University of Virginia Library

Drops Number

"POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!"
she yells at everyone, very suddenly.
The walls shake. The joint is
dropped. Every body looks at her,
dazed. She does nothing. Stands
there waiting. "Hi," says someone,
finally.

"RIGHT ON!!!" With this she
gives some kind of salute, whirls
and matches out. A moment of
silence follows, people are open mouthed
and staring.

"Wooooow. What was that?"

"She's from the Patriot Party.
Yells slogans."

"Can she talk?"

"Nobody knows..."

There is a long silence. The joint
goes full circle. Everyone is waiting
for the stranger to return and say
that she was just fucking around.
She doesn't. Someone starts
giggling, very softly.

"...But how come?" giggling
picks up "...you know, that
chick..." everyone is giggling.
Nobody can believe it. "...that was
REALLY weird!" the speaker
barely gets out the words before
collapsing in hysterics with every
one else.

* * * * * * * *

A fairly large number of people,
upon coming in contact with this
person, were given the same
treatment. They tended to react the
same way. Upon leaving the
University she was heard to mutter,
"You people just aren't on our
level."

She's right. Nobody appreciates
a good slogan these days.

We read begrudgingly. Words
that attempt to stand by
themselves, 'imperialist, fascist,
exploitation, oppression,
imperialism, et al. don't get read.
Revolutions that depend on words
don't get started.

This is not to say that words are
intrinsically useless. Only that the
competition is tough. If you have
something to say. It had better be
said interestingly.

Reading is a hassle and we've
been betrayed by too many words.

Democracy, Justice, Peace. (I'm
going to win America's PEACE in
Viet Nam.) The whole scene is very
Orwellian. Nothing means shit once
the Patriot Party, runs it into the
ground or the professional liars in
Washington invert it.