[出走地平線：霓虹世界]
Flattening The Curve: Neon world

首次來到香港，我坐在雙層巴士的上層去到尖沙咀。當時既焦慮又興奮，期待著新生活的來臨。

在彌敦道懸掛著的霓虹燈招牌看上去頗有挑釁性，好像跟我鬧著玩…何解？

我也不清楚。

我不懂它們的意思，一個中文字也不認識，但它們就像不斷地向我傳遞訊息。

直至很多年以後，我才意識到它們跟我有何關係；把它們成為我作品的一部份，生命的一部份，讓我與這獨特的地方聯繫起來，成了我現在的家 。

霓虹燈的標誌催促著我要快點學會這些文字，躍身投入到這個地方。

它烘托空間有它獨特的方法：它是無比的自信。

它有自己的一種態度。

但因為人手製造，很多出乎意料的瑕疵（人人都有）讓它更有性格和誘人。

技術上而言，它只有短暫的壽命：它不過是藏在玻璃內的氣體。

I encountered Hong Kong riding the top deck of a bus entering Tsim Sha Tsui. I was anxious and excited I was coming to start a new life.

The neon signs that lined much of Nathan Road felt provocative, teasing me... why?

I wasn’t quite sure.

I couldn’t read them, I didn't know Chinese at the time. But they were messaging me.

Only so many years late I know why they connected with me and to what: to make them part of my work, my life, my way of connecting with the special place I now call home.

These signs were urging me to learn their message by learning their words and to make the leap of trust in this place.

Neon lights a space in a particular way: it's assertive.

It has to a certain attitude.

But being hand made, it has unexpected flaws (as we all have) that give it character, seductiveness.

And yet technically speaking, it’s ephemeral: it’s just gas in glass.

重温訪問《杜可風的霓虹光影》（2014）
Christopher Doyle On Filming In The Neon World（2014）
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97GwbI27w10

#香港 #霓虹燈 #霓虹光影
#HongKong #neonlight #filmingintheneonworld

[ 書籍推薦 ] 不！我不喜歡被捉弄
十月，是學校輔導工作的旺季！在輔導工作的現場，常會看見現在孩子生得少，學生常常是在校園環境中，透過不斷的碰撞，慢慢學習人際關係的課題！「他為什麼不跟我打球？」「他為什麼不跟我講話？」「如果我不打電動就沒朋友？」在家族中，如果孩子生得少，就更沒有同儕之間的支持，往往要靠鄰近的堂/表兄弟姊妹、安親班、鄰居或親戚朋友間的孩子，慢慢學習人際間的小圈圈、爾虞我詐、吵架和和好、我跟她好但我忌妒他、我跟他不好但我要假裝應付他等等。
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這些人際的碰撞，有些孩子學習的到「下一次也許我可以...」但有些孩子學不到下一次，就注定被排擠。加上網路世代的來臨，當一個孩子被討厭，網路的群聚效應，加上line群組、各種班群、同學群的串聯，似乎在「黑掉」的命運中，要翻身得花上許多力氣！印樣很深刻，最近有個新聞叫做「雪莉一死…世界突然愛她了！」*(有興趣可以上網搜尋)，在現在的世代，網路群眾的酸言酸語中，孩子就好像鋼鐵人，得淋過這槍林彈雨，才有機會穿越更多的偏見，看見自己在人際上各種可以改進的問題～以便增進我們人際處理的能力！
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而我們大人，無論在學校場域聽見老師的各種反應，或者孩子轉述的同學間的互動，也許可以當一雙靈敏但不過敏的耳朵，還有一對智慧之眼，一雙扶助之手，和孩子一起學習" 還原場景、面對問題、界定問題、釐清自我和他人的責任"，當孩子的鋼鐵人之外，也將這份鋼鐵之眼（英雄傳承的信物）教導及傳承給我們手上下一位傳承英雄－蜘蛛人（漫威中鋼鐵人的傳承人！）
Teasing Isn’t Funny: What to do about emotional bullying
參考連結：https://reurl.cc/qDNq5g
#昶景國際文化

Stand up. Respect ✊

(Update: 中文繹版連結：https://www.facebook.com/329728177143445/posts/1800273350088913/)

“An open letter to Eric Kwok, and for everyone re homophobia, discrimination and bullying”

Dear Eric,

Imagine this. You are one of the contestants on a TV talent show. You are sitting in a room with other hopefuls and one of the judges walks into the room and demanded this: “Raise your hand if you are not homophobic.”

I’m very sure you will raise your hand.

You don’t have to answer me whether or not you really are homophobic. But stay with the feeling inside your mind. How do you feel?

Your feelings are most likely the same as the feelings of your contestants when you walked into a room and asked them to raise their hands to declare their sexual orientation publicly. Because in this day and age, homophobia is just as “controversial” as homosexuality, if not more.

The reason why I’m writing this open letter to you is because after reading your apology, I want to take the opportunity to address to you, and everyone out there, the need for proper etiquette regarding LGBT issues, and to address the forms of micro-aggression, bullying and discrimination the LGBT community faces everyday especially in the workplace.

I’m taking this incident seriously because from my personal experience, this is not just a one-time slip-up for you.

I remember long time ago I was so looking forward to meeting and working with you because you are, after all, Eric Kwok the great songwriter.

You were very friendly when we talked privately. Then I started to notice how once there were audiences, media or other people around and when the cameras were turned on, you would start making insinuating and demeaning gay jokes about me and in front of me. Jokes and comments even my closest friends wouldn’t dare to make in public.

At first, I didn’t really pay too much attention. I just brushed it off as juvenile and trivial. In fact, I had been so used to these jokes since growing up that I learned not to react much.

However, as time progressed and we worked on more occasions, the same thing would happen repeatedly. The teasing and the stereotypical gay jokes continued and you would make sure that the spotlight would fall on me afterwards. The jokes no longer felt light. They felt hostile, even vindictive.

In fact, it felt like bullying.

One of these incidents was well documented in tabloids back then and you can still look it up yourself on the internet.

I came to the realization that it was not just a one-time thing. I don’t know if it’s intentional or unintentional but it’s definitely a habit and a pattern.

So many questions would be in my mind every time after working with you. Why does Eric do that every time? Is he picking on me? Does he hate me? Is he homophobic? Does he think homosexuality is something funny? Does he do this to other people too? Did I do something that pissed him off? I remember I was nothing but courteous. So why do I deserve this?

I had no answers for all of these questions. All I knew was I became fearful of working with you, dreading what words would fall out of your mouth to put me in an awkwardly embarassing position. But still I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. You’re from California you shouldn’t be homophobic. I even defended you in my head by telling myself to loosen up.

But it’s not just you. Throughout my years in the entertainment industry, I have encountered and endured so many chauvinistic “tough guys” who like to use homosexuality as a laughing stock or source of bad comedy which were all discriminating and demeaning, yet not funny.

It’s not only me. I’m sure many people of the LGBT community face this everyday in their workplace. People around them would claim their intentions were harmless but we all knew deep down that these “jokes” have the power to put people someone in an embarrassing, inferior and even threatening positions.

We kept quiet and tolerated. Sometimes we even felt obligated to laugh along just so we couldn’t afford to look “petty” or “stiff”, especially in front of people of higher authority and stature.

So Eric I want to ask you.

Why have you been so obsessed with my sexuality all these years?

Why are you so fascinated by other people’s sexuality?

Why is being gay such a huge issue to you even to this day that you had to make it the first thing you asked your contestants?

Why you also had to specifically make a post on social media about that fact you questioned people about their sexuality?

Why do you take so much pride publicly in your ability to guess who are the gay contestants even when they weren’t ready to share that information?

And most of all why do you find all this to be so funny?

To begin with one’s sexual orientation is a very personal thing which others have no right to intrude, even in the entertainment industry where you are supposed to be fine with “controversy”.

This is for you and everyone out there: using your power and authority to demand someone to declare his or her sexual orientation, especially in a work environment, is ancient, barbaric and unacceptable.

Kicking someone out of the closet is just pure evil.

The fact you did what you did, especially with your stature and on broadcast TV, is not only wrong, but also you are telling the Hong Kong audience that it’s alright to continue this form of intrusion and micro aggression that the LGBT community wants to see gone.

You’re leading a very poor example by giving Hong Kong audience the impression that being gay is still a taboo.

How are your contestants, who are boys of young age, going to offer new perspectives to the Hong Kong audience under your guidance if you perpetuate stereotyping and demonstrate to them that being gay is still an issue?

I feel sorry for any contestants who are in fact gay sitting in that room that day too. They must have been traumatized seeing the way you forced your inquisition. The impression you left them with is that the entertainment industry is still a very unfriendly place for gays. Is that what you want them to think?

But most of all, it’s the attitude, tone and manner with which you shared about this incident on social media, giving people the impression that any matter regarding sexual orientation is still something shameful and laughable, which is on top of list the thing that the LGBT community fights hard everyday to change.

When you said in your apology you “have great respect for gay people, especially their hard fight for equality” I became baffled as what you did, in the past to me or in that room to the boys, is the exact thing that makes the LGBT community’s ongoing fight for equality so difficult.

Putting people down, perpetuate stereotypes, heckling and ridiculing yet making it look OK is anything but liberal and respectful, or Californian. I don’t see any “entertainment values” that are of good taste if they are made up at the expense of other people’s struggle.

If this incident happened in America, where you grew up, you would’ve gotten yourself in such hot waters that you probably can’t get out of.

I just want you and everyone out there to know that it’s not okay. And it never was. Never will be.

Being “as liberal as it gets” is great. Having gay friends is great too. Having dinner with your gay friends is absolutely fabulous! Playing all these cards to avoid being labelled as “homophobic” is very convenient. But having class, empathy, kindness and authentic respect is a completely different territory. These don’t come automatically with backgrounds.

At this point you don’t owe me an apology. I just hope that after this incident you can really start working and living with the essences of a truly liberal and creative individual. Inspire changes and end stereotypes. Start new trends and break old patterns. Embrace and not segregate. Do the work.

I had been away from Hong Kong and the industry for a few years now. It breaks me heart that I have to write this sort of open letter when it’s already 2018. I want to make this industry a safer, nicer and more accepting place to work in when I return. I want members of the LGBT community in Hong Kong, who have been so supportive of me and my music, to also have safer and nicer working environment in their respective lives.

I don’t mind coming off as an over-reacting petty bitch with no sense of humour if my message finally comes through and everyone, including you, “gets it”. I rather have no sense of humour than a bad one.

To all the contestants of the show. If anyone ever asks you if you are gay and you are not ready to discuss, it’s OK to stand up for yourself and say this: “It’s a rude question to begin with. You have no right to get an answer from me to begin with. And it doesn’t matter. It SHOULDN’T matter. It’s 2018. I hope one day I can use my craft to inspire the world and to make this become a non-issue.”

But if you are ready to be open, you have my complete support and love.

Let’s hope that through acceptance, learning and effort, one day there will no longer be any “controversial questions”. Wouldn’t we like that Eric?

Yours truly,
Pong

#LGBT
#homophobia
#safeworkplace
#中文版稍後會有
Eric Kwok 郭偉亮