No-No Berries at The Nearby Nowhere Private Dragon School
Art By Rebekah Jenks
Introduction by Lindsey Gunter
Scan of actual “Ergo” Vol.1 No.2 from 1972 /Randy Gunter
The piece you are about to read originates from a small group of rebellious teenagers in 1972 while attending the American school in Sao Paulo, Brazil called “Graded” or “Escola Graduada.” These kids had a small, independent publication small enough to be slid into the lockers of their peers called “Ergo,” in which they voiced frustrations with the school administration in all manners fantastical and allegorical. The creator of this paper was a young William “Randy” Gunter, my father. This particular issue is labeled “Another Fable (From the Chronicles of Nowhere)” the second passage in the first volume, and the topic? “No-no berries in the berry lounge,” or in other words; “no marijuana in the smoking section."
Yes! There were actual smoking sections at schools in the 70’s, and as unhealthy as nicotine has been known to be over time, even then cannabis suffered from the same ridiculous stigma it does today. Which clearly frustrated my father and his friends the way it frustrates me and so many others around the world. How odd it is that we both began writing about cannabis out of frustration. Funny how it led each of us to an independent publication. Like father, like daughter.
My father and I were estranged for the most part through my twenties. Fast forward to Christmas holidays 2022, I am two to three years in rebuilding with him, Aphasia and all, and came across this memory, tucked away in another envelope full of photos and things from his education around the world. This is why I wanted to share this piece of my family’s history with cannabis with the Fat Nugs community as well as the cannabis community at large. To remind us that this de-stigmatization mission is not new, that it is generational, widespread with roots everywhere older than most civilizations. To remind us that this cause has already been long fought, to rally us forward in wasting no more time uplifting the voices who have been part of the fabric of usage, the agents of the evolution of this glorious plant and the unique culture it inspires, past and present.
Please enjoy.
Art By Rebekah Jenks
The sun was shining and birds were chirping happily in the Eucalyptus trees. But all was not so merry in the nearby Nowhere Private Dragon School. There were anguished moans emerging from the administration building, where the Nowhere Private Dragon School principal was in a top-secret conference with The Cat, the students' Kind and Friendly Counselor.
"This is terrible!" cried the principal, "There are rumors that there are students who chew the Forbidden No-No Berry in the Berry Lounge! Don't they realize that the Berry Lounge is only for normal berry-chewing, and only by sixteen-year-old students with Parental Permission? Don't they realize that they are ruining their health? Even worse, don't they realize that they might harm the school's reputation? What if it should become publicly known that at the Nowhere Private Dragon School the students chew No-No Berries in the Berry Lounge? It would utterly ruin the image we have gone to such trouble and expense to fabricate!"
"What if the D.U.P.S.," continued the principal, "The Dominion's Omnipresent Policeman and Searchers should suspect and come to search? What if they find No-No Berry Juice? What then!"
The Cat blinked with anxiety.
"We must alert the students," said the principal, "We must see to it that no berries are found on our campus!" The Cat, the Students' Kind and Friendly Counselor said, "Yes,we must alert them at once!"
"Since you are the Students' Kind and Friendly Counselor, Pussycat," said the principal, "The Job of alerting the students is yours." "Yes sir," replied the Cat, "I will do so at once!"
And the Cat want to the students who were noticed with No-No Berry Juice on their chins, took them aside, and whispered,
Art By Rebekah Jenks
"I am telling you this only as your friend, The Dominion's Omnipresent Policemen and Searchers may come to school soon, if they should find the No-No Berry with you, you will most certainly suffer. Also, the Nowhere University of Sourberry Picking will not accept you if this happens, you know! So, if you have any No-No Berries with you, please flush them down the toilet or dispose of them. Please do not bring any more to school this semester." The students, of course, were indignant that the Cat should suspect them of chewing No-No Berries, and wiped their chins as they staggered uncertainly from her office (astounded, no doubt, by the staggering importance of the matter!).
One day, the Dominion's Omnipresent Policemen and Searchers did indeed come to the school and, in spite of the Students' Kind and Friendly Counselor's kind and friendly counsel, many persons were taken away in a black and white wagon for possession of the Forbidden No-No Berry. Some were interned for Rehabilitation: none were accepted at the Nowhere University of Sourberry Picking.
But just as every cloud has its silver lining, this fable has a happy ending. Fortunately, the students who remained in the school learned their lesson well; not a single No-No Berry was chewed again at the Nowhere Private Dragon School for days and days and days.
