Important

[Karoline]

Ok, here goes: I´m Karoline (no fancy road name for me) 26 year old scandinavian punk/sociology student with an interest in trainhopping culture that I got mainly from talking to friends and aquaintances that have been riding for longer or shorter periods. Didn´t get a chance to do it myself yet, but hoping to do it sometime in the not too distant future.

Right now my purpose of being at this forum, (and this is quite important!!) is to do a tiny ethnographic study. I will explain here what it is I want to do, why and how, and please, please contact me if you have any objections or especially if you don´t wanna be part of it!

First of all, this is a small study/paper that will not be published anywhere, and will only be read by two teachers and a handful of students. Still, it is really important to me to "do this right", not step on anyones toes, which is why I´m interested in you guys´ feedback. I will keep the people I write about totally anonymous, and respect anyone who does not want to be part of this.

What I am interested in is how we (as punks/travellers and so on) shape our identities, and what form the resistance we practice take. How do we distance ourself from "the mainstream" and how do we distance ourselves from each other, (for instance by labeling each other oogles
Also the issue of exposure is quite interesting. (and important) What happens if there is too much attention drawn to the phenomenon? (polaroid kidd pictures all over the internet, movies, sociology students wanting to write about it etc) In what ways can this be bad?

If you feel like it, please write me and tell me a little about what your life looks like, and your thoughts about living the way you do. I will also try and post some more questions for discussion myself as well as reading previous threads.

I think that´s it for now. Again, please contact me. Both if you wanna tell me to fuck off, or if you wanna share and discuss things with me.

-Karoline

 

[finn]

Aren't there trainhoppers in Denmark? I'd expect there to be some major differences between European and American scenes though. Or is that what your paper is about? The other thing is are teachers accepting web based ethnography studies these days? I mean you have no way of telling what kind of statistical cross section you're getting.

 

[Gypsymouse]

I think she wants like perspectives and first hand stuff maybe?

 

[MrD]

http://squattheplanet.com/around-ca...0-intrepid-writer-has-got-some-questions.html

What ever happened to this /Stp/?

 

[Karoline]

I know a few people who have ridden trains in europe occasionally, but it´s not nearly the same thing here as there. Not as easy and not as big of a thing/culture as it seems to be there. Here people mostly get around by hitching or with fake tickets. or stay where they are.. This is a minor paper for a fieldwork course, and internet based ethnographies are starting to become more common. But my real interest is in the real shit, so to say. And I´m hoping to do a bigger study (masters thesis) later on where I actually go ride and talk to people in real life. However, I am concerned about whether this is an ok thing to do or not. Threads like "this intrepid writer.." posted by MrD shows some of the issues I´m worried about. I think there´s a big difference between a cnn journalist (or whatever he is) and what I want to do but still... It is a fucking facinating and interesting thing, the trainhopping, travelling lifestyle. something that has been going on "for ever" And I understand many peoples drive to document it in various ways. It would just be sad to see it be picked up by Vice and Urban Outfitters or whatever, chewed up and spit out and emptied of meaning. And I really wouldn´t want to contribute to something like that.

I can get a lot of info just by reading old threads (like the intrepid one) but I wanted to make myself visible here so that I wouldn´t just be spying on people without them knowing it or having a say about it.

Some of my bigger questions are of how this/these livestyles can be said to be resistance. Withdrawing yourself from society (while living off it) Is this something "authentic" and "real", (what is "authentic" anyways, and why is it so important to us?) since it´s been done for such a long time? Or can it be reduced to an identity based lifestyle choice like any else, where what you consume (what you wear, what you eat, the music you listen too and so on) decides what kind of person you are, and function as tools in a hierarchical coolness competition..?

But for now I´ll be focusing on the ways we shape our understandings of ourselves and others as members of a sub-culture/counter-culture. How do we distinguish ourselves from the mainstream, and from each other?
To answer these questions I will be looking at old threads and responses I get on what I write, but it would also be great if some of you wanted to write me a little "lifestory", who you are, what you do, why you do it, your thoughts about it etc. and send it to me as pm. whoo, I´ll shut up now.

 

[bryanpaul]

aaaarrrgh...such complicated answers to what this person is looking for... i am too lazy to answer...done

 

[Karoline]

you don´t have to answer the questions, that´s my job. I just want you to be aware of me being here, and I wanted to explain my intentions.. sorry about being unclear. and complicated. You really don´t have to do anything, except letting me know if you´re uncomfortable with what I do, and if you don´t want me to use stuff you wrote on here for my study. (if I did you would be totally anonymous! And what I write will not be published anywhere) On the other hand, if you want to, you could send me a pm and tell me a little about yourself, how you live your life and why/your thoughts about it.

 

[MrD]

So I guess I will add my 2cents in hopes this wont turn in to some kind of shitstorm..
I think that there is a huge difference between covering a topic like this in a exploitive way, and in a realistic/creative manner.

If you just want to write about something that really interests you, fucking do it.
But if it is just using a culture like this as a novelty (not at all to say you are), then that is where I draw the line.

There should already be plenty of information on StP to dig through. Tons and tons of threads and information.
So yeah, have fun.

 

[Karoline]

thanks <3

 

[Uncle Mom]

well put. don't really know what to talk about....

feel blank and empty lately.

 

[wokofshame]

Let’s start with how us trainhopping anarchopunks rebel against society.
It starts like this. First we drink lots of beer or malt liqour. This is to rebel against our parents and our livers. Plus the labels look cool. Once we have drunk a sufficient quantity of this slew we start pissing all over ourselves and each other. This is to rebel against societal norms that say we shouldn’t urinate in public.
Then we crack some racist jokes to rebel against political correctness, and make some chauvinistic comments to our women to rebel against same. We toss our puppies into fires to rebel against the fact that more people are buying cheeseburgers than hot dogs at McDonalds (and nobody’s buying them for us. Those fuckers)
Finally we hop on trains to rebel against how railroads royally screwed the Red Man and all the buffalo too.
Now how do we differentiate ourselves from each other? That’s the thing.
We don’t. We all look more or less alike. One day (the day we were born again) we traded our Hot Topic regalia for a needle, some dreadlocks, a trcuker hat, and some black Carhartt overalls. These must have at least 8 properly dirt-smudged patches advertising obscure British 80’s punk groups.
Also, we were all born poor as dirt. None of us came from middle-class families or have parents with college degrees. We were born on a freight train, and, by the grace of TrainDoc, we’ll die on a freight train.
So naturally the yuppie folk regard our very existence as rebellion.

 

[bryanpaul]

Bwaaahhahaha !!!!!!!!!

 

[Jimmy James]

Let’s start with how us trainhopping anarchopunks rebel against society.
It starts like this. First we drink lots of beer or malt liqour. This is to rebel against our parents and our livers. Plus the labels look cool. Once we have drunk a sufficient quantity of this slew we start pissing all over ourselves and each other. This is to rebel against societal norms that say we shouldn’t urinate in public.
Then we crack some racist jokes to rebel against political correctness, and make some chauvinistic comments to our women to rebel against same. We toss our puppies into fires to rebel against the fact that more people are buying cheeseburgers than hot dogs at McDonalds (and nobody’s buying them for us. Those fuckers)
Finally we hop on trains to rebel against how railroads royally screwed the Red Man and all the buffalo too.
Now how do we differentiate ourselves from each other? That’s the thing.
We don’t. We all look more or less alike. One day (the day we were born again) we traded our Hot Topic regalia for a needle, some dreadlocks, a trcuker hat, and some black Carhartt overalls. These must have at least 8 properly dirt-smudged patches advertising obscure British 80’s punk groups.
Also, we were all born poor as dirt. None of us came from middle-class families or have parents with college degrees. We were born on a freight train, and, by the grace of TrainDoc, we’ll die on a freight train.
So naturally the yuppie folk regard our very existence as rebellion.

This all sounds very stereotypical...But indeed frightening to Yuppies...( Yah MURT, I know yer just joking around)...But then I know people (like myself & my frenz) we are 'Sport Riders', we do not fit this stereotype at all...or even close.

We don't really live the sterotypical 'Gutterpunk' or 'Hobo' lifestyle (although I was a major Punk back in the early 80's, I guess in a way I still am).

We ride because it's a gas and hella fun. Not all of us are 'Young'...I'm fucking about to turn 50 myself...Politically, I myself am an anarchist. I own my own home, which I work from in what I would call a 'non-traditional' job; outside of the norms of what I would call 'The Establishment'.

In other words Karoline, we all ain't like that.

I think Wizehop is a pretty good example of the kind of sportriders like me who don't exactly fit into the Gutterpunk or Hobo definition....Yet we dig the rush of riding & worship the power of the Diesel Beast.:worship:

We are who we are and it is what it is.:worship:

 

[614 crust]

let’s start with how us trainhopping anarchopunks rebel against society.
It starts like this. First we drink lots of beer or malt liqour. This is to rebel against our parents and our livers. Plus the labels look cool. Once we have drunk a sufficient quantity of this slew we start pissing all over ourselves and each other. This is to rebel against societal norms that say we shouldn’t urinate in public.
Then we crack some racist jokes to rebel against political correctness, and make some chauvinistic comments to our women to rebel against same. We toss our puppies into fires to rebel against the fact that more people are buying cheeseburgers than hot dogs at mcdonalds (and nobody’s buying them for us. Those fuckers)
finally we hop on trains to rebel against how railroads royally screwed the red man and all the buffalo too.
Now how do we differentiate ourselves from each other? That’s the thing.
We don’t. We all look more or less alike. One day (the day we were born again) we traded our hot topic regalia for a needle, some dreadlocks, a trcuker hat, and some black carhartt overalls. These must have at least 8 properly dirt-smudged patches advertising obscure british 80’s punk groups.
Also, we were all born poor as dirt. None of us came from middle-class families or have parents with college degrees. We were born on a freight train, and, by the grace of traindoc, we’ll die on a freight train.
So naturally the yuppie folk regard our very existence as rebellion.

lmfao

 

[CXR1037]

Being a train rider, for probably 99% of those who do it, is only a form of resistance against the commonly perceived societal norms.

If anything, being a vagabond strengthens capitalism and the American system. Food stamps, health care, welfare, etc.

In summation, train riders are all sado-masochistic capitalists. Their so-called hatred of "the system" is overwhelmed only by their massive appetite for it's byproducts.