"...By far the worst is the hamburger lady, and because of shortage right now
of 'qualified technicians', e.g. technicians who can work with her and keep
their last meal down, Screwloose Lauritzen and I have been alternating
nights with her, unrelievedly. If you put a 250-lb meatloaf in the oven
and then burned it and then followed that by propping it up on a potty-chair
to greet you at 11pm each night, you would have some description of these
past two weeks. Which is to say the worst I seen since viet napalms. When
somebody tells you that there is a level of pain beyond which the human mind
cannot retain consciousness, please tell them to write me. In point of fact
this lady has not slept more than 3-5 minutes at a stretch since she came to
us - that was over two weeks ago and, thanks to medical advances, there is
no end in sight; from the waist (waste?) up everything is burned off, ears,
nose etc - lower half is untouched and that, I guess, is what keeps her
alive. I took one guy in to help me change tubes and he did alright, that
is alright till he came out, then he spotted one of the burn nurses
(pleasant smiling zombies) eating a can of chile-mac at the desk, and that
did it: he flashed on the carpet. It is fucking insane is what it is."
-part of a letter sent by Al Ackerman from Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 1978
from the DOA sleeve. so i guess i'm right. and now i will never sleep again.
"...By far the worst is the hamburger lady, and because of shortage right now of 'qualified technicians', e.g. technicians who can work with her and keep their last meal down, Screwloose Lauritzen and I have been alternating nights with her, unrelievedly. If you put a 250-lb meatloaf in the oven and then burned it and then followed that by propping it up on a potty-chair to greet you at 11pm each night, you would have some description of these past two weeks. Which is to say the worst I seen since viet napalms. When somebody tells you that there is a level of pain beyond which the human mind cannot retain consciousness, please tell them to write me. In point of fact this lady has not slept more than 3-5 minutes at a stretch since she came to us - that was over two weeks ago and, thanks to medical advances, there is no end in sight; from the waist (waste?) up everything is burned off, ears, nose etc - lower half is untouched and that, I guess, is what keeps her alive. I took one guy in to help me change tubes and he did alright, that is alright till he came out, then he spotted one of the burn nurses (pleasant smiling zombies) eating a can of chile-mac at the desk, and that did it: he flashed on the carpet. It is fucking insane is what it is."
-part of a letter sent by Al Ackerman from Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 1978
from the DOA sleeve. so i guess i'm right. and now i will never sleep again.