News Jan 7, 2009 at 12:31 pm

Good Work, Sloggers

Dan Savage
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Comments

1
Excellent, you fell for my plot. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
on January 7, 2009 at 12:33 PM Report this
2
Neale Donald Walsch ??


http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
on January 7, 2009 at 12:41 PM Report this
3
Maybe Mark Doty is the ricin fiend?
on January 7, 2009 at 12:42 PM Report this
4
Wow. That's is pretty telling.

I thought this was Angry Straight Guy and now I'm not so sure.

on January 7, 2009 at 12:42 PM Report this
5
I hope this isn't the beginning of some wild scavenger-hunt style chase wherein the feds find the next "clue" buried in a display of mackerel at the Pike Place Market. Or some such ridiculousness.

on January 7, 2009 at 12:47 PM Report this
6
Hopefully the FBI has Google.
on January 7, 2009 at 12:48 PM Report this
7
Note also that the spelling, punctuation, and usage in the letter is impeccable, nearly flawless. Two things are clearly British: "in hospital" and using a proper en dash with a space on either side for a dash (the author used a Crtl+- to produce the en dash, too, not a simple hyphen). This is a well educated person who not only reads gay-themed poetry but who also knows the intimate ins and outs of writing and copy editing and how to use control keystrokes in MS Word to produce typographically correct punctuation.
on January 7, 2009 at 12:48 PM Report this
8
There's always someone, somewhere with a big nose.
on January 7, 2009 at 12:49 PM Report this
9
@7 or he did a double -- and Word auto changed it to an en dash. My god, he uses Microsoft products in Seattle. That narrows it down!
on January 7, 2009 at 12:58 PM Report this
10
I think it's some stupid queen that seroconverted while on a meth binge. I know that sounds hateful, but...
on January 7, 2009 at 1:00 PM Report this
11
can we get over the whole, "they must be british!" theory already? it's been mention fiftyeleven times already (not only here, but in the seattle times comments as well)
on January 7, 2009 at 1:03 PM Report this
12
but yeah, i feel like this is turning into a scooby doo mystery. if it wasn't for you pesky gays...
on January 7, 2009 at 1:06 PM Report this
13
British or juvenile pretentious gay.....remember somewhere around high school/freshman year in college when you thought you were being smart or cool by spelling Color "Colour".

Could just be a methy bitter gay guy who hasn't grown out of that "if I spell/use British phrases I'll seem smarter!" stage.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:06 PM Report this
14
Anyone heard from Mark Finley's stalker lately?
on January 7, 2009 at 1:07 PM Report this
15
that's really obscure. but it will help the po find this big talking asshole. they aren't really up on gay poetry.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:07 PM Report this
16
Somebody check with this guy.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM Report this
17
#8 is right! Morrissey did it! Big Mouth Strikes again!
on January 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM Report this
18
Anyhow, that's an en dash where it really should be an em dash. Is using an en dash there British?
on January 7, 2009 at 1:09 PM Report this
19
Fantastic piece of detective work, Slog.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:10 PM Report this
20
Maybe the poisoner will set up clues throughout the hill for the big pub crawl?

"A wig and a monocle! It can only mean one thing: the baron did it!"
on January 7, 2009 at 1:12 PM Report this
21
N.B.: Is there a theater in town that doesn't spell itself "theatre"?
on January 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM Report this
22
@16: Holy Scrappy Doo.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM Report this
23
Slog didn't find this, Remix did. Anybody who claims this for "we" is full of crap. Oh, and gay poetry lovers, we're on to you.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM Report this
24
Just to add to CSI:Seattle.

Thomas Leahy was arrested in 1997 in Wisconsin for shooting his stepson in the face.

"According to authorities, the amount (.67 grams) and purity (4.1 percent) of the ricin in Leahy's possession was enough to kill approximately 125 people."

http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appe…
on January 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM Report this
25
Um... so has anybody passed this observation on to the cops yet? Because somebody probably should.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:17 PM Report this
26
It's all a viral marketing campaign for Pepsi.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:24 PM Report this
27
@16 yeah for reals. My first thought was that the culprit would be all over the media comment boards soaking up the reaction, that's really the sole purpose for the letters (assuming the likely scenario that they don't have the will or means to carry out the threats). I believe the culprit has written at least several comments in various threads by now, particularly on slog (The Stranger was one of the letter recipients after all).
on January 7, 2009 at 1:33 PM Report this
28
@9:
MS Word corrects two hyphens to an em dash, not an en dash. The writer used an en dash.

@18:
In U.S. English we style a dash as an em dash with no spaces (usually), and in British English they style a dash as an en dash with spaces. (The NYT uses the British style, however.)
on January 7, 2009 at 1:33 PM Report this
29
Did James Hartline relocate to Seattle?
on January 7, 2009 at 1:33 PM Report this
30
Dan, in regards to your earlier post, do you think it is possible that this is a family member or close friend of a gay person? Who presumably watched them spiral out of control on meth and sex only to die from a STD or drug overdose?
on January 7, 2009 at 1:34 PM Report this
31
Wow! Hats off to Remix! I want to play the guessing game based on what Remix found now:

Educated, progressively worsening untreated alcoholic on the far side of middle age finally gets permanently 86'ed by manager of favorite watering hole. Drinking at home, sulkily reading poetry, refusing to accept that own actions led to the ban, alky decides to send anonymous ricin letter to bar manager. Brainstorm: sends to ten other places also, as camouflage.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:35 PM Report this
32
In other words, He is Among Us (boo)
on January 7, 2009 at 1:35 PM Report this
33
Simac: Actually, Word corrects two hyphens with spaces on either side to an en dash, and two hyphens between words with no spaces to an em dash. But yeah.

Re British style, thanks! Good to know.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:42 PM Report this
34
Er... in light of recent developments I would like to revise the remark I made last night

"the bad poetry aspect ("no salve for their unbearable pain", don't care that they're dead -- and almost frozen! -- just like they didn't care when they were alive, yadda yadda) makes me think pretentious, emotionally disturbed local"

to read "the plagiarized poetry aspect." Sorry about that.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:43 PM Report this
35
That's no ordinary ricin queen--that's J.K. Simmons!
on January 7, 2009 at 1:49 PM Report this
36
@28, 33... the dashes used (en or em) here are not so much a question of British vs. American as it is AP style vs. Chicago or MLA. AP style uses the en dashes because em dashes couldn't be transmitted over the newswire. And, according to the Bible--I mean, the Chicago Manual of Style--an em dash really should be surrounded by a 1/4 space. But fortunately we don't have to use typewriters anymore, and we have essentially traded the delights of word processing for the 1/4 space.

God, I'm a nerd.
on January 7, 2009 at 1:56 PM Report this
37
I hate to say I told you so, but...
on January 7, 2009 at 2:03 PM Report this
38
Googling "no antidote no salve" gets you another poem at DeviantArt: http://smilesandsutures.deviantart.com/a…

The subject of this (not particularly good) poem is rejected love, as Dan posited.
on January 7, 2009 at 2:15 PM Report this
39
Writing sample analysis from Blue Centauri Writing Sample Analyzer:
Number of Sentences: 9
Words Per Sentence: 17.11
Characters Per Word: 4.57
Flesch Reading Ease: 72.46
Fog Scale Level: 10.22
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 7.4
on January 7, 2009 at 2:17 PM Report this
40
Ladies and gentlemen of a resilient race, of all the factors contributing to the demise of the Black race, HIV/AIDS as a mass killer, may be the most preventable because the transmission is through a behavior of choice. One can simply choose not to be exposed. Unlike other areas in health where Blacks are dying in large numbers, there is no bypass surgery available and eating more fiber will not do much. Please make every effort to secure your health and that of your loved ones by taking the responsibility of modifying your own behavior. AIDS is not a gay disease, AIDS is not a white disease, AIDS is not a disease of arbitrary genetic coding (as far as we know). AIDS is now your disease; it is your brothers� and your sisters� and your bothers and sisters on the Afrikan Continent. There is no antidote, no salve, no fade no cream or vaccine, but there is prevention. The power of prevention is in your hands. Use it wisely.

From: http://marriagepartner.com/talk/messages…
on January 7, 2009 at 2:21 PM Report this
41
Someone isn't dealing with their new HIV+ status very well.
on January 7, 2009 at 2:26 PM Report this
42
@38 I tried to google that line too, but to no avail. The link you posted seems to be gone now..?
on January 7, 2009 at 2:40 PM Report this
43
Yeah, well, if you go to the google cache of smilesandsutures over at deviant art (@42 & @38), you get a poem that reads:

"Do you feel me in your cells? That pressure in your vein? Do you feel the nagging itch That edges right through pain? You thought I was curable. You'd forget me with a pill. But looks like I'm not leaving, And I think I never will. Charming like bacteria, That has suffered your onslaught. I'm now invulnerable To everything you've got. Inject your poison in me Try any method you please
I'll keep gnawing your insides: Your dirty, heartsick disease. Remember that you caused this, when you lay yourself to sleep. Remember you destroyed me,"
on January 7, 2009 at 2:53 PM Report this
44
I wonder who checked out that book from the public library recently?

The NSA already knows.
on January 7, 2009 at 2:53 PM Report this
45
@42 It has been removed in the last few minutes. The blogger "of smiles and sutures" has another poems dealing with disease and infection as well. I wonder why the other got deleted so quickly?
on January 7, 2009 at 2:57 PM Report this
46
A crazed shooter a few years ago had posted a first-person-shooter game on Newgrounds before his act. Wouldn't be surprising this poet had a blog somewhere. DeviantArt has its fair share of queer Nazis.
on January 7, 2009 at 3:15 PM Report this
47
It'd be kind of funny if sloggers actually solve this.

If it weren't for you meddlesome kids....
on January 7, 2009 at 3:17 PM Report this
48
@43, Now the poem you listed has been removed, leaving only the one below. I wonder if the writer "smilesandsutures" is reading the Slog?
She claims to be female and there is a photo of a girl but it could be anybody.

X's and O's on the paper
back stabs and lies inside

Brutal in your affection
Savage, the side you hide

Stupid, what I offered
You led me by the hand

Sacrifice for your darkness
Bled into the sand

Time, it heals all wounds
But my stitches still itch

You are beyond horrible
And love is such a bitch
on January 7, 2009 at 3:22 PM Report this
49
Ironically 'A Display of Mackerel' is my favourite poem from that collection.
on January 7, 2009 at 3:26 PM Report this
50
Ref @48 I take it back, the photos in the blog indicate female.
on January 7, 2009 at 3:39 PM Report this
51
I'm really in love with the copywriting/typography nerdiness in this thread.
on January 7, 2009 at 3:49 PM Report this
52
Umm, another clue, who can name eleven gay bars?
on January 7, 2009 at 4:24 PM Report this
53
Whoever he/she is, "smilesandsutures" is a real master of the teenage-gothic-I'm-so-dark genre of poetry.
on January 7, 2009 at 4:42 PM Report this
54
@52: anyone with google.
on January 8, 2009 at 12:04 PM Report this
55
this does not surprise me a bit
...good attention folks

on January 9, 2009 at 10:54 AM Report this
56
why wasnt Changes on Wallingford targeted since they were going after gay bars?
on January 10, 2009 at 12:00 AM Report this
57
@21: Yes, a few; Seattle Public Theater among them.

@52: pretty much the 11 bars match what comes up in a capitol hill yelp.com search for gay bar. Also the addresses sans manager names are there on yelp. You have to zoom out the map and hit redo to catch Changes or any others. I agree that someone who'd send a copy to the stranger is doubtlessly trolling here. @47 The mystery machine gang can X-ref yelp users with repeat sloggers and get a decent list going, no? Hugo House membership for the poetry angle. @51 Former or current newspaper employee for the typography nerdiness. Attention whore. Spurned gay or gay curious. Stricken with HIV? Who knows.


on January 10, 2009 at 3:44 AM Report this
58
Photo of turnout for Seattle DOMA Protest - 10:40 am Jan/ 10th - Photo by AndyBodies http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyestabli…
on January 10, 2009 at 10:45 AM Report this

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