Don the Mostly Unknown

[jaxon41]

Fontaine thinks I'm being hostile to Jon over the Don Laird flap, and her
reaction prompted some ahmens from other dear friends.  With a little time
on my hands, I think I should explain why I'm jerking Jon's chain.

Ever since I first joined the List, Jon has responded to my posts in a
sarcastic if not downright insulting manner.  I suspect this is a trait so
deeply ingrained in his personality that Jon's not even aware he's doing it.
But that's okay.  Jon is one of US from the old days, whether he wants to be
or not--and whether or not the rest of us think the path he's traveled for
the past 40 years is a desirable one.  It's Jon's life.  He, like everybody
else on the ghetto list, is entitled to say what he pleases--as often as he
pleases.  Stephanie & I have already reconfirmed that we ghettoites have the
right to AGREE or DISAGREE with each other--and we should keep doing so
until the End, bad manners aside.

I confess that I was baiting Jon with my reference to a new Jon Ford Policy
concerning the admission of "outsiders" to our chat list.  Jon, predictably,
took the bait and is now tossing around criminal justice-type words like a
period of "probation" that newcomers (like me) should have to go through
before they're accepted by the group.  I guess he'll next be suggesting that
ousted persons go on "parole" and wear computerized bracelets on their
ankles so we can monitor their whereabouts & listen in to see if they're
talking to some Interior Security agency about those ghetto revolutionaries
who've kicked them off the list.  Way to go, Jon!

I'm not saying that Don Laird is such a person: maybe he is and maybe he
isn't.  But I sold leftover copies of God Nose at the ID Coffeehouse (even
ran an ad for it in an issue of THE), and it's strange to me that I don't
remember DL as associated with this place & a fellow who did me a personal
favor.  Probably my fading brain cells, right?  But there's also the strong
possibility that the ID was under UT survelliance at the time, so it's a
natural name-dropper for someone who is reconstructing their past to satisfy
us that they're REAL people.  Whatever.  My name wasn't on the UT cop list,
so maybe I'm a spy on the group too.  Welcome to the fold, Don.

Then there's the GREATER QUESTION of guidelines for people who
should/shouldn't be admitted to the list.  Jon has a plan, Connie has a
plan, Wayne has sortof a plan, and I'm already confused about how and on
what I should "vote."  So I won't vote at all.  I'll just say this: if we're
going to keep DL, there's a lot of people who've been in Austin since the
mid-70s--& who we Old Austinites know as friends--who should get equal
treatment.  I'd a lot rather have them on the list, and be hearing from
them, than the Mostly Unknown & Mysterious DL.

A last word to Jon, who thinks all my posts are about Me, Myself, & I--and
how they've posed a real challenge to his delete-button finger.  Sure, I go
on & on, but my Rants made me feel a lot better, and they also had some
stuff in them about our ghetto roots.  Jon, for some reason, your posts
rarely do.  Okay, you hated my rants--that's your right & I respect it.
Your snideness was what bothered me.  I have also gotten some very positive
feedback on this series of rants from my fellow artists, whose opinions I
value more than yours.  Different strokes for different folks....   jaxon