Ed's Story

He started calling himself Oedipus Dick sometime in junior high school. They were studying Greek tragedy, and Ed got way into it. He really likes the scene where Oedipus gouges his eyes out. Ed was from this little town in North Carolina called Saxapahaw. He used to call it sexwithmymaw. He thinks his Mom is sexy. But he really thinks his friend's mom is hotter, a real sex goddess. He used to send her erotic mail - until his Dad found out.
During the summer after his junior year of high school, Ed went to some protest rally down at Fort Benning and was arrested. He met this girl from Chapel Hill , and they participated in some other minor protests together. He got hung up on this chick, but she ignored him when she realized Ed wanted to be more than just comrades in the revolution.
He got really depressed and staged this crazy one-man protest rally at his high school. At first everyone just ignored him. Then he protested the prom. He tried to throw water balloons on some of the girls. Mr. Twing wrestled him to the ground and then they carted him away. Ed's parents put him in group therapy and private counseling. They thought he was doing better - until he disappeared.
Ed ran away to Chapel Hill, looking for the chick he had gone to the rallies with. All her pals worked at Peppers Pizza, so he tried to get a job there too. But I guess things didn't work. He started hangin' out with the Post office kids. He spent a lot of time in his room at the YMCA watching TV, mainly cartoons. He really hated the local news anchor; he dubbed him Helmet Head.
He was a regular at this bar on Franklin Street until they kicked him out. They found out his ID was fake and he was really 16. Then, he hooked up with these guys on the street corner. That's when he got hooked on malt liquor. (He used to beg me to smuggle him in just one 40.) During the afternoon, he'd watch all the kids going to class, all looking alike and moving like a herd.
Ed was really pissed at their lack of creativity and he decided to stage his crazy one-man protest against Pop Culture. He'd go to campus and shout "Fuck Pop Culture" at all the trendy shitbags, pledges, anyone that he thought smacked of shallow commercial values. He called his generation the soda-pop kids. He never tried to organize a group protest against Pop Culture. It was always just him. If anyone tried to join him, he'd tell them to shut the fuck up. They were so hip they made him want to puke. He said it was the tragedy of being cool -- all image and no substance.
When he started climbing trees and tossing acorns and rocks at kids on the way to class, they arrested him. That's how he got institutionalized at Dix (Dorthea Dix Hospital). That's where I met Ed. I was responsible for getting everyone in his section in their rooms for the evening. He was on some pretty heavy medication when I first met him. I always had a hard time waking him up.
They started reducing his doses. He'd sit out in the yard and smile at nothing. Anytime I asked him how he was doing, he'd just grin and nod real slow.
¨Everything is copacetic,¨ he'd say.
He started giving me lyrics to songs at some point. They were really good. I put it to music, recruited a partner and started playing locally. We named the band after Ed. Ed left the hospital in August. I haven't heard from him in awhile.