Star chart
Dear Slingshot:
I finally received my long awaited 2004 Slingshot Organizer from AK Press & despite the fact that it was “contrabanned” by the local prison staff, I was able to execute a clever conspiracy to get my grubby paws on it anyway.
Now as to the point of this letter: I now find myself at a facility located outside any major metropolitan area that provides an unhindered view of the starry night thus creating an opportunity to utilize the star chart included in the Organizer, that is if I knew how to use it. If you could, please send me instruction. I understand the concept of degrees, but I lack the knowledge of a bearing point and how the zodiac is represented in the heavens. Any information and instructions related to this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so very much in advance. I Take care and keep fighting the good fight.
—Colin @anderson #165334, ASPC F-N.U.3, PO Box 8000, Florence, AZ 85232
Orgasms
Dear Slingshot:
Regarding “Orgasms without Obligation” by Molly Coddle (Slingshot #80). Sorry that this letter is so late. In this institutionalized environment, mail is not always reliable so I’m (at last!) reading someone else’s Slingshot. But I wanted to write, even if I’m late for the press, so I can give my appreciation to Molly for her article, her bravery and her outspokenness. It’s not easy to stand up to the repression embedded in our Puritanical culture. Who knows, if people weren’t so repressed, so deprived, if they were actually HAPPY of FREE, maybe we/they wouldn’t succumb to such rampant consumerism, the devastating sense of want (and blame) that eats away our lives as well as depletes the world’s resources . . . maybe we’d find a NEW way?!
This is hardly new news, the “make love not war” generation tried . . . but revolution hasn’t matured yet, and nether have we ripened past spiritual adolescence. Maybe there’s still hope, maybe we won’t have to sink under the pitch black of fascism in order to break free and change.
Publications like Slingshot and articles like Molly’s (and “Seattle’s over dude “ by ISteve) give me hope.
P.S. I am writing this from Texas Death Row, where they have recently decreed that we will no longer even be allowed to have, to hold the naked beauty of humanity close to keep us warm at night — no longer (after June 1) will we be allowed to have nude or partially nude photos of our sweet hearts (were I so lucky!) I would encourage y’all not to forget your brothers and sisters behind these walls. Isolation chills humanity, and can kill humanity, unless you reach out and help.
—Karl Chamberlain #999241 Polunksy Unit, 3872 South FM 350, Livingston, TX 77351.
Bob Black
Dear Slingshot:
While I appreciate much of Bob Black’s writing, allow me to take issue with point number eleven of his theses on the “Anarchist Identity Crisis” (Slingshot #81) in which he states that “self-sacrifice is counter-revolutionary.”
On the contrary, it is conceivable that self-sacrifice could be a necessity in saving a revolutionary movement. For example, someone might have to jump overboard to save a sinking ship which is being chased by a fleet of fascist cyborg zombies. I doubt Bob would have much problem with this act of altruistic self-sacrifice if he was busy bailing and I doubt he would later remember the jumper as untrustworthy. It is the revolutionary altruist whom I would trust more than the egoist — one for all does not necessarily imply all for one. Furthermore, bob’s “disastrous act of benevolence” is a rather banal attempt at oxymoronic humor which, perhaps, betrays his idea. A terminally ill revolutionary could undertake a mission of self-sacrifice without taking anyone with him. And the action could be defended, if not supported, in solidarity.
—Fried Chicken, Rockford, IL