Letter of Support – Mish Bondage

From Mish Bondage of Sado Nation

I was reading a blog in the Mercury about this documentary, people keep arguing about things that seem so inconsequential.. like whether or not JimJim committed a crime by our standards. ok maybe he Pissed in public.. since when is that free license to murder him? They keep on and on about whether the person taking on the writing of the documentary is *worthy* of this project.. and then proceed to condemn JimJim…. as a criminal without ever truly looking at him, or trying to see the world through his eyes. Here is my response to all of it….

It seems we are missing the point of what this documentary is about..

I think it would be the hope of those who knew Jim Jim from the early punk scene that this documentary will bring a human face to him, and will bring some understanding about the battles of living with mental illness.

We are sickened and saddened at how he faced his last hours, knowing his fragile mental state, and his fears (which go back many years) that some evil would come for him.. He was truly in terror of this, and I am not surprised that he ran from the police, given his mental state. I am not trying to make excuses for his behavior, but no one seems to be viewing the world through JimJim’s eyes.

As a young man, he was a creative soul with a truly innocent heart, and it is no wonder he inspired both Greg Sage and the Neoboys to write songs about him.

I understand it is the police’s job to *take action* depending on the situation. However, it is apparent that additional training into recognizing the signs of mental illness is needed.

another small point upon further pontification… its easy for all of us to make judgments sitting in our comfortable homes.. but what about the homeless mentally ill person? We keep asking them to *live by our standards*. If someone is living on the streets, and most businesses won’t let him in to use the facilities.. where is he supposed to relieve himself? People have different levels of existence here.. I am not advocating disregard of the rules.. but I keep seeing people judging JimJim’s life by a much higher standard of living than he faced.

JimJim existed with demons we will never be privy too, how can we judge him or his actions by our standards? We walk out the door and can take the world at face value. he couldn’t…. he couldn’t discern the same reality we take for granted..

We need to address the issues of the Mentally Ill in our communities. If nothing else comes of this effort, I hope it will bring some understanding and maybe some change in the system, which is tragically broken in regards to this population.

Check on Mish’s MySpace page to read friend’s comments!

Mercury Writes Up Alien Boy

James Chasse—The Documentary Film

Tuesday, February 5, 2008, BY MATT DAVIS of the Portland Mercury

Contrary to rumor I do occasionally take writing seriously. Which is why I’m working with director Brian Lindstrom and the Mental Health Association of Portland to write Alien Boy, a documentary film about James Chasse. Check out the website here. Thanks to my editors and publisher here at the Mercury for allowing me to be part of the project.

CHASSE PHOTO: Beaten, hogtied, dying…

Chasse’s beating and mysterious death at the hands of Portland law enforcement in September 2006 remains troubling for all sorts of reasons. This weekend, I interviewed Lindstrom for the Alien Boy blog and he had this to say about the movie:

“My documentaries examine people society ignores or puts an ‘X’ through. If you go deep enough into someone’s story, you begin to understand their struggles. The person’s humanity is revealed, and you find yourself identifying with them. Labels like ‘drug addict,’ ‘ex-con’ or ‘mentally ill’ fall away.”

Well, that’s the idea, anyway. It’s been fascinating to begin our research, and I hope you’ll support the project.

Read 41 Comments on James Chasse — The Documentary Film

Our Process to Date – Part I

Brian Lindstrom sent me an email out of the blue last October, asking me to come to a screening of Finding Normal at Cinema 21. I’d heard about the film being made and hadn’t talked with Brian for a couple of years so I wrote back immediately and said yes. The subject of his film, peer support of addicts, is a favorite of mine. I looked forward to seeing old friends in old haunts.

And I was very impressed by Brian’s film. Young directors are often like the shoot-first point guards fresh in the pros, impressing some girl, some agent, some future horizon, and losing the respect of their team mates and perhaps the game. Brian lets the subject dominate, finds strong personalities, strong principles and holds on tight while rolling tape. Quite remarkable, considering the typical hostile nature of addicts and addiction treatment agencies to cameras.

Brian’s has the ability to be semi-invisible, just a regular guy, standing there, carrying a camera. You look at him and say to yourself, uh huh, and look somewhere else. This is an underestimated talent for documentary filmmakers, carefully cultivated by the great talents like Les Blank and Frederick Wiseman.

I was wrapping up a year commitment to talk publicly about what happened to my friend Jim Jim, who we decided to call James Chasse, in part because the media was using that name, and in part because his father is Jim Chasse. Jim Jim’s family called him James.

Over the year we created a web site for James, accumulating all the public documents and news articles about what happened to him. With Dan Handelman and Katie Kincaid, we helped create a memorial for his friends and family members at First Congregational Church. We answered a couple of thousand questions about what happened to James from students, the media, to bureaucrats and politicians.

After the screening Brian and I had a cup of coffee and caught up. He was intrigued with the Chasse story and I asked him if he could make a film about what had happened. Brian said yes immediately.

Meet the Filmmakers: Brian Lindstrom

“My documentaries examine people society ignores or puts an ‘X’ through,” says Brian Lindstrom, director of Alien Boy. “If you go deep enough into someone’s story, you begin to understand their struggles. The person’s humanity is revealed, and you find yourself identifying with them. Labels like “drug addict,” “ex-con” or “mentally ill” fall away.”

Which is why he’s directing a movie about James Chasse.

Lindstrom attended a screening of his recent documentary Finding Normal at Portland City Hall, last Friday, February 1. One of the most significant things about the screening for him was seeing City Commissioner Randy Leonard talking openly about his daughter being in Central City Concern’s recovery mentor program, on which Finding Normal focuses. Leonard’s comments followed those of Bobby Tsow, a drug and alcohol counselor, talking about his own recovery from a heroin addiction.

Read more on Page 2