G21 - DON'T READ ME FIRST!

MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents"

(Continued from the Cover) Don't Read Me First

G21 INSIDER

Come down, Babylon

Publisher's Note

New York - 28 April, 1999: On the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, during that period when most of you were focusing on Monica Lewinsky's technique, I found a troubling story. The writer had just returned from Antarctica, where scientists had told him --- experts in global warming --- that the polar icepack was melting far faster than they had anticipated. The upshot was that krill, the bottom of the food-chain and a mainstay of the diet of many whale species, were reproducing more slowly and that the existence of monarch butterflies was also threatened, short term.

Reading this, I thought about the gaping hole in the blanket of air around our world and I was chilled.

But, again, I assure you, O Great America, that is not handwriting you see on the wall.

Your blatant greed and consumerism did not cause it.

This is probably one of the largest editions of the G21 we have ever produced. Because of the situation of escalating violence --- spiritual, psychic, emotional, and physical --- in our world, writers have come out of the woodwork lately with many salient points to propound.

My good friend, DIAMOND D, sent me an urgent piece which kicks off our three-part DAY ONE coverage this week on the use of depleted uranium (DU) in the war in Yugoslavia.

RASTISLAV DURMAN is back this week with more satire about the war.

KEVIN CAREY, the blind writer from the UK, provides two pieces for G21 NEWS. One is on the meeting of IMF/World Bank in Washington, D.C. this week, the other is on how bullets fail to discriminate.

Thanks to our own FLISS USSHER, we are able to feature art from Lithuanian JURATE MACNORIUTE.

AND as you'll learn on our updated VOX POPULI page, I am worried about DRAGANA VICANOVIC. In our last communication, days ago, she had planned another piece for this edition.

But I have not heard from Dragana in days.

This troubles me because:

She lives in Belgrade, which our bombs and cruise missiles are devastating every day.

She worked in television.

She lost sleep to produce work for this magazine, despite my often rancorous exchanges with her. She always came through. I always pushed her to come through.

So now I am faced with asking myself what it means to lose a writer in the ultimate sense. What could I have done differently? What could I have said differently?

Judging by mail from you Loyal Rooters, it seems that you believe that I agree with everything I publish. I get the impression, from your mail sometimes, that you believe everything which appears here at the GENERATOR 21 is part of Rod's Party Line. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dragana and I argued daily about the lack of "balance" in her commentary. I was concerned that she was in denial about the Serbian responsibility for the living hell this war is all about.

Now, for days, she has been silent. I know that she would not be silent if you could reach us....

Another site made on a Macintosh One of my closest friends, hearing me crying over the possible loss of Dragana Vicanovic last night, reminded me over and over: "But, Rod, you are not responsible."

No. Not responsible.

But, if Dragana and her family were killed by the United States, if they were a "mistake" or "collateral damage" and my government is using my tax dollars for this (again!) undeclared war....

I have already seen this kind of thing once in my lifetime. I hated it then and I hate it now.

Moreover, I must believe that if the United States had ever suffered aerial bombing, there would never have been a Dresden.... There would never have been a Nagasaki.

It is easy for us to bomb people "over there" back into the Stone Age. We have never seen what it is like to have your entire society and future(s) destroyed....

And let me remind you, we are now "officially" saying that we are prepared to turn those Kosovars we bleed crocodile tears over to the kindly graces of the KLA --- more drug-financed thugs.

Ask yourself again where that word "thug" came from, historically. Kali is laughing and laughing.

Finally, Gentle Reader, I leave you with this thought: What is it but cannibalism when we sacrifice our own women and children, like sheep on an altar, to support the on-going corporate welfare? That is one issue that Pat Buchanan and I can agree on.

Thanks for coming back this week.

We're glad you're here. We have a lot to offer this (and EVERY) week. Stick around. More importantly: TELL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS. We want you here EVERY DAY.

WHY?

Because we like you...

Work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like no one is watching,
Rod

ROD AMIS has published this magazine since 1990. It first appeared as a hardcopy 'Zine. In March, 1996, he launched it here on the Internet. Rod was a Contributing Editor at Suite101.com, where he wrote the " 'Net Publishing" feature. His work has been featured in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Online, NRV8, and at WebLab's Reality Check site. Rod was also a contributing writer on technology for Faulkner Information Services.

Rod is a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he writes on web design and development issues every Thursday. He is principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviews technology issues five days a week. His opinions on the Info Age began appearing on MethodFive's HYPER technology newsletter in March.

When not busy with his publishing chores at this site, and answering sixty -to- one hundred e-mails a day, he likes to throw darts; seek female companionship; and listen to Tupac, Beethoven, Philip Glass, Joni Mitchell, James Carter, Eric Clapton, Snoop Dogg, Etta James, Miles Davis, Handel, Portishead, Toots & the Maytals, Bob Marley, Sinead O'Connor, techno, house, jazz....

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