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{\noindent\parskip=0pt\obeylines

24 July 91

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Supervisor Carol Midgen
City Hall
San Francisco CA 94103
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Shred of Dignity
World Power Systems
Tom Jennings
666 Illinois
San Francisco CA 94107
(415)-552-8156
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Saw somewhere in SF WEEKLY about your trying to get ``low
literacy'' safe-sex propaganda for SF's kids. Enclosed is exactly
that thing, or at least our version of it.

I reproduce these at my cost for inclusion with HOMOCORE zines I
ship, and to hand out where possible. I had plans to dump piles
of them in obvious places (Diamond Youth Shelter, etc) but I
simply don't have the funds, nor the time to do distribution.

In any case -- it's our opinion that most safe-sex propaganda
simply doesn't work for us; the overly-cautious language
(probably necessary for funding) alienates most of the people who
could use the information, and they use language you'd expect in
a classroom (oppressive) or from a mother or uncle (oppressive). 

This flyer assumes that people are having sex, like it, and are
not going to stop. The language is graphic, and simple without
being insulting. It treats drugs as a reality, without preaching.
It was authored (as you can see) by Torontonian sex workers.
Zanne, a local dyke cartoonist, did the custom poly-sexual
drawings.

At the 1000 quantity level, they cost as little as 6 cents each
to make. (2.5\cents\ per impression (one each side) plus 
1\cents\ per sheet of paper. At quantity 10,000, probably under a
nickel. They were designed to tolerate poor reproduction; wide
margins, standard paper size, decent line thickness.

If you are interested, I will provide, for free, the originals
for reproduction, and even make changes to the text if necessary.
I will contact the Toronto prostitutes about reproduction
rights\footnote*{\twentypointpunk Sorry for the pun, I couldn't pass up the
opportunity!}; I doubt they'll be anything but pleased to see it
distributed en masse.

\centerline{* * * * *}

Don't know if you're familiar with HOMOCORE and it's offshoots.
(Too) briefly -- it's gay-driven ``punk'', or non-assimilationist
(in the broadest sense) culture. High emphasis on 
do-it-yourself, and home-made values. (Actually it's very
American but I rarely mention it for obvious reasons.) 

Shred of Dignity was going to be Duke Crestfield's gay skateboard
group, but in 1986 S.F. Supe Kennedy proposed an absurd city-wide
``skateboard ban''. We foiled it, and then turned it to skaters'
advantage. We went on to do free skate and cultural events for a
few years: ``hit and run'' shows; barbeques and picnics; free
music shows without permits in unused lots; HOMOCORE shows at the
Womens' Building and elsewhere, etc. We've since expanded into
other areas. All of our work is gay-positive and inclusive, but
not exclusively gay. We get lots of both straight and gay people,
and make that clear right up front; we've had remarkable success
and near-zero trouble.

We are starting a comprehensive graphics facility for our
community at large. We just leased a brand-new Canon copier, and
are providing access to it on a membership basis (\$10/month
membership, low per-copy cost) and making our silk-screening,
computer and general office stuff more accessible. Collectively
we're kinda fringy, but do an amazing amount of stuff in this
city; zines, shows, artwork, films, support services, that kinda
stuff.

It occurs to me -- if you would be interested in contracting us
to produce the enclosed flyers or similar for the city at say,
10--20\cents\ each, in decent quantities, it would provide the
city with cheap, effective flyers, and us with a small source of
money to support our print shop. (Though the offer to supply the
originals for free still stands, regardless.)

If you or someone else is interested, call any time. (Before 10AM
is probably a bad idea.)


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Sincerely,
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Tom Jennings
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