¡Que Mas Da!
Congratulations to Chris and Elizabeth McKnight, and Marilyn Lifton and Matt Flores, and to Matt and Stephanie Royston, and to Stefan Kizziah and Christine Berring on their marriages! Congratulations to Bruce and Beth Mulligan on the birth of their daughter, Gayle! And also to Howard and Omi on the birth of Momoye Daria Yamamoto Williams on March 27th. Congrats to Eric Wilson for getting accepted into medical school. Officer Tom recently passed away. Farewell to Richie, Rick, and Victoria and good luck. Welcome back, Jason Strait!
"World domination- that is, domination of the world by messenger values like hospitality, appreciation for accuracy and a belief in clever honesty, appreciation for the arts and charities, serious work ethic, toleration of differences, suspicion of excess wealth and contempt for materialism, and a love of nature - is not only possible but might even be necessary for the world to survive." Howard Williams
It's a good day to da. -America #826
Letters From Ed
Howdy and welcome to another issue of VOD! Last issue met with a bunch of flack, so for a quick reality check, I'd like to reprint a paragraph from VOD#1:
"...editors assume no responsibility for what is printed herein. Why? 'Cos this a zine, not the gospel truth, nor is it sanitized for mass consumption. If you don't like something, write something better (or don't read it). Life goes on. And spelling errors rock!"
Nope, none of us have degrees in Journalism and, no, this 'zine does not have a set agenda. Especially not one that folks who don't even help us out get to dictate. 'Nuff said.
After four years, my family finally settled with Muni over the case of my brother's death. For those not familiar with the case, Thomas Meredith was killed on the job, by an outbound Haight 7 bus on Market at 2nd. After lawyer's expenses (I don't know who I hate worse: Muni or our lawyer) we were awarded a whopping grand total of $1303, which is, quite frankly, pathetic. Well, my parents donated that amount to the SFBMA, so hopefully we can make it so bike messenging isn't the third most dangerous occupation in the United States.
On a happier note, Laurie is putting together the Voice of Da website, so try out, "www.voiceofda.com" after Bastille Day. We threw in a messenger slang dictionary and memorial, so please feel free make additions and corrections!
As always, if you'd like to help out with future Voice of Da's, we'll gladly assist you with your typing, editing, and desktop publishing skills. Keep the drawings, poetry, stories, comics, photos, recipes, articles, and incomprehensible babbling comin'!
Boy, dealing with VOD, SFBMA, CMWC,
and Team Glue, not to mention my actual messenger job has
made me feel like I'm wrapped up in some kind of cult. I foresee
a huge bout of burnout ahead, but underneath all this messenger
goofiness lies that crucial understanding I reached about age
7-whenever life kicks you on yer butt, no matter what happens,
you've always got your bike. -America
I just got off a grueling day at the job and
one of my bosses wanted me to give him a 10-6 so he could express
his concern towards me, being spotted without my uniform on. I
had just returned to the financial district from the Mission and
my jersey was drenched. So I put on my dry, non-uniform shirt.
Call me a freak, but if I do not have to ride around in a wet
jersey, I sure as fuck won't. One of my other bosses saw me riding.
And instead of saying, "Hey, how's it going," or, "You
look really busy today," could find nothing better to say
than, "Oh, nice uniform." Imagine my frustration after
hauling thirty pounds of fucking mail up a fucking hill and getting
paid only three dollars and fifty fucking cents for it to have
this guy be totally sardonic towards me. I was told that I was
wrong for not following policy. I think that getting discounted
daily mail runs is pretty fucking wrong too, but since I actually
like the company that I work for, I tolerate it. I have these
people to answer to, but who do they answer to when pricing things?
Really, guys, there are more important issues, I promise.
I realize that mine is not the only company that holds these policies so close to them. With this in mind, this letter is also directed towards all of the other companies that are laughing their asses off because all of the negative press RMS is getting. So listen up, you bloodsuckers. Brand visibility is only one of many ways to run a successful business. But for those of you who either own or dispatch for a company, or if you are a salesman that gets some sort of commission for monitoring your company's bikers, think about this for a second. If you are earnestly concerned with the visibility of your company through the riders that you independently contract, stop giving us discount mail runs. Stop paying us a dollar to pick things up that are going out of town. Raise our commission. Give us more than eight dollars an hour. Don't be bitches with us on the radio.
Maybe, just maybe if some of this stuff were to happen, most of us would keep our wet, stinky shirts on. But we'll never know unless something happens. Okay, I'm done. Enjoy the fucking 'zine.
-Spiller