ruby skye.

or perhaps...



yes, that's where robin and i wound up tonight, all in the name of tina research. :)

click here for more information about the fresh party @ ruby skye. there were sweaty bodies, men in the women's bathroom, women in the men's bathroom, circular lighting rigs being suspended from the ceiling inches from our dancing faces.

hotelabligado?

xtina, more widely known as christina, invited robin and me into her laboratory this afternoon around 2:30 - and we left with a new-found appreciation for, among other things, robotics.

you see, we visited the lab, an interdisciplinary arts organization located in the heart of the mission district in san francisco. our fabulous helen faller directed us to christina and the lab, and we are mighty glad she did! currently residing in the lab are kal spelletich's kinetic art-bot installations, many of which are engineered to respond to human biological data.

so, after playing with a pair of steel wings perched atop a ladder and operating a remote-controlled metallic rodent -- outfitted with a video camera -- with our breath, the three of us discussed the possibility of a collaboration between hotel obligado and the lab, primarily in regards to the tina project.

'twas quite the afternoon.

click here to learn more about the lab.

tina: the best available anti-depressant on the street.

we walked past the castro, past the mission - and into the headquarters of the stonewall project.

dr. michael siever, founder and director of the stonewall project (as well as www.tweaker.org) in san francisco, sat down to talk with robin and myself today at 2pm. this is a blurb from some stonewall project literature that describes the organization:

the stonewall project offers a harm reducing counseling program for men who have sex with men (that's gay, bi, queer, tg, questioning, hetero-flexible, whatever you might call yourself) who have questions or concerns about their use of crystal. you are welcome at stonewall whether or not you are currently using crystal, whether or not you know what you want to do about your crystal use and/or whether or not you are achieving the goals you have already set about using.

dr. siever is, at the same time, exceptionally knowledgable AND down to earth. he informed us about the history of meth, including its undeniable role in the us airforce. he also recommended that we look at the powerpoint presentation by patricia case, the keynote speaker at the 1st national conference on methamphetamine, hiv and hepatitis in august 2005. information on this can be found by clicking here. we hope to attend the 2007 conference in february where we can put on workshop showing of "the tina project".

under the bridge.

on thursday, we spoke with sam garanzini, mft, an addiction recovery specialist. sipping iced teas in union square, the dinging of cable car bells in the background, the three of us had a pretty intense conversation regarding addiction, personality types, and underlying psychological problems of tina users. mr. garanzini shared with us the psychoanalytic perspective of addictions, and how he sees tina affecting both the gay and straight communities.

we gained new insight regarding "recreational" users of meth. robin and i were intrigued how people could occassionally use tina, and the people we spoke with before were unable to give us the specifics we needed. sam, however, told us that those are the people whom he primarily sees: higher-functioning meth users. these are people who can, for the most part, hold down jobs and often pass under the radar screen. mr. garanzini pointed out that these people are also the ones who are not getting the help they need, and all too often degenerate into lower- and non-functioning meth users -- as he put it, the "people under the bridge". these higher-functioning meth users are the ones who don't want to talk about their addiction because it's too "debbie downer". it is just easier to deny that there is any kind of underlying problem.

mr. garanzini also shared with us different physical characteristics of a person on meth, including cringing, clenching, twitching, and a desire to contain the twitching by either dancing or clutching their arms.

we will be meeting with dr. siever on friday, and attending san francisco's monthly circuit event called "fresh" at ruby skye on sunday. more to come...

"fortunately I went to prison; otherwise I would have wound up dead."

we spoke with john today. a very warm and open individual, john is hiv+ and has successfully overcome a meth addiction. it was a candid conversation, with many important messages.

john gave us a contact down in san francisco that we will try to utilize. he is also a spokesmodel for an organization called "hiv stops with me". his website can be accessed by clicking here. more to follow...

partnership in portland. or playing with fire and then ingesting it.

today, thanks to several diligent and adaptive people, we were able to have a meeting with four people involved with the partnership project of OHSU. this is a blurb, lifted from their website (http://www.ohsu.edu/partnership), that describes what the partnership project does:

established in 1995, oregon health and science university/
partnership project provides a comprehensive array of services to people living with hiv/aids, their families and those at-risk. our mission is to help people living with hiv/aids achieve or sustain the highest possible quality of life and health and to provide those living with hiv/aids and their families, access to information, treatment and support services.


present were the director of the project, a case manager, and two prevention counselors. they provided a wealth of knowledge and informative experience, and were wonderfully open and willing to share.


insights:

-many people engage in such activites as creating art, taking computers apart, building things and cleaning when high on TINA. apparently, TINA often provides a perceived notion of enhanced creativity in the user.

-in portland, it is belived that the current trend of TINA use began in the pacific northwest, and has been making its way eastward.

-you become a star

-TINA enables access to desires

-"what comes up must come down."

-"i can't eroticize things anymore!"

-"meth STEALS your fantasies, and forces you to reconstruct a sex life."

-"i’ve already done everything, so I don’t know how to make anything hot anymore."

-euphoria-bravado-invulnerability-despair-hopelessness-fear

-paranoia/psychosis/paranoid schizophrenia

-my room is bugged and i must find it

-there are worms crawling in my arms

-it's like playing with fire and then ingesting it

-the root under your drain

---

personification of TINA:

-an athletic, glittery man, complete with bling and shiny bits who turns around, and reveals a skeleton with clumps of hair falling out

-a beautiful pitbull that then turns on you

-a bite that never lets go

---

some heavy, but important, stuff.

bingo sisters

portland, rose city.

we're in our first home-stay with our friends, pretty and kari. they took us to a fundraising event for a gay sports organization hosted by the portland sisters of pertpetual indulgence! the mother house of the "sisters", in san francisco, funded a large portion of this research trip!

here is a lovely snapshot of us with some of the fabulous sisters...














sisters of perpetual indulgence main webpage: http://thesisters.org

sisters of perpetual indulgence, portland order: http://portlandsisters.org


tomorrow we have a few meetings scheduled - one with the partnership progam of portland (http://www.ohsu.edu/partnership) and second at a "life after meth" open meeting. should be informative...

until tomorrow...

bobby & robin

east meets west...

...in a sense :)


tomorrow will be the spring board day for the west coast tina project research. i'm excited about the possibilities. the people we will meet. the images that will imbue our senses. 'twill be inspiring, i'm sure.

~bobby.



brief itinerary:

depart philadelphia international: saturday, 4:45 pm, est
arrive in portland, oregon: saturday, 9:00 pm, pst

saturday, 8/5 - portland
sunday, 8/6 - portland
monday, 8/7 - portland, meeting with julia from partnership project (am); crystal meth anonymous: life after meth meeting (7 pm)
tuesday, 8/8 - depart portland for blue lake, ca
wednesday, 8/9 - blue lake, depart for san francisco, ca
thursday, 8/10 - sf, meeting with sam garanzini, addiction recovery specialist (11 am)
friday, 8/11 - sf, meeting with dr. michael seiver, director of the stonewall project (2 pm); club visit (2 am)
saturday, 8/12 - sf
sunday, 8/13 - sf
monday, 8/14 - depart sf for philadelphia

one week until departure...

we've decided to keep a blog as a way to document our research travels. stay tuned for more details.

~robin & bobby.