OK you’ve now probably finished your festive celebrations, and are now facing the dog-end of the winter season.
This is where it can get rough – parties and recreational substances are thin on the ground, people are facing up 2 comedowns, debts, boring jobs / unemployment (and at least in the UK) apalling weather (its pissing down nearly all the time at the moment and places are flooding!)
And the news is full of warnings of imminent war/terrorist attack 🙁
its easy with all this 4 people 2 start feeling despondent; indeed this is a very bad time 4 suicides/mental illness. Especially 4 those who may be homeless, or experiencing conflict within their familiy due to their participation in the alternative scenes
so at the risk of sounding like a soppy hippy (well perhaps I am half a hippy) – LOOK AFTER YOURSELVES, AND EACH OTHER.
Perhaps phone or visit the people you party with midweek 2 check they are all OK – 2 check that if they are squatters (or just skint through unemployment) that they have sufficient food, essentials etc.
If you have skills that can contribute towards a communal space (like being a builder or sparky) help out if you can; give people support if possible 2 keep them on the right direction (I know sometimes it is easy especially 4 younger ppl 2 get dragged in2 doing da wrong kind of stuff 2 make money).
OK maybe a lot of you do this already; but it sometimes seems people have 12 hours of fun at the party and then during the week forget (not deliber8ly, just due to other life pressures) the sense of community and people that caused that party 2 happen in the first place…
Whilst 2002 has been a variable year for the party scene and alternative culture (we have been constantly battling the darkside, be that negative vibes from authorities, ordinary ppl who get the wrong idea about or scene or even sum of da people @ events), the sheer amount of events have shown that this scene is destined 2 keep going for some time.
but that is just one part of our battle. Our next part is 2 get this scene 2 be more than just “a party where u cane loads of drugs” (after all u could do that at Gatecrasher 😉 – what we need is a sustainable scene with more people creating their own part of it in the form of music, art, events, technology transfer (such as this forum), planet-friendly lifestyles …. if u don’t know what I mean read Headfuk’s excellent Rupture magazine 4 some ideas…
perhaps we want a scene where the wider community feels included rather than left out (that way we should get less hassle from authorities – at the end of the day cops only represent the morals of Joe and Joanne Average)
the energy is there – in 2003 lets channel it in2 the right directions!
-GL-, Reading, UK 2003-01-01
