Why Suicide Club Events Don't Have to be Grand & Elaborate

by Gary Warne

I've heard from several sources that numerous peopIe in the Suicide Club are reluctant to do events because they don't think they can do something as elaborate as certain recent events like the Treasure Hunt & Alien Landing.

If any of you have even vaguely felt this way, I'd like to point out two incorrect assumptions you are making. First, events don't have to be anything. Second, no one is going to judge an event. I think it’s very wrong to think of events as acts in a vaudeville show, each of which must upstage or match the one before it.

I have never judged an event, and I hope others don't either. In my mind, an event is good, if the people organizing it have a good time and winds up feeling fulfilled. The rest should follow naturally. I don't think of myself as a member of a passive audience, waiting for the "entertainment" of an event to begin. If I wanted to spend a night where I would be guaranteed amusement, or adventure, or whatever, I'd go to the theater or the circus. What I'm interested in is glimpsing, experiencing, and participating in other people's fantasies, big or small, simple or grandiose. This could involve absolutely anything, anything at aII.

In the past (and we needn't be bound by that whatsoever) this has ranged from walking in unusual places, seeing strange movies, exploring old and often abandoned buildings, staging pranks and carrying out street theater, climbing things, playing games, visiting amusement parks still in existence, visiting amusement parks we've imagined, etc. etc. etc.

My ideas about the Suicide Club are that it provides an accepting, supportive atmosphere to carry out fantasies, explore new things, share pleasant or strange or frightening experiences with others. There is no "Event-0-Meter" which gives one event a five and another a two. Events are merely rooms along a long, endless hall, the doors to which have been opened by their facilitators. Some rooms may be larger than others, but they're all worth entering. I sincerely hope that more people will offer all sorts of events, without worrying so much how they'lI be received or work out. If you like an idea, others probably will also. None of us are perfectionists, and what's good or bad is only in is your mind.