From acbrown @ sccs.swarthmore.edu Fri Sep  9 19:22:57 2005
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 20:03:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andrew C. Brown <acbrown @ sccs.swarthmore.edu>
Reply-To: presidents @ swil.org
To: swilnews @ swil.org
Subject: SWILNews 00 is Black Like My Soul

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SWILNews 00 is Black Like My Soul

Summary:
Pain.
The presidents are Iron Man (acbrown @ sccs), Iron Fist (mpucik @ sccs), and
Iron Curtain (jgoldie @ sccs). SWILmeeting is on Saturdays in Sharples
Reserved Room 4. The Pterodactyl Hunt will be on October 1st, with monster
signups at (or before) meeting on September 10th. (Email hunt @ swil.org or
show up to meeting.) The Cordwainer Bird Science fiction library is on the
second floor of Cornell. Jackie Werner (jwerner1), Cordwainer Librarian,
will at some point lead weeding of the library (not immediately) after the
Hunt. [I think immediately after the Hunt would be an excellent time
-m][incoherent whine -J]. We're planning to get a van to go to Serenity
when it opens on September 30th, and to RenFaire some weekend before the
end of October. If you are van-certified, we want to know.

You have now missed:
Wink in ML on Saturday, some kind of 90's party in PACES, Live tic-tac-toe
at the Activities Fair on Sunday, all-day gaming in Sharples on Monday
[there *was* no all-day gaming in Sharples on Monday -m] [something about
a menstruation metaphor -J] [the what? -m][the menstruation metaphor.
-J][the what? -m], a Star Wars back-to-back-to-back showing on Thursday, a
roundsing friday at 8:30 in the belltower, Parlor gaming in Kohlberg
Coffee Bar (Saturday Night SWIL) on Saturday at 8:30, [and a Roman-style
orgy last Wednesday -m], Advanced Roundsing on Sunday at 12:30.
You haven't missed: Chaos' eggplant party in DC on October 15th.

 * * * * * [why can't we make them little daggers? -m]

At 12:07, precisely that my heart's beat set,
We Called to Disorder, to silence the [gloomy adjective] rabble
Do they understand that such lugubrious chatter deadens the sound
Within my Mind?
No, for they are pathetic, and understand not my pain. {Shouldn't pain be
capitalized? -Jackie] [Alternatively, you could capitalize 'my', or 'not'.
-c]

A fan appeared, but its soothing winds could not slaughter the fiery pain
within my soul [Too many repetitions of the word 'soul! -m]
A babble of voices, falling unheard of unlistening ears, sounded out the
names.
As usual, mine was ignored.
On Sunday the 28th, I was bound, with ties of obligation and sharp thorns
of Sharples Knives,
To a table, to speak of SWIL and to lure others to this endless nightmare.

Noda, Mendez, Jamison, and Goodfriend volunteered to set the stage, to put
forth a
Facade of joy over our bitter [Bitter! -J] interiors, the darkness of
which is unimaginable.

On Thursday the 1st, we projected light upon the dark screen, [Of LPAC -c]
A tale of pain and woe, and of dark desires unspoken [I speak, of course,
of Luke/Leia -m] [And explosions -c]
[You forgot the stars of death! -c] [They're not angsty enough -m]

Overburdened with worthless words, Jackie seeks to wade through them,
Shedding the excess like tears, the papercuts to her soul overwhelming.
Then shall they be sold,
To reduce men's lives' works' to soulless paper, [They're already sold as
paper! -c]
Unappreciated [Free copy of 'Ogre, Ogre' with every purchase! -c]
And forgotten.

On that Saturday, they struck one another,
To project the pain within their hearts upon one another.

Jamison, for his sacrifice,
And of pain borne of endless hiding,
Will run Saturday Night SWIL.
Last week, Death and Madness held reign,
To give me naught but pain,
Endless and painful

To pretend,
To hope,
To be without the soulless trappings of Modern Man,
We will go to the Ren Faire.
Dave and Sikandra,
Mindful of our hopelessness,
Will drive.
Unless the burden of time
And life
Overweights them in pain and agony.

On October 1, we will validate
Hateful hate, in the killing of
The Misunderstood and Hated Pterodactyl.
Perhaps, if it were to survive, it could
Understand my Pain.
But it will die, alone,
Unloved.

Chance threw its sword of Luck,
and Impaled Alex George upon
The Hand of the Lottery.
For his pains, he was forced to take
A shirt, unwashed,
Torn, and ancient.

The wiki, despite its great works for us,
WIll be discarded,
Like a wilted rose,
Or a crushed heart,
For prettier,
Less tired,
Forms.  [Of wiki -c]

Where there will be none,
Jim may drive people to 'Serenity',
To ease the sharp agony
Of daily life.

On Sunday,
We eased bored and hurting minds
With games,
Like Romans,
Watching the death of innocents for their sick amusement.
Blood, red and fresh,
Spilled for the arousal of
Nero, Caesar, and the rest.

Endless noise,
Song, untrained, and without hope,
Filled the tower below the bell,
On Friday,
The day of end, of nightfall,
Of Death.
On Sunday, to trap those
Weak in voice,
To discourage, disparage, and
Stab with sharp Rebukes,
The songs were more difficult,
Like living in an uncaring world.
Of pain.

At PACES,
A call for words, unbidden,
Exposed,
To have your heart set out
And cruelly impaled [Does PACES actually stand for something? -c][Can we
call it Lang PACES? -J] [We could call it LangPAC for short-c]

Then a review,
Of the years most painful and cutting,
Where daily was my pain mocked and Belittled.
A "party", where
Hearts' pain will be dulled with bitter tang,
And Lonely minds forgotten.

Lauren G, whose pain is no greater than my own,
Seeks expression,
Through many arts and crafts.
But why should I take her offer,
And use these crafts,
When all art I make would be misunderstood,
Underappreciated,
Like the depths of my pain and despair?

Seeking to label those with no voice,
SWIL gave to Emmanuelle a "Title".
They will call her Harbringer of Cute,
As her coming marks
An attempt to silence our pain
Through numbing smiles.

I, too, was named,
Scion of the Shubich Dynasty,
As if the honor alone
Could combat the endless sorrow
I feel.

 * * * * * (imagine they're daggers. and bleeding. -cm)

Attendance List of Bleeding-Spleen Liberals

finlay "standing on your head" logan
Blake "th" Setlow
David "hmm, why did I wake up for this" Chudzicki [why did you wake up for
this? -m]
Jeff "mmm: food" Kaufman
the invisible Allison Barlow
Emmanuelle "Meep" Wambach
Mike "Orientation Player" Karcher
David "Michael Bolton is a No-Talent Assclown" Stifler [can we shorten
that to David "Michael Bolton" Stifler? -J][well, how about if we just
call him "Michael Bolton" -m]
Michael "North is thataway -> " Noda [Tadashi-kun! -m]
Abby "And the cat came back, the very next year..." Friedman
Jim "the power off the starboard bow of the throne" Moskowitz
Sarah "Queen of the Ivory Tower" Hartman
Lauren "Mary K. Wootters" Smith
Mary "Keeper of awesome purple curtains" Wootters [... -J] [no I'm not.
I'm not virile -m]
Lauren "that person" Stokes
Miles "aka Arador" Skorpen
Kim "Phoenix Rising" Comer [the Assassinator -Kim]
David "Dragonrider" Kornfilt
Alex "Fitzwilliam" George
benjamin `pre-destroyed consumer goods' r, george
BDan "shamble, shamble, squawk, kaboom!" Schneider
Susan "I'm back!" Zell
Greg "Sympathy for the Devil" Robinson
Jackie "Vetinari's Terrier" Werner
Celestial "Dire" Badger
Chelsea "I didn't go to these when I _was_ an undergrad" Rosenthal
Lauren "squirrel chemist" Goodfriend
Eliza "17 hours of homework and classes haven't even STARTED..." Blair
[can we make that into a round? -J] [um... welcome to your junior year of
being a physics major? -c]
Alex "Open the white envelope!" Pshenichkin [I HATE YOU. -J]

Iron Fist, Iron Man, and Iron Curtain.  Of Despair