Scraps from the fringe

Today I finally set about reading an essay on Peter Lamborn Wilson that was posted to a Moorish Orthodox List that I'm a part of. It got me thinking about the random scraps of information you come across on the web that deal with the fringe.

By the very nature of the fringe, it is rarely documented in any perminant sense. Books are written, but soon go out of print. And even they rarely collect all the information that revolves around the various mysteries that live on the fringe of society. And it seems the more complete the book, the quicker it goes out of print.

Web pages are even worse. They throw up just enough to tantalize and ussually promise more, when the author "has more time." Invariably though, a check of these sites will ussualy find that they were abandoned years ago.

Then there are the slips of information that are passed in email. Enigmatic references to things you were unaware even existed. Requests for more information either go unanswered or only serve to point you to a dead end, ussually an abandoned web page or out of print book. But always resulting in more questions then answers.

I started wondering about this. About those little scraps of information that float around the 'net. Wondering if there was some grand hidden Alexandria, where all the answers could be found, perhaps hidden in the shadows of the corporate culture that the fringe lives outside of. But, more then likely such a place, real or virtual, has never existed. As I said, the very nature of the fringe is what causes these scraps to float around, with no home to be tucked away into.

I then made the bold decision to try and build such a home. A list of links to long forgotten, or little known, web pages. Copies of articles from long out of print zines and magazines. Essays and scraps of writings that were "leaked" to the fringe, but who's promised printed companions never materialized. Basically, anything and everything that I can get my hands on. Every little scrap of the fringe that I can find.

Why?

Because I need a hobby and because I have feel that others probably wonder where this road goes and where it has been. But mostly, because I want to know where this road goes and where it has been. There are to many questions that I've had go unanswered. To many lingering threads that I wish I could, if not tie up, at least enlongate a little more.

So in short, as with this blog, the site will mostly be for me. In case others find it of interest, I'll make it available to the public. In the end though, I want to see it exist. And instead of waiting for someone else to bring it into existence, I will do it.

If anyone wishes to donate artifacts to the collection, please let me know. Otherwise, I will simply scour the net and used bookstores picking up assorted odds and ends, and little scraps of the fringe.

How long will this project last? I'd love to see it continue forever. Turn into a project to document the present as much as document the past. In the end, I will probably fall victim to the same curse that all those before me have fallen victim to. And the page will ultimetly be abandoned. Another marker of what has come before for future generations to wonder about. A marker that, like all the rest, leads to more questions then answers. Posted by Matt at April 1, 2003 08:41 PM