RE: RAT Columbine

["Sylvain, John" <jsylvain@station.sony.com>]

Your email inspires and awakens slumbering thoughts in the back of my brain.
I should think about this more before I write but I find that if I do that
there's always something else to do.

A call to action. A new asthetic. 

We are all sliding toward hell on a great big sled. Thats pretty obvious if
you look around and think a little bit. I have half jokingly believed that
the world was going to end around now for a long time and now it really
looks like its going to. But, you see, I'm an optimist so I have an
optimistic view of even this apocolyptic vision. 

The thing is, we as a culture, Western, Eurocentric Culture, see the
millenium as a big blank wall that we're just going to run into and then
everything will be different. Either we're all going to die or some of us
will go to heaven or whatever. I know you rationalists out there will
protest that YOU don't think that and that 2000 is just a number and it
doesn't even represent an accurate number of years since the birth of
Christ.

I say - whatever - everyone else believes it. In my life time I have seen a
marked reduction in long term thinking. Projects like Central Park or the
Highway System or BART seem unthinkable now. Businesses and individuals are
looking for the quick fix/buck/escape.  The culture as a whole thinks
subconsciously that its all going to end in 2000 so whats the point of a
long term strategy. 

Then along comes Y2K and the hole in the ozone and the weather thing and the
kids killing kids and it just confirms that the end is near.

Now if the end is near than this is all just Dust in the Wind as the guys
from Kansas say.

But if its not. And I don't believe it is. We as a Culture are going to
burst through that blank barrier in about 7 months and suddenly be faced
with a 1000 year future rather than a six month window of oppurtunity.
People will wake up and start saying "hey, we're not all gonna die, we'd
better start cleaning up." Look at the technical innovations at the
beginning of this century, look at the social innovations after WWII and
into the 60s. That's what its going to be like.

If its not like that then, like a self fulfilling prophesy, the world will
become a ball of violent death and famine.

This is directly related to Littleton and my (our) roll as storytellers. 

When I was growing up under the threat of nuclear war I thought that I was
going to die in a nuclear holocaust before I reached 20. I was told in 7th
grade that my generation was the first in American history that could expect
things to get worse rather than better. Multiply that sense of hopelessness
by 20 years and you get the environment that kids are growing up into today.
Why not go on a shooting spree when we're all gonna die soon anyway?

But if our future suddenly opens up to a 1000 years, a new millenium that we
can imagine because we're actually in it, maybe we'll stop ignoring the
children that are growing up into that world. Maybe 200,000 dollars won't be
enough to hire a lobbyist for the NRA who will say ridiculous things like
"guns don't kill people, people kill people". (Obviously people with guns
kill people much more quickly than people with snowballs do). Maybe we will
all change profoundly, if we survive.

In relation to what we as storytellers do I think a change is already
happening. We have a responsibility to tell new stories that give hope.
Pointing out the hopelessness and anguish around us is being done very
effectively by the local news. Getting human beings together in a room and
making them laugh and cry is a profound responsibility.

And its fun.

That's why I still do it.

That's my two cents.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Glen -Skip- Newell [SMTP:skipworthy@hotmail.com]
> Sent:	Wednesday, April 21, 1999 3:07 PM
> To:	rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> Subject:	RAT Columbine
> 
> Fellow Artists-
> 
> By now I'm sure you are aware of the events at Columbine High school , 
> in Littleton, Colorado. as of this moment, the word locally is that 20 
> high school students are dead, as many seriously injured. Littleton is 
> a suburb of Denver, so you can imagine what local TV has been like. I 
> have watched in shock and horror as these events have unfolded; 
> watching the young faces, some from families whose names I knew from 
> my own years in school, sought comfort, and answers to the questions 
> that a mind that young should never, ever, have to ask. Parents, 
> hysterical with fear, and the grief and shock of a community shredded 
> by what's happening IN Their NEIGHBORHOOD. By reflex, I made a number 
> of phone calls, reassuring my self and those I loved that , yes, even 
> thought the world had gone to hell, we were okay; this devastation had 
> not visited us personally. And to everyone else , I can only fervently 
> encourage you to cherish those you love, and keep them close. this is 
> the world we live in now. If it can happen in Littleton, At Columbine 
> High School, it can happen anywhere.
> 
> To the Main point; In the light of this, and the events in Kosovo, and  
> with the knowledge gained from learning the truth, I would like to see 
> a discussion begun among us.
> 
> We are the storytellers. The Mythmakers. The Jesters and commentators 
> of our society. Like it or not , we belong to a community (within a 
> community within a community). What is our responsibility to that 
> community ? what should be our response, as artists and individuals , 
> when we witness such a tragedy ? certainly, an impromptu production of  
> 'The Music Man ' is not precisely called for , but what ? At what 
> point 
> to we cease to be outsiders, disinterested bystanders and 
> commentators, and step in. At what point do we step up to the plate 
> and say " NO. WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW THIS TO PASS WITHOUT COMMENT. 
> We are not going to remain inactive. I am not going to bury myself in 
> some philosophical grave while my neighbor suffers."
> 
> But what are we to do ?  What will be the statement we make to the 
> world?
> 
> I realize that this my seem a bit dramatic ( that is the business I am 
> in, though), and I can foresee that it will be met with everything 
> from 
> circumspection to levity, but I felt it had to be said.
> 
> Glen 'Skip' Newell
> The Paulina Project
> Denver, Colo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________________________
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