From: landauer@morocco.Eng.Sun.COM (Doug Landauer)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.mike-jittlov,alt.self-improve,alt.california,alt.co-evolution
Subject: Re: Permission needed - Author of "Practice Random Kindness"
Keywords: guerrilla goodness, kindness, acts, Marin, california, legend
Date: 9 Oct 92 07:50:09 GMT
Followup-To: alt.co-evolution
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: morocco

Mike Jittlov asked:
>    "PRACTICE RANDOM KINDNESS AND SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY"
> ... Do you know where it came from? ...
> Reverend Glenn Smiley would like to reprint it in his newsletter.

I don't know whether the article itself, as posted, was original with
the Glamour magazine editorial, as Mary Lou Rowe says.  However, I
happened, just this week, to have stumbled across my copy of the July
1985 Whole Earth Review.  (It's the one with the "FLYING SAUCERS IN SAN
FRANCISCO" cover, subtitled "DIGITAL RETOUCHING -- the end of
photography as evidence of anything".)

Andrew C. Plotkin notes:
> (Note -- the phrase is misquoted almost as often as it's quoted. Mike's
> version above is the correct one. (You can tell because it's a partial
> pun on the cliche phrase "senseless acts of violence".))

Well, "correct" is relative.  The word "practice" never occurs in the
quote below.  I think it detracts from the whole spirit, since it turns
the thing into a prescription -- a command.  Americans do love to give
one another commands, don't they?  :-/

 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Anyway, here's most of what Kevin Kelly's intro (from WER, July 1985) says:

    These fine pieces of daring come from Anne Herbert's soon-to-
    be-published book, _Random_Kindness_and_Senseless_Acts_of_Beauty_
    (Random House).  Anne was the poet from Ohio who invented the
    editorial staff for this magazine in 1977 [...]  Anne's uncommon
    notes of extraordinarily ordinary daily events were threaded through
    the corner of every page of the _Next_Whole_Earth_Catalog_ as "The
    Rising Sun Neighborhood Newsletter".  By an odd stitchery they sewed
    the Catalog together.  The same stitches hold these excerpts together.
    Anne's writing is conversation; she's filled in her lines -- you're
    supposed to write her yours.

A few pages later, this shows up, with the heading abbreviated
just like this:

			RK/SAB

    Anything that happens randomly and frequently starts to make its
    own sense and changes the world into itself.  Senseless violence
    makes more and more sense as vengeance and fear pull us closer and
    closer to a world where everyone's dead for no reason.

    Violence isn't the only thing that's senseless until it creates its
    own sense.  Anything you think there sholud be more of, do it
    randomly.  Don't await a reason.  It will make itself be more,
    senselessly.

    Scrawl it on the wall:  RANDOM KINDNESS AND SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY

    I used to have fantasies of positive vandalism.  Breaking into the
    school and painting a dirty room bright colors overnight.  Fixing
    broken glass in people's houses while they're gone.  Leaving full
    meals on tables in the struggling part of town.  I fantasize
    slipping grocery money into the old lady's purse, secretly planting
    daffodils every grey place there is.

 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Mike, I don't know whether Anne's book ever did get published (but
isn't "Random House" the perfect publisher for it?); but she has
contributed to WER as recently as summer 1991.  You may be able to
scare her up by posting to alt.co-evolution, which seems to have active
participation from people involved with WER.

Note that I've added alt.co-evolution to the Newsgroups line, and sent
followups there.
--
Doug Landauer -- landauer@eng.sun.com               _
Sun Microsystems, Inc. -- STE, SunPro, IPE         La no ka 'oi.