MARCH OF TIME

So I'm sitting here reflecting on the last year and indulging in one of my greatest guilty pleasures - watching the Rose Bowl parade. I've been fascinated by those floats since I was a kid and I love all the marching horse units. The Travel station is airing it with almost no commercial interruption.

I rang in the New Year in self imposed solitary confinement. Having shared more than my allotted quota of holiday spirits with friends earlier, I opted out on driving across town to a party. A wise choice I think since I'm feeling a little hungover just from the festivities I got in before midnight. I did try to catch the Drunk Stuntmen's set over at Harrys but the place was so jammed they were actually turning people away at the door - something I don't recall ever happening before. I didn't even bother to cross the street. I was sorry to miss the music but I was glad that John and Tully enjoyed such a successful evening on their first New Year's Eve as owners of the bar.

I'm not much for year end newsletters and I'm not going to recap the year's drug war news, you can read the archives for that, but since our readership has now grown to include those who don't know me personally, I'll guess we'll take a quick look at how we got here and where we're headed.

Although Last One Speaks first posted on 3/29/03, the seeds for this project were planted a month earlier at the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, held in conjunction with the Out of the Shadows conference in Merida, Mexico. I arrived expecting a ten day long party, I left with an unexpectedly comprehensive education on journalism, drug policy reform and a network of contacts in an international community of activists.

In that fertile ground the blog has grown, albeit slowly, into what you see today. We found our voice and I'm learning to maintain the page. It's come at a price however, I'm no longer the shuffleboard queen of Noho for one thing. I've neglected my friends and family shamelessly. I don't answer the phone, I don't return calls, I never go out and I managed to have sex exactly twice in 12 months. As a friend of mine said, "The spirit is willing, but the html is complicated."

Looking ahead, I still won't answer the phone but I will return calls this year, (go ahead friends, put me to the test on this one). I'm going to start going to movies again and maybe I'll even try to get a date. I'll be taking a few hours of private instruction on CSS so I can improve the permanent content here and although I adore the gender confusion my detractors have about my real indentity, I'm considering putting my picture on the blog.

Speaking of my detractors, this being an election year, we will be looking at presidential politics from time to time. Although I mainly leave this analysis to those more well versed, this race matters to the health of the drug policy reform movement as well. The single biggest action we can take this year to end the war on drugs is removing the Bush Regime from office.

With that in mind and on the premise that it is dangerous to frame your logic by talking only to those who agree with you, I posted at Tim Blair again. Our first review of the year comes from someone who obviously didn't 'get' it. Last word to roscoe.p.coltrane for this brilliant misinterpretation.

your site is SHITE "last one speaks". looks like you havent worked out the connection between freewill and drugtaking/substance abuse. oh yeah, i predict that in 2004 "last one speaks" will die of a heroin overdose while demonstrating "safe heroin injecting techniques" to a group of hardened junkies.

I willing to put up a big Ben Franklin that this prediction will not come true. Any takers?