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The List- /give me strength/
Wow, Linford. Um
Okay- first off:
I have at times seen some really dumb things said on this list.
Some of them, I'll admit,
Have regretably come from my own keyboard.
Yes, this list can be a cold, cold place- but then people, look outside your
windows and remember that the world was not so long ago what it is now.
There was road rage
There still is road rage.
There will be road rage tomarrow.
Yeah, bad example.
This list is an electronic form- and very different, as Linford pointed out,
than the humaness of pen to paper correspondence.
This coming from some one who mails 150 page letters once or twice a year.
I have been part of at least one really nasty argument on this list. The
result of that is now- a friend
Who I am sure I still very much disagree with on a whole range of subjects.
(Hi Amy Romania)
Not to sound showy, but even "back in the day" I had to play the bad mirror
the the beauty of Jay and Linz and announce my own breakup on this list,
because it was the only way to hit a fair number of people who needed to
know.
JG and DB, Ysoie, Jeff and Bec, Jess, etc.
How many people here remember once upon a time at a BAR CALLED Cornertone.
The list is a lot like a neighborhood in a college town. every so often
people move, people fight,
And every so often, you get new neighbor, and you have to adjust to their
vague habits and try and get along and remember whose turn it is to take out
the trash this week.
And sometimes, we come back- either for grad school, or because you can't
get away.
Whether it's Kent Ohio, or the OTR list. I've seen plenty of points either
way I can label as both.
Heck, the last time Some one responded to something I posted was 6 months
ago, and that was cause they tought I was dead.
It's okay, I get that from time to time.
But I'm still here, muddling away in my tree in this digital electronic
apple orchard- still popping up at shows (When I'm not out reading poetry
around the country)
And I'm still, just like (What is it now Linford 11 years ago?) Going to be
sitting at the Brady watching one of the most incredible, healing open,
musical happenings continue to unfold, pen and smoke in one hand (so I'll be
sitting upstairs- Brady downstairs is now all nonsmoking for those of you
trying to figure seating arraingements), wearing a beat up old fedora with a
my initals on a pin (Thanks to Depeche Mode's Violator tour)
And, along with all those showing up I haven't seen in a while,
I'll be obvious enough to be found by those here I've never seen before
And I'll be looking forward to meeting you.
This, for lack of a better term "war" has, goes without saying, gotten us
all, and gotten most of us a little nuts. I got how much so when I jump at
the intercom in Target a month ago.
The closest a lot of us have ever been to this is Regan era cold war- and
how many here remember the move "The Day After" and the stories of people
not letting their children see it, or hiding in the closets.
I'm looking for a video store that carries it.
I need reminded of what that was like- Its been to long for a lot of us.
It's a surface comfort that 10 years without a staunch enemy has given us.
I am not here, making any rash statements about anyone. Or Nation. War
sucks. Need a closer reminder- catch Band of Brothers on HBO. It's
harrowing- and it's still so far removed from where I sit, comfortably- not
just from the time and place it actually happened.
But from my couch- with my arm extended to the screen 10 feet away, just to
remind- this is a television show.
The reality is much worse than I or anyone who isn't there, can imagine.
I have family on ships off the coast of Pakistan. I cannot reach them now
through any means. CNN constantly reminds me of this.
I don't care Bush. He's another step in a very long dark plan called the New
World Order. A phrase his father got from Hitler. Not that Gore would have
been any better.
But this wasn't, as far as I know, in any of the plans, and he's all we've
got.
I have friends who got beat up by cops at an anti-war protest this weekend
past.
I wasn't there because, honestly, I don't know where I stand on what this
nation should be doing right now.
Yes, it's war. Its a financial, cultural, religious war.
But I don't think it's with a whole nation.
And my own country is not innocent of terrorism itself.
Truth- I love my country, I fear my government. The only enemy its had for
quite some time has been its own people.
Then there are places and peole like this list.
Bellerin' out into this wilderness of zeros and ones and trying to connect,
narrowing it down to likely avenues.
Like here.
Why is so much of this list off topic?
Because the band is composed of humans. They work tirelessly as it is and
sometimes need a break. Sometimes long ones (how long between GDBD and FfR)
But through it all we love their much and have found- hey, if this is your
new favorite group (and at one time it had to have been, or else, why would
you have even looked to see if this list was here?) Then we probably have
all sorts of things to bat around when Karin and Linford and co are off
getting some well deserved sleep. And sure we could talk about favorite
songs and what not but we've already covered it, though it doesn't mean we
won't cover it again, so hang around (you want to know what OTR is helping
me through these days and these times- ALL OF IT- and as always, I wish
there were more.)
And we come here because the world is a cold, cold place.
This list was, when I was able to form near coherency, one of the first
places I looked after the 11th to see if we were alive, if we'd lost some
friends, family- and who needed to talk. and who wanted to listen. I said my
peace early on the morning of the 12th. It was all I had and I assume one or
two of you may have read it and (bless you if you got this far) this.
I got no responses.
I didn't need to.
I was alive, fine, and as far as I could know, so were those around me.
I gave the best advice I could.
Jon Stewart on the Dailt show gave better.
Actually, he's still given the best so far, but you couldn't payme enough to
take his job right now.
I don't know if any moderator could handle all that goes on here, and this
list'd be toast if it was OTR topic only.
I'd stay, just to here what Linford occassionaly had to drop on us. But
then, if I could get a monthly missive like Northern Spy #1 all the time-
I'd know too much and Linford's brain'd pop (though not till his hand gave
up, and the painos of the world need him too much for that)
So, It's 6 a.m. I have a writing portfolio due in 11 and a half hours. and
an OTR show to attend in a wee bit over 24.
Hope to see you there. Say hi. Remember; in my overstreched metaphor- we're
neighbors.
Whichever one you like god bless you
D.M.
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