The Trashpo Gift that Keeps on Giving: Has Dkult Finally Gone Too Far?

[De Villo Sloan]

“Virgin Mary Toast” from the Mystery Gift Box (Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange)

April 1, 2015 - The Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange of the 2014-15 holiday season will be remembered in mail-art history as one of the most poorly conceived, organized and executed events in a half century of otherwise smooth sailing. Nothing like it should ever be allowed to happen again. The human wreckage can never be mended. The disaster of the gift exchange raises at least two questions: Can a traditional gift exchange be considered a true mail art activity? Can re-gifted items be considered mail art?

Participants in the Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange were Diane Keys (organizer), KDJ, Rebecca Guyver, Dan Mouer, Nadine Wendell-Mojica, De Villo Sloan (me), Lisa Iversen, Angie Seffker Cope, Kendra Given, Jim Santamour, Paula Peters Marra and Amanda Villacreses. The event became a mail art version of Lord of the Flies. Friendships have been damaged beyond repair.

Most participants survived the gift exchange. The travesty that occurred involved the public lynching of one participant - me - who was wrongly singled out as being a parasite trying to procure free and expensive gifts from other members.

I will not participate in spreading rumors or relating details of events that are already well known. I will display for you selected re-gifted materials – aka the Mystery Gift Box – that are STILL circulating as the result of the Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange. They have now been sent to me.

The food items, which have been circulating for several months, are rotting and decomposing. Raw garbage has been dumped in the box creating a horrible stench, and the material now – in my estimation – poses a health risk. The intent, to me, is clearly malicious and rooted in paranoid revenge fantasies. I even might guess this is related to the DKult assault upon and the resulting break up of DKULTNY, once one of the proudest chapters now only a shell of its former glory.

Is this truly in the spirit of mail art? Or is this behavior we should condemn and not tolerate? Is this art or a malicious prank perpetrated by crazed Kulters bent upon getting even for some imagined afront? Perhaps the mail art community can intervene and censure the miscreants.

The return address says I mailed this to myself from Diane Key’s house – a virtual impossibility. I have no memory of mailing this to himself.

This panel of the mystery gift box implicates another party in the mailing, although we should never jump to conclusions.

Forged document from the Mystery Gift Box.

Bag of trash from the Mystery Gift Box.

Detail of toothbrush from the Mystery Gift Box. The notes say: “for teeth after all that chocolate,” “so u no cut ur self,” “please send 2 Angie 4 me” and “DKULTHQ sent this threat if I no send.” We assume the reference is to Angie Seffker Cope.

More trash from the Mystery Gift Box. Note “Angie’s” – clearly a reference to Angie Seffker Cope.

Incoherent rambling on the Mystery Gift Box plus kitty litter and candy from inside the box.

Many will find it shocking that someone actually considered this mail art, and it is scary to think “re-gifted” items like this are circulating in the network. I ask again: When has it gone too far? And how can we better police the network so things like this cannot occur?

[De Villo Sloan]

OK, I just saw DK's most recent comment, and she is not letting this drop. That's how I got pelted with rotten eggs on FB by those jackals over this, including KDJ. I never should have said I would participate in the gift exchange. That's true. A bad fit.

I have tried to explain Lisa Lisa's refusal and return of a previous gift I sent her for participating in some MinXus activity I don't recall. I thought it was absolutely rude to just return a package of m-a and a gift.

That's where DK never should have paired me with her. The whole thing is not so simple. And Le Becca Guyver claims she has the poncho! Which she doesn't. She can't it's not possible.

[De Villo Sloan]

And one more to explain the mystery: This Mystery Gift box originated with DK in Elgin. She sent it to Lisa Iversen (aka Lisa Lisa Kult Jam) in Indiana trying to impersonate me. I assume DK is responsible for most of the contents. Then Lisa decided to re-gift it to me. If Lisa added or changed anything, I can't tell.

(You know, IOU M-A to Richard Canard. I think the Mystery Gift Box or parts of it might be making a journey to Illusion.)

References to Angie Cope turn up a lot in the box. I can't figure out here involvement.

[De Villo Sloan]

A Mystery Gift Box to Richard C !!! I did wait very consciously for April 1 (April Fools Day) to post the Mystery Gift Box. From my perspective, DK, Lisa and I (along with anyone else involved) don't have any scars from the Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange.

That said, this is not all contrived. There really was a tacky gift exchange and some drama involving Lisa. The Mystery Gift Box is real, traveled through the mail for some time and is far more disgusting than my scans indicate.

I truly do not believe people should exchange food via the network. Just a weird hang up.

I am sure there will be another Barfa Stewart Tacky Gift Exchange and some new folks will be participating. Not me.

[borderlinegrafix]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA uuurrruummph!

[DKeys]

RC --there is always next year for the Barfa Spewart Tacky Gift Exchange. It's kind of like playing Russian Roulette in that you never know who is not going to get a gift. Usually one or two people flake on you but the Barfairy usually makes it up to them. In DVS ezzzz case, he blamed the victim-he blamed Lisa for not getting her a gift. She would have been happy with anything. NOTHING didn't get Martha a gift and DVS got her NOTHING. sorry to out NotHing here but it makes me feel bad when people get stiffed. DVS has been having issues lately with living in dual realities.

[Richard Canard]

April 1st, ... I think. Dare De Villo S., ...What a treat to witness---especially from the standpoint that  I failed get my act together in order to participate. Sugar coated  nothing with sprinkles. ...& so it goes or doesn't..... Richard     Post Scriptum:  Forgive me, & certainly not to my credit,  but I do enjoy this sort of utter nonsense.

[DKeys]

apparently your psychosomatic botulism has affected your eye sight I clearly see that your 'severed' finger has been sent back to you in this mailing. There should be no problem having it reattached as it was carefully preserved in the mansion 'evidence' room during your litigious phase.  The kitty litter was part of a gorgeous Barfa creation-a candle holder made with litter and wax One of a kind items like this are not only Walmarth prototypes, they are also collector's items. Again, please reference the words of Trashpo Jesus in the Book of Falitikus 4:1, "let not bitterness devour you for the world will do it for you if you shalt alloweth it rather take hold of the trash truck wheel and drive it right to the dump and discover recycled joy" Jesus Jim didn't believe in punctuation (waste not want not) .  Exposure to this kind of 'toxins' will help you build up your immunity to germs and you are also protected if you are carrying your Dkult ID. You must have lost it...in more ways than one

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks, DK. I trust others reading this have some idea what you're talking about because I don't. And I still wonder if this is part of your behind the scenes retribution and work to shut down the DKULTNY chapter. I'm really surprised there is no link to Meeah Williams in this.

People not familiar with the situation might not understand that a spell was put on my car and the battery would die each day when I went out attempting to purchase the gift.

That aside, this re-gifted material amount to a bio weapon and a real health hazard when I am already partially disabled due to a previous malicious mail-art prank. People involved in this "re-gifting" know full well I have developed a pathology concerning the mailing of food since the Grigori Antonin "Eat Me" episode. A box of rotting food and garbage such as this is traumatic to me.

Again I implore mail artists to think and consider carefully before mailing food or ingesting food or items that appear to be food that arrive in the mail. In my specific case, I shudder to think what would happen if I had accidentally consumed the cat litter mixed with chocolate thinking it was some kind of holiday trail mix.

I am - perhaps mistakenly - reminded of the incident where a member of the Church of the Subgenius is alleged to have mailed Bob Black an explosive device (to be fair only fire crackers) when Bob began to speak out against church doctrine.

I do think the Barfa Spewart Tacky Gift Exchange should cease. If you don't do it voluntarily, I will take action to try to have the event banned so no more victims like me have to suffer at the hands of a vulgar mob.

[DKeys]

The Barfa Spewart Tacky Gift Exchange has been a somewhat annual tradition for the past 6 years. It will go on no matter what. That is not a threat, that is a fact. Anyone reading this blog must know that DVS signed up for this with NO intention whatsoever of ever mailing his partner anything. He won the prize for tackiest gift, since what is tackier than no gift? BUT, at the 15th hour, he actually mailed her something! At least that is how it appeared. The truth is that he did NOT win the prize for tackiest gift as there was someone else who sent their partner NoThiNg. They have been omitted from this list. Why? As for DVS finding his own mailing offensive, well I don't know what to make of that. But talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth...I think you need to revisit the Trashpo Bible and remind  the wise words of Jesus Jim   Heretics 8:34; Book of Morons  , "thou shalt not earn rewards in life by cheating, rejecting, misquoting, and regifting, unless the outcome of the sum parts is greater than goods of the whole. And so it is."