Ryebread
05-22-2001, 09:08 AM
This has been out for a while... Sorry I've been slow on typing and posting it. I just didn't get the motivation to sit down and write it all out until today.
Letters to the Editor
This is Regarding:
Raves- The Newst Wave
By Naomi Adams
Greyhound Runner Issue 7
First Edition
Wed. April 11 2001
I would like to know if you teach the children in your school how to spell, and use grammar properly...
That was the worst attempt at a so-called "newspaper article", that I have seen in a very long time, half of that was unledgible. You should be ashamed. Could you please tell me if you could even make sense of the second half, because i sure couldn't.
Not only that, but your student apparently doesn't know how to do research. First of all, raves started in 1991 and "kim" had nothing to do with them. The first one, was at NAF Studios in west seattle, and it was put together by many people, one of them being Jeff Booher.
The only party i know of that was called "PLUR" was one in NEW YORK CITY in 1998. New York, NY, is slightly far away from Seattle, WA, wouldn't you say?
It seems to me that you have taken your scholastic focus away from teaching proper enflish, and put it on giving the children the ability to become disgusting, biased individuals. This Naomi girl apparently missed the "reason" for thse raves. We are a community that takes action in what we believe in. We are by no means "druggies". Yes, drugs do exist at raves, and you know what? I'm sure they also exist at your school, belive it or not. Judging by the intelligence of your students, i think they smoke more pot than the enitre dance community, because they sure are missing a lot of brain cells. Drugs are everywhere, but people always seem to look at the POSITIVE aspects of something also. Teach your children how to write persuasive peices because this one just sucked.
Also, ravers aren't trash like your "journalist" made them sound. I hopeyou don't pay your staff well.
~Emilee Duncan~
Seattle, Washington
We have recieved a large number of letters in reponses to last month's articles on raves and ecstasy. Though we appreciate receiving your letters and such, we are unable to publish them all due to space restraints. Here are some of the better letters we recieved.
I'm writing today to express my concern over the contents of the article "Raves: The Newest Wave" that recently appeared in the Greyhound Runner. Please share this letter with the editors, as well as the writer, Naomi Adams, and the writer of the article "Ecstacy: It's All the Rave", by Zach Minteer.
As a member of the "rave" community, I feel several important mistakes were made in the presentation of this article.
Raves, or any other social outlet for teenagers and young adults, are about one thing, and one thing alone: community, and bonding between friends. Saying that drug use is a major player is, in my opinion, without-basis. Drug use is a problem that faces every facet of the world, whether it be at a rave, a rock concert, a backyard barbeque, or a school event. You can find it everywhere. And, like the rest of the world, people within the rave community are actively working torwards not only making drugs less available, but also on educating our peers on the potential dangers of drug use and abuse, and ways to protect themselves.
One organization in the area which I have helped found is NWAP, or Northwest Awareness Project. We distribute truthful information on drugs, ranging from DXM, the legal drug that is used in Robotussin, to ecstacy, to alcohol and tobacco, from traditionally abused drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and LSD, to lesser known chemicals such as DOB, PMA, and 2-CB. We also distribute earplugs an pamphlets on hearing damage, candy, safe sex information and supplies, first aid information, and anything else that may be of use to someone. We hope that by educating out peers, they will turn around aand help educate their peers as well, and that we can reach a much larger number of people than would ordinarily be possible. Also, since the word is coming from their peers, they tend to pay more attention. We also work towards making venues safer, such as making sure there is free, running water, good ventilation, and adequate exits.
Speaking as someone who has promoted and worked with this events, as well as working for Beasley Coliseum, I can truthfully say that drug use is more abundant at a typical rock concert than at a rave in this area. The events have a large security force, as well as both undercover and uniformed police officers present to make sure the events are not only safe for everyone involved, but also as drug and alcohol free as possible.
Also, to clear a few things up:
Glow sticks are non-toxic, and biting down on them, while leaving a bad taste in your mouth, won't cause any serious damage. A chipped tooth, or possibly gagging due to the taste are the biggest concerns.
Electronic music dates back to 1913, with "Art of Noise" by Luigi Russolo.
Ecstasy sates back to 1914, where it was originally created in Germany and used as a cure for hysterical women. It was rediscovered in 1974 by Alexander Shulgin, and documentd in this book PiKHAL, Phenethlymines I Have Known and Loved. If you're interested, check out http://www.erowid.org/archive/hyperreal/drugs/pihkal/pihkal109.html for the information that he published. Also, Shulgin was using ecstasy personally at that time, well before the 1980s as the article suggested.
Also, I think the most important thing to point out about all of this, is that ecstasy, or more correctly, MDMA, very rarely causes death. It is normally someone who is unaware of the circumstances, and who combines ecstasy with something else, or someone who takes something that isn't pure MDMA, that ends up damaging themselves in one way or another. PMA, or paramethoxyamphetamine, and DXM, are two adulterants known to cause problems, but there are many more.
http://www.dancesafe.org shows the results of what is actually in pills sold as ecstasy, as tested by a federal government lab...
(My letter continued on after this... I guess it was too long to print in it's entirety. Unfortunatly, my computer was reformated shortly after sending the letter, and I didn't bother making a backup copy of my sent items... I believe I spoke of the troubles jazz, rock, blues, and several other genres have had, and how the current anti-rave offense is similar to those, but I could be mistaken.)
Ryan Witt
Pullman, WA
My name is Kimberly Dietemann. I was very interested when I heard that I had been mentioned in an article written by a student at Pullman High School. I did not remember having been contacted by anyone.
Unfortunatly, things were printed about me which are not true, and I'm rather upset about it. I feel that a student newspaper has a responsibility to teach those who participate to practice real journalism--and thatincludes verification of facts, as well as getting permissions from individuals before using their words out of context.
The article to which I am referring is "Raves: The Newest Wave," by Naomi Adams. In this article, I am credited as starting the "northwest scene" in 1996. Raves have actually been taking place worldwide since the late 80's and since 1990 in the northwest area. While I am very active in events here (have thrown event, work at a record store, run websites about 'rave'/electronic music, write for magazines, etc.), by no means did I or any one person start the large community which exists today.
I believe she got this mistaken information from a webpage which I run called Northwest Raves. Northwest Raves (NWR) is an Internet mailing list on which people discuss electronic music, events, etc. The list also has it's own events, during which people on the list meet each other and socialize, dance, etc. The first such event occurred in 1996.
I was also disapointed that the article contained no discussion about the underlying philosophy behind 'rave', information about the music at events, or factual information about the culture's history.
Not only that, but it mistakenly implied that drugs and drug use were a big focus at these events.
It's fine to print an editorial article, but I feel that even articles based on opinion should be opinion backed by research into the subject. There are many books, films, and wesites which contain accurate information about rave and electronic music that might help the authors of these articles. The movie "Go" and the television show "Dawson's Creek", which were discussed in Naomi's article do not represent what a rave is like and are melodramatic, fiction-based stories made for the sake of entertainment.
Kimberley Dietemann
I have read both your "articles" about raves printed in your publication "Greyhound Runner" on April 11th, 2001. There are just a few problems I see wrong in these "articles". I took journalism all throughout my high school (Kent-Meridian HS< in Kent, WA) career; and I am dumbfounded over the lack of professional journalistic quality in both articles.
In both articles, I found countless grammatical errors, parts of the article were extremely difficult to understand. Overall the article lacked clarity and the objectiveness that is uniform of most professional journalism. While I understand that your publication is just a high school publication; my journalism class was extremely meticulous and tedious about what we printed. We had a policy of professionalism and objectivity (unless it is a opinion article) in everything we published. We were also required to have REAL facts that were true; and not just assumptions made and passed off as fact. For example, Amads wrote:
"The history of raves has been going on for sometime. The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggested that they try to throw a "new-raves" party.
The name was chosen by democratic vote. The name "Plur" was made the final decision"
If this "journalist" had done any type of REAL research, she would have realized that raves have been going on earlier than 1996, and were not startd by a thread created by a girl named Kim. The "thread" she speaks of is most likely referring to the bulletin board for the Northwest Tekno community which was founded in May 1999. I am extremely surprised that either article was even published. From the grammatical mistakes, to the weak voice, weak transitions and a lack of professionalism, perhaps you should take a look at the standards held by the journalism department, change them and you might have a decent publication on your hands.
- Vy Nguyen
To whom it may concern,
This article run by your paper was a terrible display of not only journalism, but grammar and structure as well. I suggesrt holding your reporters to a higher standard when writing investigative articles such as this one. Not only is the journalist and editor at fault here, the supervisor of the all the students involved with this paper should take the blame as well.
The "facts" that were presented in this article are jumbled and false. I'm not sure how much research was actually put into this work. If in indeed the journalist did research on the drug scene they would have at least found that LSD and acid are the same thing. That, just cause they glow in the dark, glowsticks are not toxic. And that these paragraphs,
"The history of raves has been going on for sometime. The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggest that hey try to throw a "new-raves" party/
The name was chosen by democratic vote. The name "Plur" was made the final decision.
The movie "Go" was all ectasy, "The Rave Drug." However, this time ectasy about raves. Ectasy, "The Rave Drug" was a big part of the story line. The film was about taking drugs and going around selling them."
Are complete nonsense.
I hope that your publication re-examines their editing process, and holds the journalists to at least record facts unless they are posting an editorial.
Thank you,
Jason Irwin
This letter is in response to your article on raves in the Greyrunner. Not only was it an extremely ridiculously written article with its horrible English and bad grammar, it showed a horrible lack of knowledge by the person who wrote it. I would think that your institution would be ashamed of portraying your teaching through the foolish. writing of this article. It says that you not only do not care about teaching your students proper grammar, but that you advocate your students writing articles based upon rumors that they have heard about a particulat subculture. Apparently, the writer of this article might have muched on too many "toxic glowsticks." Perhaps you should get this kid in a remedial English class before he/she writes more articles about things he/she knows absolutely nothing about.
If one of your students had written such an article about Asian families and what goes on in their homes based on what they heard their friends say about a particular student and how he conducts his home life, would you publish such an article? I thin not. You would expect the writer o such an article, if he were to write about Asian culture, to find out the facts before making silly assumptions. I do not profess to know anything about football, and would never write a piece on football without RESEARCHING my topic.
I hear that this paper is sent to many parents of students, and it is sad to think that many parents will take this as an authoritative say on the rave culture and ban their children from these events because of one student who, by the way, has no future in journalism, disguising rumor as a piece of journalism. It makes me very angry that you would publish such a pece and display it. It makes you look very
Sincerely,
Danielle Rhodes
First of all, let me just state for the record that I go to raves, and have been going for over 3 years now. I am deeply offended (and slightly confused as well!) about Naomi Adams' so-called 'article' about what raves are really about...
Isn't it a general taboo in journalism to print things that are entirely untrue? Naomi obviously didn't do her research. So she talked to 1 girl who has been to 5 raves? Does that really constitute doing research? I don't think it does... If she had any idea how to do a good job trying to write an article of any kind, she would have at least talked to several differant sources (because as we all know, what one person says is usually NOT the gospel truth!). She would have gone on the internet, read a few DJ magazines, or read a book about raves (There's hundreds trust me I've read a few myself) and found out a little about the culture she is condemning. And finally, she should have gone to more than one rave herself.
You can't expect to know anything about anything if you've never researched or experianced it. Naomi made the mistake of trying to sound like she actually knew what she was talking about, and let me tell you, she failed miserably.
Quote: "The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggested that they try and throw a "new-raves" party."
Just for the record, the Kim girl that is spoken of as starting the first raves in the northwest, actually had nothing to do with the STAER of this culture. She works at a record store, runs a popular rave-related message board, volunteers for dancesafe, and has been GOING to parties for several year - but (I'll say it again) if Naomi has done ANY research whatsoever, she would know that raves have been going on since the mid-eighties, and had spread to the northwest while Kim was probably still in elementary school (1986 to be exact). If anybody started the rave culture in the northwest, I would probably give the props to Donald Glaude, DJ Dan, and Taylor. But I don't expect any of you to know what I'm talking about, so I won't proceed on this thought.
Raves atrted in the mid-eighties, in such cities as New York, London, Chicago, and Detroit. There were MANY moe cities, but these are the 'big' ones so to speak. And MDMA ("ectsasy") was first developed in 1910 by a German company named Merck.
Naomi, you are a horrible writer and a horrible journalist. Do us a favor and quit writing your lies and idiocy now! Your 6th-grade level writing style makes me wonder it a second time, I think you if this article was serous or just a big joke. But after read were you actually trying to sound intelligent and knowledgable. You failed miserably. A word of advice - if you want ot write a more informative, intelligent, or even true article, you need to do your research. You need to talk to people who actually have been around the scene for more than a month or so, like a DJ or a promoter or heck, maybe one of the many kids who DON'T go to raves for drugs (like me!). Yeah, there is a big stereotype that all raves are about is ecstasy. But it's because of misinformation like this that has caused that stereotype. All of us kids who actually love our scene for the great music and for getting a chance to see incredible DJ's live (as opposed to DJ's all the time), we have a constant and ongoing battle with negative media hype because a few unfortunate people (red :overdoses) that give our scene such a bad reputation. And YOU, my dear, have just fed into that stereotype and spread EVEN MORE trouble into my life. You know, the more negative media coverage that happens, the more likely it will be that I won't get to see my favorite dj's/producers play.
So I ask you this - why should I be condemned for liking a certain type of music? Why should I be looked down on by the police, media, adults, and apperently even my peers because I'm a "raver" (and therefore MUST fit the stereotype, huh?)? Why should my music by any differant than yours? If so many people are fighting to have raves shut down, how come no one tries to shut down hip-hop concerts (rampant weed smoking, Rock concerts (amphetamines, weed, heroin, and jus as much acid as raves), or cheesey-pop concerts (thousands of screaming, underaged and unattended girls acting like complete fools)? Why?
You know, people used to look down on Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, and the disco movements too, but now all are considered cherished memories of our nation's history, as well as influential styles of music. Our worls would not sound the same today had it not been for the music styles of the past. And here we are again, in the supposed golden and tolerant age of the 21st century, and all I see is the same cycle repeating itelf, with 'techno' music the new target.
Wake up. It's not the music or the parties we need to try and stop. It's the ignorance and misinformation.
Carolyn Granere
Mt. Vernon, WA
Age 19
Along with all of the letters was a cartoon, depicting Naomi Adams.
"Stress free at last" (Naomi leaning back in a chair)
*knife lands in the wall above her head*
*Grenade lands on the desk in front of her*
*Machine gun fire*
"I am never, EVER!! writing about raves again!" (Naomi beaten and battered)
[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: Ryebread ]
Letters to the Editor
This is Regarding:
Raves- The Newst Wave
By Naomi Adams
Greyhound Runner Issue 7
First Edition
Wed. April 11 2001
I would like to know if you teach the children in your school how to spell, and use grammar properly...
That was the worst attempt at a so-called "newspaper article", that I have seen in a very long time, half of that was unledgible. You should be ashamed. Could you please tell me if you could even make sense of the second half, because i sure couldn't.
Not only that, but your student apparently doesn't know how to do research. First of all, raves started in 1991 and "kim" had nothing to do with them. The first one, was at NAF Studios in west seattle, and it was put together by many people, one of them being Jeff Booher.
The only party i know of that was called "PLUR" was one in NEW YORK CITY in 1998. New York, NY, is slightly far away from Seattle, WA, wouldn't you say?
It seems to me that you have taken your scholastic focus away from teaching proper enflish, and put it on giving the children the ability to become disgusting, biased individuals. This Naomi girl apparently missed the "reason" for thse raves. We are a community that takes action in what we believe in. We are by no means "druggies". Yes, drugs do exist at raves, and you know what? I'm sure they also exist at your school, belive it or not. Judging by the intelligence of your students, i think they smoke more pot than the enitre dance community, because they sure are missing a lot of brain cells. Drugs are everywhere, but people always seem to look at the POSITIVE aspects of something also. Teach your children how to write persuasive peices because this one just sucked.
Also, ravers aren't trash like your "journalist" made them sound. I hopeyou don't pay your staff well.
~Emilee Duncan~
Seattle, Washington
We have recieved a large number of letters in reponses to last month's articles on raves and ecstasy. Though we appreciate receiving your letters and such, we are unable to publish them all due to space restraints. Here are some of the better letters we recieved.
I'm writing today to express my concern over the contents of the article "Raves: The Newest Wave" that recently appeared in the Greyhound Runner. Please share this letter with the editors, as well as the writer, Naomi Adams, and the writer of the article "Ecstacy: It's All the Rave", by Zach Minteer.
As a member of the "rave" community, I feel several important mistakes were made in the presentation of this article.
Raves, or any other social outlet for teenagers and young adults, are about one thing, and one thing alone: community, and bonding between friends. Saying that drug use is a major player is, in my opinion, without-basis. Drug use is a problem that faces every facet of the world, whether it be at a rave, a rock concert, a backyard barbeque, or a school event. You can find it everywhere. And, like the rest of the world, people within the rave community are actively working torwards not only making drugs less available, but also on educating our peers on the potential dangers of drug use and abuse, and ways to protect themselves.
One organization in the area which I have helped found is NWAP, or Northwest Awareness Project. We distribute truthful information on drugs, ranging from DXM, the legal drug that is used in Robotussin, to ecstacy, to alcohol and tobacco, from traditionally abused drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and LSD, to lesser known chemicals such as DOB, PMA, and 2-CB. We also distribute earplugs an pamphlets on hearing damage, candy, safe sex information and supplies, first aid information, and anything else that may be of use to someone. We hope that by educating out peers, they will turn around aand help educate their peers as well, and that we can reach a much larger number of people than would ordinarily be possible. Also, since the word is coming from their peers, they tend to pay more attention. We also work towards making venues safer, such as making sure there is free, running water, good ventilation, and adequate exits.
Speaking as someone who has promoted and worked with this events, as well as working for Beasley Coliseum, I can truthfully say that drug use is more abundant at a typical rock concert than at a rave in this area. The events have a large security force, as well as both undercover and uniformed police officers present to make sure the events are not only safe for everyone involved, but also as drug and alcohol free as possible.
Also, to clear a few things up:
Glow sticks are non-toxic, and biting down on them, while leaving a bad taste in your mouth, won't cause any serious damage. A chipped tooth, or possibly gagging due to the taste are the biggest concerns.
Electronic music dates back to 1913, with "Art of Noise" by Luigi Russolo.
Ecstasy sates back to 1914, where it was originally created in Germany and used as a cure for hysterical women. It was rediscovered in 1974 by Alexander Shulgin, and documentd in this book PiKHAL, Phenethlymines I Have Known and Loved. If you're interested, check out http://www.erowid.org/archive/hyperreal/drugs/pihkal/pihkal109.html for the information that he published. Also, Shulgin was using ecstasy personally at that time, well before the 1980s as the article suggested.
Also, I think the most important thing to point out about all of this, is that ecstasy, or more correctly, MDMA, very rarely causes death. It is normally someone who is unaware of the circumstances, and who combines ecstasy with something else, or someone who takes something that isn't pure MDMA, that ends up damaging themselves in one way or another. PMA, or paramethoxyamphetamine, and DXM, are two adulterants known to cause problems, but there are many more.
http://www.dancesafe.org shows the results of what is actually in pills sold as ecstasy, as tested by a federal government lab...
(My letter continued on after this... I guess it was too long to print in it's entirety. Unfortunatly, my computer was reformated shortly after sending the letter, and I didn't bother making a backup copy of my sent items... I believe I spoke of the troubles jazz, rock, blues, and several other genres have had, and how the current anti-rave offense is similar to those, but I could be mistaken.)
Ryan Witt
Pullman, WA
My name is Kimberly Dietemann. I was very interested when I heard that I had been mentioned in an article written by a student at Pullman High School. I did not remember having been contacted by anyone.
Unfortunatly, things were printed about me which are not true, and I'm rather upset about it. I feel that a student newspaper has a responsibility to teach those who participate to practice real journalism--and thatincludes verification of facts, as well as getting permissions from individuals before using their words out of context.
The article to which I am referring is "Raves: The Newest Wave," by Naomi Adams. In this article, I am credited as starting the "northwest scene" in 1996. Raves have actually been taking place worldwide since the late 80's and since 1990 in the northwest area. While I am very active in events here (have thrown event, work at a record store, run websites about 'rave'/electronic music, write for magazines, etc.), by no means did I or any one person start the large community which exists today.
I believe she got this mistaken information from a webpage which I run called Northwest Raves. Northwest Raves (NWR) is an Internet mailing list on which people discuss electronic music, events, etc. The list also has it's own events, during which people on the list meet each other and socialize, dance, etc. The first such event occurred in 1996.
I was also disapointed that the article contained no discussion about the underlying philosophy behind 'rave', information about the music at events, or factual information about the culture's history.
Not only that, but it mistakenly implied that drugs and drug use were a big focus at these events.
It's fine to print an editorial article, but I feel that even articles based on opinion should be opinion backed by research into the subject. There are many books, films, and wesites which contain accurate information about rave and electronic music that might help the authors of these articles. The movie "Go" and the television show "Dawson's Creek", which were discussed in Naomi's article do not represent what a rave is like and are melodramatic, fiction-based stories made for the sake of entertainment.
Kimberley Dietemann
I have read both your "articles" about raves printed in your publication "Greyhound Runner" on April 11th, 2001. There are just a few problems I see wrong in these "articles". I took journalism all throughout my high school (Kent-Meridian HS< in Kent, WA) career; and I am dumbfounded over the lack of professional journalistic quality in both articles.
In both articles, I found countless grammatical errors, parts of the article were extremely difficult to understand. Overall the article lacked clarity and the objectiveness that is uniform of most professional journalism. While I understand that your publication is just a high school publication; my journalism class was extremely meticulous and tedious about what we printed. We had a policy of professionalism and objectivity (unless it is a opinion article) in everything we published. We were also required to have REAL facts that were true; and not just assumptions made and passed off as fact. For example, Amads wrote:
"The history of raves has been going on for sometime. The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggested that they try to throw a "new-raves" party.
The name was chosen by democratic vote. The name "Plur" was made the final decision"
If this "journalist" had done any type of REAL research, she would have realized that raves have been going on earlier than 1996, and were not startd by a thread created by a girl named Kim. The "thread" she speaks of is most likely referring to the bulletin board for the Northwest Tekno community which was founded in May 1999. I am extremely surprised that either article was even published. From the grammatical mistakes, to the weak voice, weak transitions and a lack of professionalism, perhaps you should take a look at the standards held by the journalism department, change them and you might have a decent publication on your hands.
- Vy Nguyen
To whom it may concern,
This article run by your paper was a terrible display of not only journalism, but grammar and structure as well. I suggesrt holding your reporters to a higher standard when writing investigative articles such as this one. Not only is the journalist and editor at fault here, the supervisor of the all the students involved with this paper should take the blame as well.
The "facts" that were presented in this article are jumbled and false. I'm not sure how much research was actually put into this work. If in indeed the journalist did research on the drug scene they would have at least found that LSD and acid are the same thing. That, just cause they glow in the dark, glowsticks are not toxic. And that these paragraphs,
"The history of raves has been going on for sometime. The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggest that hey try to throw a "new-raves" party/
The name was chosen by democratic vote. The name "Plur" was made the final decision.
The movie "Go" was all ectasy, "The Rave Drug." However, this time ectasy about raves. Ectasy, "The Rave Drug" was a big part of the story line. The film was about taking drugs and going around selling them."
Are complete nonsense.
I hope that your publication re-examines their editing process, and holds the journalists to at least record facts unless they are posting an editorial.
Thank you,
Jason Irwin
This letter is in response to your article on raves in the Greyrunner. Not only was it an extremely ridiculously written article with its horrible English and bad grammar, it showed a horrible lack of knowledge by the person who wrote it. I would think that your institution would be ashamed of portraying your teaching through the foolish. writing of this article. It says that you not only do not care about teaching your students proper grammar, but that you advocate your students writing articles based upon rumors that they have heard about a particulat subculture. Apparently, the writer of this article might have muched on too many "toxic glowsticks." Perhaps you should get this kid in a remedial English class before he/she writes more articles about things he/she knows absolutely nothing about.
If one of your students had written such an article about Asian families and what goes on in their homes based on what they heard their friends say about a particular student and how he conducts his home life, would you publish such an article? I thin not. You would expect the writer o such an article, if he were to write about Asian culture, to find out the facts before making silly assumptions. I do not profess to know anything about football, and would never write a piece on football without RESEARCHING my topic.
I hear that this paper is sent to many parents of students, and it is sad to think that many parents will take this as an authoritative say on the rave culture and ban their children from these events because of one student who, by the way, has no future in journalism, disguising rumor as a piece of journalism. It makes me very angry that you would publish such a pece and display it. It makes you look very
Sincerely,
Danielle Rhodes
First of all, let me just state for the record that I go to raves, and have been going for over 3 years now. I am deeply offended (and slightly confused as well!) about Naomi Adams' so-called 'article' about what raves are really about...
Isn't it a general taboo in journalism to print things that are entirely untrue? Naomi obviously didn't do her research. So she talked to 1 girl who has been to 5 raves? Does that really constitute doing research? I don't think it does... If she had any idea how to do a good job trying to write an article of any kind, she would have at least talked to several differant sources (because as we all know, what one person says is usually NOT the gospel truth!). She would have gone on the internet, read a few DJ magazines, or read a book about raves (There's hundreds trust me I've read a few myself) and found out a little about the culture she is condemning. And finally, she should have gone to more than one rave herself.
You can't expect to know anything about anything if you've never researched or experianced it. Naomi made the mistake of trying to sound like she actually knew what she was talking about, and let me tell you, she failed miserably.
Quote: "The Northwest scene started in 1996 when a girl named Kim began a thread which suggested that they try and throw a "new-raves" party."
Just for the record, the Kim girl that is spoken of as starting the first raves in the northwest, actually had nothing to do with the STAER of this culture. She works at a record store, runs a popular rave-related message board, volunteers for dancesafe, and has been GOING to parties for several year - but (I'll say it again) if Naomi has done ANY research whatsoever, she would know that raves have been going on since the mid-eighties, and had spread to the northwest while Kim was probably still in elementary school (1986 to be exact). If anybody started the rave culture in the northwest, I would probably give the props to Donald Glaude, DJ Dan, and Taylor. But I don't expect any of you to know what I'm talking about, so I won't proceed on this thought.
Raves atrted in the mid-eighties, in such cities as New York, London, Chicago, and Detroit. There were MANY moe cities, but these are the 'big' ones so to speak. And MDMA ("ectsasy") was first developed in 1910 by a German company named Merck.
Naomi, you are a horrible writer and a horrible journalist. Do us a favor and quit writing your lies and idiocy now! Your 6th-grade level writing style makes me wonder it a second time, I think you if this article was serous or just a big joke. But after read were you actually trying to sound intelligent and knowledgable. You failed miserably. A word of advice - if you want ot write a more informative, intelligent, or even true article, you need to do your research. You need to talk to people who actually have been around the scene for more than a month or so, like a DJ or a promoter or heck, maybe one of the many kids who DON'T go to raves for drugs (like me!). Yeah, there is a big stereotype that all raves are about is ecstasy. But it's because of misinformation like this that has caused that stereotype. All of us kids who actually love our scene for the great music and for getting a chance to see incredible DJ's live (as opposed to DJ's all the time), we have a constant and ongoing battle with negative media hype because a few unfortunate people (red :overdoses) that give our scene such a bad reputation. And YOU, my dear, have just fed into that stereotype and spread EVEN MORE trouble into my life. You know, the more negative media coverage that happens, the more likely it will be that I won't get to see my favorite dj's/producers play.
So I ask you this - why should I be condemned for liking a certain type of music? Why should I be looked down on by the police, media, adults, and apperently even my peers because I'm a "raver" (and therefore MUST fit the stereotype, huh?)? Why should my music by any differant than yours? If so many people are fighting to have raves shut down, how come no one tries to shut down hip-hop concerts (rampant weed smoking, Rock concerts (amphetamines, weed, heroin, and jus as much acid as raves), or cheesey-pop concerts (thousands of screaming, underaged and unattended girls acting like complete fools)? Why?
You know, people used to look down on Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, and the disco movements too, but now all are considered cherished memories of our nation's history, as well as influential styles of music. Our worls would not sound the same today had it not been for the music styles of the past. And here we are again, in the supposed golden and tolerant age of the 21st century, and all I see is the same cycle repeating itelf, with 'techno' music the new target.
Wake up. It's not the music or the parties we need to try and stop. It's the ignorance and misinformation.
Carolyn Granere
Mt. Vernon, WA
Age 19
Along with all of the letters was a cartoon, depicting Naomi Adams.
"Stress free at last" (Naomi leaning back in a chair)
*knife lands in the wall above her head*
*Grenade lands on the desk in front of her*
*Machine gun fire*
"I am never, EVER!! writing about raves again!" (Naomi beaten and battered)
[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: Ryebread ]