Coffee After Midnight: The Continuing Saga

"Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people's own failure as individuals."

-- Vaclav Havel

I'm not going into current events; as usual, this is All About Me. How it feels to be alienated (you probably know this already if you are reading this lovely twisted magazine!) and how to deal... Current events are what they are, and we have various reactions to them, but one thing we can all do is acknowledge that things are stressful, the news is mostly bad, the mainstream is fucked, and we should all take some time to celebrate our own gorgeous weirdness.

Celebrating weirdness...this, coming from a CorpGoth? What I do is decide how strong I feel on a given day. Sometimes I need my counterculture raiment like I need armor; other times it makes me feel stared at (in a not-so-good way) and I'd rather be invisible.

Some of my less spooky friends think I spend too much energy on "fashion" -- wardrobe/hair/presentation -- but I love to remind the world that we are not all alike. When I am "in camouflage" I feel fraudulent. I feel like I am making myself conform to ugly mainstream attitudes when I wear ugly mainstream garb.

In these difficult days, I am all about bonding. I'm finding it essential to get together with like-minded freaks. Go visiting. Have a dinner party. Even if you just plan a coffee date to sit and yak, it's very therapeutic.

If you have Substance Issues (no, I don't mean like the Democratic party; I mean like with alcohol or other drugs), be especially kind to yourself in stressful times. Treat yourself to happy nonaddictive beverages, desserts, good music, sex or yoga or long walks or other physical activities, and the aforementioned hangin' out with friends.

Remember that everyone around you is having a hard time too, even the Muggles. Decide when to confront and when to be a gentle counterexample. A healthy punk in-yer-face-ness is fabulous but there are times when it just hardens people further; pick your battles. Then again, there are times when it's essential to release that anger.

Flightless, aka Dorothy Hickson, lives in Columbia Heights, where she is trying to relax long enough to do a little yoga and braid more purple into her hair. She is the creator of the zine dodo and can be found online at www.mwmw.com/dodo. She is happy it's spring and is looking forward to the season of iced chai.