ROSIE DOES NOT WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

couragecampaign.org/divorce

Ken Starr, who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton, filed a legal brief last month -- on behalf of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- that would forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.Watch "Fidelity" and sign our letter to the state Supreme Court. Tell the Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr's case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE: Valentine's Day.

couragecampaign.org/divorce

This is an issue that is deeply important to me - please take the time to sign this petition - whether you are directly affected by it or not.

Don't let this man ban love.

I just wanted to keep this here because I spent agest writing it and I think it's worth retaining.

In response to this thread:

I haven't read the 60 pages of responses to this, yet, but I've read 11 and I feel a few things need to be cleared up about RPS convention:

1. The first rule of fanfic: NOBODY TALKS ABOUT FANFIC. 99% of writers - and readers - of fanfic, especially slash, are completely against the fiction being sent to/shown to/explained to the people being written about. The logic is that it's a basic courtesy not to make them feel awkward (or the writers, for that matter) while they are turning a blind eye to it. There are plans in progress to establish a hit squad for the next teenie who sends/hands out fanfiction to the people in it. I will be leading the team and arming the grenade before it is stuffed between said teenie's teeth.

2. While a lot of slashers would love to see their favourite pairing come out of the closet one day and announce their deep and enduring love, most of them (or, perhaps I should say 'us', but I'll come to that later) appreciate that there are genuine boundaries and that the majority of what is written ISN'T REAL. That is why most RPS fics contain disclaimer stating a such.

3. Even though it's amusing and we appreciate the approval of certain factions of bandom (many bands acknowledge and deliberately feed the slashers with good natured humour - see: Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship, et al) it is generally discomforting when you write a story and suddenly Gabe Saporta is commenting on it. If you're reading this, and you've seen yourself in a fanfic, please don't tell us it's awesome. Or anything else, unless you'd like for it to be taken down. It's just plain Awkward. Yes. Capitalised. A.W.K.W.A.R.D. Imagine your mother walking in on you masturbating. Yes. Awkward.

4. Unless a girlfriend/wife/partner is a celebrity herself (see: Ashlee, Lyn-Z, Nicole) the general concensus and unwritten etiquette is to leave her out of it. Either by pretending she does not exist, or not including her as an active figure in the story (writing about her in reference only, or as an incidental character). Writing her as a main character or the protagonist for purposes of self-insertion (literally, the author using a character real or invented, to represent themselves and exist vicariously through them in the story - often known a 'Mary Sue' fic; see point 5) is widely frowned upon and generally only written by young, inexperienced writers who are particularly focused on the wishfulfilment/fantasy aspect of fanfiction. Most writers understand that although they are dating/married to the subject, they did not necessarily sign up for fame (see: Joe Trohman's fiancee, Marie, who has remained entirely out of the limelight).

5. Our old friend Mary Sue... 'Mary Sue' is the nickname given to a character, or type of story, where the author creates or uses a hyper-perfect avatar in order to live through them within the universe they are writing. This is generally sneered at by most readers and writers, and considered one of the earliest phases of writing, from which people will either develop or grow out of. Of course, some remain delusional, but this is by no means the norm or a respected area of fanfiction.

6. One of the biggest areas of conflict in fanfiction comes when people write stories focusing on what would be considered 'perversions' by the average, non-bigotted leyman. This would include stories focusing on child abuse, rape, murder and subjects of that ilk. Many would also include incest in that, but it is a larger subject which I have no contact with, as I am not involved with any RPS pairings that involve siblings. Although these subjects do exist, and are entitled to do so on the basis of freedom of speech, they take up a tiny, tiny percentage of the fic which is actually available. Many members of RPS bandom prefer to avoid them, feeling that they are disturbing in principle and offensive to those real people being written about. Some writers could undoubtely pull off a tastefully explored character-study in which an individual was placed in such situations, but these are rare and the sub-genre itself makes many of us very uncomfortable - after all, nobody wants to imply that they see those individuals as truly capable of carrying out a sexually motivated murder or the molestation of a child, or that we generally wish to imagine them being put through such an experience themselves. The vast majority of works are based on romantic or (consentual) sexual relationships between the characters and feature nothing more 'perverse' in any regard, than a bit of rimming.

7. What's the point of fanfic? Simply put, once you have ruled out wishfulfilment and fantasy fic, it's that inspiration bites and you are taken over with plot bunnies which breed, as bunnies are wont to do, like rabbits - filling your head with ideas and scenes and concepts that you can't help but share. It's simple inspiration - some of us want to write it, others want to read it, as long as the subjects are not genuinely offended by it, there's no harm in doing it.

For my own part, I've been writing fanfiction without really understanding it, from the age of around thirteen. I'm now twenty-six. It has always been guy-on-guy slash. I have no idea why - it just has; I have no interested in 'Gen' fic and I loathe 'het'. But as a writer who has put out stories sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of words and literally hundreds of hours' of writing, editing and researching (you would not believe how much I research my fics, honestly) it's simply a hobby I enjoy. If I'm not writing I sit around twiddling my thumbs and wanting to put down the ideas which are inevitably swimming around my head.

As far as RPS is concerned, my pet pairing - or OTP - is between Joe and Patrick from Fall Out Boy, and I could spend hours explaining why; but I won't because I'm sure it would be boring (Google 'tin hat's guide' and their names for a highly tongue-in-cheek explanation). I only write the ship I do because I see plausibility in it - 'plausibility', however, should NOT be confused with 'fact' - I could see how it would work and I can imagine how they'd make sense together. That doesn't mean I genuinely believe they are, but it serves to create a plethora of concepts to explore. I never write detailed sex scenes and I always do my best to remain true to their real-life personalities - with the exception of that one element of homosexual tendencies (which in itself is something the band toys with on a regular basis anyway, down to including it in the video to Arms Race).

In conclusion, I suppose: no - writing real person fiction isn't 'wrong', but it can be executed badly and disrespectfully, although few of us would condone that. Many commenters on here have been very quick to judge, although they admit to never having read the works or only having read the truly atrocious kind found on Quizilla. My suggestion, as with anything else, would be to investigate it before you write it off. At the bottom of the Tin-Hat's Guide are recommendations of fanfics which are reasonably well-executed - if asked, I'm sure many shippers will make recommendations of their own.

At the end of the day, it's an outlet for creativity which brings a lot of enjoyment for millions of people the world over, when considered in its various forms. If the people in the fanfics wanted us to stop, and they said so publicly, then I like to think that most of us would adhere to their wishes. But while they are supporting or encouraging it, there really seems very little wrong with it, to me.

...someone put 2005 on a CD.

Hands up if you received the OCK renewal email today.

Yeah, so did I. And it is SO FULL OF SHIT. This whole scheme is nothing but a rip-off. They're basically telling us that giving them more money over a longer period of time, and getting all out friends to give them (note: NOT THE BAND OR THE LABEL - THE FAN CLUB) money is what makes us the worthiest fans. Well, I call shenanigans and decided to haul them up on their bullshit.

This is what I was sent:

-----
Hey guys!  So check it...

Overcast Kids is extending your chance to upgrade your status another 2
months as you know we have been trying something new by implementing
tiered membership levels. We’ve got Gold (new members), Platinum, and
Diamond status.  Now I’m sure some of you are kinda bummed out because you
feel like you’re not going to get a chance to do cool stuff if you’re only
at the gold level – but don’t be!!!

Here’s why:

We (meaning myself, artist arena AND the FOB dudes) decided to break
memberships up into these different levels to protect not just the oldest
OCKs, but to protect ALL OCKs!!  And the way we have it set up is so that
EVERYONE has a chance to move up the ranks to Platinum or Diamond status.
There are two ways to do this:

1. sort of like high school, every year you renew your membership, you
will automatically be bumped up a level. Just like you’re graduating from
freshman to sophomore year.

2. want to move up quicker? We’ve set up a program where you can refer
your friends/family/teachers (wait, no.. That would be kind of creepy) to
OCK. You will get credit every time you refer someone who signs up, and
after 10 credits, you get bumped up a rank! See, it ain’t so bad. There’s
tons of prizes and cool opportunities to go around for everyone, and I
promise that everyone will get a chance to take part in them!

Until the next time....

Xo danielle
------

My response:

I actually panic-bought my membership renewal a few months ago and was charged an extortionate amount of postage for an appallingly poor-quality bandana and a pathetic, out of focus re-printed photograph from years and years ago. You couldn't even be bothered to have it signed. From what I recall, I was charged $20 or so (almost as much as the membership) for postage and packing for an envelope that had $4.50 on the front. What did the rest of the money go on? Because it sure as hell wasn't the rest of that rubbish you sent in it. I guess the only option left is that it's a quick way of profiteering from the fans even more. Given the choice, you could have kept the cheap tat and I would have kept my postage.

The majority of fans I know gave up their memberships because of the new tiered scheme and I wish I hadn't bothered myself. It's a rip-off and I'm guessing this is why you've had to extend your offer period. The fact that you're now playing the, "Oh, but the band think it's cool" card to win the rest of the fans over is actually pretty insulting and makes me question whether they either a) really understand what you're doing or b) if they are more concerned about ripping off the kids than I ever expected.

What you provide for this money is pitiful. A website with content which is always leaked within a day of it being posted and the remote possibility that you might, one day, get 30 seconds across a table with the band? You don't even allow individual pictures anymore! Is that the best that can be done? Do you really think that this kind of clap-trap doesn't go unnoticed? It's even worse for the people outside of the US. We don't even have the option of being involved in the flyaways and videos and yet we still pay the same amount.

This entire concept and email smacks of desperation. It's unprofessionally, inarticulately written and offensive to anyone with any intelligence (do I need to remind you that not all of the band's fans are under fifteen?). You are actually implying that the 'best' fans are the ones who can con friends into spending money on your company, rather than the ones who will actually get their friends to go to concerts, buy the actual records and support them in the way a band should be supported. That's frankly disgusting.

I really hope that the band aren't involved the way you say they are, because I will have lost a lot of respect for them. I've certainly lost all respect for the Overcast Kids as an organisation and won't be renewing next year. Not unless something sincere is done to rectify the absolute crap we're being palmed off with at the moment.

I have worked in Business Development (Customer Service and Marketing) as an account manager for years and I'm actually starting to wonder if you have a single individual experienced in either field employed to work on this. If you do, I strongly suggest you show them the door and find a replacement, or this whole ship is going to sink pretty fast.

Sincerely,
Rosie.


----

If you're an OCK who got the email and is as pissed off as some of us are, don't just take it - TELL THEM SO. They are only going to get away with this is we let them. The fact that they're using the boys and saying they're all for it to make people think it's okay isn't okay.

What they give us for our money - especially non-Americans - is absolutely shit and they're going to keep on ripping us off because they can and we'll take it.

Don't just sit there complaining to your friends - say something to the people who need to hear it.

----

Edit: My question to Pete:

I'm only giving you this link because there isn't room to post the whole thing in the Question field:

http://icedmaple.livejournal.com/325605.html

Are you seriously supporting this? From the point of view of someone with a lot of years' experience in customer service and marketing, this is an insult to your fans and really poor PR. Do you seriously want the fans thinking that you guys are encouraging the fanclub to rip them off and sell you for what amounts to prizes? It's telling people that the most worthy fans are the ones who can get their friends to spend money on the fanclub, rather than being able to get people to shows or buy the records.

Come ON, dude. That isn't the band I fell in love with. The quality of the stuff they send us is so low I'd rather they kept it and saved me the extortionate postage anyway.

Can you really encourage people to shell out for this when you guys aren't even touring and there are no meet and greets to go to (which we all know is the main pull of the fanclub anyway - because overseas fans can't even be included in flyaways)?

I want to believe in you guys' credibility but this kind of casting you in a bad light right now.

Say it ain't so...


---

Edit 2: This is from my credit card statement - copied and pasted:

16 Apr 2008 ARTIST ARENA LLC - £25.89

Bearing in mind that the dollar is routinely equivalent to just under half the pound. That means they charged me around $50 for my membership, which should cost $29.24 (and that is all they sent me a receipt for). The other $20 was just postage on something that cost them $4.50 to send me. Julie will confirm this - she was here when I received the envelope (yep, envelope).

Vegetarianism, then: something I never really thought I'd gravitate to. To any extent.

However, I've lately made the choice first to restrict the meat I eat to ethically farmed sources, and more recently, I've stopped buying meat products from the supermarket altogether. Don't get me wrong, I love meat and seafood, I really do (especially the seafood) - there is absolutely no squick behind this decision. I'm doing this because of the way the animals are farmed and the greed of the meat industry itself; there is an on-going pressure to force down meat prices so they are virtually unsustainable for the farmers and inhumane for the animals. I've chosen not to personally buy into that and help promote farming on such an enormous scale, which is ultimately detrimental to the farmers producing the end product anyway. (A recent programme here in the UK revealed that the average chicken farmer selling mass-farmed roasting chickens which would be sold for around £2.50 in the supermarkets would only receive 3p per chicken.)

So, I've started trying out the vegetarian substitutes (Quorn escalopes are not my favourite :|) and figuring out for myself what exactly I'm going to exclude from my diet, devising my own set of rules for acceptability.

I have no problem with eating meat from small farms, where the animals are at least treated with a certain respect and the sale of the produce is generally fairer on the farmer (on-site farm shops=major bonus), but living in London, as I do, finding and affording such products seems to be relatively impossible. The fact that I'll be moving to Hove in East Sussex, with my best friend Julie, will probably aid this to some extent as the south coast is lined by countryside and not surrounded by mile after mile of concrete.

I would love to have the same self-sufficiency and respect for food sources promoted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (one of our country's main proponents of eating with conscience), but my chances of ever owning a small holding are slim, and frankly, I'm too lazy - so I'm going to have to do this as a lowly city dweller.

So my main rules will have to be:

- if it had a face, I'm not buying it from a supermarket (unless it's a jammy biscuit);
- if it had a face, but I can be sure of the source and know that it was generally ethically farmed, I will consider buying from respectable local suppliers;
- if it contains egg (such as mayonnaise) it must be from free range (thank you Hellmanns);
- where dairy is concerned, soya products are always preferrable, however, vegetarian-approved cheese is also acceptable if necessary (I haven't explored the cheese issue, as yet, but I already use soya milk rather than dairy and have done for some time).

As I already mentioned, shellfish - especially oysters and prawns - are my favourite foods. They're a peculiarly ambiguous category, because they don't have a face but they do seem to have greater cognitive activity than say, a potato. For this reason, I'm going to categorise them under meat; which means no 'fresh' packs from the supermarket. I generally only eat oysters at restaurants anyway (which creates my next issue) but prawns I will usually eat at least once a week; it'll be a strange change to my diet to rule them out.

On the matter of restaurants, is it okay to eat meat or fish at restaurants, as I haven't purchased the original product myself? I suppose it's similar to the argument presented by my vegan friend, Edge; on the matter of vegans purchasing second-hand leather: it's acceptable because the individual has not directly contributed to the original demand for the product.

I think this is one to test when I next eat out at a restaurant and see what I can find out from the staff and weigh it up in my conscience then...

The thing is, I am not calling myself a vegetarian - I want to make that clear, because I don't want to steal the thunder of the people who do dedicate their lives to the lifestyle, as I have a lot of respect for them (unless they call themselves 'pescatarians' or 'vegetarians who eat fish' in which case they can fuck off and die) and I don't want to be a hypocrite. Friends like Edge and Matte who are both vegan, H and Jay, who have each been vegetarian for, if I recall, over a decade, have been my main inspiration in this, and I appreciate their support.

Perhaps, instead, this deserves its own name? We’ll go with ethivore, for now.

So, this is kind of a big thing for me, so I've actually decided to blog the process and record my experiences of exploring vegetarian products, recipes and finding respectable sources. I'm not sure whether it will be of interest to anyone, but it makes sense to separate it from my regular journals.


The ultimate concern here, is to not actively contribute to the meat industry - human beings are designed to consume meat, that's how we've evolved, but we did not evolve because of factory farming.

A lot of people on here probably know that I run the street team for a band called Holy Roman Empire. What they might not know is that the band is partially made up of ex-members of Arma Angelus, Shai Hulud and Stabbed by Words - all of which have some significance to pre-FOB era Pete, Joe and Andy.

Now, over the last year, Jay, their guitarist, and I have become good friends* and today, in between arguing about the best kind of casual footwear, he linked me to a radio show a good friend of his just launched. You probably know that guy as HeyChris. So, on the first show he did, Chris asked Jay to be his special guest and what resulted was an hour or two of absolute hilarity, reminiscing on the good old days in the band when Jay got to "sleep" with the "Princess", their drummer wanted to play 'I'll show you mine' and planes flew into buildings...

It really is an awesome show which can be listened to via archived podcast, and you'll probably hear a few things about P-We and the Arma years that you never knew. And you'll laugh your arses off, I promise.

You can IM Chris during the show when it's happening live (the Jay show aired on 22 April), or call in, and so far it sounds like a lot of people want Jay back on there for more antics.

YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY CHECK IT OUT


And when you've done that, you may as well go and check out his band, too. Happy listening!



(*no, I swear I'm not bragging, we just are and usually I filter shit if I even mention the guys so people can't bitch at me for it)

This is one of the few times you will see me rally for a cause. But I hope you all will take the time to read and sign this. It really is sad to see that in 2008 things like this are still happening. Thanks guys.

- Gabe

THIS WILL TAKE A MINUTE OF YOUR TIME AND WILL SAVE A CREATURE AND HOPEFULLY REMOVE THIS SO-CALLED "ARTIST"!!!

In 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, he tied him to a rope in an art gallery, starving him to death.

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful 'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died.










Does it look like art to you?

But this is not all ... the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the 'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.



Let's STOP HIM!!!!!

Click on the following link :

http://www. petitiononline. com/ea6gk/petition-sign. html
(Petition Link)

or

http://www. petitiononline. com/13031953/petition. html
(Alternate Link )
or just copy it in your browser to sign a petion to stop him to do it again, then digit the name Guillermo Vargas Habacuc to find the petition to sign.

Please do it.

It's free of charge and it will only take 1 minute to save the life of an innocent creature.

Please also send this to as many contact as you can... Let's stop him!!!

If you want to double check all the above information you can google the name of the 'artist' to see all I have just said corresponds to truth.



Thank you

So, Joe is understandably a bit pissed about the dude who won the Civic not keeping it. Therefore, all the FOB fans in the world are running around crying MARRY ME PEET! FOUL! FOUL! BURN THE HERETIC!

Now, I wish - as much as anyone else - that a genuine fan who would have loved it and called it Ryan George had won that car. It would have been a nice little awww moment, as some rich college brat won an unattractive motorvehicle signed by Pete Wentz, that fat dude and the two from the backing band. It would. Warm fuzzies, fluffy MySpace pooches and cupcakes all around.

But it wasn't. The guy who won it was a dude with a family who took his perfectly legitimate winnings, and exchanged them for something he could make better use of. Which to me, sounds like a reasonable idea. The car dealer he made the exchange with is now recouping the cost of the guy's chosen SUV in auctioning the Civic.

And the fans? The fans are absolutely appalled that neither of them donated the entire $30,000 to charity.

Yes, the kids think that by rights, this money belongs to charity.

I'm sorry, but no. A man had a stroke of luck, and he used his good fortune to his advantage. How do any of us know his financial situation? Maybe he was desperately in need of a new car for his five kids? I'm always being told that Americans REALLY, REALLY, HONESTLY NEED GIGANTIC GAS-GUZZLING MEGA-CARS, OKAY? because their public transport sucks. So maybe the win was a damn stroke of luck for him and his family.

So, if we assume for a minute that the guy now in possession of the car - the dealer, who has already parted with money in the shape of the SUV - is the person now responsible, do we expect him to give his entire earnings to charity? In the current US climate? Would you give away $30,000 to charity right now?


Don't get me wrong: I find it disappointing that someone who'd really appreciate the car didn't get to drive it away. But expecting someone - either of these guys - to give fairly and legitimately obtained revenue to charity just because everyone else is jealous that they didn't win (but wants Joe to like them by agreeing with him in his pissy mood) is plain ridiculous.

I believe that 95% of us would 'give it a go' in a competition, and if we won the prize we couldn't directly use, sell it on or profit from it however we legitimately could. The greatest sin this man has committed is possibly not appreciating the illegible silver sharpie on the doors. He probably never really expected to win. And how do any of us know that he didn't actually totally fucking love the car and wanted to keep it, but simply couldn't justify it when it provided an opportunity to provide a more practical form of transport for his kids?


I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll have reason to say it again, but so many of the kids who call themselves Fall Out Boy fans are nasty, self-centred, irrational little cunts. A lot of the people making wild, judgemental comments over there are adults.

Fucking hell.

Why do we have to share the planet with idiots?

I'd usually keep this off of FOE out of respect for the dudes in it, but someone took the time to give Joe a link to Hedonism (which I'm oh, so very sure he's interested in, of course) so I may as well just go ahead.

This is a list of my FOB fanfic posted to date.

Have fun.

(And if you know you're in this fic and you still read it, you're a braver dude than me.)

---

Bandom

Pairing: Joe Trohman/Patrick Stump

The World's Not Waiting - (R, max) - c. 4,000 per chapter. Work In Progress.
Plot Summary: Sixteen-year-old Joe Trohman has spent months trying to work up the courage to talk to the kid who works at his local bookstore, and after a chance meeting almost ruins everything, Patrick is recruited for Joe's new band. As an awkward friendship grows into something more, the boys are beset with obstacles; including Pete. (AU Timeline - Andy as founder member.)
Themes: first love, coming out, family, friendships, jealousy, angst, homophobia, music career.
Era: Duration of FOB's career.

Hedonism - (R) - c. 27,300 words; three parts. Complete.
Plot summary: "People started to filter away, glancing back with looks of disbelief at the mess and the men in the midst of it all."For years, Pete and Patrick have hidden their private relationship with public girlfriends - but people change, and as things begin to fall apart, Joe finds himself stuck with a choice between settling for real life, or risking all of it for a second chance on a teenage crush.
Themes: angst, relationships, adultery, tour life.
Era: Honda Civic Tour.

The Cure to Growing Older - (PG-13) - c. 26,000 words; three parts. Complete.
Plot summary: AU. The Trohman family never moved to Ohio, and a five-year-old Joe first meets Patrick in kindergarten. Not everyone is too happy with the way their friendship develops and the inevitable awkwardness it creates - least of all the boys themselves.
Themes: growing up, angst, childhood, self-discovery, minor homophobia.
Era: Kindergarten to late teens.

Capture the Phrases - (PG-13) - c. 10,000 words. Complete.
Plot summary: Patrick is baffled when a mystery admirer begins leaving him notes; but as he begins to respond and he starts to fall for the anonymous benefactor, he remains oblivious to the motives of the people around him.
Themes: stalking, humour, crushes, friendships, angst.
Era: Early FOB/Note Wars.

---

Pairing: Pete/Patrick

In Between Arms- (PG-13) - c. 9,100 words. Complete.
Plot summary: WWII AU. In retrospect, Peter could see that the beginning of their quirky, out-of-balance friendship was already the beginning of the end. Long after the war has ended, Pete remembers the past he is hiding from - and the people who brought him to where he is now; alone in New York in the early 50s.
Themes: war, history, forbidden love, death?, poetry.
Era: WWII/1950s.

I'm still in shock.

My friend Brenda runs a charity, called Lakota-Aid, which aims to offer support to the residents of the US's poorest reservation - Pine Ridge. The conditions on this reservation are so appalling that they have the continent's highest infant mortality rate, and the life expectancy is now believed to be as low as just 44 years for men.

Below is a plea from today's newsletter, asking for some help. Please - if there's anything you can do, even if it means getting together with a few friends, please help.

====

Hello Everyone,

I sincerely hope the New Year brings you all that you wish for and a good year for everyone.

Unfortunately, this will not be the case for a lot of Elders on the Pine Ridge Reservation, many struggling to bring up Grandchildren also. This is the case on other Lakota reservations too. I am being told of Elders sitting in the cold because they have no money for fuel for heating. I have just been told of one full blood Lakota man that collects soda cans just to try and get some money for fuel and food!! The Elder is not on his own, there are way too many that have to live this way and no help is ever given.

I am slowly accumulating a list of people that live in the remoter areas of the reservation lands, and are always struggling just to try and get through life, especially in the winter months, and I am putting this newsletter out to ask for help for these people.

You can help by sending a few dollars, or a food parcel etc, and also by writing to them and touching the hearts of these people, thus giving them some hope that someone, somewhere cares!!

If anyone would like more information about this project I am trying to build up, then please e-mail me at:- info@lakota-aid.co.uk

If you would like to make a difference to an Elders life, no matter how small a contribution, then please contact me and I will give you the relevant information for an Elder.

Also, I am going back to South Dakota in march of this year after a couple years gap due to personal circumstances. I am so looking forwards to seeing my friends on the reservation again, but this will also be a trip in which I intend to do a lot of research and gain more knowledge of conditions etc on the reservation.

Bearing in mind that I live in the UK, I am intending to do more talks after this trip about my work with the Lakota people and if anyone would like me to do a talk on this subject, then again please e-mail me at:-

info@lakota-aid.co.uk

Thank you for reading this newsletter and I hope that this appeal will touch the hearts of many people.

Best Wishes for 2008

Brenda – www.lakota-aid.co.uk

I want to tell you a story.

Close to where I work, there are two men I see regularly. Homeless men - one, in his fifties, a Parkinson's sufferer with a very carefully managed Big Issue stand (his trolley, containing all his possessions, and little plastic wallets and magazines wrapped up in elastic bands); his name is Michael. He is remarkably friendly and cheerful, and extremely grateful to anyone who would spend the time to stop an say hello and buy one of his magazines. He has been there as long as I have and longer. Close to four years, at the very, very least.

The other man, Tony, is a young black guy - a Londoner - in his very early thirties. He sits huddled on the floor outside the chemist, never looking up, always lost in his own little world. Sometimes, you can see a tear rolling down his face, but he never looks up and never hurts anyone. Never asks, except for a baseball cap with a few coins in it, sitting near his feet. Tony first appeared about a year ago. Maybe a little less.

I first talked to them both because, back in summer, I had to step in and protect Tony from a horrible little man from one of the local shops, who was harrassing him. The week before, the same man and physically attacked him. The police had advised Tony to 'just go somewhere else'.

Afterward, I sat down and talked to Tony a bit, and to Michael. They are both intelligent, normal human beings. I remember being struck at the time by the fact that neither smelled of alcohol, neither was on any kind of drugs or illegal substance (even though Michael clearly should have been, for his condition). I asked if there was anywhere they could go, and if people helped them. Tony told me that St Mungo's were useless and that they promised the earth and never delivered. He told me, though, how he slept in the park and rubbed Michael's ointment - the only treatment he seems to receive for his Parkinson's - into his back for him.

When I left, I gave him £10 and told him to get himself something to eat. He tried to give the money back. I wouldn't let him.

I went home that night and collected information on as many local organisations and shelters as I could; I printed them each a copy. Michael asked me if I was a social worker. I told him that I wasn't, I just wanted to help. He was so grateful and promised to pass on the copy for Tony, which I know he did.

Yesterday, on my way home, I saw Tony again, sitting in his usual spot, weeping, with nothing but a thin blanket wrapped around his shoulders in the seriously fucking bitter cold. I didn't stop. I was on my way to buy expensive cheese for the office lunch, and it was already 7pm because I'd stayed late at work. By the time I got home, I'd decided not to get the cheese because I felt guilty; terribly, terribly ashamed that I hadn't even taken the time to stop and give him a quid for a cup of tea when I was about to spend a fiver on fancy cheese. I almost wrote about it then, but I just couldn't bring myself to.

Today, I mentioned it to Elly, the girl I sit next to; she'd been planning to work at a shelter/soup kitchen this Christmas, but simply couldn't fit in the minimum timetabled hours. We decided that we were going to see what we could do - give him and Michael spare sleepingbags, if they wanted them, see if there was anything else. At our Christmas party we had a wealth of food left over, so we wrapped some up and took it outside. We could only find Michael, so we gave him some wrapped up turkey and stuffing sandwiches. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek in thanks. Tony wasn't there yet.

Later, when I left, at about half six, I did see Tony. I gave him the food and asked how he was. He told me he wasn't too good, because his nan had had a stroke and they'd given her until the weekend to live. He said he'd been at the hospital with her all day. She's his only family. She raised him when his mum kicked him out when he was twelve. As someone who doesn't speak to their own mother, and hasn't since she was eighteen, but is especially close to their nan, this really got to me. He told me he'd been asked to meet St Mungo's at five, which is why he hadn't been there. He went to meet them where they asked, and they didn't show up. A few weeks ago, he was given a place in a hostel where they move you up a housing ladder until you get your own place; the maximum you can stay - ONCE - is three weeks. When he three weeks were up, they had nowhere for him to go, so they put him back on the streets. He's sleeping in a subway - which I guess is at least an improvement on a park.

I asked him how he ended up on the streets, and how long he'd been here. "Thirteen months." He told me how he'd been living with his girlfriend, and she'd cheated on him and the new boyfriend had kicked him out. I asked what he did for a living, before - he's a cook. He listed his certificates and qualifications to me. One of which was first aid, which is what I co-ordinate.

This is a young man, with qualifications, who is homeless through no fault of his own who has been told by the social workers, that if he were a drug addict or an alcoholic, they could give him more help because then he'd have an 'illness'. Imagine how frustrating that is.

When I told him we'd talked about getting him a sleeping bag, if he wanted one, his face just lit up, "Oh God, yes please."

I asked him if there was anything else he needed that we might be able to get. "One bedroomed flat?" he joked. Then, more seriously and with great humility, "Well... the only thing is, my trainer's got a sole falling off - it's held on with rubber bands, look."

"Okay, so some trainers or boots, then?"

"Anything. I could do with anything as long as it's not like this, you know?"

He's a size eight. I'm going to the local charity shops, this weekend, so see if there's a respectable pair I can get him.

I offered him a hat I have (I just washed it and it's on a radiator drying right now) and his only other request was, "If you've got any, a pair of gloves wouldn't go amiss..."

That's all he asked for. Shoes that don't take in water, and a pair of gloves.

When I gave him £2 and told him to get a drink to go with his turkey sandwiches, he gave me such a happy smile and said, "Chocolate."

"Chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate, yeah..." He honestly looked like the prospect of a cup of hot chocolate was a dream to him. He was that grateful.

Personally, I feel really, really shitty for not being able to do more to help him. I'm going to buy him some gloves and some socks as well, to keep warm (someone had already given him a fleece, which he was really pleased with). But at this time of year, while we're all fussing about what shitty bits of tat to buy our loved ones - about how we're going to max out our credit cards on self-indulgence - think of people like Tony. Like Michael.

They are both good, sweet people who deserve so much better than this. And we, as society, have completely failed them. Not everyone on the streets is a waster or an addict. Some of them are people like us who have just been dealt a really shitty hand in life. You don't have to give them money - give them a sandwich, or an old jumper you don't wear any more. Listen to them. Remind them that they're people. If you can, print out information on local centres, so at least someone else might be able to help them at times like this.

Put yourself in their place. Just for a minute. If nothing else, it'll make you grateful for what you have, no matter how bleak it sometimes seems.



And in a similar vein to Patrick's post, recently, never let the people around you come to that. There should always be another way. Even if it means making sacrifices yourself - bend a little, be someone's bridge until they can make it out and back into their own place. Just don't let anyone you know end up in Tony and Michael's positions. Please.

Is anyone else finding other people's posts aren't showing up on their flists?

How is this even possible?

How is it, that so many so-called 'fans' of bands, most notably Fall Out Boy fans, are in fact horrible little scumbags?

Liberty and I are going to Chicago to see Fall Out Boy!!

At the age of twenty-four, ten years after I picked up bass, five years after I put it down again, I have enrolled for drum lessons.

Andy Hurley is a fucking inspiration.


(But I have the co-ordination of a dyspraxic Parkinson's sufferer on a bucking bronco, so this could be comedy for a while...)

Call me cynical, but everyone knows what happened after they released That Song.

God, I hope the kids are okay. I know they wouldn't postpone a tour for the hell of it.

I'm not freaking out, yet, but damn - some of the FOBR 'fans' piss me off. All they seemed to care about was the inconvenience to themselves. Worse: one, who is old enough to be a mother for fuck's sake, said she'd probably find that she was 'over the band' because of this.

Because, y'know - they did this expressly to let people down. Obviously.

Jackass.

The boys deserve more compassion than that. They already give us a hell of a lot more time than a lot of bands do...

It's so embarrassing to be a 'fan' at times like this.

The day never really began for Julie and myself, as we'd already been awake over forty hours when we arrived at the venue.

At around 10.30pm GMT the night before, when the boys were on stage in Brixton, we were making a flight transfer from Vancouver to London in Chicago. How's that for irony?

There were already quite a lot of people in the queue when we arrived, but we joined Liberty and her friends Sarah and Harps and got settled.

We set up shop (to the looks of some very bemused fans) and then, gradually set about recruiting people to join in.



Meanwhile, Lib, Sarah and Harps went to interview Cobra Starship for their music blogzine, Literate & Stylish (I believe that will be up soon, although it's not just yet).

Finally, at 7pm, we made it inside, and actually found ourselves on the barrier - right in front of the Troh's mic. WIN.

The first band on, Shiny Toy Guns, were freaking amazing. Their drummer was really great fun to watch. Check them out.

After STG, Cobra Starship came on. Gabe had sprained his ankle the night before, but it didn't stop him jumping around and dancing LIKE A TOTAL NUTTER. It was the first time I'd seen them and by God, I will be getting tickets to the headline tour if it kills me. They were brilliant and so much fun.

We actually threw a pair of pants at Gabe with the message "The Calm Before the Storm..." written on them, but they were taken off stage before he'd had a good look at them.

Pete stood on the stage-left a lot, watching the other two bands and wearing the green and blue hoodie. Apparently, he'd worn four different ones by the end of the night.

Then, the boys came on - standing on the riser at the back of the stage, behind a massive curtain, which dropped to reveal them all standing there with their instruments. Patrick jumped straight down the front  and Joe and Pete ran down the ramps. They opened with 'Lawyers...' and just burst through loads of really awesome songs. They even played my favourite track, 'The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes' and 'Grenade Jumper', which they re-dedicated to Kris, their 'Tour Mom' (aww). I'm glad, because I love that song, but hated the subject.

Our cues had been Arms Race and Where is Your Boy? and Boy came first. A few pairs and - alarmingly - a fuschia bra had already sailed on to the stage, Charlie and Dirty were sitting on our side and running out to collect them. Dirty had to keep mopping up water, and it was really hilarious, because he'd just done one spill, and then someone threw another bottle, and he did a little exasperated palm-spread and, "OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!". We loved that guy, seriously.

When the time came, our corner threw perfectly on "waking up with pants on". Pete was on our side of the stage at the time and he looked a bit surprised for a fraction of a second and then started laughing. Charlie and Dirty were laughing, too, and then Gabe Saporta ran on stage to join in, and was particularly taken with a large granny pair - cunningly captured on film by Chloe and her sister - and held them aloft, yelling, "THNKS FR TH KNCKRS!" and then ran around with them. I've also been told that Joe reached out and caught a pair at one point and then promptly dropped them, but I didn't see that personally. I think it took Patrick a moment to realise anything had happened and he had to do a bit of a double-take.

There was a general sense of "HOLYSHITWTF?!", but that was what we were going for. I gave Dirty a thumbs up while he was looking over and laughing. Later, he would get thrown through a table, off the riser, and break his arm. And still run down the front and help Pete during Saturday and also help people out of the crowd. I say again: WITH A BROKEN ARM. What a dude.

More pants were thrown at both our other cues, in 'Arms Race' and 'Saturday', and people started throwing t-shirts and things. Pete came out after their break and yelled, "We've had a lot of underwear thrown on stage, tonight, and I just want to say - save it for Britney Spears, it's fucking ridiculous!"

We don't think he was serious, because he clearly thought it was hilarious when we first threw them.

After the show, we went outside to loiter by the stage door - as did a lot of other people. Watching the kids, and the hysteria that surrounds them, I can pretty much understand why so few of the guys ever come outside. Yeah, I always wait to say hi to the bands I like, but mostly because it's good to have a chance just to say, "Thanks - you were awesome." It pisses me off to see people acting up and giving security shit.

Eventually, Dirty and Charlie came out - Charlie insisting that no one was coming out. Nobody believed him and kept talking over him, so he said that if they didn't shut up he wouldn't finish and would go inside. I bellowed, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" at the top of my voice and two things happened: people shut up and Charlie laughed.

He eventually agreed to have Patrick come out and meet people, but the four of us - Julie, Lib, Sarah and myself - were chatting to Dirty, who was proudly displaying his obviously fucked up arm ("Touch it - look, touch it! It's swollen!"). We asked about Dilyn, but then Charlie made the four of us step forward and sent us to the back of the line for talking. We like to think he did that on purpose because we actually got to talk to Patrick for a bit longer (although he was probably not doing it because of that at all) - and when I asked him for a hug, he actually let me do it. I think Lib also hugged him. Charlie is awesome, even if he doesn't want you to know that.

Patrick was great. I asked him if he got the joke with the pants and he did, which was cool. I told him I'd accidentally started a cult, and he laughed andd said, "Well, nobody ever means to start a cult..." at which point, Julie replied, "She did!"

I told him I'd been awake 52 hours (actually, I miscounted - it was closer to 56) and said thanks for coming out and spending so much time talking to people and he patted my elbow and said something like, "It's nothing, thanks to you guys for coming." I was so tired it's all mostly a blur.

It was, all in all, fucking brilliant. Dirty and Charlie are my new favourite people.