dylanesque songs, went on
too long. Mojo and Sons, who came on after Conqueroo, was a country folk trio
of banjo, guitar, kazoo, clarinet, and great harmonies. I didn’t catch the name
of the pedestrian folk singer who came on after the bluegrass trio and talked
too much about himself; I left mid-set.
Before
I left, I made sure to thank Paul Davies in person for publishing my radical
articles on the Refuge Facebook page. Most of the time, Paul was marching
around doing things to make the mostly thirty-five-year-old guests happy. At
first, I had mistaken Paul for a man named Mitch, a dried up slender oldster
with a patch on his left ear sitting with a younger Asian woman. He told Paul I
was looking for him early on and I left it at that. The only person I
recognized there was the guitar accompanist of a local blues singer that holds
open-mike at PJ's. I met and spoke with other nice people who had come from all
over Taiwan to this event.
The “Food by Rita’s Kitchen"
was simple and no pizza did I see from Rocky’s Pizza from 4pm when I
arrived until 7:30 pm when I left. Rita’s kitchen was vegetarian chili and
burrito. Despite the "healthy" meatless cuisine, there was plenty of
cigarette smoke and vape, beer and alcoholic drinks of which I had three
whiskey-ginger ales for 100 NT each. I thought perhaps someone would
bring out the hamburgers and sausages when the bon fire was lit, but there was
nary a marshmallow roasted over it. I left early, hungry. On the way out,
the street was clogged with motorcycles and cars of party-goers. Mine was
the only bicycle I saw parked outside.
Paul Davies is an interesting person, friendly and vivacious. He
calls his blog "The Militant Hippi." He is more the latter than the
former. The only militarism I could find in his blog history was a stint in the
voluntary U.S. army in the early 90's, though he fancies himself at risk to the
KMT police that took his picture when he played music at a "Wild
Strawberry Movement" rally. In his blog writings, he celebrates his
twentieth "Taiwanniversary" and reviews how he ended up living in
Taichung, Taiwan. He says he had a good job back in Boston but doesn't mention
what he did, only that he considered becoming a police officer in Chinatown. He
rants in articles against Gxd and religion and in favor of vegetarianism.
Paul Davies mentions getting his "degrees" at UMass but
doesn't mention what his "degrees" were in. He is affiliated with
Donghai University here in Taichung, originally as a student, and met a number
of intellectual ex-pat friends there. For his Bruce Lee fetish and martial arts interest (he
opened a school once in Boston) and Mandarin study, it is clear that Paul
Davies loves Chinese culture and Taiwan.
Paul Davies doesn't mention his family background growing
up in Boston in the blog, which he says has gotten fifty thousand visits. He is
no working class stiff and not a union man. The house that he has since 2008 in
Da-keng, and the 30,000 ping space he rented at the old Dong-shan Paradise theme
park (that had been destroyed in the 1999 earthquake) must have been paid for
by someone, perhaps by the volunteers and friends who come and go and float
with him. "It's financially self-sufficient," Paul said in an
interview in 2011.
LUVstock was a three-day musical party, held at Dong-shan
Paradise yearly, until he left his lease in 2013 and moved it back to his
property. Though his musical aspirations never left him, he managed to
settle down enough to marry and even raise a child. There is certainly a lot of
sharing what he has with others and a new age spirit glow; donations
accepted.
Whatever one wants to think about Paul Davies,
the “4th Hobo Happiness,” "LUVstock," and other events he
has organized are not about him, per se, but about getting Taiwan's
English-speaking ex-pats together as a community and for fun. Music and art
predominate in his home and a volunteer spirit permeates the grounds.
Postscript:
Paul Davies is not
practicing what he preaches; accepting divergent opinions on the Facebook page
but not accepting criticism about himself or his endeavors. Blackhurst’s Taiwan Info Exchange, let my article
pass but, against their own policy, allowed obscenity-laced comments on their
pages. It is so blatant prejudice there is no reason for me to complain.
Now that the harassment was blocked, I feel
like a ship that has just gotten through rocky seas. Not to see vile Facebook
comments from friends of The Recluse and Paul Davies; the six or seven of the
foulest having been blocked and two offending Facebook pages unsubscribed to.
But until yesterday morning, I held out a tad of hope that Paul Davies was
above the unfair criticism of my article and personal attack. I found out he
was behind it.
While I was up the river, I noticed,
after a week of silence, Paul had actually gotten into the thread, responding
to a week old retort I made to someone who was trying to vilify me, that Paul
was my friend and we still had mutual admiration. Paul took exception to
"friend" and coldly sent a definition of acquaintances, which he said
we were. I sent a Messenger IM to him saying: "We can be friends if you
tell your friends to stop twisting what I wrote."
Instead of making up, he
took time to write a long caustic ramble justifying his friends’ responses and
condemning my writing skills and my person. I reiterated that my article was
from the point of view of a first time visitor to The Recluse that only knew of
Paul what was on his blog.
When he flippantly
suggested I interview him to get the facts straight, I thought that was a good
follow-up article, but after seeing his response and the cult of friends who
worship him, I knew it would be difficult; I would include information about
his real nature in that article the vile reaction to my critique.
Instead of setting up a
date for an interview, Paul went on another Messenger rant about what a bad
reporter, writer, and person I was to entrust telling his history to and backed
off. That was all I needed to know about him. "You are arrogant," I
wrote. "I am not," he replied. "Bye." I wrote in closing
and asked Leona to block connections to him like he was dead.
There are now 453 views of the
"Happy Hobo's Refuge" blog piece, perhaps half of which generated by
mob reaction against it. The vile reaction makes me uncomfortable because of
its angry intensity. I am glad they don't have my phone number or know where I
live. If the harassment doesn't stop, I will call the police.
Paul Davies and his followers wrote condemning
me and my writing skills posting it on the blog article comment page. I
delete them, as they were rehashing what was already said.
This is an important
article to write about ex-pats in Taiwan because the attitude of The Retreat followers
is exposed. If one does a Google search for “The Retreat, Taichung” on line, my
article about them comes up first.
Paul Davies and his followers cared to know
nothing about me; asked nothing about my background. The article is my
opinion, my point of view. Paul Davies, by his own suggestion a few days ago,
in his first direct communication with me in a week, could have informed me of
what he claims I deliberately omitted to make him look bad, with an interview
based follow-up article, but he declined to do so. I have a right to
write my opinion. They don't have a right to harass me. I wouldn't go because
of the lack of compassion I have been shown by them.
All the slimeballs from my bronchitis I spit out last night that
kept me up, made me stay outside the bedroom, every little slimeballs I spit
into the toilet, was a piece of Paul and his cult of followers gotten out of my
system.
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