\input tex \twentypointpunk \advance\baselineskip1pt Teg -- What a fucken life. I haven't forgotten you, nor your letter, nor the fact that there were¨ questions in your letter that are for-now unanswered. One I remember¨ was need vs.~desire. It occurred to me to ask in return: what is the¨ difference 'tween need and desire. (Besides the obvious I need water¨ and desire a new stereo, etc.) I did come up with one answer but I¨ think it was obvious and unsatisfying. But I'm digressing (can't you tell). What a fucken life. Great zine, BOS. Boy, I hope I stay on your good side so's I don't¨ warrant a public flaying. But I guess I'm not worried anyhoo. Har har.¨ Kidding aside, one thing to think of: you chastised someone once for¨ airing dirty laundry in public. Is that not what you did with Mark¨ Ewart? It seemed quite personal to me, though none of our zines are¨ exactly of broad-scale interest I suppose\dots I'll get dirt out of the way first. I talked to Bruce LaBruce the other night on the phone. Matt Smith¨ came by, and showed me a copy of his rant/guest ed.~for queer MRR.¨ (One of which I just purchased; according to Matt, it's definitely¨ good. Haven't even glanced at it yet.) After reading it, I wrote a¨ quick letter, saying too bad we didn't talk at SPEW but we were both¨ busy, etc. Included an ENOUGH ROPE. So he called a week later. He appreciated ER, as expected. We talked¨ dirt in the predictable manner, including you. He said ``Teg, he¨ seemed upset that we didn't talk serious or something.'' or something¨ to that effect. I told him of your experiences at SPEW. You should to¨ know (since i'm telling you now) that BlaB is, actually egotistical,¨ of course, and he {\it does} work the {\bf Bruce} thing way hard, but¨ he definitely intentionally overacts it poking at himself the whole¨ time. (Complicated by his old routine that covered up for his constant¨ drunkenness; routine in the Burroughsian sense. He stopped drinking,¨ but the Routine remains.) He claims his soon-to-be-released zine¨ MONSTAR will address this specifically, I'm sure in his usual obtuse¨ is-he-serious way. Which brings me closer to, but not yet at, the present. Things are really, really bad, and really, really good. The changes in my life from discovering the extent of my hypoglycemia¨ remain amazing. It has changed everything. Except for a couple of¨ times getting overtaxed, I haven't freaked out since SPEW. I just¨ gotta eat, eat, eat. Not quality, or quantity even, just constancy. It¨ has changed the way I look at nearly everything. One of the positive side effects is I'm meeting boys, having dates and¨ occasionally sex. Truly good sex Fri.~night. Not great, but solidly¨ Good. (Great takes practice.) I've always been good as visualization¨ (my mother does it, that's where I got it), and with my head being¨ clearer and all, things have improved. Last week I had three (3)¨ tentative dates, alas, which collapsed, then I met Barry Fri.~night at¨ KLUBSTITUTE, but then one of them (Daniel) called yesterday (Sat.) and¨ Todd was at KLUBSTITUTE EAST Sat.~night. Barry is odd (of course).¨ Skinny, 120lbs., pierced everything, but homemade, not a Tribal¨ fashion clone. Definitely a freak. We did the stay up til 4am¨ smooching thing out at Tire Beach (an amazing desolate mile-long¨ abandoned pier with promontory of rubble jutting out into San¨ Francisco Bay) then wonderful masturbatory sex til late AM. Giant¨ ears, he looks like an elf. Todd is 6-foot-6, skinny as me, 21 (so he says), and as fucked up as a¨ suburban kid can be. Well, not {\it that} bad. But close. He hustles,¨ and is schizo about sex ``vs.'' friendship/closeness in that¨ predictably suburban hustler way. So our relationship is basically me¨ being his mentor. No sex involved, alas. It's kinda OK though. He¨ freaks out over his thought processes, and I have to convince him it's¨ only because he has a brain, and the only odd thing is that he notices¨ it's working parts. He tells me of his absurd, half-hearted suicide¨ attempts. I think they will abate. He simply needs someone to take him¨ seriously, and I don't mind, cuz I actually like the fucking freak boy¨ and he knows it. Oh, how else can I evade getting to the point. I know! I discovered this cool thing I haven't explored yet re:~my¨ hypoglycemia. When I get hungry (blood sugar drops) I start yawning a¨ lot, then I get tired, though when I try to sleep it's slightly hard¨ to (I do not have any trouble sleeping at all otherwise). My not-quite-asleep state is of course the hypnogogic state. I now have a¨ fairly easy to repeat method of inducing it, without unpleasant side¨ effects, other than I have to manage my caloric intake before and¨ after. I will follow up on this once the localize crises are over. OK here we go. Fucken Deke, I could kill him. Or, I may not have to. He's doing a¨ good job all by himself. Did you know the extent of his speed (aka crystal methadrine just to¨ be crystal clear he he) use? It's pretty fucking high. Bad puns¨ intended. Worse, he's a needle freak, he loves the needle part. This is a very, very long story. I am not sure I want to, or can, tell¨ the whole thing. I know I can represent ``his side'', even though of¨ course objectivity is impossible under any circumstances. It wears me¨ down just thinking of it. Not sure what you knew (ie.~factually), but your paragraph about¨ Deke's walls in BOS being his own construction was right-spot-on. Apparently it's been going on for a long time. He's good at being¨ sneaky, and I've been good at not noticing. Not a denial thing, not¨ noticing. He's always been erratic anyways, you know? One of his more¨ interesting, if not finer, points. From the ``beginning''. Beginning of my part that is. A few months ago along with the zillion other things we talked about,¨ speed came up. I don't fucking like it, or more accurately, the social¨ context in which it exists, and the destruction that seems to be¨ always around it. He kept defending it as a ``tool'' and other¨ specific things I cannot recall. I specifically remember taking it very seriously, in that I handled it¨ very hard-edged ethically: I told him my opinions of the speed-package-deal, told him I thought that his doing it was dangerous¨ for all the seemingly-obvious reasons, plus if use escalates, as it¨ always seems to, that it will eventually involve his friends against¨ their will, and that I believed that his use would escalate to that¨ point simply because of my observations. I also told him I was not¨ going to moralize, nor was I going to ever ``support'' his decision,¨ as he put it. He mentioned needle use at this time somewhere. This or something like it happened I think three times total in a¨ month or so. So it was obvious to me that it was escalating, in the predictable¨ manner, and his excuses and reasons were all predictable too (``a¨ quarter lasts me a long time'' etc). So, I started talking to some of my trusted friends (Valerie, Diet,¨ etc) about it, and for information on how to deal with that point¨ when/if he gets out of control and it starts to become his friends¨ business. (ie. creepy friends, cops, crazy behavior, etc). Apparently I talked to one or two too many people. Word got out. I¨ have to admit, I did not think about the consequence. In my defense,¨ I'll only say that he never told me it was a secret, either. Whatever. So it blew up. He heard of me talking to people in some roundabout¨ way. He was angry, but rational, and when I told him the story,¨ understood, but wanted to know what I was going to do to fix it. I¨ told him I would honestly think about it. This was about two weeks¨ ago, in NEW YORK PIZZA in the Castro. Though it was ``rational'' (ie.~the parameters of our conversation¨ remained within bounds I did not consider unusual for us) it got¨ heated, and hurt a bit on both sides, understandably. He was arguing¨ ``rationally'' in favor of his needle-speed use, and I was saying, if¨ you choose this path, at some point (assuming escalation, etc) I will¨ reevaluate our friendship, etc. He said it means I did not trust him,¨ with broad implications. I reiterated my judgment (he emphasized that¨ word) was based upon observed fact, that I thought his speed use would¨ escalate, etc. We left it at that, on more or less decent terms. Two days later he blew up. I don't know the chain of events. He called¨ on the phone and ranted. This is about 10 days ago. He pushed the¨ trust thing, and me cutting off his friend, etc. I was caught¨ unawares, and fell into the trap. Later I realized -- he was in koo-koo mode that last time we talked in¨ the pizza place. See, I was assuming, for that conversation, that he¨ was arguing more or less dispassionately, that his speed use was¨ intentional, conscious, a tool at his disposal, and not a problem. So¨ I was trying to explain that, when it escalated it would become a¨ problem, etc. Well, it was {\it already} a problem at that point, only I didn't know¨ it. So here I am, talking to my best friend, someone pretty freaked¨ out, and telling him I'm gonna basically cut him off. Oops. Two more days later, after having spoken a few words with his roommate¨ Matze ({\it maht - zuh}) (beautiful German punk boy) who pointed out¨ that Deke was pretty far gone, and what he needed now was friends. So¨ I called him up, to arrange to talk to him, and tell him I still¨ wanted to be his friend. He was post- post- etc and calm. Turns out,¨ he had a house-meeting with Matze and Debby anyways, so I was invited.¨ This was last Friday AM. It was pretty OK, energy-wise. He reiterated his ``decision'' to do¨ speed, and told us of the wonders of needle use, etc. It wasn't a¨ problem, it was a tool, etc. Turns out, it's been going on for a year,¨ though I think the needle part less than that. I don't know. So who is¨ this Deke person anyways?! I told him, lucky for me with witnesses,¨ that we gotta start our friendship over in some basic ways. I was never able to explain to him that the ``I'm cutting you out of¨ my life'' thing was my response to what I assumed was a ``rational''¨ decision of his to pursue a needle-speed use, and not cutting off of a¨ friend in need. As you've probably seen, there was a script being played out; no¨ matter what the players did, it unfolded as written. Only Deke can¨ rewrite it. And last night, if there was any doubt\dots{} I took him to¨ KLUBSTITUTE EAST, too long to explain but it's 18-over kinda suburban¨ newly out kids and snooty blond disco bunnies mixed with Diet's¨ KLUBSTITUTE friendly weirdos. (Not bad for one sentence.) He immediately had a bad time, but that's not new, and until my¨ metabolic change, I would have too. It was rather clean-cut overall,¨ and you know Deke\dots{} whatever. At one point, we're setting on¨ either side of this railing thing, me on a big speaker, him at a¨ table. He's mumbling GERMs lyrics, etc. (Not too unusual.) Then he¨ lays his right arm on the railing, grinds his cigarette out on his¨ forearm, then looks forlorn. I say, (because it was so obviously¨ contrived), ``Very punk, Deke.'' He says no or something, then ``the¨ pain last only a few seconds, the scar forever'' then points to the¨ scars on his left arm, self-inflicted I believe a long time ago. Then¨ he grabs my hand HARD and doesn't let go. (For added drama, Todd the¨ aforementioned space-case fuckup runs over and sits next to me and¨ leans on me, the most intimate he's ever been. (A minute or two later¨ he tells me to remove my arm from behind him, so that people will know¨ that he's ``free'' (his word).) This lasted for a few minutes, which¨ seemed like hours; Deke on my left, clutching me, Todd on my right,¨ smiling and pushing his warm bony body into mine. My mind folded¨ inward for a moment.) On the way home, he's quoting GERMs and NECROS lyrics endlessly, the¨ ones about ``sticking the needle in'' and suicidal stuff etc. As I¨ drop him off, he says he had a good time in spite of himself. I was at¨ a loss of words. Two days later (Tues.) he called me. Sounds completely fine. It's like¨ two different (or more) people. There are many parallel texts here, of course. A sampling follows. Clay: RIOT GEAR co-conspirator? He used to have a speed problem,¨ relatively slight as those things go, and a bad self-esteem problem,¨ which he's doing just fine with. He was doing the (I hate this word)¨ ``enabling'' thing with Deke; walking with him to the needle-exchange,¨ hanging around while Deke got high, etc. At some point in the past,¨ Deke had told Clay to ``tell me when I'm fucking up'' (I remember¨ doing that to my best friend as we were about to embark on the usual¨ 13-yr-old experimentation with pot and LSD\dots), so, Clay did. Deke¨ did not like it. Then Clay wrote Deke a letter, saying he's not¨ working in zines with him, that Deke's speed trip is too near and too¨ painful and such for him to deal with. (Clay isn't callous and didn't¨ do it without some thought. We talked about it a bit.) So now I've told you. Since telling people about it is what triggered¨ this wave of trouble (it would have happened anyways), I'll probably¨ get in trouble again when he finds out I told you. It's Deke's¨ business, after all, as he maintains. At what point is it ``mine''? \vskip.5in That ``boy of dubious racial background''? Damian. Last I knew, a¨ part-time junky. I can get contact info if you so desire. Deke's other friend Damian, also of dubious racial background (who I¨ thought you meant at first! until I realized he wasn't at SPEW, though¨ he is from LA!) is also a nodder and speed do-er. Needle style. Great. So things are Not Good in San Fag Sicko. But this has {\it always}¨ been SF's ugly underside. Literally evry single person I knew/know who¨ got HIV up until a year or two ago, had done IV drugs of some sort.¨ The party circuit here is particularly ugly; was so in the 70's, still¨ is now. It's no longer glamorous to vomit in public, so you see less¨ of it on the streets. Progress? Diet and I have been kinda freaking out lately over all this. There¨ are more well-along needle users in our midst, and we were surprised¨ at how many we didn't know about. One was caught stealing cash (big¨ surprise). One person doing opiates ``last year'', now clean. We¨ always wondered why she seemed so\dots slow. Big fucking fag/punk¨ local columnist, speed fool. Ditto his roomies and friends. Most of¨ them sneak around, quite well. It's no longer considered cool to vomit¨ or OD in public. How times change. A friend, one my earliest HOMOCORE correspondents, who now lives here,¨ his best friend Paul X from Philly, just OD'd back in PA. I knew Paul¨ sorta, we corresponded, met when he visited here. I wonder how much of this is the old world leaving. The new one, the¨ MTV kids who are now what's populating gay bars, don't even have that¨ tiny useless bit of socialization from the previous generation (even¨ if it meant just getting cruised by those 10-years older). People my¨ age, 30's, are either fucking dead now, dropping dead, or taking care¨ of the near-dead. And the nasty party drugs will go with them. NOT. I genuinely don't know how to transmit the information. The fucking E-heads will probably all have Parkinson's from consuming shitty MDMA. I've been having this foreboding this last month, even before this¨ Deke/speed thing. Maybe I merely felt it coming. I also felt a sense¨ of relief somehow. Pressure had been building for a long time. A¨ couple of times I tried to talk to him, when I was feeling really¨ shitty and lonely and depressed, and he cut me out, ASAP. Once, OK, he¨ was a bit drunk and I had just dropped in. But three, four¨ times\dots{} needless to say it put a bit of distance between us, even¨ if he doesn't recall it or agree if he does. So besides being stressed out (I developed this cold\dots), and not¨ able to concentrate on some of my projects, and all the too-obvious¨ side effects of all this, I'm not depressed or whatever. It is not¨ making my life and world dissolve into undifferentiated mush. If¨ anything, it's having the opposite effect. I can tell the¨ righteousness part from the others, it's not that. I'm not exactly¨ sure what yet. The foreboding is broader than that though. War that has been a-brewing for a long time. War on wierdos, for control of resources¨ and for control itself. End-game time. It's like some sort of¨ survivalist-like thing, ie.~the need to consolidate, plan for winter,¨ complete some things, and start others that will carry on in the mean¨ time. Rather vague. In any case, I won't be packing guns and supplies¨ up into the hills or anything, I don't mean anything that concrete or¨ literal. At least I'm getting laid now. I discovered some mental skills recently that have been not really¨ dormant, I just didn't realize what it was. A bit terrifying. Testing¨ underway. Empirical data only so far. For some reason I'm embarrassed¨ to say: telepath. Probably because it sounds so crazy. Not Star Trek¨ Dr.~Spock nonsense, it's quite physical, I'm convinced. An¨ communication device for rather low-level emotional and bodily\dots{}¨ something. It has been a factor in nearly everything I do, including¨ the boys I like, the way I learn, etc. (Makes for some rather¨ effective -- and terrifyingly literal -- visualization. Beware of what¨ you ask for, you may get it\dots) Skill/sense, or Law of Fives? Time¨ will tell\dots That boy Michael I met/obsessed on at SPEW? We're still talking (and¨ maybe visiting; should know this week). I told him about the Deke¨ Thing, and he wrote me the best fucking letter. He knew exactly what¨ was what, put it succinctly and non-judgementally. When I first met¨ him, I thought he was much older than the 22 he is. He's sometimes¨ scattered throughout his life (nothing exceptional) but at his core¨ he's pretty together, ``far wiser than his years'' as the saying goes,¨ and there's a sadness about him I don't understand, and there are¨ things we agreed to leave alone until we're face to face again. I get¨ the sense also (from afar) that he is kind of a stable point for a lot¨ of his friends. I had been converging on it slowly, but Michael put it best: Deke will¨ simply need to know I still love him. Arguing against his needle thing¨ etc.~is obviously a dead-end (I figured that much out). He'll¨ hopefully stop before he kills himself, but he won't be the same¨ afterwards; as Michael put it, the spark that makes Deke Deke will be¨ gone because speed will have taken over providing it. Daniel called tonite. He's the incredibly pretty 18 yr old brilliant¨ one just moved here from LA. We've got a date for Thursday. I tell ya,¨ this is unprecedented. I have to schedule dates to avoid¨ clashes\dots{} this has never happened to me in my life. I am not¨ complaining. When are you going to visit here? \bye