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Terrible News

ETS!,

Today, the chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan stated that unemployment is currently down, and there exists the beginnings of a shortage of labor in this country. Wages may actually rise to the point where the bulk of the working population may actually earn real money and enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

This, Greenspan complained, might be a cause of inflation. He'll have to put a stop to it. Business expenses would rise, and after all, what's good for General Motors is good for the rest of us--isn't it?

--traveler@serv.net

Make A Difference From The Comfort Of Your Own Living Room

ETS!,

You may already know this, but for those hurried would-be activists that feel that they haven't the time to make a difference there is a wonderful resource available via the World Wide Waste-of-Time. At InterActivism (http://www.interactivism.com/) one may fire off free faxes to Presidents, Senators and the like regarding several important topics, including putting an end to this Cassini madness.

--Beau Owens, via e-mail

She's Baaaacck

ETS!,

Thank you for printing my too-long letter (Lilith Lights Up) in ETS! (#48). I have still not received the big box full of family history and genealogy stuff from my daughter up north but can tell you some of what I found out about my family. We are not all that "white"...the family focused on one line, naturally the line with the fame and good fortune, Knights Templar and blue-blood going back to before-God...and sorta-kinda hid/obscured the other lines. "White" is just a state of mentality anyhow and in this respect my cousin Margaret Ann [Pageler] is whiter-than- white but I am looking forward to seeing how she feels upon finding out that she is not as white as she imagines. For starters.

I have never met my cousin Margaret Ann...but have some family business with her nonetheless.

And Seattle is my home...she has no business here, being in the City Council and all. She was raised in a very strict and fundamentalist (tight-assed) religious sect; grew up in China with her missionary parents until the Chinese kicked them all out. L.A. was their home base. It figures, huh? Her father, "Dad" Hillis, was big into money; I have some of his material in the genealogy box. I may just go up to Bellingham and get the box of stuff. Am looking forward to having even more fun than when I was hiding army deserters in my home, helping them to get to Canada.

Margaret Ann's summer vacations involved much reading of Scripture; no cards, no dancing, no boys, no fun. Mine involved making chaos, raising hell. Being depressed.

I had an encounter with one of the ministers of that sect when I was five or six. My great-aunt Edith, Margaret Ann's grandmother, took me to see him so he could "straighten me out." I only remember having to open a big door, having to go alone into his office. He was huge, and sitting behind a huge desk. End of memory. My mother told me that when I returned home I would not talk, would not look at anyone. She said it took her a year to get me to take my clothes off in front of her and to talk openly again. She said that all I would say after I returned was that I was black as Sin and was going to Hell...that only Aunt Edith and the Good Rev. Whatever-his- name-was were pure white and were going to Heaven. My mother thought the man had molested me but I disagree. I have had one dream about the incident...15 years ago, maybe...it was very brief. Involved Aunt Edith holding me down while a man I didn't like did something real bad to my head.

I am officially not mentally ill although I can be a bit crazy at times. For fun. I am learning about mental illness, though, in this life...did you know that if a person tends to rearrange their furniture at 2 AM, this fits part of the diagnostic criteria for manic-depression/bi- polar? What if you work swing shift?

I am learning about lots of new stuff; have gotten to know my neighbor...after I grabbed his arm and forced him into my room last month, proceeded to hide him from the police for three hours. I do not like to see people being hunted by other people and have also not noticed the police treating black men very well. The American society is in deeper shit than is generally known about...from what I am seeing. Maybe this can be useful in helping to get rid of some of the shit, make it become something more useful.

--Lilith Lightfield, The Glen Hotel, Seattle