Though the saying claims it’s my way or the highway, today was all about the highline. Chelsea’s Highline Park, that is.
Thanks to a recommendation by blog buddy Anil, I took a quick subway ride to one of Manhattan’s hippest neighborhoods for a visit to the park. Highline Park (pictured above) is a re-purposed elevated freight line that was originally constructed in the 1930s to keep dangerous trains off of the city’s streets. Today, the park is lined with natural plantings and rambling pathways. It’s quite wonderful – and will make even the most skeptical of visitors believe in reincarnation.
After the park, I spent some time with my dog, Chipotle, in one of the local dog runs. Being the new bitch in town, Chipotle is the center of much attention. More than a few curious snouts have burried themselves deep in her rear for a good and hardy sniff.
If s**t does stink, dogs don’t seem to mind.
Maybe we’re the ones that got it wrong; maybe the smells emitted by our body are more glorious than repugnant. We deodorize our armpits, “febreze” our farts and do everything in our power to mask our breath. But maybe we’ve just fallen for the lies of advertisers – and maybe there is actually nothing unpleasant about the natural, beautiful you. Maybe your s**t doesn’t actually stink.
Humans, by default, are not repulsed by their feces. This repulsion has been programmed into us by the society around us, and we’ve come to believe that our odors are innately offensive. While I’m not going to stop my daily application of Old Spice any time soon (and I’m certainly not hinting at an emerging scat fetish), it does makes me wonder what other illusions I’ve been tricked into believing.
Does s**t really stink? What do you think?
June 6, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I totally agree with you, I think that we are told what stinks and what doesnt stink, its all programed into our heads during our childhood.
June 6, 2010 at 2:38 pm
HUH? Resorting to talking about foul odor’s, stinky pits, farts and s**t? You forgot to mention: bad breath, smelly feet, sweaty ball sacks, ass crack, bowel movements, neighbors terrible cooking, trash, cat piss, old books, cigarette’s, overpowering perfume, Napalm, asses, semen, dirty clothes, vomit, sewage, roadkill, skunks, used diapers but the worst of all DECOMPOSING CORPSE…
June 6, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Well, Davey was more of getting at personal body odors. You’ve listed some. But from neighbors terrible cooking down (excluding asses), it has nothing to do with bodily excretions that cause a formidable stench. Although, the decomposing corpse…. THAT on the other hand is something that no part in nature will find attractive. (Necrophilia is utterly disgusting so don’t pull those strings)
June 6, 2010 at 3:36 pm
It depends on the food eaten causing the further smells. There are sweet farts and nasty farts.
June 6, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Sweaty balls? Do sweaty balls really enjoy being listed along with those other disgusting things?
June 6, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Dogs have glands in their rectum which give off odors identifying their general health, temperament, whether they’re pregnant and other information. It’s not about s**t, per se. However, if you would like to sniff my butt, I probably wouldn’t complain.
June 6, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Zi- where the hell you from? France? Only a Frenchie would say a fart was “Sweet”!
June 6, 2010 at 4:10 pm
@stunatra, I’m not sure sweaty balls have the capacity to like or dislike anything…
That park looks really cool, I stumbled upon a site about it only the other day! Yet another place to visit in NYC!
June 6, 2010 at 4:11 pm
P.U.
June 6, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Could this be another “Hallmark” myth moment we are raised to accept?
s**t is crap no matter it comes from. However, some dogs do eat it as do some humans. To each his own
Wishing you a non-shitty day!
June 6, 2010 at 4:18 pm
s**t is neutral, as are roses. it’s the value we place on their odor than make them a stink or an aroma. GO TO GREENWICH VILLAGE NEXT DAVEYYY!!!
June 6, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Please, after gay sex for so long, human feces no longer disturbs me.
June 6, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Glad you found the HighLine. NYC’s newest park is definitely a success. In that neighborhood, Chelsea Art Museum is a nice little museum (11th Ave. @ 22nd St.). The park that runs out along the pier across from 24th St. (AKA “Chelsea Beach”) is a nice place to see the boys working on their tans.
The Brooklyn Botanical Garden is another pleasant outdoor spot in the urban jungle. And at the same location you can visit the Brooklyn Art Museum. They have a good collection of Rodin sculpture and Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” is worth a visit.
For theater, in addition to the big name Broadway shows I’d recommend “Next Fall.” I saw it during an off-Broadway run last year and really liked it. Other favorites that I’ve taken visiting friends to are “Avenue Q” and “Naked Boys Singing.”
If you haven been to MOMA yet I highly recommend it. Probably it’s less crowded on a week day. The Whitney Museum of American Art is another excellent museum.
Probably my favorite activity in the city though is just wandering around and visiting the different neighborhoods.
June 6, 2010 at 6:14 pm
errr I meant “deserve.”
June 6, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I think we’re programmed to dislike our own crap to stop us from keeping it around us/getting it into our food etc., since it can be quite harmful.
But BO is natural — in so many other countries people kind of stink, but no one cares!
June 6, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Anyone else in NYC noticing Davey is on Grindr constantly?
June 6, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I think if something makes you gag it does indeed stink.
June 6, 2010 at 9:21 pm
No, s**t does indeed stink. Atleast to our noses. Dogs have a much greater sense of smell than humans, and because of this a dogs bum is essentailly like an ID. Dogs can tell everything about another dog just from a quick sniff.
June 6, 2010 at 9:34 pm
ok so im not rly the type of person to gush but…. OMG YOU ACTUALLY TOOK MY ADVICE, I FEEL SO SPECIAL THIS TOTALLY MADE MY DAY!!!
June 6, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I am not so sure we are culturally trained to think s**t stinks. Human s**t and raw sewerage is a source of spreading disease. Perhaps those ancient humans who thought it stunk survived and those attracted to the smell died off. Perhaps we are genetically disposed to think s**t stinks. But as Eric says above, BO is another matter.
June 6, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Davey, I been a close watcher of your blog almost since you started , and you need to ” Class ” it back up… Really do U need to state ” Does your s**t really stink ” … Come on clean it up … You have had some class before this … Get back to it !
June 7, 2010 at 5:48 am
Thanks for breaking the illusion dw!
June 7, 2010 at 7:27 am
Ok, naturally we people don’t stink. But we’re eating the wrong stuff that makes our bodies sick and therefore our natural smell has been replaced by some ugly smells. Naturally our Armpits or our s**t wouldn’t stink, did we only eat more natural food and less junk.
June 7, 2010 at 8:08 am
Hi Davey,
thanks for the pictures, it is really cool how you keep us updated with pictures, just like I am with you on your journies! And while I am not so much into strong BO, I do like to lick his pits while we are having manplay a little sweat among friends can be very cool, especially when we collapse together, covered in sweat, and I lick his back and neck
Or your…just teasing…love, joey
June 7, 2010 at 11:25 am
Hey, I’ve been known to follow a dude in a Homo Depot tool section just to get another wiff of his body aroma. His was intoxicating and it didn’t come out of a bottle.
How many of us sniff another guy’s nikkers when no one is looking just to get a bit more intimacy with your latest fling. Hell, I often sniff my own!
Human smells are a definite turn on, both male and female. The masking of them with chemical cover-ups, sold so as not to “offend”, are just another way of getting more money out of your pocket. They really got us brain washed of this one.
For me, foreskin aromas, armpits and crotches are more of a turn on than poppers.
But s**t does nothing for my libido.
Be well,
June 7, 2010 at 11:28 am
sweat smells good
June 7, 2010 at 11:33 am
Hello! Are you one of the rare ones who never shits, farts, or pees?
In fact I tell my students to prepare for an intimidating interview by imagining the interviewer sitting on the bowl in the morning, just like every one else.
Your notion of “class” is crass. “We are not amused”, said Queen Victoria. But this is 2010, and we are all “queens” now, love.
Be well,
June 7, 2010 at 11:33 am
Hi Davey,
. So, but “masking” the foul odors around us (while true there are ads trying to persuade you buy their product) I don’t think it’s based on advertisers making up something. It’s just for person by person. Some people may think BO is fine and some may think that their home smelling like the pin of tree-climbing-s**t-flinger-monkey is ok too. So sure, s**t smells some of the time and BO smells some of the time. If you walk in the woods and come across a fresh pile of bear crap are u going to go up and look at it or be a bit grossed out and walk away. Lol.
I don’t necessarily think that we should be comparing two different species? It would be different if u walked into a store and saw several people sniffing ass, but dogs do it for one reason, and heck (though I’m no animal specialist) I’m pretty sure other animals do that or something similar. Our s**t is waste from our body. Though I don’t mean to be graphic, how many times are you in a bathroom after someone goes #2 and it stinks? Not all the time, right? So it doesn’t stink every single time. Like what “W” said. However, I do find it repulsive. If s**t was “good” we wouldn’t s**t. It would stay in our bodies. But s**t isn’t good and therefore we take a s**t. Now I personally am no big fan of BO, but what “Joey” said was well right on
June 7, 2010 at 11:34 am
So can we!
June 7, 2010 at 11:36 am
One day I was watching my dog playing in the front yard. I notice that he was rolling around in the grass and playing in something on the grass. So later I pick him up and gave him a hug and I notice that my dog smell like s**t and he
had dried s**t all over his body from another dog that had did his thing on my front lawn, So funny. I did not know what to think. But give him a bath. So dog’s love to smell like s**t
June 7, 2010 at 11:40 am
I take umbrage with that comment! That was insulting and you should apologize to all us Frenchies. And BTW some farts are quite pleasant. As are some “smelly” cheeses. But I suppose you prefer that tasteless yellow plastic stuff the have the nerve to call”American” cheese. Feh!
June 7, 2010 at 11:44 am
pahahaha! gregs right! and since when did u have to be french to think a fart is sweet?
June 7, 2010 at 11:44 am
maybe that was the s**t of a female dog in heat lol
June 7, 2010 at 11:58 am
To avoid disturbance at the odour of dog s**t (or of any other unpleasant thing to sniff), it helps to have sinuses that are so blocked as mine usually are. I seldom would smell s**t (though maybe a strong fart) unless my face were stuffed down into it, and that is not something that I would choose willingly to do!
June 7, 2010 at 12:31 pm
On the contrary. I take a f*****g Huge Dump ( s**t ) for you to understand LOL and as I sometimes have to Grunt a Huge Shitty Fart Flows out and Smells like a f*****g outhouse , sometimes in an elevator I’ll try to force a f*****g fart out just to see peoples expressions , and occasionally I have f*****g s**t myself by straining to get that shitty ass fart out on that elevator , Now this is something I needed to share with you Queenie … Have a Great f*****g Day !
June 7, 2010 at 12:34 pm
s**t stinks like hell
but someone can like it as it happens to all the existant
am i wrong?
June 7, 2010 at 3:17 pm
We don’t take a s**t, we leave a s**t. Who wants to take it anywhere?
June 7, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Among the accommodations adjacent the Highline is The Jane Hotel, where one can rent something very much akin to a 1900 ship cabin for less than $100 a night. I tried it and will stay there again.
June 8, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Let’s assume there are Social-norm reactions (ie. thinking garlic breath is un-kissable) and Biological reactions (gasping for air when falling into a frozen lake). Being repulsed by poop is a biological reaction. Personal hygiene is vital to maintaining good health. Wanting to seperate yourself from poop, rotten food, and other things that smell bad is a way to prevent humans from falling ill and spreading disease, thus maintaining health. Douching before sex is also a desirable act, for the same reason. So, albeit many social norms are up for review… poop, in fact should be disposed of in the appropriate manner.
June 8, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Amen, Brother Nate, Amen
June 9, 2010 at 12:39 am
yeah..
leave the balls alone..
June 9, 2010 at 12:42 am
lol..
June 9, 2010 at 12:52 am
oh .. now thats not class.. arse
June 9, 2010 at 12:55 am
no.. dogs just love to roll in s**t or any smell crap..
June 9, 2010 at 12:57 am
nice park ..
June 9, 2010 at 1:14 am
lmao! XD true true. my bad lol