Hi everybody,
First I want to thank you all for your kind messages, for your support and participation, and for the high quality of the exchanges. I am very struck by the huge human potential the whole of us represent, and by the quality of the people who answered.
Bill has gone since one month now, and if he, Brion and Hassan I Sabbah see this, I hope they are glad of it. To me this adventure is the continuing of their work, a collaboration with them, and a token of our love and of the importance they got for each of us.
I have finished to join the people of the memorial, and keep on joining those who keep on writting.
At the moment, 150 persons answered the dreamachine offer.
Here is a recapitulation of the different possibilities we got from the propositions people have sent :
- Some propose other ways to get the same effects as the dreamachine : glasses (one guy knows how to make them), intermittent spots, etc...
- Some propose writings, cut-ups, poems, etc. I got a little book on Burroughs and Gysin called "Le temps des Naguals", 60 pages thick.
I propose to add the other texts, so it will be a common work, more consequent. I am joining presently the people who made the texts I translated for the copyrights, etc...
- I can also gather all the E-mail messages of the people, as a document of what we are doing, because many contain informations, exchanges, and and are really worth been kept.
- Some who know about web sites think we should make our own, which I agree with.
- Some are into music, and theatre so we could organise a concert or show somewhere one day, this would be an occasion to meet.
- Some are interested to make research on domains Burroughs and Gysin have explored or worked on : third mind, synchonicities, evil spirit, control, dreams, Land of the Dead, magic, general semantics, sexuality, etc.
We already got some important documentation about the dreamachine.
- Some would like to make an academy. This requires to find a place big enough to shelter the volunteers : old YMCA, castles, barracks, etc. We can make it in Europe, which would be useful for apomorphine cures (as a nurse, I can work at it, in collaboration with a local doctor, or doctors of the group), or in US, which would be more practical for the most, who are American, or in both and work together, which would be the best for everybody.
In France there are plenty of old castles falling apart, so we might buy one,or propose to an owner to live in it for free and fix it in exchange for free, which would solve the question of the money. We can produce our own food, which would lower the expenses, and if we need money, we make concerts or shows.
We also got empty villages which can be inhabited again.
This academy might also offer possibilities to the people who are in conditions of urgency.
It would also be the best formula for putting up a unit of teaching and research on Burroughs'and Gysin's work.
- A big part of us speak several languages. I propose to see the number of languages our group covers : we already have English, French, German, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese.
We can use this knowledge for translations, make web sites in different languages, etc...
- Some would like to relate to other Burroughs and Gysin's fans who share their subjects of interest :
I propose to gather the names and E-mail address of people who will ask me to do it, and to send the whole to each of them, so everybody can get in touch directly with the people he wants to.
If you are interested by any of these ideas, or by others which are not mentionned here, you can send me a message with what you want exactly, or with your texts to be added to the writtings already existing, etc...
So it will be easier to get organised. For the questions of money, for instance if we make a web site, we shall need some.
So we got different opportunities :
- we can make an association and get money with a free contribution (everybody gives what he wants in function of his means)
- we can earn some (do not know how yet, ideas welcome)
- we can ask for donations,
- etc...
I shall be glad to have your points of view on all those questions, so we can start on common bases. Also this experiment is quite new, sudden and unexpected to me, so advices will be welcome.
Shall we give a name to our group ?
Yours
I
zzy________________________
"The game is rigged! Take the place apart!" W.S.Burroughs
__________________________
Dear friends,
One month and a half after the beginning of this adventure, around 120 people asked for being kept in touch or participating. I also send this report to 20 people, who did not keep in touch after getting the machine, in case they would be interested in the following, as a test : but in case anybody does not want to be involved anymore, please tell me, and I shall take you our of the address book.
From all the propositions and subjects of interests, we have several groups :
1. WEB SITE:
Most of people think we need a web site to publish our texts, the news concerning the activities of the group, etc. So do I. Some people have already begun to work at it.
You can see the first results at : http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gary.leeming/index.htm
linked with http://www.netcom.com/~foe4foe (click to drop) and listen to their house freaks: circa 1944(click to squeak)
Gary is taking the site in charge. You can contact him at <gary.leeming@ukonline.co.uk>
We can also use the site to make a magazine, every 3 month for instance. Some people are volunteers for working in it.
For those who are not used to make web pages, as I was 3 days ago, it is quite simple to make with the computer itself which contains the elements to make it : it took me an afternoon using the help included in the computer to learn to make it.
2. MUSICIANS AND PERFORMERS:
X proposed to take in charge this group, to gather archives, recordings, audio and video-tapes, etc., and to find ways to sell, exchange, etc., them. He proposes to print tee shirts and sell them.
3. DREAMACHINE:
Tom is also working on a computer-based version of the dreamachine (using glasses and a cable attached to a computer's printer port and has also home built sound manipulation hardwares.
Some other people have been doing other experiments and devices to bring alpha state. We might gather all these informations, plus the ones we already got, on a web site.
4. POETS, WRITERS :
Some people have begun to send texts to include in the book "Le temps des Naguals" I have already written, and which contains interviews and texts of and about Burroughs and Gysin. I have recorded all the writings sent in a second part.
For those who would like to see their texts published in the site, I can make a web page, but you can also make it, which would be more personal, so every text could be as well an art work made by its author. What do you think?
5. CONTACTS:
Some people would like to be in touch and have exchange with other members. For establishing contacts, we have different possibilities:
a) I can make an address book with the names, E-mails addresses, and main subjects of interest of people who want to have contacts: for instance : Isabelle Baudron - baudron@interpc.fr - Dreams third mind, web-site, and exchanges.
So everyone wanting to be in the address book can sends me this, and I include it in a special address book that I shall send by E-mail to each sender, so it will remain limited to its members, to preserve privacy.
b) We can have a chat-room on ICQ for direct contacts. As there are members in US, most of countries of Europe and Australia, it should be possible to get in touch with someone at any time of day and night. I got a page there UIN #3146693, where you can also join me. But I have no experience of chat room, so if you want to contact me through it, do not be astonished if it takes some times.
c) We can make a Newsletter, and spread it by E-mail.
d) We can use the web site for exchanges and contacts.
e) Some people have been making groups of E-mail exchanges. Some who wrote in the Memorial have also established their own contacts and groups. In case you think the result of your exchanges might be valuable for others and would like to see them published, we can also include them in the book, with or without your coordinates, and after you have checked their content.
6. SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL RESEARCH:
Some people are interested in research in precise domains: apomorphine, new treatments for quieting anxious people, for cancer, addiction, etc.
I am a psychiatric nurse, having stopped working after 15 years in a public hospital. I am interested in making medical research in the domains of expansion of conscience, treatments of addiction (I have the protocol of apomorphine cure written by Ian Somerville if you want), cancers, any treatment allowing to strengthen the defenses of organism, and a new approach of death.
I propose we use the opportunity of our group to gather informations in those domains, or others you might have in mind, and make a group of research with doctors, nurses and therapists of the group, plus all the people interested. I do not intend to work in a hospital anymore, but if my experience can be of any use in the context of this group, it is at your disposal.
7. BURROUGHSIAN CONCEPTS AND DOMAINS OF RESEARCH:
Some would like to work on specific themes as third-mind, evil spirit, control, magic, sex, dreams, synchronicities, etc. Some have begun exchanges on those domains.
Several people have been sending dreams, some write them down and would be interested in a group of research about it. I have been noting them since 1981 and am also interested in a common work and exchanges.
Several people have been making dreams about Burroughs. It might be interesting to gather them and see what comes out of it, and what they can teach us on Burroughs influence on
this part of our life. This might be included in the book or in the magazine as well.
Here it does not seem very realistic to make groups by subjects, because they are all bound, and we generally jump from one to the other.
But it seems very valuable to share our respective experiments about them, as it allows to go further, and to realise that experience of the others often confirms and completes ours, which is quite reassuring in these areas.
8. THE ACADEMY:
The idea of making an Academy in a castle, big house, etc., is part of the dreams of quite a lot of people. But it implies practical problems due to a static place which may not be adapted to our Cyber experiment, and require spending money to go to the place, etc.
To me the main interest for such a place would be, besides the Academy which can also be settled on the web, to have a place where we could meet, and which could be a temporary shelter for the members of the group who need it, sort of an Interzone we can come to for making a break out of the daily context.
We could also use it to make applied research, "in vivo", which is not possible in Cyber-space.
Anyway for the moment this is not the most urgent thing. We can begin to use the tools we already got at our disposal.
In case an opportunity comes, then I propose we study it together. But spending time and energy in looking for it now does not seem adapted for the moment.
9. THE NAME OF OUR GROUP :
Here are the first propositions:
- Tarzan Society
- Ah Pook Academy
- Junkshakes
- The People's Republic of Interzone
- Grey Johnson or Endless Johnson Family or Dead Johnsons
Incorporated
- Invisible Corp
- Beat Hotel
- Room 23
- Third Mind Corporation
- Interzone
- Nova Express
- El Hombre Invisible
10. LANGUAGES:
For the moment we cover the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Slovak, Sweedish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese.
We might use all this knowledge for translations of our writings, or Burroughs' and Gysin's books, which have not been translated in some languages. We can make translation groups, which allows getting to a quick and good result.
Some people from different countries who have a personal web site could make pages about the group in their language, link them together, and to our site.
So this is a set of opportunities we got altogether, enough to begin to work for the moment.
I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks again for your concern, propositions and participation.
Love to all.
Izzy
_______________________
2 of you sent messages to spread. Here they are :
something to think about.......
>America's Most Wanted did a profile on Saturday 7/26/97 of Andrew Cunnanan.
> You probably know Cunnanan as the serial murderer who killed Gianni Versace and a number of gay men while posing as a male prostitute in New York City.
> AMW had the following to say:
> "We were concerned because he crossed the line from killing gay people. . .to killing innocent bystanders."
> -- John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted 7/26/97
>>Apparently America's Most Wanted feels it is forgivable to kill homosexuals, as long as one doesn't kill any "innocent" people as well.
They need to hear our thoughts. Please send your comments and all feedback to America's Most Wanted at the following address: feedback@amw.com
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please forward: Protest the destruction of Ruigoord - send faxes, e-mails and letters of protest to the Amsterdam harbour company and the City of Amsterdam. RUIGOORD is situated in west of The Netherlands near the Northsea, just over the border of Amsterdam. As the city of Amsterdam was expanding with the the economic boom of the sixties, it began to buy huge tretches of land in neighbouring communities to turn them in industrial areas and suburbs -including the tiny former island of Ruigoord, some 8 miles West of the city.
On this island, in the middle of a fertile, one century old polder (once part of a vast inland sea), there was a village of some 600 people, with a church, a school and several shops.
In the early seventies many inhabitants were moved to modern suburbs and their houses knocked down. At the same time the meadows and fields around were raised three to six meters by spouting sea, sand on them. A war could hardly have been more destructive to the landscape. However, the expected economic expansion came to a halt and the huge stretches of land around Ruigoord were slowly turning into a wilderness.
When some artists discoverd the village, only a few houses and the church were left.
Some villagers had refused to leave and were happy to get reinforcement.
After a short physical and a much longer political struggle, the remains of the village were left in peace, for the time being. Empty houses were taken by adventurous artists, who moved in from the surrounding cities. The church became a festival hall and the native families slowly adjusted themselves to the new bohemian population. All this happened some 25 years ago.
This village has been under fire since then. In the beginning of the 70ties Amsterdam thought it needed a new harbour, the Afrikahaven, and evicted the small village; a group of artists and hippies squatted the village and is living there since.
Several times procedures were started to start digging for the harbour but at the moment it really gets started. In spite of critics from the population, asking for a referendum (they did not get it), the Amsterdam government goes on with this claiming it will give lots of jobs and help the Amsterdam economy. This is disputable. Ruigoord and surrounding became a lively community for people and nature, quite some rare animals and plants are living around the hills and meadows of the village. The Afrikahaven will pose a severe threat to the environment. there are strong indications that the objective is to dump contaminated heavily soil under the new harbour sites.
You can actually visit the action camp. A new group,calling themselves GroenFront (a dutch division of radical EarthFirst!) promise spectacular peaceful actions.
Email address of GroenFront Ruigoord: ruigoord@hotmail.com
Please note: The action camp is not organised by the existing Ruigoord Community.
The Ruigoord community has a nice website (in dutch) describing the history, nature and political situation.
Visit:
www.ruigoord.com (includes photos). Email address: ruigoord@euronet.nlOther website with information about Ruigoord: http://www.globalsurprise.nl/bgruigoord.html
A mailinglist has been set up about Ruigoord, you can subscribe at
http://www.oudenaarden.nl/lists/ruigoord.htmlGroenFront! occupies nature area Yesterday, GroenFront! sat up camp in the nature area near Ruigoord village. Demonstrators wish to impede construction of the Africahaven. Municipal excavation works are in progress at the site for the new harbour.
(Source: Nieuws van de Dag, 5 August 1997)
Please direct protest letters, faxes and e-mails to: Port Management of Amsterdam De Ruyterkade 7
Postbus 19406 1000 GK AMSTERDAM The Netherlands Tel. +31 20 5238600 Fax. +31 20 6209821
info@portofamsterdam.com and/or to:
City of Amsterdam City Hall Amstel 1011 PN Amsterdam
Telephone +31 20 552 9111 Text-Telephone +31 20 620 9279 Facsimile +31 20 552 3426
P.O. Box 202 1000 AE Amsterdam
E-mail: vlc@veb.amsterdam.nl or use the form at http://www.amsterdam.nl/email.html
Reversal Action - Sunday 24th August: Come with many people, bring shovels and drums!
Take bus 82 (direction IJmuiden) from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to busstop Ruigoord. Meet at the church at 14.00.
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"Introduce one unforeseen and therefore unforeseeable factor and the whole structure collapses like a house of cards." W.S. Burroughs
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