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Hobo Sites

 

There are a few sites dedicated to tramping and trainhopping. It seems sort of odd to me that we have internet sites dedicated to an activity where the actual participants usually don't even own two pairs of shoes, much less a house or a computer. I think tramping captures the imagination of young people. It certainly captured my imagination, when I was young. Some trainhoppers use computers at Public Libraries or internet cafes to keep in touch with their trainhopping buddies. There are chat rooms and message boards that are secret, for the most part, that only people who are "part of the crew" have access to. Many of the most well-known and active trainhoppers have "gone online," been subjected to a lot of heat, and then "gone offline again." Guys like North Bank Fred, Collinwood Kid, the Texas Mad Man and others were famous among their trainhopping friends, and became famous in the cyber-trainhopping world, then got a lot of heat focused on them (especially Collinwood, who published great stories about hopping, very detailed and precise about who, what, when and where.) A well-known trainhopping/hobo woman, Gypsy Moon, went hopping with Collinwood and wrote a book about hopping. ("Been and Done"--it's a colection of old hobos' recollections about tramping and riding freights.)

North Bank Fred publishes beautiful photographs of his experiences hopping. He also has a large collection of tramp streaks on his web site.

There are actually two or three levels of trainhoppers. You've got your full-time rail tramps who live on the road 24/7. This is the kind of tramp that Rufe was, and the sort of people that started the FTRA. You've got your part-timers, or former tramps who sometimes quit riding trains and become "rubber tramps"--they buy a car or a van and travel around the country living out of their car. A lot of these guys have some kind of little business that they run out of their car, like going to flea markets and selling pocket knives or something like that. You have your "hobo musicians," which would include guys like Fran DeLorenzo, the Hobo Minstrel; or U. Utah Phillips, people who have used their background as a trainhopper to make the jump into the entertainment world. Utah Phillips has been a professional entertainer for over twenty years, and plays "the college circuit" on the West Coast. He has a bunch of CD's out. He has also been a member of the IWW for a long time. There used to be a country & western singer named "Boxcar Willie" but he was never a true tramp. He just adopted that image as part of his act. Utah Phillips, however, is the real McCoy, and so is Fran DeLorenzo. They are both getting too old to hop freights any more, but they were full-time tramps back in the day.

There is a guy named Eric Jackson, also known as "Jaks", who is a trainhopper who got so angry at the media lies and distortions about the FTRA that he started an unofficial FTRA website. He also put up the DeadTrainBums.com website, because he was concerned about all the young kids back in the late '80s and during the '90s going out to ride trains without understanding anything about the risks. He was (and is) trying to discourage kids from riding trains. He's got a point, too. Every time some teenager gets killed or crippled riding a freight train, it brings down the heat on the hundreds of riders (maybe thousands) who know how to ride safely and DO NOT get hurt. Graff artists that bomb railcars need to understand the same safety information that trainhoppers do, so they won't get hurt. If a graff artist heats up a yard, it's hot for everybody--tramps, trainhoppers, homeless bums AND graffitti artists. The same rules apply to graff artists as apply to trainhoppers. DON'T SKYLINE IN A RAIL YARD. Follow the safety rules. Don't vandalize shit. Don't steal. Treat rail workers with respect (remember the attitude test.) It's simple, and if you do it right, you won't get popped, you won't get hurt, and you will get a chance to put up your stuff. If you make bad choices, you will get bad consequences. Know the rules, use good judgement, and always put SAFETY FIRST.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ka-Bar Knives

 

Suburbian Bum--"Ka-Bar" is the registered treademark of a knife company. They make great pocket knives, and have for years. I have a real old one that belonged to my grandfather. The "Kabar" name is an acronym--it refers to an old tale about Daniel Boone (who?) who allegedly killed a bar (a bear) with nothing but a large fighting knife. Ka-Bar= "Kill-A-Bar."

The "Ka-Bar" I'm talking about, and the name which I took as my handle, is the USMC KaBar knives that are issued to Marines. It is pronounced "KAY-bar." Back during WWII, there was a Marine Corps unit called "Marine Raiders." They were disbanded after the war was over, the idea being every Marine is a Marine Raider, the Marine Corps didn't need any special unit of extra-crispy Marines. This special unit of Marine Raiders were issued special knives, produced by the Ka-Bar Company. It looks mostly like a Bowie knife. Today, the KaBar knife is issued to any Marine whose "duty" weapon is an M-9 pistol. This would include officers, machinegunners, some mortarmen and air crew. Regular Marine grunts, whose "duty weapon" is an M-16A2 rifle, or an M-4 rifle, are issued bayonets. However, most young Marines buy a Marine KaBar knife from the Post Exchange or out of a catalog, and if they ever get sent to a combat zone, nobody is going to tell them "You can't carry it", as long as they carry their bayonet also.

In civilian life, Marine Ka-Bar knives are "prohibited weapons," at least they are in Texas. The blade is 7" long, and any knife with a blade longer than 5-1/2" is a prohibited weapon in Texas. KaBars also have a "false" edge, i.e., the TOP of the blade is sharpened back about 2-1/2" from the point. This makes it a "poinard", or dagger, which is also a prohibited weapon. You can own it, but you cannot carry it off of your own property.

Today, Marine Corps "KaBars" are produced on a U.S. Government mil-spec contract by the Camillus Cutlery Company. They are stamped "U.S.-Camillus." Real genuine WWII KaBars are worth a small fortune as collector's knives. Most were lost or destroyed in combat. A few made in back home and most of the Marines that were issued one stole it and took it home with them after the war.

I carry a knife that I cut down from a butcher knife. It has a 5-3/8" blade, so it is legal to carry in Texas.

I carried upwards of $200 on me all the time back in the day. Way back when there were laws called "vagrancy laws." It was illegal to be broke, more or less. In California the minimum legal limit for vagrancy was $5. If you didn't have $5 on you all the time, you could be arrested and charged with vagrancy and "no visable means of support. There was an old hippie song that went to the tune of "Carolina in the Morning":

 

Nothing could be finer

than five bucks in your vagina,

in the m-o-o-rning;

Nothing could be sweeter,

than five bucks wrapped 'round your peter,

in the m-o-o-rning!

 

Anybody wanted my money had better be ready to fight for it. I wasn't inclined to give it up easy.

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wow!

I just spent two hours at work reading all your posts, Kabar, and I am enchanted! You make it seem so easy, while also impressing upon people that you have to take it seriously too. It draws so many parallels to graff, it's unreal! I really appreciate the integrity and honesty you bring to this thread, and I commend you for sticking to your beliefs on stealing. There really is no way to justify stealing - from anyone - however, I rack my paint and stickers - even though I still feel that I will pay someday in Karma.

Panhandling does take away a lot of dignity, and that's why I feel like it's my job to bring compassion and kindness to people who are out there doing it, because I'm sure a very lot of them feel like shit the way you did the one time you tried - and I'd rather give most people the benefit of the doubt, even though I'm no do-gooder myself.

Gosh, I always have lots to say, but it's 7:00 am and I am off work now - YAY! sleep...

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Military Knives and Equipment

 

Suburbian Bum---You can purchase all manner of military gear, including military knives and various things like backpackable saws, surplus military entrenching tool (shovels) and so forth, from a variety of sources. There are fighting knives available at a variety of grades of quality and price. The G.I. issue Marine Corps Ka-Bar is not a very expensive knife, selling for around $35 with leather sheath. There are many different versions of it, by various manufacturers, and various degrees of quality.

 

Brigade Quartermasters email at customerservice@brigadeqm.com

1-800-228-7344

 

Greene Military & Police 1-800-521-7977, 24-hr FAX 1-865-588-1426

 

Cabela's Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Gear 1-800-237-4444 or online at www.cabelas.com

 

Just about any decent military surplus store ought to carry Ka-Bar knives, they're a "military staple." Again, I want to caution you---KNOW YOUR STATE AND LOCAL LAWS--THESE KNIVES ARE OFTEN A FELONY TO CARRY AROUND WITH YOU. You could go to prison just for having it on you, under the right circumstances. FIND OUT WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT PROHIBITED WEAPONS IN YOUR STATE, and

don't trust some rumor from some know-it-all kid at school or somewhere. You want to read it for yourself in black and white, straight from the State Criminal Code. Enjoy!

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The Kindness of Strangers

 

Big Bruno---The "simple" answer is "Yes, I have." But there's more than one level to it. Railroad workers aren't uniformly approving of tramps and trainhoppers. Some of them just don't like us, often without any good reason. But, there is good reason to be pissed off at the minority of trainhoppers who break all the rules, have a shitbird attitude, diss the rail workers, steal shit, vandalize shit and just generally act like shit-for-brains losers.

 

If you act like somebody with a brain in his head, you'll probably be treated with respect. But here's the paradox---EVEN IF YOU AREN'T TREATED WITH DECENCY AND RESPECT, you react with a straight-up tramp attitude, and strive to pass the attitude test.

If some dickhead railroad worker turns you in to the bulls, be a stand-up guy. NEVER, EVER rat off a railroad guy, even if it means you go to jail. If the guy said straight to your face, "Oh, yeah, go ahead and ride, no problem," and then his buddy turned you in, NEVER RAT OFF THE FIRST GUY. If the bull asks "Did you have permission? Did one of these guys tell you it was okay?" you always say "Nobody saw me. I never talked to anybody. Nobody said "yes" or "no," I just decided to hop on my own." PROTECT THE RAIL WORKERS. Be a stand-up, straight-up tramp. Never snitch, unless it involves somebody who is harming or ripping off tramps. We know that hopping is against the law. If you break the law, you can expect to get nailed eventually, and to have to "pay the price." That's all part of the deal. If you can't handle getting busted, then don't hop trains.

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Thank you

 

I have really enjoyed reading your posts up to this point. I really appreciate the fact that you can take enough time to shed some light on some of these subjects for me. I have been a train enthusiast for a few years now, and lately have been getting way more into the history of it all. Been reading up on ALOT of books. Any good ones that you recommend? Ive read most all of the hoboing books Ive been able to track down, but what Im really interested in is books on the old timers. The old engineers and their stories etc. Just a thought..

 

Thanks alot for all the knowledge.

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Local Crew

 

Kinkosnerd---Try to find a "train shop" in Louisville. Almost every city has a couple of railroad hobby shops, where they sell model railroading stuff, track, engines and cars, houses, trees, etc. for model railroaders. There is a convergance of interest between railfans, model railroaders, trainhoppers, tramps and railcar graff writers. To be sure, there is a certain amount of animosity towards trainhoppers and graffitti commandos, but I've also seen model railroad set-ups that had hand-painted e2e pieces carefully painted on model railroad boxcars. I know a couple of railfans that tramped and hopped trains in their youth.

My local train shop (called TrainSource Texas, at 3264 South Loop West, Houston, Texas 77025 near the corner of South Main and I-610 for any of you Greater Houston Area guys who might want to check it out) carries all manner of cool railroad stuff like Union Pacific and BNSF coffee cups and stuff like that. The people who work in shops like Trainsource Texas really know their shit about trains and the local railroading scene, local history, etc.

Every city and large town has a few crews of trainhoppers and graff writers who hang out and have a "favorite" yard, or a favorite catch out. If you have a friend who is also interested in trains-hopping-graff-etc. you have the nucleus of a crew.

I got back into trains and hopping because of my interest in railfanning. I found a couple of jungles, then ran into a crew of railfans down at Englewood Yards. Then I cleaned up an old jungle and made it my "home jungle." After a while, I started getting obvious signs that other tramps had stayed there, like graffitti carved into one of the jungle's trees ("IWW," "NHA" and "ftra".) IWW="Industrial Workers of the World." That's an old revolutionary labor union. They have a website. http://www.iww.org/ NHA= National Hobo Association. I don't think it actually exists any more. There were some guys who said they were NHA at Britt a few years ago. And "FTRA" is Freight Train Riders of America. I have heard rumors that the Wrecking Crew operate on old SP routes (now UP) across the southwest and up the west coast. If you see tramps wearing a bandana rolled "cowboy style" and fastened with a silver concho, be very cautious. Black bandanas are the OG's from the old Burlington Northern Hi-Line. Blue bandanas are the Goonie Squad from the old Frisco line that goes across the central U.S. Red bandanas are the Wrecking Crew from the west coast and the South and Southwest. I met a couple of FTRA guys that seemed okay, but I've heard some pretty bizarre stories as well. The WC (red bandanas) are dangerous. Be careful around them. So far as I know, none of them are hooked up with any regular gangs like the Crips or the Bloods.

The IWW guys (they are called "Wobblies", I don't know why) and the NHA guys are pretty much harmless. The Wobblies are usually anarchists or socialists, if that's a problem. They will bore you shitless talking about their plans to revolutionize society and save the working class, but other than that, they're cool. NHA people come in all shapes and sizes. Lots of musicians--banjo and fiddle players, guitarists, etc.

The FTRA started in a bar in Libby, Montana in 1982. The OG's were just tramps, not thugs and not criminals. It started as a sort of self-protection, brotherhood thing for tramps and hobos. One guy told me that the whole thing about "FTRA" was wrong, that it really stood for "Fuck the Reagan Administration." I don't know. Anything is possible, I guess. One of the founding members is now a born-again Christian minister in Montana, but some of the old-timers are still riding trains and still Tramp4Life, but most have retired. The new, younger members have an entirely different attitude than the OG's. They talk about the "new FTRA."

Find yourself a jungle at a good junction or rail yard. If you look long enough, you might discover a jungle that's already there. Be careful. Remember---safety in numbers.

To see a couple of photographs of the FTRA, check out the FTRA website or North Bank Fred. The FTRA website has a pic of members posing with beers, standing in a boxcar door, looking wasted. One of them is a girl. They appear to be members and prospects of the OG's from the Burlington Northern Hi-Line (black bandanas with silver concho,) probably up in the Northwest somewhere. I bet North Bank Fred could tell us exactly where he shot the pic. Try this site

http://www.ftra.org/TrampCam/BoxcarBertha.html

The pic is pretty cool--several years old by now, but the story below is crap.

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thanks

 

I appreciate the responce, and yes, I have found the local model shops etc. There is a really nice one that is just called the L&N store that has alot of nice stuff, pins, shirts, coffe mugs, model everything, etc. but the question was more of me just wondering if you had any personal favorites. Just got a really nice book on the History of the Chessie System, and a video on the Streetcars Of Early Louisville. But, more or less, I was just wondering if you had any personal favorites.

 

The old timer that works down at the aforementioned L&N store talks on and on for a while, hes a wealth of information on everything you could want to know about trains. For anyone that hasnt tried, talking to these guys is the best. (this guy has an eye patch too, makes him all the more interesting).

I found out everything I could ever have wanted to know about trains coming in, or going out of my city. What yards are good to watch at, and what yards you will get your ass in trouble for getting near.

If anyone is interested I just got a nice book from www.deskmap.com called the Professional Railroad Atlas of North America thats pretty nice. It has all the lines across the US, Canada and Mexico broken down by what companies run them etc. Lots of good info on writing to some of the older companies too.

 

Thanks kabar.

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College Educated Tramps

 

Truthfully, most tramps are poorly educated. Without question, 99% of the people who consider themselves "homeless" either dropped out of high school, or never had a genuine chance at getting an education. But I'm not really talking about "homeless people", that is, people who have sort of made a career out of being down-and-out. I'm really more concerned with tramps. The real hobos, that is, the guys who rode trains back in the '30s, '40s and '50s, often were unable to go to school because of the Depression or World War II or the Korean War.

This weekend I was down looking to catch out, but it started raining and for some reason the trains were all runnning pretty fast. My first three or four good possibilities were all rolling between 21 and 23 mph. That's way too fast to catch a rolling train. I can run about 7 mph, more like 5 or 6 mph with a pack or any gear. If the train is rolling faster than walking speed, I don't even consider it.

Anyway, I retired to my favorite jungle, built a fire, cooked some chow and made coffee, and sat there on my bucket under my tarp shelter watching the wye get rained on. The tarp leaks, so every time the rain picked up, I would be trying to dodge three or four spots where the tarp was leaking.

After a while the rain slacked off, so I struck the tarp, doused the fire and hiked to another, nearby jungle where there are some permenant residents. We bought a couple of six packs of Busch and stood around under an overpass drinking beer, listening to the Cowboys get thumped and rolling cigarettes out of Top and Bugler.

Including myself, there were three guys standing there who had at least some college experience. Two of us had some kind of college degree.

The statement above about college doesn't really apply to trainhoppers. Most of them hop because they want to. But it does apply to down-and-out "homeless types." Oddly enough, many homeless panhandlers never hop trains. They often consider it to be too dangerous. One guy there today described his day thusly: "Some days I work--I go hold up a sign for four or five hours. But If I have enough money, I just take it easy. Sometimes my Mom helps me out--gives me money or takes me out to eat. I don't know. Life just kind of goes on, you know? I used too watch a lot of TV when I lived at home. Now it's just "Whatever." I listen to the radio a lot."

This guy is 29 years old and had been living under that overpass bridge for three years. He had a year of college, but dropped out.

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Books

 

First off- Thanks Kabar, for the insight on what I thought was a forgotten era. I work in the summer at a place sitting right beside a line. This line went right between two sets of houses. The line was simple, it just curved in between. You couldn't see anything looking down one side of the line, but out of the corner of my eye one day i saw a blue tarp. I went to check it out, due to the fact that it is a dead-line, and there hasn't been activity on it for years. Well i went into what i thought was jsut a tarp, and found a large town, well anyway... I would have never thought anything of it until i read this forum. I would just like to ask you one questoin tho....What do you think about ignorance? I am trying to write a book on this topic as we speak. Well keep up the positive thinking.

 

Trase_ Writer2 Against Retaliation

 

PS. Have you ever met any Canadian Traps, Hobo's etc.?

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Ignorance

 

Tee Rase---Well, to be blunt, I'm against ignorance. But unfortunately, there are a lot of people who insist on inventing buzzwords and newspeak to describe things, so it somewhat depends on exactly what you mean by "ignorance."

If what you mean is ignorance in terms of "destitute of knowledge or education", why I am very much against it. I am a strong believer in every person getting an opportunity to study and learn and become a literate, sophisticated, well-educated person. This is a very lofty goal. In my state, Texas, nearly 40% of high-school students drop out before graduating. Essentially, a decision to drop out of school is a decision to be impoverished and excluded from the more rewarding sectors of economic life.

However, if what you mean by "ignorance" is a difference of opinion about public policy or personal preferences as regards the subjects of culture, nationality, language, race or behavior, then I cannot subscribe to being uniformly in opposition. It's like that old conundrum--"Have you stopped beating your wife?" If you say "yes," then that means that you admit to doing so. If you say "no," that indicates you are still engaged in so doing. There is a great injustice in degrading language. Such practices as coining buzzwords like "Social Justice," or "gender equality," errode the ability to communicate and foster opposition and resentment on all sides. One that really amused me when I was young and radical was "Industrial Democracy." I think that we should "call a spade a spade." Who could reasonably be in favor of ignorance? Since being in favor of ignorance is unreasonable and inappropriate, if one loads the word up with a lot of left-wing, liberal, racial preferences and class-war prejudices, then one positions one's opponents to appear unreasonable and irrational.

Each person, individually, ought to be considered and judged upon his own merits. In turn, each person may consider the world and make judgements about it on it's own merits. Some people choose to make good choices and fair judgements. Some do not. Those people who choose to drop out of school, for instance, and to remain ignorant, are going to suffer the consequences of that decision. This is as it should be. To try and blame the teachers, the school system, the Government, the racial group to which that student's teachers belong, or the moon and the stars is all inappropriate and incorrect. Only ONE PERSON has responsibility for the decisions that the student makes, and that is the student himself. To think otherwise is to create a ready excuse for every lack of diligence and lack of dedication in society. I do not accept that premise as valid. We succeed or fail UPON OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL MERITS. Far too many people are looking for somebody to blame for their own personal failures and inadequacies. Members of the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis are an excellent example. So are the "Black Nationalist" groups like the Nation of Islam. Being a "victim" relieves one of the responsibility of the consequences for one's own life choices.

At age 19, I was barely a high-school graduate, virtually penniless, and riding freight trains and living outdoors to avoid the responsibility of paying rent, working every day and being a regular member of society.

At age 51, I am a college-educated professional, with a family, a home and responsibilities. I no longer ride trains out of necessity, but for amusement. It's a choice, and one with potential consequences, of course. It is no different for me than it is for anybody else in society. Work hard, go to school and become educated, be a normal, law-abiding, productive member of society, or PAY THE PRICE for failing to do so. I did not like the price, so I went to college. At age 43.

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Exercising one's Power of Choice makes one stronger.

 

Tee Rase---In my opinion, it's not the experience itself of tramp life, living outdoors and learning to survive in that environment that makes one stronger, but the exercise of one's power of choice. As long as I just let chance be the guiding factor in my life, I was blown this way and that by events. Some events I had no control over, but with some of those events I could have had a great degree of influence upon the outcome. Choosing to "not choose" is a choice itself, and a destructive one. It's like voting "present" in Congress, instead of "yes," or "no."

Once I made a choice to change my life, it turned out that it was an enormous choice. I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I was full of bravado about it at the time I did it ("The Marine Corps ain't going to change me one bit. When I get out, I'll be the same guy I always was.") but once I shipped to Boot Camp, I was scared to death. It wasn't the rigors of Boot Camp that scared me, it was the fact that I knew in my heart that I was going to be different afterwards. And I was.

I was a great Marine. It was like I was born to it. All those months of living outdoors had equipped me to be a sort of natural infantryman. I quickly gained rank and responsibility. I was older and more mature than my peers, and I was not swayed by their adolescent behavior. Many young NCO's request to be transferred out of their "home" unit, because they find fulfilling the job of a sergeant too difficult if they are working with their old squad bay buddies. In many ways I loved Marine Corps life, and I feel like I owe the Marines a great debt. To use a hackneyed phrase, "They made a man out of me."

When I got out of the Corps, I left with the sure knowledge that I could accomplish literally anything I set my mind to if I was willing to work hard enough to get it. I knew how to set priorities under pressure, how to plan a course of action, and how to implement that plan. I sat down and made a plan to improve my economic condition. Within five years I was married, we had a baby, and were both in college. I completed one degree eight years after leaving the Marines. After a short stint working, I went back to school and completed another degree fourteen years after leaving the Marines.

It's not an unusual story. Plenty of others have done the same thing, and with a lot less patting themselves on the back. But I do take pride in the fact that I was able to accomplish what I have, and after such a poor start. I suppose the moral of the story is ""If I can do it, anybody can do it."

I still love trains and tramp life. Sometimes I take a little vacation, and enjoy the peace and quiet of no telephones, no deadlines to meet and no responsibility. But then it's time to return to the real world. I was not totally satisfied with life on the bum, not at all. And I am also not totally satisfied with life as an adult professional. Life is a compromise. One seeks balance, and to live with dignity and respect. At least, I do.

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Yes, I do, occasionally, but I do not consider myself to be a writer of any great ability or talent. I'm really more interested in tagging and streaks, but I very much enjoy and appreciate well-executed and artistic graff pieces. As I have said before, a lot more people go to the Art Museum than go to the art school. Without an audience, there is little point to art. I am opposed to thrashing and tagging crapola willy-nilly all over a neighborhood, and especially opposed to gang tags. When I lived in San Francisco there were three murders within three blocks of my apartment on Delores Street, all of and by gang members, and all because of teenaged boys' overblown egos and distorted sense of what "respect" means. People who have no respect, get no respect.

On the other hand, I find many large fill-ins to definately fall into the category of art, and think that it's too bad there is not some way to bring some of this graphic sense and artistic expression into galleries.

 

BTW, the email address you provided is defective. "This email address does not exist. Your message has not been sent."

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Culture

 

(Tee Rase--Check your Hotmail.com email account. It worked--I guess the underscore didn't show.)

 

 

I wanted to write about culture, and how we form the ideas and opinions that we do. Much of culture is passed through the family, and long-standing attitudes can be formed when you are really young, maybe only a year or so old. We don't think of babies as being very aware of their surroundings, but they are very, very aware. Take for instance the cultural differences between a mother who thinks a crying baby is "spoiled" and refuses to pick it up, vs. a mother who believes that babies should stay in constant contact with the mother via a sling or some kind of baby carrier. The baby that is ignored will grow up suspicious and untrusting of the world, used to not getting what he wants, and pretty damned angry about it. The baby that is carried in a sling or carrier will grow up believing that the world is very safe and predictable, and that women in particular are gentle, and loving and nurturing. What kind of person would ignore a crying baby? An alcoholic? A drug addict? A mentally ill person? Someone whose own needs are so great that they have nothing to spare for parenthood. It's not always a matter of being poor, because poor mothers the world over raise children lovingly and provide for them the best that they can. But people who have a sense of entitlement often feel short-changed and cheated by life. And they pass this "I'm getting screwed and it's all your fault" attitude towards the world on to their children.

Some tramps and homeless people are scammers. They think the world owes them a living, and they see nothing wrong with getting whatever they can get any way they can get it. They see themselves as "getting back" at the "rich, snobby" people by panhandling or petty theft or even cargo theft. I understand why they think the way they do, but I disagree and am opposed to it. Many graff artists regard people who use "etch" in the same way. It's destructive, and unwarranted.

Some tramps and homeless people take that same "us against the World" culture and turn it into something positive. My friend Rufe had a rule that he would never turn down another tramp if he asked for something to eat. We even stopped and built a fire and brewed up coffee and made macaroni and cheese right on the spot for tramps that were truly hungry. Several times we built a fire right in the yards and shared out with other bros who had little or nothing to throw into the Frisco. Rufe was a full-on, 24/7 tramp. And he was somewhat of a scammer. But he wasn't malevolent about it, and that's the difference that culture makes.

Have a set of rules in your life. Be careful who you decide to be, or who you pretend to be. There are a lot of people out there who glorify gangsterism and a criminal mindset. Be careful that gangsta culture doesn't make you into somebody you're not.

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point taken,

 

I know from past happenings that people take there own thoughts way too rightiously. I think this plays into the whole ingnorance conver. I had a debate yesterday with two of my closest friends. They where 100% sure that Hitler WAS a good leader. I with all my heart do not believe this, and proved it to them. They eventually sided with me by saying he was a good manipulator (bull-shitter). Of coarse this is harmless, but when writers cannot think past their art i get angry, they think that they are the best at what they do. ( sorry im having a hard time proving points, my car just broke down, :) )... so anyway, junkfood for thought.

 

 

 

trase

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Hitler was a charismatic person, and was very attractive to the German people after they had suffered the deprivations subsequent to their defeat in WWI, the Allied plunder of the German industrial and economic sectors couched in the form of "war reparations" afterwards, and the terrible inflation during the Weimar Republic. It was a set-up, and the German people fell right into it. I have known several German-American immigrants who lived in Germany during that time. When I was a boy, my next-door neighbor was a young German war bride, who married an American G.I. at age 16 just to get out of post-WWII Germany. Her son was a friend of mine. When she talked about seeing Hitler pass by in a parade, with all the young girls dressed up in traditional German folk dress and throwing flowers, her eyes shone and she sounded like some girl I knew talking about seeing the Beatles in concert. The growth of fascism in Germany and in Europe was not a rational thing. You cannot lead a nation to fascism unless it wants to be led.

The murder of the European Jews was just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually the Nazis would have run out of Jews to kill, and gypsies, and Communists, and trade-union leaders, and Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals, and mentally ill/ mentally retarded people. Eventually to keep the National Security State rolling, they would have turned on their "own," and Nazis would have been sent to their own concentration camps. Everything the Nazis did was 100% legal. They owned the legislature, the Courts and the military/ industrial complex. That's what fascism is--government by totalitarian, corporate, socialist methods: "National Socialism." It kind of has a unsettling, threatening sound to it--kind of like "homeland security."

 

Everybody wants to blame somebody else for their problems, and Jews are no exception to this rule. I read a very good book back in the 1960's called "The Aryanization of the Jewish State," which explained racism, xenophobia and the growth of the "National Security State" in Israel. It could happen here, just as easily. People not accustomed to THINKING FOR THEMSELVES are easily convinced that "the mud people," or "the Zionist Occupational Government" or "the white devils," or some other scapegoat is all to blame for their misfortune.

This is why I am not a socialist or communist, not a Nazi, not a "right-winger" or a "left-winger" or any-kind-of-winger. READ THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND THINK FOR YOURSELF. As long as the love of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights lives in the American heart, we are safe from fascism. Boy. Now I need to get off the soap box and go re-load some ammunition.

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