Home | Introduction to Big Fun | Epilogue | Credits
A-B | C-E | F-G | H-J | K-M | N-P | R-S | T-V | W-Z | the Glossary | the Author | Feedback


Rain Gorgeous deep forests in her eyes to explore... Hear the actual recording of Rain Gorgeous made at the Jehu End of the World Party. It is 700K and runs for SEVEN MINUTES.

Rain Gorgeous-the name of an excellent song Zachary Firkly wrote concerning, of all people, Jατασyα. A particularly moving performance of "Rain Gorgeous" was videotaped at the Jehu End of the World Party. Lines from "Rain Gorgeous" periodically are sung at random around Big Fun. "Rain gorgeous deep forest in her eyes to explore" is the main line in the chorus of the song. But there are other cool lines such as "Rain gorgeous gossamer hair weave building tumble smile that." The opening lines of "Rain Gorgeous" are frankly chilling with their subtle power: "Butterfly broken away stumbled in for a genuine surprise/Wiser than her years and floating like Halloween...in the rain/Sitting in the bathtub thinking she's the one for paradise/Slice of dream world cake I'll soon electricity" but momentum is maintained throughout, boosted later by lines specific to Jατασyα: "Starcrossed paths needle though she's bubbling at the seams/But it seems it all fades away/Snails and bells and acorns ring with possibilities yeah." The acidic instrumental two thirds of the way through is wicked with a controlled chaos that has to be experienced to be believed.
Raphæl, from a photo by Jonathan Hayward, 6-4-96

Raphæl-a common sight playing mandolin on the Downtown Mall during the Summer of 1995, this solid Pisces frequently collaborates with Zachary to create and perform music as well. Unlike his close friends, the boys in black, Raphæl is not a big fan of punk rock music; he more prefers to blare the Cure and Sonic Youth on the considerable if improvised stereo in his trademark green Volvo. Stylistically unique with his horizontally striped Wicked Witch of the East socks, leather pants and frequently shaved head, Raphæl also demonstrates considerable depth, composing poetry and creating interesting drawings.

Unlike most Big Fun types, Raphæl seems to be endowed with persistence and initiative. He thinks nothing of hauling heavy amplifiers all the way out to Big Fun for brief fifteen-minute concerts. When the amplifiers are blown out (they invariably are), it's no crisis; he somehow rips them apart and fixes them in record time. When he gets a new piece of musical equipment, Raphæl is like a child on Christmas morning, and the day becomes one of show and tell; his enthusiasm about such things is addictive. When there is a problem and Raphæl has a ghost of a chance of providing aid, true to his Piscean tendencies, he finds a way to save the day. But there was that time he managed to get two Volvos stuck in the quagmire behind Big Fun as he attempted to rescue idiotic punk rockers from the fruits of their redneck mud-bogging inclinations. Raphæl always seems to be able to get one more Volvo whenever something bad happens to the one he is currently using.

Following Sara's departure from Big Fun, Raphæl has moved into her room. His presence in Big Fun is responsible for the presence of an electric generator to occasionally counter the Big Fun blackout that results from the perennial failure to pay utility bills. Also attending Raphæl's presence in Big Fun is a more aggressive attitude against entropy and filth.

On father's day, June 16th, 1996, Raphæl's long time girlfriend, Ana, gave birth to a Gemini boy named Nemo. Since Raphæl was the father and the birth happened on father's day, he and Nemo were featured in big article and photograph in the Daily Progress on June 17th.

rave-a performance of prerecorded techno music with an accompanying light show (usually the craft of a creative and adept DJ who skillfully mixes and layers different stripped-down dance beats and other sounds) for the pleasure of people who enjoy taking drugs (LSD, Ketamine, Ecstasy, Ritalin, Cocaine, Caffeine, Alcohol, whatever is available) and dancing all night.

Raves are normally held illegally and information of a rave's whereabouts is usually made only on the day of the rave. Raves frequently attract a strong dork element in as much as they are popular with so-called cyber-punks, or punks who look like ordinary kids but fuck shit up over the Internet.

raver-someone who takes the rave thing seriously, dressing up in loud colours and wielding glowing rave toys while dancing all night to a rave's pumping rhythms. Ravers are always the first to know about the occurrence of a rave.
Ray, from a photo taken 4-96 by Teri Flint
Ray as a sensitive guy

Ray Snabley-just recovering from a near-marriage, Ray, a Cancer, has found Big Fun to be an acceptable alternative to that dreary path. Easily excited into raptures of body English, Ray delights in all manner sudden and dramatic adventures which do not usually seem thoroughly thought through. There was, for example, the time he jumped through an enormous flame downwind from a mysteriously burning hay bale at the very same time that Raphæl jumped through from the other side. A painful collision ensued. Then there was the time he got his car stuck in the mud in the path behind Big Fun and was forced to hitch hike back and forth to Charlottesville a few times until the water table went down. Late at night, when everyone in Big Fun is drunk, sometimes Ray has been known to play drums for an impromptu performance of Needlework, or else he gets into a wrestling match with Jessika, knocks her unconscious, and ends up sleeping in her room.

Ray's car has gone through many phases. For awhile it resembled the Punch Buggy Green during its formative years. It had a number of customized bumper stickers that said things like "just say kill." In March, Ray added a huge demented skull & cross bones in white paint to the hood, but later he covered this with black paint. In late March, Morgan added a copy of the Satanic Cross to the rear of Ray's car. The car was eventually seized by the police as State's evidence when a common stencil design "GOVERNMENT BANANAS" appeared on it. It was later returned for lack of evidence, however. Ray has subsequently painted the car white so as to cast laurels of virginal integrity on its driver and occupants.

Ray has not been around Big Fun much of late ever since a horrible drunken argument with Jessika. Since late April, 1996, he has been hanging out with Josh Mustin, the Brazilian Girls, Annie the Taurus and Karen the German Girl. The summer of 1996 finds him living in a tidy little crash pad convenient to the Corner on 14th street. This place is rapidly becoming a "little fun" if you know what I mean.

Rebecca-a girl, a Cancer, who, as a waif, had grown bored hanging out in Farrell's apartment. Farrell managed to convince Matthew to spend time with her, and some time later, after a few episodes that Matthew probably would rather I not relate, Rebecca started calling Matthew and wondering why he'd been avoiding her. Rebecca later obtained a more reliable boy-toy and dropped out of sight. Rebecca's age was one of the bigger mysteries surrounding her. When Matthew wanted to do her astrology, she claimed not to know in what year she was born. A number of rumours circulated that placed her at a very tender age indeed.

redneck-in Redneckistan and perhaps elsewhere, there exists a kind of person who is definitely "other." Perhaps these are the people who have "S" in their Meyers-Briggs Personality Profile; with but one exception no one who we've liked enough to test ever has after all. Anyway, in this group of "others" are those, the rednecks, who drive jacked-up pick up trucks equipped with roll bars and bug deflectors, the latter inscribed with such tough guy phrases as "Possum Stomper" or "Bad to the Bone." In the cab of such trucks, behind the driver, typically a gun rack can be found, and on this gun rack several loaded fire arms are at the ready should you let your kitten stray too far from your front porch. In a cooler on the floor of these trucks can be found ample cans of Coors Lite. The driver wears a countenance of sunken dignity, exasperated by stale genes many generations unrefreshed up some degraded Appalachian Hollow. His sense of style might seem alien to you or me, but he's as proud of his haircut (very short in front, very long in back) as he is of the Rebel Flag flying from his CB antenna. After a long day of drinking and driving and shooting and cussing and blaring the Billy Ray Cyrus, the driver will pull into his yard, lit brilliantly as it is by a Redneck Light, park beside his home, typically a trailer with freshly painted decorative shutters. Here he will have to kick the ass of his brother in law, who he will find in bed with his wife. His wife will be wearing light blue eyeshadow and crowning her head will be poofy hair, only somewhat mussed from the evening's uncreative (but procreative) gymnastics.

The term "redneck" actually dates back to the 20s, when uneducated but unionized coal miners in West Virginia would wear red bandannas around their necks to celebrate their communist loyalties. My how times have changed!

Redneck Impressionism-the derisive term given to the genré of art hanging on the walls of the Icecream Parlour in downtown Scottsville, Virginia. In the words of Sara Poiron, "It looks exactly like paint by numbers without faces, and is painful to look at." Most of the paintings are of quaint rural scenes from bygone happy years, replete with horses and huntsmen. And instead of faces, each head has been adorned with a pink oval.

Redneck Light-one of those bright and vaguely blue lamps that rednecks erect outside their trailers. Such lamps burn all night long and use roughly $20 in electricity every month. But if you're a paranoid redneck, you find the expense of the lamp and the annoyance of its shining in your window all night long worth the protection it affords; the arsenal of guns within and the underfed dogs without are simply not enough.

Redneckistan-the region where the rednecks live. Redneckistan is so large, it really isn't of much value to explain where its borders are. Suffice it to say that Charlottesville is not within Redneckistan, but much of Scottsville is.

Reggie-what Sara calls Reggæ, that slow santa clause smoking music from Jamaica. No one plays Reggie at Big Fun except the Pegger. It is a little odd that Sara and Morgan, who so appreciate ska, have no regard for its most obvious ancestor. That's just as well though, because it has been my experience that it is impossible to have an intelligent conversation while Reggie is playing in a room.

remit or quit-pay or leave. This was the tyrannical decree Althia Hurt gave Big Fun when one month they paid their rent a few days late.

retro-a fashion that was done in the past or that is done now by dorks being done by someone regarded as cool. For example, if Jessika were to start wearing pocket protectors, lime green short-sleeve button-up shirts and black polyester long pants pulled up over her navel, no one would shun her for being a dork; they know she is cool. Likely what would happen in such a case is that she would be imitated by a few people; the Gus might be seen wearing a pocket protector some weeks later, or Matthew Hart might seriously consider stealing a lime green dickey from Walmart.

This is the sort of entry that brings criticisms of "Jessika worship" to the glossary from the likes of Sara and Shira.

retrograde-a planet moving backwards through the zodiac. In an astrological chart, retrograde movement happens with all planets, comets and asteroids but never with the Moon or the Sun. Venus and Mercury are retrograde half the time as they pass around to the far side of the sun. The outer planets retrograde once a year as the Earth outruns them around the Sun. When a planet is retrograde in someones astrological chart, its effects manifest in a backwards, introverted manner.

Richard Simmons-he's the curly haired guy who is always appearing on daytime talk shows and telling fat women "you go girl" as they express their intent to lose weight. He's so repulsive in his affected manner that I simply cannot look away.

Righton!-an expression of acknowledgment, but not necessarily an expression of agreement. It best translates to "uh huh." This term started being used extensively by crunchy types in Spring of 1994, and unfortunately, some people still use it, but not without being considered idiots by Big Fun people.

rising-on the horizon and on its way up. In astrology, the sign that is rising (also called the ascendant) on the occasion of someones birth is that person's rising sign. Rising signs can only be calculated if the birth moment and birth place are both accurately known. The rising sign can be counted on to lie in the first house (though since it marks the boundary with the 12th house, it also lies in the 12th house). Since the first house concerns the establishment of identity, the rising sign determines a person's initial impact on the world. As one grows older, one slowly sheds the attributes of this sign and takes on the characteristics of his sun sign. This is good news in the world of Big Fun, since some of us (Jessika, Farrell, the Gus, Theresa Venesian) are cursed with Taurus rising and others of us (Matthew Hart) have things like icky unmysterious water signs rising. Simply because one has transcended his rising sign does not imply that it does not continue to manifest itself in other parts of life. The rising sign, as already stated, also lies in the 12th house, which is the part of life dealing with disruptions and disconnection with core personality. Thus, when one has become altered by circumstance (depression, drugs, alcohol, elation), one can expect to again see the influence of the rising sign.

The cosmic basis for the similarity between two people born under the same rising sign stems from the fact that all the fixed stars of the heavens are in the same alignment over the birth of both. Thus the "energy" from these stars is arrayed the same for both. Furthermore, all the house placements are the same or nearly the same in both charts, adding considerably to the significance of any planets in conjunction between the two charts.

Ritalin-a stimulant used to control hyperactive kids; it apparently helps them concentrate, stay in their seats, and quit talking to their friends and jeering at their enemies. Hyperactive kids suffer from ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, and when they grow up, it seems they never outgrow ADD. Frequently, as adults, they still get their prescriptions of Ritalin, which they then distribute to their grateful friends. If you're punk rock enough, you grind and snort your Ritalin. Otherwise, you just eat it. If you're drunk when it kicks in, you'll feel a little like you're on Ecstasy. When you come down, though, you'll be mean and nasty and looking for a fight. At right is the molecular structure for Ritalin.

rock city!-a synonym for "rockin'" that is used by Matthew Hart when he is especially pleased. Normally "rock city" is accompanied by a double heavy-metal salute.

rockin'-this word is used by Raphæl occasionally to mean the same thing as he means by "awesome"- that is anything between "cool" and "uh huh." As in the case of "awesome" Matthew Hart has picked up on this term and uses it to mean "I approve."

rock star-someone who plays a loud guitar and makes everyone want to have sex with him while he signs multi-million dollar record contracts and takes lots of drugs. Dave Matthews did a real disservice to Charlottesville by deluding its teenagers into thinking they too can be rocks stars. Now all the teenagers of Charlottesville are stuck in the 80s, waiting for their "big break." They see the rock star as living the ultimate life -sex, drugs, money, respect- payment just for being a cool guy. They don't realize what someone must give up for that sort of success. If and when the time actually came to give those things up, hell, those teenagers would probably just cave in and sell out and be, if they're lucky, yet more Billy Joels. At Big Fun, the myth of the rock star has been largely deconstructed and devalued. Still, it is unfortunate that Big Fun people have absolutely no model of initiative to emulate.

rogue-someone who lives outside the laws of our society but seldom or never gets in trouble for doing so. This term could be used to describe many in Big Fun Society; for the most part though it is reserved for someone who would have to completely change his lifestyle if he had to discontinue committing felonies on a regular basis. The term "waif" is used for the younger, more innocent societal reject more typical of the greater Big Fun community.

romance-a love for, and desire to have sex with, someone who has reciprocal feelings. A romance usually plays itself out over a period of at least a month, and not uncommonly results in little physical interaction, although both parties to a romance, and usually others, are aware that it is taking place.

Romanian Babies Must Die-one of the many things Don Mueller is said to have shouted in one of his many psychotic tirades. The catchiness of this phrase is evidenced by the fact that most people in Big Fun have said this phrase many times more often than Don Mueller ever has.

Rose, the-Wild Irish Rose, Johnny Boom Boom Mancini's vino of choice.

rough-bad or nasty. To have a "rough appearance" means to be dirty and perhaps injured. If something "smells rough" it usually has the odour of feces or rotting flesh. If an action is "rough" it is difficult to do; an example being Morgan Anarchy's describing the drinking of tussin as "rough."

ruling planet-a planet that has the principle influence over a person, a sign, or a house. The rulerships of the visible planets over the various signs and houses have been fixed for centuries. For the more recently discovered planets, the rulerships have been decided in relatively modern times, supplanting older rulerships. For example, the fact that Pluto rules Scorpio has only been established since the discovery of that planet in 1939. Scorpio had previously been ruled by Mars and still is, to a lesser extent.

People have their own personal ruling planets as well. The planet that is best aspected in someones chart is his ruling planet. Examples of ruling planets for people in the world of Big Fun: the Sun rules Morgan Anarchy and Johnny Boom Boom; Mercury rules Sara, the Pegger and Theresa; Venus rules Farrell, Michæl Nace, Jατασyα, Shira, Zachary, Matthew Hart and Jessika; Mars rules Deya; Jupiter rules Jennn; and Uranus rules the Gus. Jessika had thought her ruling planet was Uranus and apparently just thinking such things can give a planet power in ones life (see "Libra").

run away!-a cry that goes out when a minor crime of theft, trespassing or vandalism has been committed and it is now time to quickly leave the scene where it took place. Jesse, one of the boys in black, is fond of using this phrase.

Sagittarius-the 9th sign of the zodiac. The sun passes through this sign in late November through mid December. This sign is a mutable fire sign and people born with heavenly bodies, the horizon, or most particularly the sun in it tend to be jovial, free thinking, uninhibited, and desirous of travel and novelty. The sign is typical of happy-go-lucky people who throw caution to the wind and just do new and interesting things without pausing much for reflection. Famous people with Sagittarius for a sun sign include Joseph Stalin, Frank Sinatra and Jane Fonda. Sagittarians known to Big Fun include Bad Ironing Board, Cecilia Smith the Brazilian Girl and Xyza.

Salad Shooter!-in the planning stages for the yet to be commenced-upon movie project (the results of which would be a movie entitled Big Fun), it was thought by Sara, Jessika and the Gus that much humour could be added to the movie by having a line of retarded adults appear on film for just long enough for them all to shout "Salad Shooter!" in as much unison as such people can muster. As you may know, "Salad Shooter!" was a principle line from a ditty in an advertisement promoting a device for chopping salad vegetables. Interestingly, the shouting of the phrase "Salad Shooter!" used to cause much amusement for a small segment of alternative Oberlin culture back in 1992.

Groovy man...

santa clause-a Malvern word that means marijuana. This term apparently had its origins in an episode of Twin Peaks, a TV serial directed by David Lynch.

Santa clause is only an occasional treat at Big Fun, and is not actively sought or especially craved. That santa clause is so reviled by the judicial system is surprising given that santa clause appears to be the only drug known which gives its users a conscience that they would otherwise lack. Even the most nihilistic sociopath will, when smoking much santa clause, reflect anxiously upon the foolish and unkind things he has done, hoping to improve his behaviour in the future. When in the company of good friends, santa clause has a less moralistic effect, but all the same both Jessika and the Gus claim that they are much better behaved whenever under the influence of santa clause than they are when sober or drunk.

The active agent in santa clause is THC or 3,4 trans-tetrahydrocannabinol, whose structure is displayed at right.

I really need a cup of coffee right now.
Sara, from a photo taken 5-96 by Jonathan Hayward

Sara Poiron-this very thin Gemini with sharp elbows and much vitriol heard about Steve Weiner through Jessika and was motivated to come to Charlottesville and investigate. She quickly decided that Charlottesville was a good replacement for the suburban Philadelphia waiting room she was then living in. In a familiar air-sign rite of passage, Sara soon found herself caught for months in the claws of a Cancer. Later, upon cutting her extremely long hair and beginning anew at Big Fun, she discovered that the Gus was not as bad as she had initially decided back during the Spring. There was something oddly unfulfilling about the Gus, however, and it soon became clear that she was going to kill him if something didn't change. What changed was the arrival of Shira, another Gemini, and Two Point Five Children, an ore from which Dark, Mysterious Signs could be extracted. Despite these good things, all is not well, however. For the most part, life remains unfulfilling for Sara. Much of her time at Big Fun since March 1996 has been spent commiserating with Shira about how very agro she FEELS. Complaining proved insufficient, however, and she and Shira returned to the Philadelphia waiting room in May of 1996.

Perhaps one of the most melodramatic personalities known to Big Fun, Sara delights in making public spectacles filled with oratory and chaotic body language. To an extent she is unaware of how much control she exercises over her friends when in their company. They may mumble unkind things about her behind her back, but when in her presence they are willing to follow her most outrageous commands or examples (see "Soiled Little Boy's Underpants"). Late at night, Sara fights her perpetual insomnia by taking prescription Clonidine and reading anything from Kafka novels to how-to books on astral projection.

Satan-a bad man with red skin, horns, a tail, and enormous genitalia hidden under his expensive Italian clothes. He likes to listen to Death Metal and hang out with the Brazilian Girls when he isn't getting kicked out of Trax or poisoning the Charlottesville water supply. God and Satan have been engaged in a heated rivalry ever since Satan had a torrid affair with the one angel in Heaven in whom a then-horny God had installed a fully-functional vagina. Satan is always welcome when he hangs out at Big Fun, but it would be nice in the future if he wouldn't knock holes in the wall and ignite the hay bales.

Satanic Cross-a plastic and wire piece of junk found in one of Fairview Farm's abandoned houses became a spray paint stencil widely used in the Big Fun area. The resulting images resemble crosses in gross shape, but are full of little cross bars and parallel beams; they look a little like high-contrast photos of the horizons of industrial wastelands. For lack of a better term, the stencil and the resulting images are called "Satanic Crosses."

Saturn-the sixth planet from the sun. In astrology, position of Saturn bears on ones evil, drunk or repulsive nature. In Roman mythology, Saturn was the jealous father of the gods who, fearing a son would usurp his throne, devoured his children. A painting by Goya on this subject greatly influenced some of the paintings done by the Gus, particularly Woman Crucified on Man. Peggy, Shira, Matthew Hart, Deya, Morgan, Theresa and Jessika have Saturn in Leo, which makes their bad side flamboyant but relatively "cool." Sara has Saturn in Cancer, and as a consequence she actually becomes somewhat maternal when she is being most evil. The Gus and Farrell have Saturn in Aries, and this tends to make them arrogant when they get drunk. Jατασyα is the most interesting of all; with Saturn in Virgo, she tends to analyze and look for imperfection when vindictive. Saturn rules Capricorn and also Aquarius to an extent. The best place for Saturn is without question Libra, while the worst place is Scorpio. Recently Saturn has been in Aries.

Savitri- "the queen of the Charlottesville stage" as the C-ville Weekly labels her, Savitri (a 25 year old Aries) is indeed the one actress anyone can really think of in Charlottesville. At times Sara and Jessika find her distasteful (like when Savitri offhand labeled them "hippie chicks" to the Gus), but then other times (as is usual for Big Fun), something good is discovered about Savitri, like that she keeps a shoe graveyard at her mom's place in Batesville. The thing that makes Savi just a little suspect is how fashionable she is, with her miniskirts, horizontally striped stockings, and jacked-to-the-ceiling boots. For the most part, Savitri is full of enthusiastic energy, and as extroverted as she is, she delights in including others on her little adventures. Currently she has a boyfriend named Anselm who works at Higher Grounds.

scab analysis-a pseudoscience which purports to predict the future of someone based on the arrangements of wounds, scars and scabs on the body. Jehu of the Gathering does not claim to be a master of scab analysis, but he was able to interpret the severe left hand burn that the Gus received at the April 26th Rising Sun Bakery benefit (held on Fairview Farms) as indicative of transformation towards a positive outcome.

scene-a social climate for a place. Like the weather, the individuals who make up a place change from evening to evening and from weekend to weekday. But consistently there will be a certain type of person who frequents a certain place. A description of the average of those types is a description of the scene. Scenes, like climates, are subject to gradual drift over time. Most individuals have hung out in several entirely different scenes at different times in their lives, and most old timers in a given scene have watched that scene slowly change, usually "for the worse," they always say. For example, Farrell has been heard to complain about the deterioration of the "Charlottesville scene" over the years.

Scientology-amongst the wealthy on the west coast, this cult has developed a large number of adherents since it was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. Such adherents believe that all our troubles and pains are mere psychological fictions (often involving evil people successfully "pushing our buttons") and these fictions can be denied using various techniques. A child who scrapes his knee is told, for example, that he should put his pain on a scrap of paper and flush it down the toilet. A device called an E-meter can be employed during an "audit" to, by measuring electrical resistance across the body, determine to what extent one is not at peace. One must strive to perform acts that do good to all "dynamics" or levels of survival, from that of self through that of species to that of universal infinite-ness (there are seven dynamics in all). It also bears mentioning that lots of words in Scientology are regular English words with -ness tacked on to the end. Drugs and alcohol are definite evils, but so are such things as expressing ones pain, seeking comfort, or demonstrating weakness. The Scientologist is expected to be a stoic. The hardcore of the Scientology world eventually sell off their possessions, sign a billion-year contract to serve on a cruise ship (the Sea-Org), and then...well, I don't recall.

The point is that when, back in July 1995, Jessika went to Whidbey Island in Washington State's Puget Sound to study oil painting, she was placed in a mileau of nothing but Scientologists...her instructors and her fellow students. Despite their various attempts to dissolve Jessika into this solution, she resisted and came out, as always, with amusing stories to tell.

schwag-santa clause of inferiour quality.

Scorpio-the 8th and darkest, most mysterious sign of the zodiac. The sun passes through this sign in late October through mid November. This sign is a fixed water sign and people born with heavenly bodies, the horizon, or most particularly the sun in it tend to be paranoid, conservative, introspective, and desirous of fundamental honesty and union. The sign is typical of doctors, psychoanalysts, sardonic poets, conspiracy mongers, surreal artists and serial killers. Since the sign is fixed, it endows its natives with obsessive tenacity in their pursuit of underlying truths. Famous people who have Scorpio for a sun sign include Theodore Roosevelt, Alistair Cooke, Charles Manson, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Scorpios known to some in Big Fun include Wonder Boy Neek, Soiled Little Boy's Underpants, Jesse, Don Mueller, Jessika's brother Travis, that guy Dennis from Philadelphia, Jamie Dyer, Janine Jakim and Patrick Reed.

Scottsville-a small town 20 miles south of Charlottesville on VA 20 and a tight northward bend in the James River. Protected from the river by a large protective dike, Scottsville has the same serene surreal summer air as permeates David Lynch's Blue Velvet. The people of Scottsville are hard working conservative Americans. That such people have to put up with occasional visits by intoxicated or hungover members of the Big Fun community is regarded by many as a disgrace.

Scottsville IGA-back when the community of Big Fun was new, the obvious place to go shopping locally was the Scottsville IGA on the northern edge of Scottsville at the strip shopping center off of Virginia Route 6. But over the ensuing months, Big Fun people have come to resent the Scottsville IGA for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons isn't even the fault of IGA; nutmeg obtained from the Scottsville IGA led to the miserable experience related under the "megging" entry. Then there is the issue of the price of IGA vino, a dollar in excess of what it costs in Charlottesville. Then there are the employees. Sara describes them thusly, "...all the male employees have Patrick Reed Haircuts and the female employees are extremely overweight and rude." Sara then goes on to relate how once an employee accused her of stealing something she had just finished paying for, and upon being corrected, failed to apologize to her, "therein incurring the wrath of Sara's Mars in Aries." Big Fun people now do most of their local shopping at Skippy's.

Scottsville punks, the-the name given to the members of the Big Fun scene by the singer for the Vitamen; he has dedicated songs to "the Scottsville Punks" on at least two occasions.

scrape-to use tools to extract resin from santa clause paraphernalia such that this resin can be smoked. This is commonly done when santa clause is desired but unavailable. A good show of scraping can sometimes lead to someone with a covert stash of santa clause breaking out a little of the real stuff. But some scraping efforts can lead to a rich "mother load" that outperforms all but the dankest of nugs.
Meow, but I must go attend to my kittens now.
Senovia, July 1996

Senovia-the female black cat, a Virgo, who lives at Big Fun. Senovia used to have a horse face and an insipid attitude. As she has grown older, she has become more attractive and bolder. She has always been a better mouser than her brother, Pywacket. Her white spot used to annoy some at Big Fun (some even tried to dye it blue with Manic Panic), but now most people think it is cute. Perhaps a mouse, looking up just before her pounce, would think it a patch of cloudy sky showing through a hole in the ceiling.

septum ring-a piece of metal, usually a hoop, inserted through a perforation made in the septum (the thick wall of cartilage that separates the nostrils from each other). Unless there is already a perforation in the septum resulting from a birth defect or years of cocaine abuse, the installation of the necessary hole is a painful ordeal that is best done professionally after the administration of a local anæsthetic. Septum piercing is thus regarded as a sort of "hard core" body piercing, in the same league as tongue, nipple, penis, scrotum, labia and clitoris piercing. The one advantage septum piercing has over other "hard core" piercings is that it is easily visible on the face. People get to see how hard core one is concerning the body piercing æsthetic. It bears mentioning, however, that few are the faces that look good with a septum ring; they are not subtle and usually resemble a door knocker installed in the face. It seems likely that for this reason alone, the septum piercing fad will soon pass.

Traditionally, no one at Big Fun who might have had a pierced septum ever wore a ring through the piercing. There are some who have visited Big Fun with septum rings (Brandon the Capricorn and Johnny Boom Boom come to mind), and the best looking of any of these was the one hanging over the upper lip of Shira's friend Amy the Foot.

Jessika had her septum pierced by Mutt the professional piercer at the Nomadic Festival. She'd been talking about having her septum pierced ever since reading the above definition in the glossary.

seven hundred pound boulder-a big piece of the World that Morgan Anarchy mistakenly seized ahold of while climbing at Limestone (a nearby rock-climbing place) in late April, 1996. The seven hundred pound boulder came loose and both it and Morgan bounded end over end down the mountain. The result of this was Morgan needing numerous stitches in the back of his mohawk (where blood had been issuing forth copiously) as well as a prescription of big hot-pink pain killer pills. Rock climbing is dangerous business, but so is living a dissolute life. Morgan does both.

Seventies-the ten year period that connects the 60s to the 80s. Characteristic of the 70s was disillusionment in all institutions. The government was demonstrated as corrupt both by Vietnam and by Watergate. The economy and environment were constantly threatened by evil forces such as Arab embargoes and toxic wastes and this resulted in a general malaise in the American people that Jimmy Carter so perceptively noted. But like everything else Carter said, his "malaise" comment resulted in ridicule. This is most unfortunate, since Carter was one of the more conscious and honest presidents the United States has ever experienced. But America loves macho men and Aries and Jimmy Carter was certainly neither.

The seventies saw the rise in the gay rights, environmental, and consumer rights movements. Coincident with this, music turned both more hostile (punk rock, heavy metal) and pleasantly hedonistic (disco, pop). For some reason, everyone was in agreement at the time that clothes should be made out of plastic. The Gus made a scarecrow in the late seventies, and though the straw and other organic parts have long since rotted away, one can still find the scarecrow's shirt and pants in an almost wearable condition, slowly being swallowed by the sediments. Along with being made of plastic, clothes in the 70s were usually worn very tight. A night of disco-dancing in tight plastic clothes made for some stinky bodies. But such a night was considered a complete failure if it did not end in passionate sex. During the 70s, restrictions against unmarried sexual behaviour all but collapsed, and with this came the origins of a moralistic backlash that both rose and fell in the 80s.

Most people in the world of Big Fun, with the exception of Farrell and the Gus, were born in the 70s.

Shaque, the-the 16 by 8 foot building wherein lives the Gus during most of any week. The Shaque has a very efficient layout designed after much experience in dorm rooms; the bunk is above the desk area, and there are numerous shelves crowded with books, art projects and electronics. The Gus built the Shaque between 1990-1991 when he needed a private place to stay after his aborted Oberlin College education. The Shaque is located about five miles south of Staunton, Virginia.

Shark Face-a face made with a fairly widely-opened mouth, all the teeth showing, and the eyes looking particularly menacing. It is difficult for a human to pull this off, but allegedly Sara Poiron's cat, Stink, does a perfect Shark Face. For about a week in December 1995, Sara herself was moved by the spirit of Shark Face, and she challenged many of the "others" we had to walk and drive amongst with it, along with the snarled phrase, "I am SHARK FACE!" In truth, though, there is nothing all that frightening about a Shark Face; it's really rather cute.
I am so smart that I am oppressed by society.
the SHARP, a drawing by Jessika

SHARP-acronym for "Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice." That's all well and good, but such skin heads turn out to be just as asinine as their more prejudiced look-alikes. Read the next entry.

SHARP, the-Aaron the SHARP, a Libra. He was recently in jail for a time for some manner of infraction. When he got out, he discovered the Malvern Girls and wasn't sure which one he wanted to hop in the sack with more. Sara had a number of long conversations with him and decided, rather slowly I think, that he was a psycho (upon meeting her at Macadoos he'd stated he'd "Come with the wind" for her). Jessika reached a more negative conclusion with much less deliberation. It seems that simply over the phone, when Sara didn't want to talk to him, the SHARP invited Jessika over for dinner and to spend the night. When the Gus was witness to one of the SHARP's loud and self-important monologues on the Downtown Mall, he was very unimpressed. What would Johnny Boom Boom think of this guy? The Gus hates people who try so hard to be impressive.

It bears noting that the above definition, along with the definition for "SHARP," so offended the SHARP that he has promised to break every finger in the hands of its author as well as recruit a group of SHARP colleagues in Baltimore for the purpose of inflicting even more substantial punitive damage.

The non-violent confrontation that inevitably happened between the Gus and the SHARP occurred at a block party on Montpelier Street off of Fontaine Avenue on Saturday, May 11th. The SHARP claimed he was not so terribly offended by the parts of his definition that refer to his hitting on girls. "We all hit on girls," the Gus responded helpfully. What most offended the SHARP was being compared to Eric the Huffanator Huffman (presumably in the general definition for "SHARP"). The Gus had to agree with the SHARP on this point. The fact that non-SHARP skin heads are racist, sexist homophobes and proud of it and the fact that SHARPs at least try to avoid being prejudiced is an important and fundamental difference. Nonetheless, the Gus still is of the opinion that people who feel their problems are best solved with violence and bully tactics are lacking some fundamental social skills and they may never find life fulfilling until they discover the power of grace and subtlety. Further, it is recommended that the SHARP read the definition for "Jessika Flint of Malvernia."

shiksa-a non-Jewish girl. This term has a negative connotation.
You know what was really stupid was when he tried to like eat the spaghetti off the floor with a straw.
Shira, from a photo taken 5-96 by Teri Flint

Shira-having met most of the personalities of Big Fun at the infamous House Warming Party, and having seen the real potential for things at Big Fun to gravitate towards disaster, Shira was still determined to move in, as had been planned from the start, in late February 1996. One of her major goals: to find someone to father her child, which she wanted to have as soon as safety to said child permitted. The first candidate for father was Matthew Hart, who (as is typical for Matthew) said "sure, I'd love too" without a moment's reflection. But then he got to thinking about it and decided that perhaps he didn't want to be a father at the age of 18 after all. She later discovered she had the wherewithal to decoct Capricorn out of the pudding known as Two Point Five Children. One indication of Shira's allure is that this same Capricorn was moved to brand "Shira" on both of his arms. Even though these brands turned into illegible and hideous scars, the act that spawned them was definitely not the sort done without conviction.

Like many in the world of Big Fun, Shira has a fondness for animals. But Shira's fondness is even more intense and irrational than the Big Fun norm and seems to be related in some way to a similar intense weakness for human babies. She is possibly even more hardcore than Jατασyα in this regard. You can't go anywhere with Shira without her stopping to pet all the dogs she comes across. And if she suspects someone has mistreated his dog, she is not hesitant to detail her suspicions in an accusatory tone. For example, one day a stray beagle appeared at Big Fun and its owner was called and told to pick up the dog, and, by the way, to bring a bottle of vino over. Soon he had arrived, vino in hand. Shira had no evidence that the owner really was cruel to his dog, but she chewed him up about it anyway, citing as evidence that the dog had strayed "and what happy dog would stray?" For his part, the dog's owner suspected that he was giving vino to a bunch of underage people (true), but he got his dog back, so the vino was Big Fun's.

Shira has strong artistic initiative; she is constantly in search of materials (doll heads, letter stencils, paint, broken mirror, vinyl) to make demented works from. She frequently wears a faded black jacket upon which stenciled slogans have been accumulating.

During March 1996, Sara Poiron and Shira became very close. It was a Gemini thing. There was a period during which the two unemployed girls spent long hours sitting in Sara's room talking endlessly, playing Solitaire and acting very agro. When Shira finally obtained a job, it was as dish washer upstairs at the C & O. But at length, Big Fun proved to be something other than what Shira was seeking. She and Sara moved back to Philadelphia in May 1996.

SHITaki Mushroom Farm-the Pegger's first job since moving to Big Fun was at a SHITaki Mushroom farm, where expensive Japanese SHITaki mushrooms are cultivated indoors on rotting wood. That was all well and good, but then it became apparent that her boss wanted to treat her as though she is an idiot, saying things like "What, do you think mushrooms just take care of themselves?" when she wanted to go home to Malvern for Christmas. So with no regrets she quit one glorious day.

shotgun-the front passenger seat in a car. This seat is often viewed as the most desirable place to sit since there is more leg room available and more control over the window and stereo in this position. Someone who wishes to ride in this seat is granted it if he is simply the first to call out "shotgun!" as a group of friends converges on a car that is about to serve as transportation. Some people seem to think that their sitting in shotgun position confers upon them high social status, while some people, most notably Sara and the Gus, actually seem to prefer sitting in the back. The term "shotgun" dates back to the days of stage coaches when the passenger had to be a fast and accurate gunslinger should bloodthirsty highwaymen or Native Americans suddenly spring out of the woods.

shotgun martyr-someone who never calls "shotgun" and doesn't care if he ends up in the back seat or not. Incidentally, it is very bad protocol to sit in the back seat if there is no one "riding shotgun" and most drivers will not allow this situation to happen unless the passenger in the back is a drunk who has either passed out or died.

sister-a fellow female, especially one at some sort of crunchy affair such as a Rainbow Gathering or witchy fertility ritual. At Big Fun, the term is used exclusively in a sardonic manner. The word "sister," when said by a man, has a sexual quality too that the word "brother" lacks when spoken by a woman.

six six six-Revelations 13:18 reads "It is a fact that the number of the beast is the number of a specific dude and that number is six hundred and sixty six." And, the Bible continues, when "the beast" or "the anti-Christ" arrives at Big Fun (this is associated with the end of the world; see "Gathering, the") it will be obvious who he is since he will have this "number of the beast" upon his forehead.

Perhaps the number will be written using ancient Hebrew, Greek, Roman or, if we're lucky, Arabic numerals. If the beast has Arabic numerals on his forehead, then we'll see "666" there above his eyes. But if the number of the beast is in Roman Numerals, the beast will have "DCLXVI" on his forehead. It's most likely, however, that the mark of the beast will be in Hebrew numerals, thus it may just look like a birth mark and we'll never know. Complicating the matter, the beast might turn out to be a goth and have his face (except for his eyes and mouth) covered with white makeup.

In the meantime, the residents of Big Fun celebrate the number of the beast with large professionally-rendered black and white images thereof.

Sixties-the ten years between the Fifties and the Seventies. In the Sixties, people still thought that the government worked mostly for the common good. This is why they still believed in protest against the awful things the government did. People honestly thought that if they made enough noise, the government would feel guilty and amend its ways. Such protest did work to the advantage of the civil rights movement. But the war in Vietnam was a psychosis from which no trauma could awaken the powers that were.

The rise of protest in the 60s encouraged people to act in ways long regarded as deviant. If the government can be wrong about some things, so too could the dominant culture. Men didn't have to have short hair. Boys and girls could have sex without waiting to get married. If they had a kid, it was their karmic fate. But if one wanted to have sex and not have kids, there were all kinds of new birth control techniques available. By the early 70's even abortion had been legalized. As for drugs, well, people didn't seem to suffer any ill effects from the LSD they ate and the santa clause they smoked. It was a widely held view that drugs were going to be legalized any day. Meanwhile, people finally grew bored from waiting for Christ's return. It seemed that God had died.

A burgeoning alternative culture contributed to by numerous people living unconventional lifestyles (rebelling against God, government, career, parents and marriage) fed a lively artistic and music scene that resulted in everything from the Charles Manson murders to the band known as the Grateful Dead. Hippies roamed the country in psychedelic Volkswagen Microbuses and spawned children with names like Turtle, Juniper, Leaves, River, Sundew, Autumn, Shanti and Savitri. Technology was viewed by many as able to accomplish anything. A cliché from the period is, "If we can put a man on the Moon why can't we_____?"

ska-a largely British genre of music that sounds like very fast-paced Reggæ (it's in 2/2 rhythm). The vocals are almost always sung with a lower-class British accent. For the most part, ska can be viewed as an intermediate stage of music between the Reggæ-infuenced dive scene of the British 1970s (out of which such bands as The Police emerged) and more straightforward punk rock.

Ska influence can be heard in much punk rock today, even in that Rancid song that gets so much radio play these days. One of the more popular ska bands is Operation Ivy. Ska is much respected among some at Big Fun, particularly Morgan Anarchy and Sara Poiron, and even Matthew Hart to an extent.

Reacting to the above definition, Shira is quick to point out that in addition to being a quasi-punk musical style, ska is also a semi-traditional musical style of the West Indies. But to most ears, traditional ska of the West Indies isn't all that different from Reggæ and it is doubtful that such music would be popular with Morgan Anarchy or, least of all, Matthew Hart.

skanky-a person, usually a girl, who is interesting sexually but risky in terms of what venereal diseases she might be carrying. Frequently people who have sex with skanky girls do so covertly for fear of what their friends will think about them.

sketchy-unworthy of trust. This term is not used much by Philadelphians, though Charlottesvillians, especially teenage girls, use this term often. The word is frequently used to describe slimy men whom a girl is both interested in and afraid of.

skin head-someone, usually a lower class skinny white male, who shaves his head and follows a number of the beliefs of fascism, including "life is war," "the weak must perish" and "it's us against them." Most skin heads are anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, and they view women as mere sex objects. But there is also a group that calls itself SHARPs. What with their reliance on violence to solve problems, I have my doubts that SHARPs have much more going for them than other skin heads.

Skippy's-in Scottsville down on the James River floodplain, this medium-sized store is a favourite of Matthew Hart if only for the fact that they never check his ID when he buys beer there. But ladies beware! Feminine hygiene products are not cheap at Skippy's.

slack-characterized by no ambition to achieve anything except immediate biological gratification. Anything that doesn't have a biological imperative can be placed on the back burner.

slacker-someone who enjoys slacking so much that he fails to find gainful employment. Most people in the Big Fun community are motivated to work by fiscal imperatives, though they frequently lapse into a more slackerly lifestyle, especially when they are fired.

sleazy-someone with a penchant for many sexual partners. Such sexual partners are treated in a casual manner and kept at an emotional distance. Usually sleazy people are surprised and even alarmed when they discover one of their sexual partners has fallen in love with anyone, let alone them. Sleaziness is typical of the most extreme sexual style of air signs, particularly Aquarians.

slimy-an adjective used to describe a man or a lesbian whose primary interests upon meeting a new female are related to sex, with a view to eliminating or reducing preliminaries or courtship, which are seen as annoyances. Sliminess is typical of the most extreme sexual style of fire signs, particularly Aries.

slut-someone who deserves little respect because of a propensity to have sex with anyone. This term occasionally refers to boys, though for the most part it is reserved for girls.

smoke out-to get everyone present in a room fully intoxicated with santa clause that one has in ones possession. This is frequently the social obligation of anyone with large amounts of santa clause, especially if the existence of this santa clause is known and other substances (particularly alcohol) have been provided by others.

smooth-effective in the courtship process.

smooth cat-a guy who demonstrates success in romantic pursuits with women. Stink the cat is a "smooth cat" in all respects. This term met with some resistance by Jessika and Sara when Josh Smith used it to congratulate Zachary visa vis Peggy in December, 1995.

snake-a legless reptile without moveable eyelids. Snakes are popular pets in Charlottesville amongst the youth of today, perhaps because they freak parents out in ways that cats, even black ones possessed by the spirit of Gigi Allin, never will. Domesticated snakes are generally tolerant of being held by anyone, and they can be taken out into public with none of the problems (defecation, urination, coprophagy, running off, chasing cars, going up girls' skirts, antagonism towards people, cats and fellow canines) that attend dogs. Thus snakes make for good ice breakers with like-minded (read "hip") strangers. If someone freaks out at the sight of your snake, chances are you don't want to meet him anyway.

It is a rather unfortunate circumstance that people tend to stick with just two types of snakes: pythons and boas. There are plenty of snake species out there, and some of them have rattles and fangs that secrete powerful toxins. If you really want to scare the shit out of your parents and impress your friends, why don't you go get yourself a Sidewinder, an Asp, a Black Mamba, or a King Cobra? That would be chinese. It would also be a good demonstration of fatalism.

No one at Big Fun has a pet snake, but we are the pets of a big rat snake that lives in the well behind the house, and there are almost certainly more snakes residing under the house. The tag team of cats and snakes probably accounts for the complete absence of mice at Big Fun this Spring.

Snooky's-the pawn shop on the Downtown Mall. Typically Snooky's has an abundance of weed eaters in stock. Apparently when times are tough the family weed eater starts looking a little too much like a luxury. As one might expect, Snooky's is not known for its generosity, though it has helped a few people at Big Fun pay their rent on time.

so it seems-this is a catch phrase the Gus (or Jessika, when mocking the Gus) often uses to signify the end of a declarative sentence.

social skills-talents that enable someone to communicate with people without causing them to flee. People with good social skills can achieve everything that people with bad social skills try so desperately to achieve while not seeming to be trying to achieve anything. It is precisely the trying that seems to get people with bad social skills into trouble. Social skills and intelligence are essential for survival in the world of Big Fun; people who lack either of these in general find the place unfriendly and decide not to return. Since people who lack social skills can be highly amusing, it is unfortunate that this is the case.

sociopath-someone with better-than-average social skills and intelligence who is motivated primarily by a simplistic hedonistic desire to serve him/herself. The feelings of others and the law are never big considerations in deliberating what course of action to take, except in cases where there is a clear and direct link between these externals and the fortune of the sociopath. Most people who live and hang out at Big Fun have strong sociopathic tendencies, with the possible exception of the Pegger.

so-dah-this term, used mostly by Sara and Shira, is a generic reference to carbonated soft drinks, especially those that can be obtained for a mere quarter from a vending machine. The price of vending machine so-dah has dropped dramatically over the years. Not many years ago there was no vending machine from which a 12 oz. can could be purchased for less than 55 cents.
I had five women last night.  FIVE WOMEN, my friends.
Soiled Little Boy's Underpants, from a photo by Jonathan Hayward 6-4-96

Soiled Little Boy's Underpants-this is one of Sara's appropriations of one of Shira's terms, used in this case as the uncomplimentary nick name for Scott, one of the Jerusalem regulars. Sara thinks Scott is a Jim Morrison wanna-be. Further, Sara is with Don Mueller in her suspicions about anyone with the initials "JM" (for example, see "Jenny Mothershead").

Sara took the harassment of Soiled Little Boy's Underpants to new extremes when she shrieked at him from a moving car, and by this mere suggestion caused the driver to stop and a posse of friends to pile out and gently beat him up and then pursue him on foot! This sort of Lord of the Flies episode left Sara thinking that she and her friends need to exercise more self-restraint in the future, or else face a sudden flaming conclusion (see "pre-apocalyptic dread").

Soiled Little Boy's Underpants characterizes as "just stupid" Sara's calling him a Jim Morrison wanna-be. It infuriates him that she can so casually and perhaps unjustifiably reach such a conclusion and have it so affect the behaviour of her friends.

Solitaire Gods-an indication of the slackerly lifestyle of some at Big Fun is the popularity, during the month of April 1996, of the card game known as Solitaire. Over the course of many games, Sara and Shira developed a pseudoscience of their own concerning the playing of Solitaire. They believe that somewhere there are Solitaire Gods that control the likelihood of ones winning a game of Solitaire. The Solitaire Gods are prepared to answer any question you may ask them if it is answerable as yes or no, but first you must appease them with thirteen meaningless games in one day. Then, while shuffling the card deck thirteen times, you ask your question. Then you play a game. If you win this game, the Gods have said yes, otherwise they have said no.

spare change-this is a verb that means to request small amounts of money from many different people without offering anything in return. Often people who are spare changed are total strangers or are known only poorly. It is also possible to spare change inanimate objects such as telephone booths and the untidy floors of the rooms of housemates. Morgan Anarchy is a frequent practitioner of the art of spare change. It is a relatively effective way to raise small sums for the purchase of cigarettes or Mad Dog.

special K-ketamine, a raver drug. It is used medically as an anesthetic, but in low doses it acts as powerful psychedelic whose effects only last about an hour. Ketamine is similar to PCP in molecular structure.

speed metal-a genré of music typified by a continuous double-bass drum roll, high-speed distorted guitar rhythms, an almost silent bass, and screeched or groaned vocals concerning war, death, fighting, environmental abuse, brutality, and (in rare cases) lust. The main problem with most speed metal bands is that they still see a need to put guitar solos in their songs, and the guitar solos are always really bad and last entirely too long. Speed metal seems to be a result of a marriage between punk rock and heavy metal. An indication of this can be found in early Slayer, which sounds rather punkish. Examples of speed metal bands: Kreator, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth, Prong, and some early Metallica. A band such as Pantera is hard to classify; the rhythm is unique and very hard but fairly slow, and the lyrics, violently delivered by a skinhead, are all about being dumped by ones girlfriend. Perhaps Pantera could be classified as "ultra heavy metal." Speed metal is not much appreciated at Big Fun where it is derided as "hesher," though Josh Smith, the Gus and Matthew like to hear it occasionally.

spike-spikes can be small metal points protruding from leather straps placed around the neck or the arms, or they can be gatherings of hair held together by glue. To gather such hair together and make it into a spike is "to spike," a verb. These are all trappings of the punk rock fashion.

splief-marijuana in the form of a cigarette, that is, rolled up in rolling papers and smoked, at least for the most part, with no other paraphernalia. Sara Poiron finds the term "splief" highly grating, and once struck the Gus for uttering it.

square-an aspect in an astrological chart wherein there is a separation of close to 90 degrees. Objects that square each other in an astrological chart are viewed as being in conflict.

StAB-acronym for "Saint Anne's Bellfield"-the Charlottesville private school attended by Annie the Taurus and her friend Karen the German Girl.

stalk-to pursue and cause psychological stress to someone for any of a number of reasons. When a boy stalks a girl, it's usually because he knows the girl poorly but would like to have sex with her. When the girls at Big Fun stalk someone, it usually doesn't have any obvious sexual purpose. Jessika's stalking of Wei the Alien, for example, seems to be largely related to her desire to figure out what the hell is wrong with him. Stalking often involves the bizarre placement of items on the porch or in the house of the intended victim. One time when Farrell "stalked" Big Fun, he left coconuts, a Schæffer Beer, and cryptic messages.

Staunton-forty miles west of Charlottesville, where I-64 meets I-81 is the town known as Staunton (pronounced "stan-ten"). Staunton is mostly a white collar town, filled with social workers, teachers, and therapists who staff the numerous state institutions such as Western State (an insane asylum), the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, the Staunton Correctional Facility (a medium-security prison) and Dejarnette (an institution for insane children).

The Gus grew up in the country to the south of Staunton on a gravel road (thus he never learned how to ride a skate board). For the most part the Gus found Staunton a stable but unexciting place. He learned how to entertain himself with the nonhuman world in the absence of a social life; his friends all lived miles away. Never content with the conservative complacency of Staunton, the Gus fucks shit up locally by going on spray paint sprees or by writing letters to the editor of the local newspaper in which he takes a sarcastic far-right-wing stance on issues of the day.

stencil-when spray painting numerous copies of symbols or slogans, it is by far faster and more consistent to have a cut-out of the design to use as a mask than to perform all the strokes of the design with arm movements.

The birth of stencils as a reality amongst the Scottsville Punks seemed to require the presence of three people with fixed sun signs: Travis (Jessika's brother, a Scorpio and former Libra), the Gus, and that which spawned Jessika (her mother). One morning in early April, 1996, Travis could see stencil opportunities in several things, including the metal cover of Madonna's book Sex, and this led to the actual creation of a particular stencil that had been in our minds for some weeks.

One stencil extensively used in mid-April 1996 on the Corner read "GOVERNMENT BANANAS" (with backwards Ns in the "BANANAS"). Unfortunately, this stencil was also used to vandalize Ray's Just Say Kill Car. When the police noticed this, they illegally searched it and then seized it as evidence.
Oh...Jessie, you can't make it on just you're nose you kneeeew.
Steve Weiner in San Francisco

Steve Weiner-a forty-something Charlottesville personality/psychotic who is very amusing to talk with. He spares no details and calls things exactly as he sees them; he's always uninhibited about everything. Supposedly, he has a PhD in Biology.

His accomplishments include a book about Charlottesville where he takes all kinds of poetic license visa-vis his relationship with Jessika, whom he is unabashedly in love with. His gravelly voice (the result of a now-healed tracheotomy and his smoking five packs of cigarettes per day) is so humourous and oddly compelling that when he called WWWV (the local classic rock station), the DJ took samples of him singing Christmas carols to play as segways between tunes.

There are lots of odd stories surrounding Steve Weiner. One time he allegedly chased Shira around his house while masturbating, shouting, "Wait a minute, I'm almost done!"

still there-usually spoken with an air of resignation, this term is used to announce that some unfortunate presence continues to be either attendant or in effect. When used to describe the effects of a drug, usually it has been many hours since the effects of the drug were first noticed. When used to describe a person, it usually implies that the person has worn out his welcome and no more fun can be had either with him or at his expense.
Where is Senovia, my love?
Stink, from a photo taken 5-96 by Jonathan Hayward

Stink-Sara's tom cat, an Aquarius, the one from back in the Philadelphia area that did the original Shark Face. Sara brought the cat down to live with her at Big Fun and my sympathies are with the litter box.

Stink is a very impressive purebred Himalayan cat with long hair and blue eyes. His cheeks are so wide that he resembles a snow plow in some respects. Under no stretch of the language can it be said that Stink has a horse face.

Always with a look of detachment on his face, Stink is famous for casually peeing on things and surfaces in Big Fun. The Gus is terribly allergic to Stink and breaks out with a systemic rash whenever the two Aquarians come into close contact.

stir fry-I haven't often heard this word used as a verb, but Sara Poiron uses it this way all the time. Once while on Tussin, Sara made a "damn good stir fry" (of prepackaged frozen vegetables). But, as Jessika quickly points out, she also threw out most of the vegetables. For the most part it is inadvisable to stir fry (or do any food preparation) while on Tussin.

Stoned Wheat Thins®-a kind of delectable cracker that the Gus had to purchase for Shira as payment in the post Passover season for his having eaten the last of her Passover matzo. Why are Stoned Wheat Thins® so good? Shira isn't sure, but she suspects that their "pulling tubes all night" has something to do with it.

Storm of the Century-the winter of 1995-1996 set all manner of records in the Charlottesville area. One such record was the snowfall record. Not only were there many snow storms, but each one left considerable accumulations. The greatest of all was the so-called "Storm of the Century" as Farrell enthusiastically called it in his answering machine message at the time.

The storm began Saturday, January 6 just as Michæl Nace and his colleague Joe (in the Smash Everything Jazz Ensemble) were heading back to Philadelphia. More ignorant of their fate than most, the people of Big Fun thought little of the furiously falling flakes, and thus failed to take such measures as moving their cars to the end of the long driveway.

That night, the snow accumulated to something like 25 inches while savage winds whipped it into very deep drifts. Along with the snow, temperatures fell dramatically. This resulted in all of the pipes freezing solid such that there was no running water anywhere in the house. The people stranded at Big Fun on Sunday, January 7th were: Josh Smith, Zachary Firkly, Peggy Farley, Sara Poiron, Jessika Flint, Jατασyα, and the Gus.

Josh and Zachary set off on foot for Scottsville to obtain provisions, and in the process became terribly chilled and fatigued walking through the impossibly deep drifts. They also dropped a precious three litre bottle of light chianti that they had purchased. That was one of the bigger tragedies; the lack of water was survivable, so was the presence of Jατασyα. But in the absence of vino? Hardly. Over the following days, Jατασyα kept saying things like "Hey Keeeateeee" to the various cats, and the Gus claimed he wanted to strangle her, made all the more believable by Jατασyα claiming that the Gus has a potential to be sexually violent at times.

Matthew Hart came by one night with more provisions, which were enthusiastically partaken of. When he departed, it was discovered that he had left his Ritalin prescription behind, and everyone at Big Fun experimented with it one night, leading to another the Gus freak out (@50 mg Ritalin-a dose suggested by Jessika-with santa clause).

Various measures were taken to attempt to thaw the pipes such that water would flow once more. But the idea the Gus had of burning hay bales over the pipes utterly failed. Without running water, the toilet situation became miserable, and soon there was an accumulation of trails going far off into the field to the west as people rediscovered the neolithic pleasures of pooing outdoors. Some people, however, attempted to make do with constipation.

In the end, on January 10th (a Wednesday), the Gus was wanting to kill both Sara and Jατασyα. That's when a Pisces arrived to save the day; Raphæl appeared with his big green Volvo and whisked the bedraggled survivors all back to Charlottesville, blaring the Cure the whole time as he drove down VA 20.

Charlottesville resembled a war zone; streets had only single lanes opened as yellow machines everywhere scooped up the snow, putting it in dump trucks to be hauled away as though it was some sort of obdurate material.

straight-someone who is normal by the standards of the greater society. This can apply to individual parameters such as sexual preference and drug use, or it can apply to whole personalities. In many respects, then, the people of Big Fun are hardly "straight." Jessika and Sara hate this term. Whenever they hear it, they always ask the rhetorical question, "What is straight?"

stuff-sex organs, pubic hair, and female breasts. This term is used mostly by Sara Poiron and demonstrates both fascination and revulsion with the subject matter. Stuff can also refer to sexual acts, usually ones other than intercourse.

subtlety-a means of living and communicating in which someone says more by understatement and deliberation than could possibly be said with aggression and haste.

Subtlety is a good social skill. It is a quality much appreciated by pussy cats; only the most tolerant will abide aggressive petting without complaint. Examples of people who appear to lack subtlety: The SHARP, Bad Ironing Board, and Bad Tractor. There are others, but these are the only ones I care to offend.

Sun, the-that which the planets, comets and asteroids orbit in our solar system. In astrology, position of Sun bears on ones ego, spirit and core personality. If one views the various planets as a team in their influence upon a personality, the sun is the leader of that team. The Sun position is the most obvious part of someones astrological chart, and because of imperfect circumstances, interpretations of someones personality are frequently made knowing only that persons sun sign. Such simplified astrology constitutes the bulk of popular astrology in the homes and supermarket check-out lines of America today.

Because the Sun sign is related to the season of birth, there is a strong biological basis for the differences in people born under different sun signs. A baby born under the sign of Leo, for example, will be nine months old during the first consistently warm part of spring the following year. At nine months of age, the child is creeping and even walking actively and learning many basics of social interactions. Since much of this scary new stuff can and will be done in the context of the outdoors, the effect will be a child that is perhaps both slightly afraid of and enchanted by nature.

Other seasonal trends are apparent in pediatric data; statistics demonstrate that human babies born while the Sun is in Pisces are the group most susceptible to all childhood diseases, particularly lung diseases. Pisces are thus likely to spend large parts of their childhoods convalescing with their teddy bears. It is no wonder that Pisces end up being, for the most part, wheezy, dreamy sentimental types. Babies born while the Sun is in Aquarius, on the other hand, stand a good chance of becoming schizophrenics. It should come as no surprise then that they have a reputation for being "detached and insane."

sure enough-as fate would have it, or predictably. This is one of those catch phrases that the Gus and Matthew Hart are fond of using.

Swami Satchininanda-the guy who presides over the lotus temple in Buckingham County. He's from either India or Brooklyn and it is said that he is very spiritual of mind and pure of body. He likes all the normal Swami things: Vegetarianism, Vishnu, wearing loose fitting clothing, growing a cool beard, and issuing all the usual proclamations that Swamis are given to making.

Theresa Venesian is alleged to have kissed the Swami's feet on occasion. You really have to like a guy to kiss his feet. No one has ever kissed my feet.

Swiss Way Market-a convenient store in Scottsville that closes at 10 PM every night. Their beer and vino selection is mediocre at best; they have no jugs of vino, and the beer is the sort of stuff that rednecks drink. They don't even have Haffenreffer. But since they are the one place you can get alcohol as late as 10 PM in Scottsville, they get a fair amount of Big Fun business.

Sylvia's Pizza-a little east of the action on the Downtown Mall, on the south storefront, is Sylvia's Pizza, where one can get the best pizza in all of Charlottesville. Hot Tomatoes on the Corner is but a poor imitation of the authenticity Sylvia's displays. The crust is brittle, the sauce is perfect, and the toppings numerous, creatively combined and artistically applied.

The guy who runs the place (Sylvia?) has one of the most peculiar variants of an Italian accent anyone has ever heard. But he's a shrewd student of human psychology. Once the Gus observed him giving two slices to two young boys. Knowing they would argue about who received the larger piece, he gave them their slices with a quarter, saying, "whoever gets the smaller slice can have the quarter."

Home | Introduction to Big Fun | Epilogue | Credits
A-B | C-E | F-G | H-J | K-M | N-P | R-S | T-V | W-Z | the Glossary | the Author | Feedback