NORMAN’S VAPO WORLD;
AUGUST, 2007
“Saved by Cyberspace!”
Dear Diary and all:
I got up from my nap after a morning of work in my home office. It was 6pm Thursday, August 02, 2007. Time to dash to The Club(CPG) to see DJ NOJ for his Thursday vinyl,his amazing and stimulating patter about everything from interactive and quantum physics to politics to the history of recorded media and, of course, Noj’s original tunes such as “Tasty Hot Chocolate.”.. Gotta get there at 6:55 to get the parking space right in front of CPG at 7, when, once again, it’s no longer a tow away zone, but before the valets at Jimmy’s bar next door grab all of the spaces:-).. Creature of habits; At least a few times per week. 6:56 so that the meter maids wouldn’t ticket. Just for that last hour, and to ease my arthritis at “last coal” from R. or T.S. or E. or J.
Oops!!!!!!!!!!!
Then, once more, I realize that The Club is gone. But now, instead of crying and feeling upset, as I shamelessly admit to having done the first few days, I sit down at the computer and find that, just like we sometimes packed The Club, we will now fill each other’s e-mail boxes and continue planning to get together, albeit a bit less frequently.
First, I’d like to thank everyone who has read and followed my column in JEMM. Special thanks to Don Duncan, Chris Fusco and the thousands of patients and patient-activists who are making the dream of safe access, and the resultant cultural revolution, a reality in L.A.. With the willingness to withstand the meanings within our setbacks and to walk the talk -- with a little patience-- we’ll get there. Remember, as I so often quipped at The Club: “At California Patients Group, Patience is our middle name!”
For first time readers, I’ll give you some quick background.
I’m a professional keyboard player and songwriter. I entertain around the L.A. area. Medical Cannabis is the very best medicine for the arthritis in my fingers and for the sciatica that affects my back and causes leg pain. I tried every medical and healing approach (other than surgery, which had too much obvious risk) Nothing worked, until I found Medical Cannabis. Since I’ve been a Medical Cannabis patient, I’ve found a return to a quality of life I haven’t dreamed of in decades. I am once again able to lift and move heavier, better sounding keyboards and amps and now find it easy to play the weighted action keys. I am a happier, more productive person. and am way more active than I’ve ever been!
My column is about the culture ---art, music, poetry, books, photography, fashion et all---that has enriched the L.A. area as a result of, among and within our Medical Cannabis community. This edition is an opener to a new series—an Internet edition. And what better cultural medium to talk about than the Internet??!!!!!!!:-)’
Today, while on the phone with JAIME GREEN, Jaime said something beyond profound: “The Internet is the best thing that ever happened to activism.”
Truer words are hard pressed to be found!.
For a year, “The Club,” as CPG patients called it, was the support and social center for thousands of patients and the headquarters of L.A.-ASA, As a compassionate and cleanly run Medical Cannabis Dispensary, CPG was unquestionably the most excellent. Soo I catch myself and realize, once more, that we all have each other, albeit not at The Club. We have each other because we have the Internet to keep us informed and connected.
Yes, culturally and socially, the Medical Cannabis Movement, with help from 21st century technologies, has brought people of the same mind together in a way that I haven’t seen since the sixties. And this time, thankfully, the gathering need never end.
“Summer 1968. My folks told me ‘don’t go to Grant Park,’ but the lure of the protests during the Democratic Convention was too much to avoid. Chicago was sooo oppressive. I had medicated for the first time only days before. At that time, my biggest medical issues were psychological, but I realized, from the first time, that this was good medicine. The police were in charge, and they herded us—hundreds of us among the thousands—into the paddy wagons and off to jail, as the crowd chanted:’ The whole world’s watching! The whole world’s watching!’.”
You’ve seen the films of the police riots during the ’68 Democratic Convention. 16mm black & white; grainy; reminiscent of the days when there were no cell phones or computers. Can you imagine how much more cohesive the anti-war movement would have been back then, had we been privy to 21st Century technology?
“Marshall McLuhan; How ya doin? You were right on: The media is the massage (yes, massage; not message—but that too. LOL”
No; in the ‘60’s we didn’t have the means to communicate as we do now. To this day, I find myself occasionally trying to find one or another old acquaintance from the “hippie days” because, by the early ‘70’s, soo many of us had lost touch with each other. And when I’ve succeeded in re-connecting with an old acquaintance, it’s nearly always because I found them in Cyberspace.
The pioneers are the sites. www.safeaccessnow.org, http://aids-write.org www.canorml.org, , www.weedtracker.com and more!!!
We still have beautiful art on dispensary walls, music at Medical Cannabis Parties, and a myriad of opportunities to get together to celebrate our Movement and the memory of CPG. But today I’ll say VIVA CYBERSPACE!!!
In Solidarity,
NORMAN A. NORMAN
“Are We There Yet?”
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