Tag Archives: Wayno

Columbine — A Decade After

from: San Diego Reader [circa 4/20/1999]

“I tried to tell people that the [Columbine] gunmen were not gothic,”says Pastor Dave, “and most of the true goths I know were bright, talented, young people who could never perpetrate something like this. But after all was said and done, it’s a moot point. This tragedy has put the gothic sub-culture in the public eye in a way that not even a year of [Marilyn] Manson’s ‘Anti-Christ Superstar’ tour could…all things dark and black will now be labeled gothic. Anyone singing sad songs in a black dress will automatically become gothic.”

Sanctuary’s cyber-minister “Wayno” Guerrini witnessed this damning misconception in action while watching a TV news report on KGTV Channel 10, focusing on local goth culture. Dismayed by the portrayal of goths as obsessed with evil and hate, he e-mailed Bill Griffith, the station’s morning and midday news anchor.

Griffith has been with KGTV since 1976, hosting the long-running daily show “Inside San Diego” as well as the station’s “Charger Report” which, for ten years, followed ABC’s “Monday Night Football” coverage. Wayno’s initial letter and the subsequent volley of e-mail is posted at www.gothic.net, samples of which include the following:

Cyber Minister Wayno: “Dear Bill, I work with Pastor Dave Hart, whom your station interviewed last night. That same interview re-ran on the 11am news, which you anchor, today. You made a statement today which is totally false: You said that most goths are into Adolph Hitler. You could not be farther from the truth! Most of these kids are into Philosophers like Nietzche (sp), not Hitler. Please, don’t start a witch hunt where none is warranted. As Dave said last night, goths are into self-inflicted pain, not into inflicting pain on others.”

Bill Griffith’s response: “Thanks much for the e-mail. I respect your viewpoint – and Pastor Hart’s – as coming from someone who works with ‘goths,’ but I plead with you not to excuse or underestimate the deeply disturbed nature of this movement. It takes only a cursory look through the internet under ‘goth’ to see the kind of Satanic, nihilistic, anti-Christian credo the ‘goth’ culture adheres to. Just because some goths don’t follow every tenet doesn’t mean we should ignore their world view.”

Sanctuary’s ministry stresses that the world view of Goth culture is anything but anti-Christian. The gothic lifestyle values the importance and value of individuality. Passivity and tolerance of others are treasured ideals, and vegetarianism, volunteerism and humanitarianism are common in practice. Goth kids have even cultivated an image of themselves as a “chosen people,” special in the eyes of a contemporary, post-Millenium God.

This concept is encouraged and reinforced by Pastor Dave. “I believe that the Christian gothic/industrial community has been called for [in] such times as these,” he preaches on the Sanctuary website. “Who else is more prepared to deal with dark days and painful times? You are a tribe of poet/priests and poet/warriors called to fight the darkness you know so well. Like Stryder and the Northern Rangers in ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ you will be used to fight the shadows of fear and terror in the dark forests and murky swamps which lie outside the boundaries of the land of the Hobbits…be confident in your unique calling. You are a chosen tribe, a holy nation of priests.”

“Be ready to die,” says Pastor Dave. “To your old life, to your dreams, to your glory, to your sin-nature, to this world, to this body. Remember it’s all going to burn. Remember that our suffering will not last forever.”

Wayno’s Christmas Newsletter

Just a few lines to update you, on me!

Wayno

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C h r i s t m a s ,  2 0 0 8

It has been the year, and I have survived!

As most of you know, I underwent Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (due to a congenital defect) on October 22,  2008.  No Coronary Artery Disease.  Everything went well.  I am 6 weeks out, and feel great.  I was in the hospital for 3 days!  (done off pump)

Mom spent about 3 weeks here in Tucson, helping me get through the first days after surgery.  Thank you Mom and Dad!

I just had a check-up with the Cardiologist, and he said things are looking fine.  I really don’t need Cardiac Rehab, but he thinks the educational aspects of it would be good, so he’s submitting the request to my HMO for authorisation.

All labs look good, and I should be “good-to-go “for the hernia repair in February, 2009.  Looking at about July, 2009 for the Rotator Cuff repair.

Thanks for your prayers.  They made a difference!  A special thank you to the folks at Drexel Heights for helping me in my time of need.  ( http://www.dhbctucson.org – be sure to check our blog)

During the summer, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome:  a mild form of Autism.  I have made some good Aspie friends:  Myra and Will.

I have been quite busy of late.  With my 5+ year old computers failing, Mom and Dad got me a new computer for Christmas.  With help from my friend Joe Sloan (from Toyota), we installed the 64 bit (dual processor version) of Ubuntu Linux.  I have been using SuSE Linux for over 2 years, so the switch went well.

Pastor Dan and I sat down, and I will be teaching a class on Budgeting, starting in January, 2009.   With the economy on the downturn, this has become an urgent need.

We are also looking at ways to incorporate Spanish into our church, since we are literally surrounded by a large Spanish Speaking community here in Tucson.  I’m looking at brushing up my Spanish Skills, and we are considering doing an ESL (English as a Second Language) outreach.  (Pastor Dan is bi-lingual)

Happy Holidays, “Old Friends!”  (from Wayno, Hetty & Abby)