The Friedrichshof Chronicles This is some writing done while living on a commune in Austria. You will see, below, a SHORT description of the place, a LONG description (to be added to later), and the first "chapters". Some of this material is what one might call "sexual" or adult, in nature. You can stop reading now if material of that sort does not interest you. You can receive future chapters of The Friedrichshof Chronicles by sending me an explicit message that you want to subscribe. I will then add you to the mailing list. You can have your name removed at any time by sending me a message asking that your name be removed from the list. The writing of the chronicles was done 15 and more years ago. After each chapter I sometimes add commentary. That was written recently and is enclosed in brackets []. From time to time other people write comments about the chronicles. I add their remarks and enclose them in braces {}. You are welcome to comment on the chronicles, my comments, and the comments of others. I may add your comments to the text stream. If you don't want your comments added to the text stream, but intend them only for me, then say so and they won't be added. Please feel free to pass your copy of this on to any INDIVIDUALS you think might be interested. Please do not post it to a mailing list or news group. Some might be offended. Ok, here come the three parts: SHORT: In the late 60's a group of people started a commune that eventually became known as Friedrichshof. They were best known for having common property, free sexuality, and the SelbstDarstellung (Self-Presentation, or a form of emotional expression, something like spontaneous theater, that could be one person, several, or the whole group, and done in the "middle", that is, with everyone sitting or standing around), or SD. This writing was done during the time I lived there and the numerous times I visited. LONG: How and where do you start to explain the largest of human experiences? In this case the building of a new world by a group of people who were living together in several small groups in Vienna, Austria. What do you do about food, clothing and shelter? How about money, children and sex? How about the relationships between people? How could one manage to build a better society without private property, violence, people owning each other sexually and through marriage? Those were some of the things they wanted to do. But how can you deal with the conflicts and problems that seem to rise like the sun each day? For that they invented something. It was called Selbst-Darstellung, or SD, for short. It became a daily part of the communities life. Each day, usually in the evening, the group would gather. They would sit together in a big, comfortable cirlce, with some people deciding to stand, or to move around. A person, anyone, could begin by going into the middle of this circle and... well, doing just about anything. Of course, there was one condition on this "anything". It was not possible or allowed for the person in the middle, or whoever was in the middle, to hurt anyone. You could murder someone in the middle, but it must be in the form of theater, of acting out the feeling of murder--but no real murder. Also, you could not bring objects into the middle. You could create them from your imagination, or in the way a mime creates objects and convinces you that the object is really there, that it really exists. You can see that this was necessary because you would not want someone to drop or throw any object while in the throes of some emotional state. You could shoot people in the middle. I saw plane craches in the middle. I saw nuclear weapons detonated in the middle. I saw bizarre, comical, and horrible sex crimes in the middle. I saw the future, the past, and every personality in history, in the middle. Everyone and everything seems to have made an appearance in the middle. And through this experience, the person in the middle saw themselves better. They saw everyone else as human beings like themselves. And the people around the middle saw some great theater, some great personalities, more unbelieveable things than one could write about or imagine. It was like seeing the ENTIRE universe run before your eyes like the mother of all films. It was a film you saw, a film you acted in, a film you wrote and edited, and never saw a final version of. It carried you completely away, it brought you back. You went to hell, and heaven. You went up. You went down. You went away. You came back. You were here. You were gone. It was a trip to all the trips on all the drugs that were ever taken--and without taking them. You could spend a few seconds in the middle--it would seem like forever. You could spend the evening in the middle--and it was over in a second. You could do, and see other human beings do things you never imagined you or they could do. And all the problems you might have with that other human being would... disappear! November 25, 1978 Analysis with Brooke I went to the old schoolhouse for my first analysis with Brooke. I brought all the tapes from radio & TV interviews in Boston. I was afraid and wanted to use them as a present so she would not be mad. There was a ten minute wait. Achim played jazz in the next room. Others were coming and going and fucking. Normally the sound of fucking excites and paralizes me but I was more overwhelmed by the idea of seeing Brooke. I thought she would be mean and jump all over me. She was very friendly but to me it felt mean. I always imagine that she will hold up past mistakes, of which she knows many, and beat me with them. I told her about Sofia Rhedin who wants to sleep with me. It was a loosening feeling from that. I thought know one would want me. That I was too awful. Then about my childhood, growing up, my mother. We talked about everyone wanting love. Brooke said her job was to love people. She got paid for it. I did not feel loved but was always waiting for people to prove they loved me. She came over and held me and said she did but I did not want to believe. I began to cry. What started it? I can't remember - but maybe, no I don't remember. But it went on when I related rejecting my mothers trying to help me when in the hospital having my tonsils out. I was bleeding and she was trying to help stop it. I would turn from one side to the other to avoid her helping me. During the evening meal I notice a great anxiety, nauseous feeling. Then it seems that I have a desparate urge for Brooke, that I need her to dispel my anxiety attack. During analysis she said I had many good qualities, intelligence, open, and a good comic sense. But I did not feel it was so. This and a hopeless feeling is what started my crying. She also said that I was completely intimidated by this place and it would get less after a few days. She said I had the ability to be a great SD artist. I said that was true only in my fantasies - but there I was even better than Otto. Toward the end her expression became more friendly - this I told her. She gave me a homework assignment for tomorrow - to go in the middle tonite for as long as I could stand it, not to try for anything in particular. Then toward the end she had me stand up as though I were in the middle. This was paralizing to me. And only stupid like things happened. Brooke asked what my mother called me. This caused me to be resistant as I did not like the name and always insisted that people call me Richard. I said she must not tell anyone. She then said ok - only Otto. We played this game some more, then I told her. But first she had to promise to introduce me to Otto. She agreed. However, I met him inside the entrance to the big house. Said hi, my name is Richard Gardner. I did not faint or die. Bill Zwicker always described him as the biggest person here. He is not the biggest in size. I had a drink of her coffee. She asked if I was off my health food kick and reminded me how I did not want her and Schlomo to smoke in my Cambridge apartment, how I seemed to have dropped the making of continuous wisecracks and jokes - my most obvious defense. Sunday, November 26, 1978 Last night after I did not go in the middle - again, this got all the attention as it often has for me in the past. Afterwards the two best women came to me trying to make something happen. One of them noticed this and asked, "how is it that you now have two women?" I told them that I play a stubborn little boy and inside the heart of every woman is his mother! I did not get beyond saying "women" when they both began to scold and encourage me. We played this game for awhile when I confessed my reason for being here. Namely that Otto hired me two years ago to help develop the guest group. My assignment was to do whatever was necessary to stay on the bottom and push everyone else up. And all tricks and ways were ok. Last night how to deal with childhood sexuality and the parents was the theme. I am reminded of when Cheyenne was an infant and we played together. I help her like Brooke described with Otis. I would touch her cunt and she would be very excited. When she became very excited I would have a very exciting and guilty feeling. This would stop me from playing more. I would fantasize some about fucking with her as an infant and then when she was much older. I can't remember much but some desire and guilty feelings. It made no sense to do anything then but I often thought - what should I do later? I would go back and forth between desire and the social no-no. But this is crazy - to be so concerned about who and whether I will fuck in 15 to 20 years. I do so little about my present desires. I am trying to re-live my life through her - as my parents did to me. During the evening I had more anxiety feelings about Brooke. Fear, murderous, crazy feelings were coming upon me. I felt at times completely separate and then sometimes like an unconscious part of a larger organism. I feel like a container filled with so much that I am about to burst. Like a dam with too much water behind it. Everything is very near the surface and I frantically try to patch the holes and keep everything together. This morning I woke early as usual but decided to sleep more. Someone started to play the piano. I told them later. People were still sleeping but I was the only one to say anything. Then later some others started to play. I thought it was to provoke me. I told them to stop but they did not. Then others said the same and it stopped. I am thinking about pictures of FH and feeling that I could be anywhere - even on another planet. I think how each guest seems to be away and apart from each other. Relating to each other seems like swimming in a large and mostly empty sea and then sometimes encountering a small island. I feel myself in a bind about trying to express myself through writing. On the one hand I try to write it down then on the other I say "no, that is not what you mean to say." Is what I write true? How can it be when everything about seems to be so false? Even this I think is stupid and false. But to say I lie constantly make me only go in circles. How can I know that my crying is true. I have just realized that normally I would remember one or more dreams from last night - but can't. Astrid says that maybe this means I don't want to feel what was in them. Lunch, Sunday afternoon, an uncomfortable feeling while sitting with Brigitte. It was hard to speak with her. I became tense, flushed, sweat on my forehead. Sofia was there, facing me, one table away. I am getting a feeling like past feelings of being in love with someone. I look for them everywhere, I want them all the time. I feel desparate when she speaks to anyone else. Everything she does makes me anxious. I become very conscious of wanting to do everything just right - so she will not be offended, and abandon me. I become nervous and can't sleep - it is not that bad yet, but my stomach is complaining already. I think about if I leave she will come with me, or maybe some other beautiful young women. Last evenings Pengo theme was remembering. Linda spoke about being a 1967 San Diego beauty contest winner. Then she said how she was leaving to return to Geneva. Robert then got up to say how he had never felt so good and bad about leaving to lead the Berlin group. Then he related how he had first met Otto and decided to join the group. I am sitting in the guest room and from upstairs comes the sound of desparate piano and singing, French I think. The were very good last night with their dancing. Otto had them try many things. Many others got up to remember their first meeting with Otto. At the end he got up to speak about how crazy they were at the beginning. How they tried many things, like short hair and vomiting and propoganda, and how the only thing left from all those trials and plans was free sexuality - the only thing for which there was a biological basis. This evening was the most moving for me. Especially when Brooke spoke as it reminded me of when I first met her, Schlomo and Otmar. I was very stirred up. There were great currents/streams moving inside me. We all rose to dance at the end. A French woman who spoke no English grabbed me and we began a horny dance, rubbing against each other, grabbing, fondling, kissing, biting. She kept pulling me toward her. I was excited and horny and afraid. We could not speak to each other. But we talked a lot - for an hour or so - games, being perverse, horny, comical. Someone translated that she thought I was completely "guile" with women and that she would fuck me now if she were not in quarantine. I became very redfaced at this and only attracted her all the more. Monday. The guest room house keeper is mopping and says how she does it with much love as it reminds her of mother. It is almost 10am Mon Nov 27 and I have my second analysis with Brooke. I am becoming a nervous wreck. I told Sofia about my fantasy of going to Sweden to live with her and the group there. She said "I am going for a long walk" after breakfast. I asked if she wanted me to go. "Yes." She wants someone very much. She seems desparate. Maybe she wants to marry and carry me off to Sweden where we will live happily ever after? Duncan has just told me that she asked him to go with also. [FH gave regular 10 day and two week courses that people from all over Europe would attend. You would come on a specific date and a number of others would be there at the same time. You and the others became a guest group. You would live together, practice the SD together, eat together, etc. But mostly learn to live together. Each guest would also be tested for STD's on their arrival. In a day or two you would get the results. Guests with anything like Syphillis or gonnorhea would be sent home--with advice to see a doctor immediately! After taking a course some guests would ask to stay on at FH and enter a quarantine prior to formally joining a group. The quarantine would last at least six weeks. That was the recognized incubation period for syphillis. You would be tested several times for a variety of things during those six weeks.] Monday, November 27, 1978 A second analysis with Brooke. She looks at me for the first 15 minutes. I am very embarrassed and guilty. I tell her about the time we first met and how I had not felt like that before. It made me cry again. I tell her about how I feel awful then fantastic then both at once. My anxiety feelings after the last analysis, how I have been overwhelmed by nausea, murderous feelings. Then not being their, being crazy, distant, my fear that the SD leader will call on me when someone finishes and how I try to make myself invisible. I suck on her breast. The milk is sweet and warm. My muscles are weak. I want to be helpless. I tell her about how I wish to be Otis. Then we play a game about talking back to my mother, calling her names, treating her like dirt. My fear of standing up is lessened by this game. I make a joke of her in the swivel chair. Then I degrade her by spitting, covering her with dirt like a dog would, slapping her around, having her beg for more. She wanted to see my penis. "Show momma your penis." I was only a little reluctant and embarrassed at this point. FH is the most fantastic place in the world. Everything slides without trouble. Later in the guest room I played with Brigitte. It was stopping and starting. We could not find the best way. It slides best for the best people. I am in the SD room and the crazy German woman with 3 or 4 children is playing the piano. "du bist mein schnoodle" - Brooke Skopik to Richard Gardner during 2nd analysis. (You are my cutiepie) My homework is to run almost to the middle, touch the middle and run back. Or to go in the middle and say I am very afraid but want to get over it. Maybe I will try this afternoon. This fear is a big hurdle for me. Maybe I will wear my new blue overalls, make myself handsome as possible, and it will be easier. The examples of people doing things for others here never ceases to amaze me! Another fear is that I will never go beyond a certain point. I am overcome at the moment by a completely hopeless feeling that I will not be able to go on. But I do this to myself. There is no end to opportunity here - more than I have found anywhere. I am starting to have the fear of afternoon SD approaching. A heavy feeling, especially in my arms, slight depression. It is also becoming a general nervousness and anxiety. I was in the first floor phone booth, intently looking for a number when Otto opens the door and says "Hey!", then closes it. I am on my fear again. Brooke was nursing Otis and it persisted. She says it is completely irrational - which I know. But it persists even though I say "how can she be a threat to me?" I notice a very tired (or is it depression?) feeling. Is it Otto. This would happen to me by Otmar. I have a great desire to go lie down, and sleep. This is how a bad depression typically happens to me. Brooke gave me homework again and I failed again. My tensions mounted all during the afternoon. At the end Toni wanted me to go in. Klaus pushed me several times but I could not go. Kessy Cavat, who was translating, came over and kissed me and tried to pull me in but I still would not go. I was very afraid and shaking and almost crying. Toni wanted me to go but said that if I was afraid it was not necessary. And so I did not. Afterwards Martine, the French woman, came and played with me and another also. The evening was centered around Seigrid who was one of the first and who did not want to sit down. It turned into an evening about force. Otto tried to convince her to leave, went into the middle and started a fight. This didn't work. Other things were to have the largest men go in and try to block her view of everything. They tried many amusing things. Terese gave a history lesson about an ancient Saxon King and his battles. Segrid still tried to take the attention. It was obvious that she was staying in because she had committed herself. Then Goetz said he would try pure force and bodily removed her. It took several attempts. Then other people went in to speak about it and Otto called in Goetz to take them out. This happened to Terese, Otto, Claudia (who reacted by becoming very horny). Then it was Schlomo, the biggest (weight) here. He did it again. I found myself laughing hysterically but not with the usual distress feelings I have when seeing violence. It was clear that people like being rough and using force but everyone was being careful not to hurt. The evening finished with Goetz & Astrid taking each others clothes off. I was afraid many times that Otto would call me into the middle. Then we got up to dance and I felt very inadequate and tried to slink away - but Kessy, a tall, blonde, beautiful woman from France, grabbed me and said she was horny and wanted to play but I only became worse and stiffer and even unable to look at her. I wonder if they are attracted to me or just trying to be mothers or both. More and more I want to hide or escape. Sofia asked me to go to Sweden with her again today. I said I wanted to go but only to escape. And that she should ask tomorrow. I have just spoken to Michelle about the group she is in with Bodil, Madeline, and Sofia. Bodil spoke to Otto about what might happen. He said to wait a few days, maybe they would go back to the guest group - which does not please them. Two of the women criticize Sofia because she plays & kisses with me. I notice that these two, Bodil and Madeline avoid looking at me. Later Brigitte asked to sleep with me. Nothing happened. We only wrestled a little. I feel guilty about my past sexual unconsciousness with Gamalo and others. It stops all the good feelings. [FH treated the problem of violence in a very unique way. Otto getting into a "fight" with someone was an unusual thing to witness. There was never any real force. That is, no hitting as a normal, violent, driven person might do. He might pretend to box or wring your neck. But always in a theatrical way combined with the emotional content of such an act. Seigrid (the crazy German woman with 3 or 4 children) was one of the few really hard cases where, at times, it became impossible for her to be moved. She would be, at times, completely insensitive to anyone else, and would stay in the middle with no intention of being moved from it. She would not allow herself to be changed by what anyone said or did around her. But this one time Otto asked a very tall, large, young man to go in and remove her. It was a test for this guy too. He knew that HE had to be careful. He knew that Seigrid might really try to hurt him. In spite of the size difference it took several tries to remove her without hurting either her, first of all, or himself, secondly. He finally did it quite well. This may well be the only time I ever saw anyone actually removed from the middle in this way. She had been to FH a number of times. Everyone knew her well. This part of her behavior never seemed to change.] Tuesday, November 28, 1978 David Griswald went in the middle several times yesterday and each time I felt embarrassed. It is that he is so stupid and that I see a lot of my own fantasies about being stupid come out. What happens to him is exactly what I imagine I will do. Met Otto while I was going up the stairs he shouted and slapped me on the back. I cringed. Suddenly he and two other with him became much bigger. Their looks suddenly became very mean and disapproving. I fantasize a lot about how Otto will rescue me from my situation. That he will prove his love for me. That I will not be dropped into the void. Now I imagine that Otto is the devil leading us astray. He even has a bit of that look about him. Otmar will not do analysis with me - there is too much work trying to finish the new building. In school we would have discussions about various subjects. I would often freeze during such times and be unable to think of anything to say, what I really mean is being unable to say/formulate my thoughts. I remember well the feeling of this from Mrs. Kuipers English class. I would be called on but have no ideas and she would demand that I be prepared in the future. I fantasize about going back and correcting all such mistakes. I feel very tired right now but not quite my usual feelings of depression. Tuesday morning, 11/28/78 A drawing class with Brooke. Sofia was the model. The first time I see her without clothes. Brooke talks about proportion and form and how to draw so you can see what's going on with a minimum of effort. My first attempt as such things. She says a lot in Germ but then says "Work and be modest" in English, to me. qu'est ce que c'est? what is it? French lesson from Astrid & Brigitte. The evening began with Otto saying that we were snowed in and their is a problem - food. Therefore it has been decided that we must turn to eating people. The guests were most likely to be first. The first group of the best people, would be spared however, since they would be best at controlling panic or a revolution. On the other hand it was possible that our chemists could find another solution. Then Giovanni came in the middle and refused to leave. He was acting like the woman last night. Many things were tried. Otto shouted at him, Goetz tried to carry him out but he became violent. The women all went to him with praise and love. He wants to stay here but Otto said not like he was. A lot of aggression came out of him. Afterwards Teresa described a new kind of analysis that had been developed. It was because people were having a difficult time going beyond their limits. There was more but I will probably get it for real next time I have analysis with Brooke. Our Bok meeting was very chaotic. Giovanni was being his usual obnoxious self besides being drunk. Goetz wanted to do a hierarchy and all the worst people said how it was not necessary or how they were for democracy or how they wanted to be last or how they did not want to be the leader. So we had chaos for 1/2 hour. Two new guests did not want to participate and stayed in their beds. 20 minutes was spent deciding who would sleep with who then after huggings and kissings - to bed. I just now notice how I write less about myself and more about outside events. I am against a wall and can go no further. Maybe the new type of analysis will push me. More fantasies about how I will get out of it and go in the middle. And now one about how I will sell each of my businesses and give the money to the group. Each time a larger amount. [Giovanni was absolutely the most aggressive guy I ever met on FH. He had been around for several years by my time there. It was always the same with him. He would return and be not so bad for a bit. Then, slowly, becoming more aggressive, especially with the women. Eventually there was not a one of them who wanted to sleep with him because of this. Everybody tried to convince him to leave. He was constantly told he had to leave. He was given a very hard job working on construction of the new houses as a brick carrier, and anything else that was physically very demanding. They thought this might sap him of some energy, leave him less aggressive. Nah! It seemed like a bottomless well with this guy. Finally he was made to pack up his things and leave some months after my arrival. Then he came back again. Stayed a bit more. Left. Returned a couple of more times. Then no more was heard of him for several years. One last story of him back in his native Italy, was that he was arrested and imprisoned for theft. But the patience and tolerance of this guy was really phenomenal. Everyone put up with so much for many years. It was one thing very different about FH--the way in which his aggression was handled.] Wednesday, November 29, 1978 3rd analysis with Brooke. How do I explain myself? There is no excuse except what I make up. Brooke says I have no existential courage. Today I showed it. Always hoping she will do something to help me. Do it for me. Show she likes me. She was very hard today. Telling me how stupid, what an idiot, figure in a wax museum, hero of silence with my own statue. I notice a fear of going anywhere to avoid finding nothing beyond. That I will really be nothing. I imagine being able to overcome all my problems quickly - when/once I make the first big jump. That what I do will be of interest to everyone. But now I feel that nothing I do is ok, everything is wrong. I imagine myself to be the guest group leader once I've gone in the middle. Now a fantasy about watching a prostitute work. It is holding back what I know to be there that keeps more from coming out Today at lunch Britt (Wencke's sister) talked with me for a long time, about our analysts, mothers, others. She asked me if I was in quarantine and to go play the piano with her. I seem to go dead at such times. Always afraid of making a mistake. What is her interest in me? Why does she want me. Outside I would have a definite reaction one way or the other. But here I am always skeptical. Now my fantasies about Brooke carry me away. The theme for the evening was why are we the way we are, i.e., why is the AAO the way it is. Otto talked about how we were a sect that casts its net about for victims. How he was our guru how everyone was their only for him. How the women came only for him. Someone spoke about the origin of the word. Sect - to seek a new way of life. Sofia stays with Vincent now as he has agreed to go to Sweden with her. She has shaved his beard and cut his long hair. He now looks the respectable busiman. But now it looks as though she won't be going. The Swedish group tells her to stay here. We had sauna today. I went in six times. My eyes turn green again. Goetz was very afraid. I growled and snarled at him. He thinks green eyes mean I am very aggressive. [AAO (Actions Analytical Organization) was the original name the group created for itself. They started out around 1970 or so doing a variation of Reichian character armor analysis on each other. Then they added a kind of political/social action/event to the analysis. Some of them were held in very public places. The group became famous and notorious for some of them. A sort of milder, toned down version of these "actions" eventually reached the United States and became known as "happenings". One of the fans of this kind of event, Alex Gray, held one at Harvard University in the 1970's. He and his wife, while completely naked, and inside a glass exhibit case, had sex, while an audience watched. It may have been at the Peabody Museum. My first contact with the AAO was in 1975. It came in the mail. All in German. I remember the picture of a pile of naked, crying, screaming humans. Must have been 25 people all in a big heap.] Thursday, November 30, 1978 Fourth analysis with Brooke. I am too depressed to write about it. It is 5pm and I've just placed a call to the US. Am feeling better as the afternoon SD is over. And I was slightly in the middle for about 5 seconds. Today with Brooke was just the opposite of yesterday. She was very good to me, pulling me onto her bed hugging and kissing. I got an erection when my crotch was rubbed. Then she whispered, "stick it in" and other nasty stuff. I was like jelly and all my feelings, but a little embarassment, went away. I could not believe she would really want me. I told her about the other women who were interested in me and how it seemed impossible for me to believe this and how all feelings but nervousness seemed to disappear. She was dressing Otis when I came in. This reminded me of caring for Cheyenne when she was this age. I cried a little. Described the end of my relationship with Adele. "How tragic", she said. I told of my continued longing for Adele. Brooke suggested I write her a letter and have her come here for a vacation. I am waiting again for a call to the US. Deanna is probably on the computer. I lie here getting carried away every few minutes with my fantasies. Again. No present satisfaction so I create some in my head. Again. I lie here watching Astrid and Jacque make something. Brooke swore and promised me fidelity if I would do the same. I said I would think about it. True love is a myth. You only have it for different moments - just like other feelings. My depression is a little less. We made a little game of our true love. But I could see that it would never work for me. I would have to lie to myself and swallow the urge to say many things - or risk ending the love. I swim away again. Thinking about longings. Sofia told me she longed to go skiing. She talks to me in a way that makes me think she wants something. This time its money. She asks about my going to Sweden with her, again. She wants to ski in West Austria. Just finished my call to Deanna. Things seem to be going well. Not much money the first week. But things seem to be ok now. The cafe Pengo has been enlarged. I hear we will have a disco before long. I have been here almost exactly one week. The changes are like the tide. Everyday new people, reorganization, shifting of people and material things. New construction. It is like a whole year on the outside. I just now see Sofia getting in bed with another man, but can't tell who it is. A bit of jealousy. The evening started with a story about the death of a parent. So this became a theme. Later in the evening I was overwhelmed by thoughts of my own death. Homosexuality was another theme. Queerness is the inability to compete with or be direct as you can with persons of the same sex. I noticed how over the last week I have had more intense feelings about men (Klaus, Peter, Michael, Otto) than women (Brooke, Sofia, Britt, Astrid). [Myself and several other people had tried to start a group in Boston. I and various combinations had tried a number of times. Nothing came of those efforts. Two people left for FH in the summer of 1978. By late November of that year I was on the way.] If you want to receive the next chapters of The Friedrichshof Chronicles, then you must send me a message saying so. Something like: SUBSCRIBE FHC your-email@address.here to: rgardner@charon.mit.edu The subscribe command can be in the subject-line or body of your message. The command can be upper-case, lower-case or any old combination you want! Well, almost. Please enter all numbers in upper-case. The management thanks you for your cooperation.