Monday, June 23, 2003

I saw Bill last night. I see him almost every time I go to this certain co-op in St. Paul. I know Bill because he was a volunteer for INFACT when I worked there in 1991. He was the one activist who was always, and I mean always, willing to go out and volunteer. when it was 10 below zero and you go out and stand on a street corner and raise 60 bucks, you called Bill and he would stand out there with you all freaking day if you asked him to. In fact, at the end of the week when we reported our progress, one's success at getting volunteers out was estimated by how many you got besides Bill because Bill was a given. One time Bill was standing behind an ironing board with a can full of buttons and a petition, and someone said, " I'm not interested" and Bill shouted after him, "You're ugly!" Good old Bill. One of bewildering string of girlfriends left the following outgoing message on his answering machine: You have reached Bill's answering machine, a teletronic labrynth of all things Bill. If you would like to know WHERE Bill is protesting, press 1. If you would like to know WHY Bill is protesting, press 2. If you would like to know WHEN Bill is protesting press 3. And don't forget to ask about Bill's Salon! Another time, I recruited Bill to organize a house party where we would show our new video and ask for money. He was supposed to make a list of 40 people and invite them all in hopes of getting 10 or 15 to show up. I arrived at his house and there was nobody there. He hadn't organized a thing. "There is one guy I could call who would probably come over....", he said, and then thought for a minute, " But the downside to that is that we'd have to sit through the video again" I had to laugh because I had seen that thing about 80 times by then. 12:40:01 PM    comment []