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Team Degani 3 Peaks Challenge - Sunday March 7th, Victorian Alpine Region, Australia

2010-03-11T00:29:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was the first annual '3 Peaks Challenge' held in Victoria's Alpine region, about 5 hours drive from Melbourne.

The race begins at the summit of Falls Creek descending to Mt Beauty. From there is the first big climb of the day up and over Tawonga Gap. The ride then travels through Harrietville followed by the biggest climb of the day up Mt Hotham. It then descends in to Omeo, followed by the final climb back to the summit of Falls Creek - 230kms (143 miles) and approximately 14,000 feet (4,500 meters) of climbing later. 1250 riders were registered to participate. For folks in the U.S., this ride is similar to the Death Ride in California It's been billed as the hardest ride in Australia, and comparable to the toughest stages of the Tour de France, fun times ahead.

> The course profile and map

Friday 5th: I drove up to the town of Merton with my Mum to stay at my Auntie and Uncles farm. Heavy rains were pushing through, a bad sign for the weekend

> My Aunt and Uncle's rescued featherless Cockatoo

Saturday 6th: Set out early from Merton, stopping off briefly in Benalla and Bright for a coffee. We arrived at the Falls Creek village early afternoon, after passing over the Tawonga Gap. The weather was sunny and warm, but it was unlikely it would last.

> Looking from the top of Tawonga Gap over the town of Mt. Beauty, out towards Falls Creek where the ride begins

> The welcome sign at the base of Falls Creek

Saturday night we had free accommodation at the Carey Ski Lodge thanks to Mum offering to volunteer on the course, her first time volunteering in a ride like this. The lodge is located in Falls Creek village - Falls Creek being one of the best locations for skiing in Victoria, at least in the winter. After registering for the ride and volunteering, a pre-ride debriefing, some last minute bike-prep and repairs, and a pasta dinner in the events arena, it was an early night.

> Carey Ski Lodge at the top of Falls Creek village

> The pasta dinner in the events village

Unfortunately I was awoken to the sound of some fairly severe sounding storms - torrential rain, hail, wind, combined with lightning and thunder. The luxury of sleeping in a real bed rather than a tent the night before a ride was interrupted by vivid dreams of riding in violent electrical storms.

Sunday 5am: Wake up, walk to registration to leave my 'drop bag' of dry clothes to be collected at the lunch break, half way in to the ride at kilometer 115 in Dinner Plain, just after summitting Mt. Hotham...little did I know the importance of this clothing. Breakfast, change in to ride gear, and roll out to the start line. It's stopped raining, but the road is wet and the temperature is cold, though not freezing. Long sleeve gloves and a rain jacket still seem a good idea.

7.30am - the ride starts. There are three ride options - the full 230km starting from Falls Creek, a 115km option starting either at Falls or from half-way at Dinner Plain, or a team relay effort. Everyone rolls out gingerly, cold and aware of the wet conditions. Within 2km I've seen several riders with flats or who have maybe crashed, many more follow down the hill. The descent is slow, avoiding the slick conditions and the many 100s of riders over the next 30km. Towards the bottom riders start to pull over - time to lose the gloves and jacket before the first big climb of the day up and over Tawonga Gap, about 7km long.

The first climb seems to present no problems. I'm sucking up many of the riders that I had let get ahead due to my lack of experience descending in the wet, thanks to living in the eternal summer that is Los Angeles. Some riders are blazing past me, but I resist the urge to jump on their wheel - need to save energy for the rest of the day. Towards the top of the climb is the first aid station, time to stock up on some food and gels. However the cloud and fog has rolled in, and visibility has dropped to maybe 50 feet. The descent down from Tawonga Gap is faster, the riders have spread out and the road has dried a little. A false sense of hope is quickly crushed as the weather closes in - more fog and now some rain. Just a few drops, no need for the jacket. Hrmm more rain, better put on the jacket...

9.30am - After going out on my own I get caught up by a pack of maybe 10 riders. I jump in to save some energy on the rollers in to Harrietville. As we pull in to the aid station I realize I'm soaked to the bone, and I can't see through my sunglasses due to rain, and well, lack of sunshine. I'll have to ride half-blind as my sunglasses are prescription, and my glasses are elsewhere. "Keep moving, dont stay at the aid station too long, need to stay warm" - I tell myself this as I roll out for the beginning of the biggest climb of the day - 35km/22 miles of climbing, some sections getting up to 11% gradient.

> The ascent up Mt Hotham from Harrietville

I get in to a pretty good rhythm, ignoring the driving rain and cold, laughing that someone has spraypainted on the road of the "MEG" climb (a section of 9% gradient road) "Meager X X" (I forget the rest of the acronym but you get the idea). Another aid station stop, grab some gel and choke it down, keep riding. Towards the top of the climb I hit "The Blowhard." Thankfully the wind doesn't do justice to the name today, but as I literally see my computer tick over 100km, a loud clap of thunder rumbles across the sky. Soon after the cloud closes in and the wind picks up - I am above the tree line now, and things are getting worse. Visibility drops to almost zero. I can't see the road. A false summit appears as the cloud clears, "I'm almost there! Wait, what's that?" Turns out there is a last 2.5km, 9% gradient climb to the real summit, and I can see a trail of cyclists like little ants, head down, riding in to the storm. Damn.

The wind picks up some more, and I realize I'm getting cold. 1km of climbing to go. the wind is so hard I'm standing up on the bike, forcing the cranks to turn over - I look down to my computer - 4km an hour. I might as well just walk.

Over the top! I've done it, I've summitted Mt. Hotham, one of the toughest climbs in Australia, I feel good, and I'm ahead of my estimated time with a 24km/h average. But the real misery is about to set in - the descent brings bone chilling cold. It's 6 degrees C/42F at the peak but I'm soaked to the bone and the wind is ripping through me, it feels closer to freezing. Inside a tunnel at the entrance to Hotham village a bunch of us stop, desperately clamber to get some food in our mouths, realizing our fingers and other extremities no longer are functioning correctly. Keep moving. More descending to Dinner Plain, I'm now almost in tears. I can't stand it, I can't feel my hands, can barely control the bike, and others are crashing as they struggle to steer. "When will the lunch stop appear, they said 115km and I'm at 120km, fuck. I just want my warm clothes and a coffee, damn I hope they have coffee there..." It's been raining for almost 5 hours straight now, I hate this. Misery envelops me, I start begging for some climbing to at least warm me up a bit, and without realizing I'm abusing another cyclist for throwing a wrapper of his energy bar on the ground. Fuck him. Fuck life.

12.30pm - Finally! Pull in to Dinner Plain - the half-way mark, lunch, and where my dry clothes are awaiting me. I dump my bike and gingerly clamber in to the small building where the drop bags are. About 50 other frozen cyclists are desperately trying to get their bag, find a place to change, and regain some feeling in their limbs so they can get their wet gear off. I take what seems like forever to get changed. Warm, dry cycling gear, including my thermal top, so glad I packed it! Dry socks, even better! I slide my feet back in to my only pair of cycling shoes, but they are so wet my dry socks last for about 3 seconds. Oh well, I can handle the numb toes. My rain jacket is still too wet and cold to put back on, but maybe that's ok...wrong. I walk outside to find its gotten colder and that my warm dry clothes are useless, its still raining and I'm wet again. Worst of all the uncontrollable body shaking I experienced on the descent to Dinner Plain has returned.

I run over to the restaurant that is open, and find 200 other grown women and men shivering like small children. Some had clearly neglected to leave a drop bag of dry gear, so they are trying to dry off their only clothing to little avail. At least its warm inside. Order a bowl of fries to warm up, along with every other cyclist - it's not part of the provided lunch, but who cares - a true privilege on such a ride. Riders are scrambling to find any extra layers to wear - plastic bags as extra layers are the clothing of choice. I speak to one guy who's decided to continue - "I've got six layers on. My girlfriend is at Omeo, I'll have to make it at least to there to ensure I can get home." Good luck.

Ok, time to leave the restaurant and ride. As I set out to find the bike I hear an announcement from the course officials "There is a severe storm warning. Hail is predicted. If you are not prepared don't continue - the 40km descent will be cold, and if you can't make it to the next aid station it may be several hours before the SAG wagon picks you up." I'd heard earlier that Melbourne had experienced the worst hail storm in years, hail the size of golf balls that was smashing car windows. Hrmmm.

> My Dad's car windshield after the hail storm hit Melbourne. Best not to take one of those to the head.

I'm still too cold to go on. Rumor has it that they officials have organized buses to pick up riders who can't continue. The rumors are true, and riders begin to pile on to the bus to get back to Falls Creek. I decide that I cant do it - I have no one to ride with, and my gear is wet again, my body is still shaking. I can't believe after all this I'm giving up, but the 100s of other cyclists doing the same makes me feel not so bad.

The ride is over, and now the ride of shame on the bus begins. A slow 2 hour ride down Hotham, retracing the course back to Falls Creek.

3 Peaks Challenge 2010 DVD from Ben Miller on Vimeo.

Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers that made the ride possible, my Mum for volunteering, support, and mum-like advice, and Selfy for the loan of the Ken Evans roadbike that got me through as far as I did, along with the other 1000 or so km's of training.

House updates

2009-07-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

The thesis has stopped me from writing on this much, or rather its sucked the life out of anything I do, and hence no need for updates. The house is coming along well, though no name yet. Welcome the new addition of the pool and multiple bike storage racks:

New house, and the return of the potluck...

2009-04-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Some small house updates...

2009-03-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

The veggie patch now has some plants, and is fenced due to the imminent threat of Task Force Chicken, due to the work of Sasha and Max

The hallway now has a completed map of the earth, 'sin fronteras', and with the black abyss that is Antarctica taking up much of the lower portions of the staircase. Morgan's Phd has clearly not gone to waste, as demonstrated by his technical mapping skills.

Earth First! Roadshow in L.A., Sunday February 22nd

2009-02-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Please spread the word and come out to hear a presentation by Earth First! at KIWA in Koreatown, Sunday 22nd at 2pm!

Are you living in a 'constitution free zone'?

2009-01-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

The ACLU's report on the 'constitution free zone' - within 100 miles of land and sea borders you can be stopped and searched. More internal checkpoints, more racial profiling, and the continued expansion of the police-state

Feel My Legs, I'm a Racer 2009

2009-01-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Feel My Legs, I'm a Racer
Sat March 14, 2009
10 hills, 10 stages, 1 morning
A race for some, an epic adventure for others

A tour of the less traveled streets and neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
There is no entry fee and limited support. No cars please, spectators welcome on bikes (you won't have to ride all the hills).
Just riding up any one of these hills is an accomplishment. Ten in one day is seriously hard. Come prepared.

Sunset Blvd and EdgeCliffe Dr.
(Silver Lake Farmers Market)
Sign-up at 745am, leave at 815

A Swarm! event. Tell others.
(This race is based on Danny Chew's Dirty Dozen. Thanks to Swarm!, Danny Chew, Steevo, Chris Moeller and Dave Clymer)

Hills? Los Angeles? How hard could it be?
Fargo St, one of the steepest paved roads in the world, is only one of ten. Yearly the LA Wheelmen do a hill climb here with lots of hoopla for just riding up this one hill. For you it will only be hill number five. Are the others equally hard? No, but they will feel like it.

Do I have to race?
No. Only a few of the people out there are racing for points. Most are there just to attempt every hill.

I want to race and am totally going to win. How does it work?
Each place, five deep, is worth points starting with 1st place and five points. Each new hill is treated as a separate stage with a group ride between hills.

What does the winner get?
Recognition and bragging rights.

How should I prepare?
Climbing is a unique cycling skill. You may be fast and strong, but being both on these steep climbs requires a lot of training in the hills. This year I want to have a few training rides leading up to the 14th and will post them at nowhip.blogspot.com.

Why so early?
If you can ride these 10 hills in one morning then you can be out of bed and at the market by 745am. If you show up without having slept I'll buy you a cup of Coffee Cellar coffee at the market. Most of these hills are in quiet neighborhoods with narrow streets. I want us to be in and out with as little impact as possible. The earlier the better.

What should I bring?
Water, some snacks, a tube, the ability to fix minor mechanicals and rain gear. It's rained all three years so far.

How long will this take?
Expect to be out well past noon. We only do about 30 miles, but getting to the hills, getting set up, etc takes longer than you would think.

Do I get a t-shirt and brunch?
In the past we've had one or both, but I can't promise either for 2009. Hopefully we'll have a 'Bryan Farhy Commemorative' vegan brunch somewhere.

Who puts on Feel My Legs?
"A bunch of fucking boring semi-employed geeks" also known as Swarm! Hit us up via bikeswarm at gmail.

Will this be more fun than being stuck in an elevator in Newark?
Definitely.

PREVIOUS YEARS WRITE-UPS:
http://nowhip.blogspot.com/search/label/feelmylegs

Grand Canyon, South Rim

2009-01-13T19:24:00.002-08:00

Montezuma's Castle

2009-01-13T19:24:00.001-08:00

Oak Creek and Sedona/Devil's Bridge

2009-01-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monument

2009-01-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

Flagstaff, Arizona

2009-01-13T19:20:00.001-08:00

Oakland on Fire Anarchists, Solidarity, and New Possibilities in the Oakland Rebellion

2009-01-12T21:08:00.001-08:00

originally published on Counterpunch.org
http://www.counterpunch.org/kara01122009.html
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/12/18562228.php

By Kara N. Tina

"I'm sorry my car was burned but the issue is very upsetting."
-Ken Epstein, assistant editor of the Oakland Post, who was finishing an article about Grant's death, watched from the 12th story of his office at 14th and Franklin streets as his 2002 Honda CR-V disintegrated in a roar of flames (Oakland Tribune)

The murder of Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle early New Year's morning sent a wave of grief throughout the Bay Area and reminded all that racism and police violence continue to be endemic components of US society. During the following days, that pain transformed into overflowing anger as multiple videos of the execution recorded by witnesses emerged on the internet and in the media. One week later on January 7, over a thousand people from diverse communities across Oakland and the Bay Area gathered to show their anger and be in the presence of others feeling similar grief. This hastily planned rally shut down the Fruitvale BART station where the shooting took place as speaker after speaker addressed the crowd. Without any plan or organization, the vast majority of those who patiently listened to speakers for over two hours took the demonstration into the streets with a spirited march that made its way towards downtown as the sun set.

As the march reached the Lake Merritt BART station and headquarters of BART police downtown, clashes immediately broke out leaving one police cruiser destroyed alongside a burning dumpster. Marchers dispersed down side streets to the sounds of police weapons discharging and the sting of tear gas in the air. The following hours witnessed waves of rioting and demonstrations throughout downtown Oakland that even forced Mayor Ron Dellums to come out into the streets and promise the opening of a homicide investigation in a failed attempt to subdue the angry crowds. Hundreds of businesses and cars were damaged or destroyed and dumpsters were left burning. The next day, a BART board of directors meeting was filled beyond capacity and overwhelmed with community members expressing indignant rage, clearly feeling validated and empowered to speak up by the previous night's rebellion.

In the days since the unrest, rumors have begun to circulate that anarchists hijacked the otherwise peaceful event and were responsible for unleashing the 'violence'. A cover story in the San Francisco Chronicle two days after the rioting quoted an organizer of the Fruitvale rally as saying that he was led to tears when his work was "destroyed by a group of anarchists." This dangerous and misleading narrative obscures what actually transpired and why, on that evening, the streets of Oakland unleashed such a powerful show of resistance and solidarity that gave many an empowered glimpse of radical new possibilities.

It is true that anarchists were present from start to finish on Wednesday. Counter to some generalizations that assume all anarchists are white, those who were there on Wednesday come from diverse backgrounds. They participated in a wide variety of ways; from spreading the word about the rally beforehand in order to have a large turnout, to spending hours painting banners and signs, to engaging in militant street actions, to being rounded up and at times beaten and arrested. Anarchists are among the over 100 community members who now face charges ranging from misdemeanor rioting to different felonies.

African-American youth made up the majority of those involved in the actions along with sizable numbers of anarchists as well as other youth of color and activist folk who were all there side by side. During the rioting, there was a sense of unity in the air and a defiant mood of solidarity among all who faced off against the police. Anarchists tend to show up at all demonstrations prepared to act should the situation escalate, and this case was no different. Yet it is simply incorrect to suggest that there was some conspiracy of anarchists from the 'outside' who were able to manipulate the helpless youth of Oakland as part of their sinister agenda. This is a paternalistic and disempowering misreading of what was unquestionably a spontaneous outpouring of rage, led by youth of color, creating an extremely empowering moment for participants in the streets. There, temporary alliances were made as those who were motivated to act in the moment experienced a unique cross-pollination that cut across the inhibiting social boundaries of everyday life.

The allegations of an anarchist takeover are destructively misleading. At best they come from ignorance and at worse they represent a flawed and divisive ideology of social change which embodies paternalistic and racist assumptions about those involved in the actions. To scapegoat anarchists for what transpired, robs from marginalized and oppressed youth of color the agency they possess and the power to resist which they demonstrated that evening. It also ignores the remarkable diversity and unique solidarity in the streets that created an liberating experience far beyond any rally or march.

There were some moments during which individual anarchists attempted to influence the course of events, but these instances still do not fit into the narrative that the corporate media and some organizers have tried to tell. At one point a group of black youth smashing the windows of a locally owned business were encouraged to target large corporations and banks instead of 'mom and pop' shops. They proceeded to do just that. Anarchists also un-arrested youth, and encouraged people to push dumpsters and other objects into the streets to prevent the police from advancing, a tactic that was quickly picked up and utilized. Other examples of this type of interchange involved anarchists encouraging youth participating in the riots to wear bandanas over their faces, change clothes during calm moments and other tactics to help avoid arrest or identification. Without question, the exchange went both ways as anarchists took away valuable lessons in mobility, evasion, and more as they worked together with the youth throughout the night.

None of this, however, suggests that anarchists had some sort of control or single handedly determined the events that transpired. The rage and energy that transformed downtown Oakland into a momentary battlefield came from those who are most directly affected by the racist police state regime. No one group had any control over what unfolded. It was a spontaneous rebellion that sprang organically from the streets of Oakland and in retrospect anarchists played an important yet relatively minor role.

The property destruction and rage that burned throughout downtown Oakland was at times undirected and ended up damaging many small businesses and cars along with corporate targets such as Sears and McDonald's. However, some of the most powerful moments that parralled the destruction were confrontations with police and sponatenous high energy gatherings of people in the street who refused to be dispersed. It was during these moments that chanting would again erupt from the crowd reminding all who were present that the direct political demands of justice for Oscar Grant and active resistance to the racist police state system in the United States were the motivations of all who took to the streets that evening.

It's important to also remember that not one person was assaulted during the actions and there were no reports of fights or scuffles amongst the groups of youth who resisted police and destroyed property into the night. In this sense, the rebellion was not violent. It is disturbing to watch as fellow organizers and members of our communities have uncritically adopted the rhetoric of the right in their confused denunciation of mass property destruction as 'violence'.

On the other hand the Oakland Police Department, who everyday harass, intimidate and beat Oakland's youth, was unleashing its very real violence that night. Police opened fire on crowds with different types of less lethal projectiles and in some cases shot tear gas canisters directly into people's bodies. A Berkeley High teacher had his face bashed during arrest and spent the night in the hospital before being taken back downtown for booking. A man taking pictures was attacked by police and his bike helmet was cracked as he was beaten. During the mass arrest at the end of the night, 80 people were forced by police to lay on their stomachs at 20th and Broadway, including a very pregnant woman who was screaming in pain.

What manifested during the Oakland rebellion was a moment of interchange and revolutionary transformation that rarely happens within the rituals of left organizing in the Bay Area. Between white "community organizers" overtaken by guilt into an impotent politics of servitude, professional activists worried about annual reports and grant cycles, and vanguardist marxist sects continually looking to use the next demonstration as a recruiting drive, many radicals find themselves in a desert devoid of revolutionary activity and thought. Within this barren landscape, it is rare to find new possibilities for radical social change while combatting racism and the constant oppression of capitalism. Resisting the police shoulder to shoulder, destroying property (albeit with different emphasis), helping one another evade arrest, exchanging tactics and gestures of solidarity across racial barriers pushes the desire for a multi-racial revolutionary movement years ahead, more than any speaker at a rally ever could.

Anarchists are very accustomed to accusations of spoiling carefully managed demonstrations, and in some cases this is true and necessary. The Oakland rebellion was a different story. Those who are truly committed to revolutionary change in this country need to appreciate the significance of what unfolded in the streets that night and move forward without falling into the usual sectarian traps.

This analysis was written collaboratively by a group of anarchists based out of Oakland who together were present at all moments during the rebellion.

Video and interview of Oscar Grant shooting

2009-01-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

...taken from AK Press 'Revolution by the Book':

On December 6, an Athens cop shot and killed a young unarmed anarchist, Alexis Grigoropoulos. In a matter of hours, Athens exploded in a mass uprising of anarchists, students, migrant workers, and the unemployed. For over two weeks, in their anger and frustration, they attacked not just the police themselves but the oppressive institutions cops are armed to defend: banks, government buildings, multi-national corporate interests. Not since 1968 had Europe seen such militant and targeted mass direct action, and actions around the world echoed the heroic actions of our comrades in Greece. Not far from where I am writing, in San Francisco, solidarity actions were held and moving speeches given decrying police violence and the state capitalist hierarchies such violence is inevitably in service of, and vowing to “bring the fight home.”

Sadly, the fight has, once again, come home. On New Years Day in Oakland, an unarmed butcher and father from Hayward, Oscar Grant, was shot in the back at point blank range by a transit cop after being pinned face-down on the ground. There can be absolutely no justification for this cold-blooded police murder. As was the case in the murder of Alexis, there are several witnesses who have come forward stating the officer was in no danger, some even with video recordings of the atrocity. Predictably, though, the cop who fired the shot, Johannes Mehserle, has not been arrested or even officially interrogated about the incident. This is no surprise; we know how the authorities will respond (or fail to), given their total disregard for the lives and humanity of working and poor people of color.

But how will we respond?

We are loudly indignant when police kill a militant in Athens, and applaud the just and outraged response of his comrades. We are furious when state violence kills oppressed people in Gaza, as is horrifically happening at this moment. But what do we do when a working class black man is murdered in cold blood by the cops in our own community? Do we value the lives and well being of Palestinians and Greeks and Oaxacans and adventurous middle-class white radicals more than those of working people we see every day in our own neighborhoods?

It has been five days and counting since Oscar was killed. What have we—supposed radicals and would-be revolutionaries—actually done?

Perhaps a better question is, how should we combat police violence in our own communities?

* * *

Note: There is a demo tomorrow (Wednesday, 1/07) at the Fruitvale BART station to protest Oscar’s murder starting at 3pm. For more info go here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/05/18558825.php

Below is a video of the killing (the woman who filmed it eventually comes onscreen to explain what you’re seeing…about halfway through). You can also check out the Indymedia story for more details.

Hallway - 8 months down the line

2008-12-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Today we finished the hallway, it only took 8 months and some possible black lung.

When we first moved in it looked along the lines of this:

Then it looked like this:

Now with a satisfied smile, it looks more like this:

And here's a shot of the backyard from the now sealed-up second floor doorway:

People with even more free time than me make wonderous things...

2008-12-29T16:39:00.001-08:00

House update...

2008-12-28T14:33:00.001-08:00

Down with the stairs! And the precariously perched 'outdoor toilet' - how it got there is a mystery to all. Sealing the missing door to outside, too many polar bears getting in during the winter weather.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The view from above:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Upstairs hallway nearing completion, and some hired help is resulting in the outside being sanded in preparation for painting. Getting less punk by the day

May it be filled with cheer...

2008-12-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

Backyard update

2008-12-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

After just witnessing a hawk try to pick off a chicken in my backyard (in the middle of one of the densest urban neighborhoods in L.A.), I figure its time to post some photo updates on the backyard. Since returning from Tucson in September, and inspired by those that make use of their space there, I set to liberating some of the garden from the masses of weeds, and building an access point from the back of the house in to the yard. We have also got a compost pile going, and I'm slowing reading up on the ins and outs of composting. After a few months of me dragging shit out of the yard and piling it up, we also borrowed the neighbors truck to remove the tons of crap that had accumulated over the past 50 years.

Some things found so far:
- 8 crack pipes, 3 syringes
- Rotten chicken eggs
- 1 wheelchair
- 1 bicycle
- 1 car door
- 3 car batteries
- 1 television
- 50+ playboy magazines, circa 1970
- 10 solar heating panels for a pool

BEFORE: Back in April the back of the house looked like this. No way to get out in to the backyard.

AFTER:

December: I built some sketchy stairs with bricks and no mortar, and the woodpile was removed, along with all the trash in between. The staircase is being dismantled next.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:
AFTER:

In case there was any doubt in your mind about the status of our yard/neighborhood, I recovered 8 crack pipes in the last few months from our yard. Gloves are always a good idea it turns out.

I also did a shitload of weed removal that we had started back in May. This strange weed I realized was enveloping whole trees, and a more garden-savvy friend noted at the potluck in November that there was an orange tree underneath some of it. This weed was over 90% of the mass, slowly killing all it covered.

After raking out some other weeds and mess, I noticed a puddle. That puddle got bigger, then I realized I was actually excavating a pond, which for the previous 14 months did not know existed...

During the excavation:

After completed excavation. The pond was so covered you could walk over it, and not know it was there

Two truck loads emptied from the yard, filled to the brim:

Next step: remove staircase, start garden, actually use massive amount of space that no one else has in L.A.

Within a few blocks from my house...

2008-12-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

Mariachi's by the 100s...

(from L.A. Times blog)

and bodies in trash cans...

Boyle Heights Murder Suspect Caught in Las Vegas

We often see rewards announced, but more rarely see them work. Police are announcing today that they've caught Adam Quintana, who they believe killed his friend Fernando Garcia with a hammer on November 17th before dumping the body in a trash bin just east of downtown on the 200 block of Breed Street. "The combination of the media coverage and reward of $50,000 played a role in finding Quintana in Las Vegas. He was taken into custody on November 28, 2008, by Las Vegas Police investigators and was brought back to Los Angeles to face murder charges," the LAPD said in a statement.

Release the Bats!

2008-11-28T23:27:00.001-08:00

I have written about the ghost-town of Ruby before, but failed to produce any photos of the bats that live there. The bats migrate from Mexico and live in old mine-shafts in the ghost town, a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Some 'bat experts' estimate there are upwards of a million bats in the mine shaft. Every night for several months the bats exit the mine shaft right on sunset to go feed. Slowly the bats start to come swirling up out of the shaft, until 1000s upon 1000s flock out creating a gust of wind. Occasionally the odd bat loses its way (if not being picked off by a hawk), hit something and stuns itself, then regains composure. The whole process takes about 30 minutes before all the bats have exited. Sundog, the caretaker of Ruby (I'll get to a separate post on him one day) harvests the bat poop in the mine shaft, otherwise known as 'guano'.

And in fitting tribute, here's the Birthday Party circa 1982 doing 'Release the Bats'...

Cabazon Dinosaurs

2008-11-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Finally I managed to stop at the Cabazon Dinosaurs during daylight hours, but again not during 'non-business hours', gah. About 2 hours out of L.A. you see these on the I-10 freeway. A few years back some 'creationists' bought the dinosaurs for a little over a $1 million, in order to teach passers-by about how dinosaurs were intelligently designed. They also featured in Pee Wee's Big Adventure...

A great story on the Cabazon Dinosaurs on why everyone thinks America is full of wack-jobs from the L.A. Times

This also reminded me of passing through Pismo Beach briefly earlier this year, where I learned of the 'Dinosaur Caves', where some guy managed to construct a giant dinosaur by the beach that led to a diamond-studded tunnel down to the beach/caves

Brown began constructing a large concrete dinosaur to attract tourists vacationing up and down Highway 1 during the booming post war years. A doorway in the side of the dinosaur opened to an 80 foot long tunnel path studded with fake gemstones for atmosphere. Natural holes to the sky provided light for the foot journey through the old Caves of Mystery to the beach. Brown named them Dinosaur Caves, reportedly regaling tourists with tales of dinosaur remains found in the caves. Because neighbors objected to the dinosaur, Brown never completed construction, leaving the dinosaur headless for more than a decade. A fire followed by a bulldozer brought about an end to the creature in the 1960's. Brown continued his lapidary business until the caves collapsed, along with a large portion of the bluff, in the early 1970's.

Hair Banditry

2008-11-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

So it gets better, as the story below describes. What is even weirder is that I ride past the jail he is imprisoned in almost every day...

Arrest of Alleged 'Hair Bandit' Startles Friends.

Michael Howard's arrest New Year's Day has confounded his relatives and business partner, especially because of the charge: that a hair fetish allegedly drove him to chop off women's hair on the streets.

"It's very bizarre," said Howard's older brother Jack, a Los Angeles County probation officer. "We don't really understand it."

He described his brother as a family man and bicycle shop owner who had lived a stable life and had never been in trouble with the law. However, he said, family members noticed a dramatic personality change in mid-December that they believe was triggered by drug abuse.

Jack Howard said he called authorities after the "Hair Bandit" attacks were reported in the media, but would not say why he suspected his brother.

"That was not an easy thing to do," he said. "But given my position and experience, I've got to think about victims."

Police say Michael Howard, 47, attacked six women and a young girl in the Long Beach area and East Los Angeles in the last two weeks of December. He is accused of grabbing them from behind as they sat or walked along major streets, then shearing their hair with scissors or a knife.

Gian Simonetti said his friend and business partner never mentioned any fascination with hair in the 25 years they worked together.

"He surprised everybody," said Simonetti, who owns Simo Cycle--a custom bicycle shop in Huntington Beach--with Michael Howard. "I thought it was crazy, and feel sorry for him."

Howard, who lives in Norwalk, had been struggling recently with drugs and had not worked a full week in six months, Simonetti said.

He Likes the Sound of Scissors
"He was always coming in late," Simonetti said. "I've been going to his house, trying to get him to come out."

Though Howard's brother and Simonetti did not learn about the suspect's alleged hair fetish until recently, a woman who described herself as a longtime friend said she knew Howard had paid women as much as $200 to let him cut their hair.

"He liked playing with it, brushing it, everything about it," said 51-year-old Vicki Parker, who said she had been a prostitute in the past. "He says he likes the sound of scissors cutting hair."

Howard was ashamed and didn't know what to do, she said. But she called him a "wonderful person" and said she never felt threatened.

The suspect had been depressed over his father's death and his failing business, she said.

"He was just not in his right frame of mind," she said.

Raised in Inglewood, Michael Lynn Howard became interested in bicycles as a boy working a newspaper route. He started fixing and building his own bikes, and teamed up with Simonetti soon after high school.

A stocky man with a rough complexion and goatee, Howard was married for several years but never had children, his brother said. More than 10 years ago, the suspect purchased a clay-colored stucco house with a manicured lawn in Norwalk.

His neighbors said Howard is quiet
"It was mostly 'Hi' and 'Bye' with him," said Hector Montenegro, who has lived next door to Howard for four years.

"He's very private," said Christene VonRavensberg. "I don't think he liked the neighbors."

On New Year's Eve, a sheriff's deputy spotted Howard as he was allegedly holding a woman in a chokehold at a pay phone in East Los Angeles. The deputy chased Howard, who climbed into a nearby car and tried to run him down, authorities said. The deputy responded by firing several shots, but the suspect drove away, police said.

Police arrested Howard the next day at an apartment building on Pine Avenue in Long Beach, where he had gone to see a friend.

The victims ranged in age from 12 to 45, and all but two were Latinas, police said, adding that some of the women suffered neck injuries.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Carbaugh said Howard is a dangerous criminal whose alleged crimes were sexually motivated.

Howard was charged Thursday with six counts of second-degree robbery, one count of committing a lewd act on a child and one count of assault on a police officer. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

He is in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment Jan. 17. Authorities say they are still checking for additional victims.

Deputy Public Defender Michael Concha said prosecutors have taken a leap by charging Howard with a lewd act on a child in addition to the robberies. "There's no sexual molestation here at all," Concha said.

Sheriff's Det. Joe Purcell said he believed that violence might have occurred if an arrest had not been made.

"It's a strange case," the detective said. "It's the first time I've ever heard of something like this."

Many Fetishes Grow Over Time
Hair fetishes are rare, but people who engage in them could collect hair for sexual gratification, said Al Cooper, a Stanford University psychologist and clinical director of the San Jose Marital & Sexuality Centre.

"There are a million different kinds of variations, whether it's fingernails, hair or underwear," he said. "Hair is not the most common, but it is not unheard of."

Cooper added that fetishes escalate over time in about half the cases.

Some women in the Long Beach area were relieved at the arrest. With her long chestnut hair pulled into a knot behind her head, housewife Veronica Alvarez waited for a bus Thursday on Long Beach Boulevard.

"I'm glad they caught him," she said. "I don't know what I would do if he came up to me. I would scream, and I would fight him

The Devil Wore Red

2008-11-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

I have needed to replace the Bianchi for sometime, it was always a little small, advertised as a 57, but really a 56, when in reality I need a 59.

Enter the Medici. Out with the real Italian, in with the non-Italian-Italian sounding-fully kitted-out in Italian parts, ah, I forget where I was going with that

Somewhat interestingly, Medici bikes were made only a few blocks from my current residence. East L.A. pride on two wheels

Medici Bicycle Company is the name of an American bicycle manufacturer established by Gian Simonetti and Michael Howard when they left another bike manufacturer, Masi California, in 1978. Located near Los Angeles, the Medici catalog included mostly road bikes and frames.

The name Medici was chosen to for its association with Italian European Enlightenment. The Lion Rampant symbol was used for decals on the bicycle frames.

In the mid-90's they lost the rights to the Medici name, but continued on as Simonetti Bicycles.

So now on to the best part, one of the owners of Medici was put in jail a few years back for "hair banditry"...

Californian man locked up over hair cutting spree

When police finally came to Michael Howard's home they came across quite a lot of hair.

They discovered a thin carpet of it covering the floor, huge mounds of it on the bed, piles of it in the closet, and to capture that perfect hairy moment, photos of severed ponytails lined up as neatly as bodies in a morgue.

Californian police then deduced they had finally caught up with the notorious "Haircut Bandit".

For three weeks in December of 2001, Howard cruised the streets of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, casing bus stops and park benches for women with ultra-long tresses.

Before he was caught, Howard chopped hanks of hair or entire ponytails from the heads of nine victims, aged 12 to 45.

Investigators began closing in on the bicycle repair shop owner on New Year's Eve when a deputy sheriff saw him approach a woman at a bus stop and shear off her waist-length hair.

He escaped, dropping his scissors and his hair trophy, but police nabbed him the next day.

On Thursday, Howard entered a surprise guilty plea and was sentenced to eight years in prison for his hair-raising rampage.

His attorney, deputy public defender Gregg Hayata, says Howard became fascinated with hair as a boy and that as an adult, the sound of scissors cutting hair sexually aroused him.

But the lawyer says lust never interfered with his leading a law-abiding life until December 4, 2001, the first time he went into the street and attempted to shear some locks.

Mr Hayata says his life began to spiral out of control after his father died and his business began to fail.

"I think the combination... made him start experimenting with drugs... and he just lost control of it," he said.

Before his highly publicised foray into hair banditry, Howard was known as a cycling fanatic who had learned to fix and build custom bicycles as a youngster, a passion which led him to open a bike shop with a high school pal.

Howard, who was once married, owns a home in a suburb south of Los Angeles, and has been described by neighbours as quiet.

Family members say Howard underwent an extreme personality change in the weeks corresponding with his haircut spree, that they attribute to cocaine addiction.

Police also unearthed reports from friends that Howard had often paid women as much as $200 to let him cut their hair.

They confiscated more than 40 hair fetish videos depicting people getting haircuts.

"There were naked women getting their hair cut, videos of (Howard) cutting women's hair, some of a couple who had each cut each other's hair and shaved each other's heads," one police officer said.

"There was a Spanish game show where, if you answered the question wrong, they would cut your hair."

They also seized photos of the apparently consensual bobbing of a woman's long hair and of a row of about 15 neatly severed ponytails.

Dragon fruit!

2008-11-16T23:55:00.000-08:00

The things you learn during drunken conversations in your backyard. I had noticed some flowers on the cacti that half-supports the old servants quarters in our backyard a few weeks back. I realized they were night-blooming flowers that close back up in the daytime. A much more gardening aware friend pointed out today that they are dragon fruit. Sadly I didn't get any shots of them fully open, and it seems its now too late in the year to flower again.

"The pitaya (also known as pitahaya, dragon fruit, huǒ lóng guǒ (火龍果/火龙果), strawberry pear, nanettikafruit, or thanh long) is the fruit of several cactus species, especially of the genus Hylocereus. Native to Mexico and Central and South America, these vine-like epiphytic cacti are also cultivated in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia. They are also found in Taiwan, Israel, and southern China. The pitaya only flowers at night, they are large white flowers that are often called Moonflower or Queen of the Night."

Circle of Dead Pilgrims 2 @ Fort Pigeon

2008-11-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

The annual Circle of Dead Pilgrims made its return to Fort Pigeon. In fitting style one can only refer to the classic 15 seconds of glory: "I like food" by the Descendants.

I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!
Juicy burgers, greasy fries,
Turkey legs and raw fish eyes
Teenage girls, with ketchup too!
Get out of my way, or I'll eat you
I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!
I'm going to turn dining
back into eating
I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!

True story, we once broke my best friends bed as 4 of us jumped up and down to "I like food" on repeat for 30 minutes. On to the photos!

The full crew on the porch
The new rooster made an appearance without fear of the traditional thanks-taking crowd
The kitchen looking healthier one year on - still no hot water
The oven made a return to the game in fine form, working fully for the first time in many years. And to think only 13 months ago I was vacuuming rat feces from it
A small selection of the food on show

Up punx, eat rich!

For those in Tucson

2008-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

A tribute from a friend Donny at the EF! journal here in Tucson

In the early morning of September 15, Sali Eiler was brutally raped and murdered in a ramshackle cabin outside of San Jose del Pacifico, in the southern mountains of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Sali’s death has come as a crushing blow to many activists in the US and Mexico.

Sali, 20, was living in Oaxaca City at the time of her death. She had been living and working with the Indigenous Popular Council of Oaxaca-Ricardo Flores Magón (CIPO) off and on since the Summer of 2007. CIPO is a community-based organization that stands up for the rights of poor and native communities in Oaxaca. Most recently, Sali had been acting as a witness for people facing repression. Before her death, she had been staying with the family of a witness to the murder of Earth First!er Brad Will in Oaxaca City in 2006. Because of her unyielding commitment to defending the human rights of Oaxacans in danger, Sali recently noticed that she’d begun to be followed around Oaxaca City. It’s unknown if this had anything to do with her death.

When not in Mexico, Sali lived primarily in Tucson, Arizona. Born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, Sali’s primary home for the last few years has been Tucson.
Sali has been involved in a wide array of campaigns. In 2003, going by her forest name, Ratty, she was active with the all-womyn treesit in Unit 6 of the Straw Devil timber sale in her native Oregon. Two years later, Sali was the youngest persyn arrested defending an area known as the Biscuit timber sale—the largest timber sale in US history.

More recently, while in Tucson, Sali was heavily involved in No More Deaths, a group dedicated to helping immigrants crossing the Mexico-US border stay alive by leaving water in the desert and monitoring various known immigrant trails. Sali was primarily a coordinator of supplies for the Mariposa crossing, outside of Nogales, Sonora/Arizona. She devoted her time to organizing food deliveries to a camp on the Mexican side of the border where immigrants are brought after they are caught illegally crossing through the US.

Sali was also a contributor to the Earth First! Journal, writing about indigenous resistance to illegal logging in the mountains of Oaxaca. When in Tucson, she brought smiles and laughter to the Journal’s mailing parties.

In addition, Sali sang in the Tucson-based punk band, Cizaña. I had the good fortune to play drums in Cizaña with her. We just completed a three-week tour through Mexico in June, letting Sali off on the southern end of the tour to travel back to Oaxaca and resume her work with CIPO. The outpouring of support since Sali has died from the people we met on that tour has been amazing. She is certainly one who touched an incredible amount of people very deeply.

Sali’s body was discovered on September 24, 10 days after she died, by a man who was feeding some dogs and smelled something disturbing. She was identified within a day, but the Mexican government did not seem interested in investigating what had happened. Instead, friends of hers in Oaxaca, traveling to various locales and calling other friends on the phone, connected the dots and located her killer.

The killer showed up at a popular squatted community space in Mexico City with stab wounds and bruises (inflicted by Sali during his attack on her). After punks at the squat questioned him and verified information with people in San Jose del Pacifico, Sali’s friends were convinced they had the murderer. They threw a party on September 26, explicitly to get the psychopath in a certain place at a certain time. The killer showed up, was confronted, admitted to killing Sali and promptly had the living crap beat out of him. Eventually, the beating stopped and the scumbag was handed over to the police.

Those of us who knew Sali well will remember her as an inspiration. While only 20 years old, she had been traveling since she was 15, living exactly the life she wanted to live. She was one of those special people who know what they want and seize it. She was full of energy and passion, obsessively belly dancing at every chance she got, playing her banjo when she found a moment and injecting a sense of light-heartedness into the lives of those around her. At a memorial in Tucson the night many of us found out about her death, I couldn’t suppress an image of Sali seeing all of us devastated and mournful, coming up to the circle with a wry grin, saying, “Shiiiat, y’all are some suckaasss. Get up and dance, chikitossss!”

A few days after the news of Sali’s death spread among her friends in the US, the body of Kirsten Brydum, a San Francisco-based activist, was found in New Orleans with multiple gunshot wounds in her head. Kirsten was an organizer with the Really Really Free Market in San Francisco. At the time of her death, she was on a speaking tour with a group seeking to link anarchist projects around the US. Many people die every day, but it’s so hard to function when these genuinely good people, coming from the same general community of activists, die in so narrow a timeframe.

It can be tempting to speculate that the US or Mexican governments were somehow involved in both of these deaths (as some have done), but we need to realize that, broader than a focused government crackdown on specific activists, general violence against wimmin remains a tragically widespread problem. It’s so crucial that those of us who perpetuate patriarchy and male dominance actively address those issues—within ourselves and our communities. Too many wimmin have suffered. For the sakes of Sali, Kirsten and wimmin everywhere, this needs to stop.

Donny still finds it hard to believe that he’ll never see Sali again. He’s hoping she’s somewhere with lots of space to belly dance.

Voting Tuesday?

2008-10-29T17:46:00.001-07:00

I haven't said all that much on my opinions regarding the upcoming election (unless you were stupid enough to ask me), and generally I've withheld for several reasons: no one needs to hear what I have to say, I'm not a citizen so I sound like some righteous outsider, I'm sick of the rhetoric or overly simplistic statements from those I had hoped would have a more critical analysis, and generally I'm just tired of 2 years of campaigning and so many sheep believing real, notable change is on its way. Most of all my ideas and views are still developing, and will always continue to change. And finally, I'm not so sure I buy this "bloggers revolution" fervor: more information available, or just more noise distracting all from the tasks at hand?

Finally I came across something that sums up my views on the current election well. I'm not always the biggest fan of Mr. Knabb, and generally suspicious of those who commit their entire lives to writing about a movement long since dead, but generally I respect his work, and this further supports that. It doesnt say everything, and that's the risk of simply repeating someone else's statements, but it goes a long way without being overly dogmatic (excuse the gendered language too).

As he closes, "By all means vote if you feel like it. But don't stop there. Real social change requires participation, not representation."

THE LIMITS OF ELECTORAL POLITICS
http://www.bopsecrets.org/recent/beyond-voting.htm

Roughly speaking we can distinguish five degrees of "government":

(1) Unrestricted freedom
(2) Direct democracy
(3) Delegate democracy
(4) Representative democracy
(5) Overt minority dictatorship

The present society oscillates between (4) and (5), i.e. between overt
minority rule and covert minority rule camouflaged by a facade of token
democracy. A liberated society would eliminate (4) and (5) and would
progressively reduce the need for (2) and (3). . . .

In representative democracy people abdicate their power to elected
officials. The candidates' stated policies are limited to a few vague
generalities, and once they are elected there is little control over their
actual decisions on hundreds of issues -- apart from the feeble threat of
changing one's vote, a few years later, to some equally uncontrollable rival
politician. Representatives are dependent on the wealthy for bribes and
campaign contributions; they are subordinate to the owners of the mass
media, who decide which issues get the publicity; and they are almost as
ignorant and powerless as the general public regarding many important
matters that are determined by unelected bureaucrats and independent secret
agencies. Overt dictators may sometimes be overthrown, but the real rulers
in "democratic" regimes, the tiny minority who own or control virtually
everything, are never voted in and never voted out. Most people don't even
know who they are. . . .

In itself, voting is of no great significance one way or the other (those
who make a big deal about refusing to vote are only revealing their own
fetishism). The problem is that it tends to lull people into relying on
others to act for them, distracting them from more significant
possibilities. A few people who take some creative initiative (think of the
first civil rights sit-ins) may ultimately have a far greater effect than if
they had put their energy into campaigning for lesser-evil politicians. At
best, legislators rarely do more than what they have been forced to do by
popular movements. A conservative regime under pressure from independent
radical movements often concedes more than a liberal regime that knows it
can count on radical support. (The Vietnam war, for example, was not ended
by electing antiwar politicians, but because there was so much pressure from
so many different directions that the prowar president Nixon was forced to
withdraw.) If people invariably rally to lesser evils, all the rulers have
to do in any situation that threatens their power is to conjure up a threat
of some greater evil.

Even in the rare case when a "radical" politician has a realistic chance of
winning an election, all the tedious campaign efforts of thousands of people
may go down the drain in one day because of some trivial scandal discovered
in his (or her) personal life, or because he inadvertently says something
intelligent. If he manages to avoid these pitfalls and it looks like he
might win, he tends to evade controversial issues for fear of antagonizing
swing voters. If he actually gets elected he is almost never in a position
to implement the reforms he has promised, except perhaps after years of
wheeling and dealing with his new colleagues; which gives him a good excuse
to see his first priority as making whatever compromises are necessary to
keep himself in office indefinitely. Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful,
he develops new interests and new tastes, which he justifies by telling
himself that he deserves a few perks after all his years of working for good
causes. Worst of all, if he does eventually manage to get a few
"progressive" measures passed, this exceptional and usually trivial success
is held up as evidence of the value of relying on electoral politics, luring
many more people into wasting their energy on similar campaigns to come.

As one of the May 1968 graffiti put it, "It's painful to submit to our
bosses; it's even more stupid to choose them!"

--Excerpts from Ken Knabb's "The Joy of Revolution."
The complete text is online at http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/joyrev.htm

* * *

SOME CLARIFICATIONS

My intention in circulating these observations is not to discourage you from
voting or campaigning, but to encourage you to go further.

Like many other people, I am delighted to see the Republicans collapsing
into well-deserved ignominy, with the likelihood of the Democrats
recapturing the presidency and increasing their majorities in Congress.
Hopefully the latter will discontinue or at least mitigate some of the more
insane policies of the current administration (some of which, such as
climate change and ecological devastation, threaten to become irreversible).

Beyond that, I do not expect the Democratic politicians to accomplish
anything very significant. Most of them are just as corrupt and compromised
as the Republicans. Even if a few of them are honest and well-intentioned,
they are all loyal servants of the ruling economic system, and they all
ultimately function as cogwheels in the murderous political machine that
serves to defend that system.

I have considerable respect and sympathy for the people who are
campaigning for the Democratic Party while simultaneously trying to
reinvigorate it and democratize it. There are elements of a real grassroots
movement there, developing in tandem with the remarkable growth of the
liberal-radical blogosphere over the last few years.

But imagine if that same immense amount of energy on the part of millions
of people was put into more directly radical agitation, rather than (or in
addition to) campaigning for rival millionaires. As a side effect, such
agitation would put the reactionaries on the defensive and actually result
in more "progressives" being elected. But more importantly, it would shift
both the momentum and the terrain of the struggle.

If you put all your energy into trying to reassure swing voters that your
candidate is "fully committed to fighting the War on Terror" but that he has
regretfully concluded that we should withdraw from Iraq because "our efforts
to promote democracy" there haven't been working, you may win a few votes
but you have accomplished nothing in the way of political awareness.

In contrast, if you convince people that the war in Iraq is both evil and
stupid, they will not only tend to vote for antiwar candidates, they are
likely to start questioning other aspects of the social system. Which may
lead to them to challenge that system in more concrete and participatory
ways.

(If you want some examples, look at the rich variety of tactics used in
France two years ago -- http://www.bopsecrets.org/recent/france2006.htm .)

The side that takes the initiative usually wins because it defines the terms
of the struggle. If we accept the system's own terms and confine ourselves
to defensively reacting to each new mess produced by it, we will never
overcome it. We have to keep resisting particular evils, but we also have to
recognize that the system will keep generating new ones until we put an end
to it.

By all means vote if you feel like it. But don't stop there. Real social
change requires participation, not representation.

Death Valley Double October 25th 2008

2008-10-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I rode my first double century (200 miles). After moving in to the A-House about 3 years ago, I swore never to wear spandex, and the thought of riding all day was not one that crossed my mind, oh how things have changed. There is a 17 hour cut off for the double century, which winds its way through Death Valley. Thankfully the weather was perfect (not too hot, no strong headwinds, well mostly), and my non-fancy, non-carbon, heavy and slow bike held up. My goal was merely to finish, and hopefully within 14-16 hours. Somehow I managed to roll in at 13hrs 5mins, thanks largely to an exceptionally awesome crew who gave me invaluable advice and support all day. There were some rough patches where I was ready to give it up, but thankfully they were short. Starting at sunrise, finishing in the pitch black of the high-desert night, arduous climbs, super fast descents in the dark, coyotes, giant craters, and no traffic lights for 200 miles made it an amazing ride.

Ubehebe Crater at around mile 130 (Adventure Corps)

The climb up the Grapevine and out to Nevada (Adventure Corps)
Scotty's Castle was the rest stop at mile 68 and 120 (Adventure Corps)
Not many race shots as of yet, but this was the start line at 7.10am, rolling out with the 'medium-pace' group
The start line at Furnace Creek, just above sea-level. It gets well into the 120/50+ degree range here, but was only in the 80s/low 30s for the race

Megan and Jack represented Swarm! on the tandem, riding the 100 mile route
Matt (Desert Locust) and Morgan (Goat), both have ridden the 508 mile version of this ride, 200 miles for them is a walk in the park
The top of the 6.8 mile, 2000 foot elevation gain climb, at mile 180. It was dark when I got to the top of this. You can see the road up to the right, and then straight back down on the left (Adventure Corps)
A coyote similar to the two I saw on the ride, both while I was out on my own, thankfully they werent too hungry (Adventure Corps)

A description of the course from the DV Double website:

Double: Starting about sunrise, double riders will also head north from Furnace Creek on Hwy 190, but will go straight to their first checkpoint at mile 23 at Stovepipe Wells. Then they'll U-turn and head back nine miles to the turn-off to Scotty's Castle. DC checkpoint two will be just after the turn, at mile 33.

After replenishing themselves at their checkpoint three at Scotty's Castle, the double riders will continue up Grapevine Canyon onto the Bonnie Claire Flat in Nevada. At Scotty's Junction at Hwy 95, mile 80.6, double riders will refuel at their checkpoint four. They will have climbed 5300', but now will turn around for a flat or downhill ride back to their "lunch" at Scotty's Castle. But it's not a straight shot back to FC from there. Double riders will enjoy two little bonuses on their return route that century riders will not do. The first is just three miles after Scotty's Castle: the out-and-back 11.7 mile route to see the incredible Ubehebe Crater. Then it's a fast ride back to the morning's second checkpoint just before 190, which is now checkpoint six for the double.

But wait! Before hitting 190, the double riders will enjoy a 6.8 mile, 2000' climb up Mud Canyon to Hell's Gate. Come on, you didn't think all those free miles from way above Scotty's all the way practically to Hwy 190 were really free, did you?? But the view is worth it, and so is the bombing downhill back to Furnace Creek on the Beatty Cutoff! Dedicated race staff and an incredible sunset will help keep you motivated and in good form throughout the day! Total distance for the double: 197. Total elevation gain: 9,000. So about the same as the "normal" route in the south end of the park, but perhaps even more beautiful and fascinating!

Beehive Collective @ the L.A. Eco Village this Friday 17th October!

2008-10-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

Quintron and Miss Pussycat @ Echoplex

2008-10-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Quintron and Miss Pussycat finally returned to L.A. after a long hiatus. Unbelievably fun as always, its always so great to see a show where the band looks like they actually want to be there. And its not often its all opened by a puppet show. I forgot my camera, so here are some old photos I took from their last show in L.A.

Drum buddy!

Furnace Creek 508 race - Matt 'Desert Locust' Ruscigno

2008-10-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Long story short, my housemate Matt just completed the 508 mile race that I helped support (3 of us followed him in a van with water, nutrition etc). 508 miles, the equivalent of San Francisco to San Diego, or Melbourne to Sydney, with 35,000 feet of elevation gain (higher than Mt. Everest), and he did it in 37 hours with 15 minutes of sleep in total. From Santa Clarita the race passes through some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth, Death Valley, Mojave Desert, fog, sand storms, poor road conditions, 12 mile climbs, and 50mph descents. It was an honour and an adventure to support, but mostly I was thankful to be sitting in a van with air conditioning and not riding. You choose an animal totem rather than a number for the race and keep it for life, Matt was Desert Locust, almost as good as Weiner Dog, but not quite. More info and photos at Matt's blog.

Morgan 'Goat' Beeby (he did the race 3 years ago), Chris, Matt and I at the finish. And yes I am sporting a moustache in support of Matt.

Getty Museum Gardens

2008-09-30T23:09:00.001-07:00

Griffith Park Observatory

2008-09-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hasta Siempre Sally Grace: Another US Activist Murdered in Oaxaca

2008-09-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend some friends and I received some sickening news. I didn't know Sally personally, though I'm sure we met through No Borders organizing. I'm incredibly saddened by this, and not really sure how to process it, but more so I am thinking of my friends who were close to her, I wish I knew what to say to them, anything. The gathering for Critical Resistance over the weekend combined with this was really just too overwhelming, but led me to really question how we/I react to such things, and how not to rely on the state for a suitable response.

Hasta Siempre Sally Grace: Another US Activist Murdered in Oaxaca

Cyclecide

2008-09-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

As part of the annual bicycle collective gathering 'BikeBike', Cyclecide in S.F. put on the party to end all parties. Crustier than crusty, more clowns than you could poke a bike at, 'bull fights', tall bike jousting, rocket bikes, dancing bicycle troupes, and fire a-plenty. Oh and did I mention bicycle powered merry-go-round type rides? I now have a mild concussion and severe lower back pain, I really should have read the warning sign on the gate closer.

Check out www.cyclecide.com

Full House

2008-09-28T22:13:00.001-07:00

After 5 trips to the bay area finally I find the Full House houses. No Danny Tanner sadly.

Sunken City San Pedro

2008-09-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've done any worthwhile urban exploration of late, but yesterday we made it down to San Pedro to the Sunken City. Just off the cliffs of San Pedro, the area is now heavily fenced, though incredibly easy to sneak in to. According to the Urban Exploration Resource:

"When they said that California would fall into the sea, they weren't kidding! Well, at least that was the case of San Pedro, California. In 1929 a sizeable section of land in the southern tip of San Pedro began to unexplainably slip into the sea. The 600 block of Paseo Del Mar began moving seaward in 1929 and continued to slip until the mid 1930s. Movement was measured as high as 11 inches a day. Due to quick action, all but two of the houses on the seaward side of the street were moved before toppling into the sea. The eastern section of Point Fermin Park was lost and the entire area is very unstable, yet not moving at the present time. Geologists have termed this phenomenon as a "slump" and this area has been featured in many geological studies and books."

Turns out it was also featured in the Big Lebowski, this makes me smile.

The Goats of Bunker Hill

2008-09-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Recently the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of Los Angeles decided that the hillside situated in downtown L.A./Bunker Hill is too steep to access, but needed weed removal. Their answer, 100 or so goats, for 2 weeks. Regardless of the sanity in the decision, it makes for fun times petting goats in the middle of the financial district of L.A.

Watts Towers

2008-09-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

After 4 years of intending to visit, I finally made it to the Watts Towers. Sadly they are closed to the public until March 2009, and one tower was completely enveloped in scaffolding, with the site being surrounded by a fence. Still it was great to see them. The towers were completely built by hand over the span of around 30 years, by one guy, Simon Rodia, mostly using reclaimed items. Thankfully they have been preserved for people to see

For a history of the towers check out: http://www.wattstowers.us/index.html

Mt. Baldy

2008-09-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

Best time to write a post? When you havent slept in days, and can barely sit upright, were it not for the pain radiating through your legs.

My housemate off-handedly suggested I join him for an overnight hike to the summit of Mt. Baldy, where we would camp, then wake a few hours later to operate a checkpoint for a three summit trail running race. The runners set out at 5.00am, and would top-out on three summits in the region, the first being Mt. Baldy, at 10,050 feet, give or take. Having never really hiked at night, nor being in that altitude, it was an adventure to see if I'd puke from altitude sickness, or fall off the side of the cliff. Thankfully neither occurred, well I almost fell off once. We reached the summit at 1.30am, and with the bitterly cold wind immediately set up camp in one of the "wind breaks", a pile of rocks stacked in a C-shape to deflect some of the wind. We woke at sunset around 6am to a 360 degree view of the Los Angeles basin, and out across the desert, one of the most stunning views I have ever seen. After we checked off all the racers, it was back down, running, at a pace I was not really able to sustain it turns out. Amazing adventures all within 1.5 hours of home...

Hiking up at around midnight with no headlamps was a good challenge to my depth perception and night vision

Sunrise at 6am over the high desert north-east of L.A.

Our tents in the not-so-effective wind break. You can see the lights from the L.A. basin in the distance

Brian setting up for the checkpoint

The first three at the summit, 1.5 hours after the start

Around 6.30am I started to regain feeling in my hands

The view out west

Some of the trail runners coming in

Plane wreck we found whilst lost from the trail

Running/hiking back down from the summit

'Baldy Bowl' - where you can back country ski in the winter. You can see snow on Baldy from my house on a good day in winter

The Sierra Lodge half-way up

Ghost bike memorial, San Diego, 08.08

2008-08-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

I passed this ghost bike memorial whilst riding a notoriously scary piece of road in San Diego. I didnt know A-Tip or how it happened, but he was surely loved. Stencils, stickers, memorial ride cards, and numerous other pieces adorned his name. There has been an effort to start placing ghost bikes in Tucson, several of which are placed around the University/Downtown area. Perhaps they will start appearing in L.A. Hopefully a reminder for people to slow the fuck down and share the road, maybe.

Info on this memorial: http://www.ghostbikes.org/san-diego/atip-ouypron

May Day, Downtown Los Angeles 2008

2008-08-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ok playing some catch up here obviously, given its now early August. After last year's "LAPD smackdown in the park" most were on edge to see how this year's May Day would turn out. Well Police Chief Bratton came out, a giant LAPD electronic billboard read "Welcome to May Day 2008: Please Follow Police Orders", and even the punx were co-opted by American Apparel and its bullshit legalization campaign. Soft politics unite!

Tucson has dope lightning storms...

2008-08-05T16:09:00.001-07:00

...that I can never catch, so here is a stolen photo from Christina who was passing through town during a big monsoon storm that hit downtown. Not quite as dramatic as the lightning storm I was caught in at 8500 feet on Mt. Lemmon, or when I was almost hit by lightning and had to sit in the lightning crouch until it stopped striking the ground nearby in the ghost town of Ruby, 4 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. I've never been that close to pissing my pants in fear, well, its been a while at least.

What's the lightning pose you ask? Well it looks like this, and is often combined with the saying "oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck"

And here are some soccer players getting a good dose of lightning splash...

Terra Nullius

2008-08-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

I never got around to putting up photos from my last trip home in May of this year, 16 months after my last return. Too much to say about my return, and who cares what I have to say anyways, so here are some photos...

Mt. Lemmon

2008-07-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Last year when I was living in Tucson I had wanted to ride Mt. Lemmon, but never could find the time/companions to ride it with. When it reaches the 100s/40s before 10am, its hard to find the motivation. However this summer I managed to drag Adam from Bicas (the Tucson bicycle collective) up. We took the cut off shorts/sneakers/touring bikes approach as countless roadies on $5000 bikes blazed past. Apparently Lance Armstrong trains here in the winter, I understand why. We got to mile 17/6500 feet before turning around after running out of water (then found out there was water at mile 20 of 27). Next time I intend to make it to the pie shop at mile 25/9000 feet...

You can see the road below, and the fairly notable elevation gain in just a few miles

Fort Pigeon backyard party

2008-06-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Using the impetus of many Fort-Pigeoner's leaving the state/country/hemisphere for the summer, and the decaying state of our forest backyard, a mass-clean up ensued so that we could have a backyard bbq/potluck

Wolfpack Hustle Drag Race #3

2008-06-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Catching up on posts, back in May was the 3rd Wolfpack Hustle drag race, the first being in the 2nd Street Tunnel in downtown, the second on 6th street bridge, both of which I missed. This time was back to the 2nd Street tunnel, a place I had thought would be great for sprints since I first saw it. Famous for T.V. car commercials and movie settings (supposedly Tokyo in Kill Bill for example), in this scenario it was 300-500 kids on bikes. Alas this time too many people, and the police decided to clear it right as the sprints started. The race resumed elsewhere, and didnt finish till 5am, but I took the beer/bed approach instead. An amazing spectacle involving no money, no permits, and lots of fun while it lasted...

During warm-ups I was a little confused...

The first drag race video

Inner city living...

2008-06-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

After a brief jaunt back home to Melbourne, its back to ultra-density East L.A. along with the "June Gloom", endless days of mid-80s weather and sunshine coated in a thick blanket of smog and pollution. In preparation for today's going away party (myself to Tucson, Sasha to Israel, Morgan to England/Australia) we cleared out the backyard for the party. After hours of clearing cars, shrubs, weeds, wood piles, unidentified toxic waste, and so on, we found that the hens and rooster had been making babies, 12 of them to be exact, and more to come...

No one knows where they came from, who owns them, how they survive with numerous stray cats, or "which came first..."

...one more for the "awww" factor

May Day

2008-04-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

Remember all the fun we had last year?

dope.

2008-04-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Velociraptors in my kitchen

2008-04-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was almost eaten alive by this character today, but my ability to run and scream at the same time worked in my favor

Seriously, take a look at this size of this little fella (say in Crocodile Hunter voice)

In true Croc Hunter style, Morgan chased him till he dropped his tail, look at it, its the size of a house!

Luckily some arent big pansies and managed to catch him and release him into the wilds of our backyard, where I assume he will grow to the size of two houses and devour us all. Or the pack of rabid cats will take it on in a battle to the death

House update - April

2008-04-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

After tearing out all of the walls and ceiling of the landing around the staircase, we have managed to rewire upstairs so we have a light above the stairs and no longer risk falling down/up them during the night, and have hung most of the new drywall. Today we tore out another section of wall to build a new closet space in the weird space that is walled off between my closet and the landing space, and came across the chimney and 105 years of crustiness

Then Brian managed to fall off the ladder whilst hanging drywall above the stairs, impale himself on some tools, narrowly missing his kidney, and rush to hospital to get some stitches, much in the way I did after taking a dive through a bunch of beer bottles on my farewell party back in Australia all those years ago. The Fort Pigeon renovations continue...

Boston/Providence

2008-04-24T22:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wonders of education I was able to travel to Boston for the always exciting annual geographers conference. 6000 geographers in one place for 5 days, like a beautiful dream.

My camera broke but I managed to get a few shots, including the John Zorn/Masada show at ICA, set on Boston's waterfront

The congregation of 5 universities made the city one of the most bike-populated areas I have visited, along with some other good projects

...and this great bicycle advocacy advertisement

It reminded me in a more subtle p.c. way of one of the finest pieces of graffiti that was emblazoned upon an abandoned house at a major intersection in the CBD of Melbourne that just said "Ride ya bike fatty!"

Asides from being trapped inside a fortress-like complex of hotel conference rooms and academic panels, I was able to escape and ride my kindly-loaned $20 mountain bike that was three sizes too small, described by one new acquaintance as looking "like a giant on your ridiculous mountain bike pedaling overtime, careening through the streets of boston and overtaking tricked out track bikes". Asides from the handlebars coming loose, the left crank arm breaking entirely off, and being followed by police for being lost in a rich neighbourhood at 3am looking entirely suspicious no doubt, it made for fun times riding through Harvard, Cambridge, and the outskirts of who-knows-where.

I took a short side trip to Providence, Rhode Island on the train, 1 hour later I am in another city/state. My only real knowledge of Providence is RISD (the school of design) and Lightning Bolt/Load Records, both of which I saw within ten minutes of arrival.

Most importantly I learnt that Boston and Providence are the home of Dunkin' Donuts, literally on every corner, including the Dunkin Donut Center which was sadly just a convention center

**According to google maps, there are presently 1543 dunkin donuts stores in Boston, seriously...

Bladerunner Alleycat

2008-04-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

As mentioned a few posts back, I have a love/hate relationship with alleycats, but after the Blood In Blood Out one went relatively successfully, I figured why not race again. Jimmy L. from downtown has always put on the best alleycats, though sadly I have missed his 'Falling Down' and 'Traffic' alleycats. This time was 'Bladerunner', which was shot almost entirely in downtown L.A. (though set in the future).

Given I knew some of the spots, I thought maybe I stood a small chance. But mostly I was just looking forward to racing across downtown chasing 'replicants' at buildings such as the Bradbury (Harrison Ford's home in the movie)

After the 60 or so competitors got their map, there was a sprint start, but most didnt realize you had to follow someone to the first stop, but those that did pay attention took off up the stairs to the multi-level parking lot, got our manifest on the 6th floor (list of 5 checkpoints), and proceeded to race back down and out into the streets of downtown. Chris and I took a different approach, and headed to the furthest checkpoint in Chinatown first. The stops consisted of tasks to 'eliminate' the replicants to get points. Ten cartwheels, kids rides, eating fake eyeballs, scoring a goal in bike polo, reciting movie lines, getting lost, deciphering a poorly photocopied map in the dark, eating fortune cookies, origami, avoiding police, remembering to get checked off at each stop (and the extra secret stops), drink water, as well as some actual riding

And then there was the final stop, on the 27th floor of the impossible to cognitively map, postmodern nightmare, that is the Bonaventure hotel, and this...

It all seemed like it would be fun and games

...but I was hurting by lash #5. I had to see if I could take 10, I made it, with two extras because I didnt say "thankyou mistress" correctly. Note the hardcore porn all over the walls and bed for added incentive. Chris took the easier option of folding origami out of porn, but I regret nothing!

There was a 9.30 cut off time before you had to head to the Monte Carlo bar in Koreatown for the last stop, a 15 minute sprint west out of downtown. I came in second, at 9.29pm, and took the first non-messenger spot, half the field dropped out, and unfortunately two riders met with fast-moving cars and took a ride to County hospital, I hope they are doing better today.

*hrmm no actual photos of bicycles from a bicyle race, makes sense.

The New Face of Terror

2008-04-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

To help placate the racists and convince the 'average American citizen' that their nation is indeed a strong one bounded by secure borders and a tough immigration stance, the DHS and ICE have been stepping up their immigration raids. The L.A. Times reported a 45 fold increase in workplace arrests since 2001 during 2007. Today after observing a raid, I realized how this is all made to seem even more mundane and 'natural' by the use of unmarked, everyday cars, with the most minimal identification. Most walking by had no idea of what was going on

Be more professional

2008-04-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

At the ripe old age of 26, and supposedly on my way to becoming a 'doctor', I figured it was time to be a little more professional in my demeanor, and finally get some business cards made up for when I present at conferences etc. The torn bits of paper with my information written in my 4 year-old style handwriting isn't really cutting it. And I figure the cards will balance my less mature activities that I am better known for, well, maybe a little...

So an acquaintance of mine offered to make some up, given my lack of design skills, and asked what I wanted information-wise. I gave my info, and said "a picture of something would be great, whatever, lemurs or something" half-jokingly. So this is what I received today, along with an edited version by a cheeky australian (see if you can note the subtle difference)...

I would hire me, and I think Harvard would too

Boston, activist geographies, and Colbert?

2008-04-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Experimental geographer Trevor Paglen had a spot on the Colbert Report last week (thanks on the heads-up to N.B.) for his new book, also reviewed/interviewed in the NYT:

In a somewhat exciting set of events, I will be talking alongside Trevor on the 'What's Activist?' session at this years Association of American Geographers conference in Boston, as part of the Activist Geographers Grouping

In An Absolut World

2008-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

A fabulous piece of marketing from Absolut has the racists and terrorist conspiracy theorists up in arms, screaming they will boycott drinking Absolut, which I'm sure has the Swedes shaking in their boots, as everyone south of the apartheid wall clinks their glasses of Absolut in praise, salud!

(The map depicts Mexico and the U.S. pre-1848 before the Treaty of Guadalupe was signed, and the U.S. claimed what is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Colorado from Mexico. The racists are all concerned there is a 'reconquista' occurring in the Southwest by Mexicans "invading" across the border)

House update #...something

2008-04-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

There has been discussion of new house names, ala "A-house" and "A-partment", but I'm advocating for "Fort Pigeon" (Avian Bird Flu death house), after being rained down upon from the sky by decades of pigeon crap and dust as I smashed the shit out of existing ceiling today with a crowbar and mallet

Matt's room is done, 2 new housemates enter the pigeon-dome, and now the re-drywalling of the entire upstairs is underway (well the part at the top of the staircase). We've been summoned (or some legal type term) to court for being a blight on the neighbourhood, and the feral cats have been making beautiful music in the backyard, while the male pigeon dances for the female one outside my window, it must be spring...

Matt's room before and after (Matt and I first slept here in opposite corners on the floor away from the hole in the ceiling where the pigeons would crap through, and dealt with the mosquito infestation, but first we had to empty the room out)

Upstairs hallway area before and, er, during?

more to come, sooner rather than later. And of course tonight is one of the five nights of the year it has to rain in L.A...

Friendly faces

2008-03-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

John Zorn vs. Stephen Colbert

2008-03-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Just found out John Zorn will be playing at the ICA whilst I am in Boston, which I also know would bring great joy to Stephen Colbert were he in town...

Justice Yeldham @ Hyperion Tavern

2008-03-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

After initially thinking I had missed my fellow countryman Justice Yeldham during his tour of the U.S., I found out he was playing one last show last night at the Hyperion Tavern, a perfect setting for what unfolds during a JY set. The projected psychedelia films made amazing patterns across the glass as the performance went on

Flexing the glass and using finger tapping to change up the sounds

After breaking the glass across his head to make a smaller playing surface, the blood starts to flow

Once you get past the breaking glass, blood, spit and extreme frequency ranges destroying any remaining hearing you have, its really interesting to see the sounds he can get from the glass through finger tapping, flexing the plate, breaking pieces off, licking the glass, spitting and so on, all controlled through the use of some pedals and the contact mic/piezo disk attached to the glass. All combined with several Australian cultural connotations that most would not notice, but somehow make it all the more interesting to watch

Fear of Grown Ups

2008-03-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Had to pass up on the S.F. anarchist bookfare, Justice Yeldham at the Smell, and a few other ongoings this weekend, but instead ate at one of the many vegan cult restaurants, and went to Paid Dues festival to see Sage Francis, Hieroglyphics, Dilated Peoples and others. We then spent the night sneaking in to a hotel and trying to get some sleep. Sunday morning we met my housemate and his partner at Crossroads cafe in Joshua Tree for breakfast, then drove in to Joshua Tree National Park to go rockclimbing for the day, all just a few hours out of L.A.

The park is unique for many reasons, but mostly as it is essentially the only place you can see Joshua Trees. The desert in this area is in flower currently, and apparently is a good year, though 2005 was the best after the huge rains. The Joshua Trees were in flower too. There was also some snow left on the biggest peaks, still strange to see snow while standing in the desert in 25c degree heat

Brian is quite the rockclimber, so he took us out and literally showed us the ropes (zing). We climbed two spots in the park, Thin Wall and Jumbo Rock, in between some short hikes.

Me climbing like a complete amateur in the afternoon sun at Jumbo Rock

Beeby and Vazquez racing to the top

Brian setting up the ropes up top, then showing us how its done
On the drive home we passed the giant concrete dinosaurs I've wanted to hang out at for years, alas it was night time and they have been taken over by 'creationists'

Friday morning roll...

2008-03-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Headed out with Matt and Jack on the goldline out to JPL and El Prieto trails. Instead of riding the fire road up we took the singletrack up, almost to the summit, then turned around and rode about 4 miles of singletrack down, with some incredibly difficult sections, lots of switchbacks, river crossings, off-canter corners, rock gardens, steps, and everything in between

Passing the jet propulsion laboratory

Ascending one of the short sections of fire road we hit

The hazy view of L.A. You know summer is returning when you can visibly see the brown layer of pollution sitting above the city at about 3000 feet

The head of the trail - no action shots as I was too busy trying to stay upright on the trails

The double switchback sections were more than I could pull off on the 29er

Theory of the Derive

2008-03-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

My biggest enjoyment of traveling to other cities is seeing how differently urban space functions, why, and how it came to be. New York is such a unique space, and though I have not spent nearly enough time to understand it and see its various failures as well as successes and possibilities, there are so many aspects that make it function in a way that I think all cities should attempt. Walkability, pedestrian scale development, zero-setbacks on residential buildings, accessibility to public transit that runs 24/7, spaces that can serve various functions and be read differently, mixed-use development. Though gentrification and extreme disparities in accessibility are strife (what I would give to have explored New York in the 70s and 80s), the interactions in this tight urban milieu constantly engage me

ABC No Rio is located in the Lower East Side, now the hub of gentrification. Even in the 4 years since I had visited it has changed dramatically

"ABC No Rio is a collectively-run center for art and activism. We are known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture. ABC No Rio was founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement and we retain these values to the present"

ABC had an opening for their annual "Ides of March" artist exhibition, so the space was open to check out on Friday evening. Not many photos as it was entirely packed, as the old adage goes, "no space to swing a cat". Sadly the days of the hardcore matinees seem to be passing, so I didn't get to see a show there

Though now unaffordable to most, streetscapes like this make me never want to leave

The urban decay is definitely my favourite aspect of any city, to me (and many others) it signals opportunity. Unfortunately to others it signals redevelopment

The public transit infrastructure in New York is so fascinating. Elevated trains dissect urban development, subways create intricate tunnel systems that you sometimes get a glimpse of from on top of city streets, bridges span unfathomable distance. Best of all I found the cable car I had seen through my obsessive watching of Law and Order, that travels between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island (where the old mental institutions were located). Unbeknown to me, a crane had collapsed only a few blocks from where I was that day, killing 7 people and taking out a building.

I walked from 5ptz to water front in Long Island City, where you are afforded apparently one of the best views of Manhattan. Sadly this is a new place of residential waterfront mega-structures. It constantly amazes me how such culturally, human-scale, and environmentally unresponsive spaces can be created almost identically across the globe. Melbourne, London, Denver, and several other cities I have visited have all created these urban voids that feel exactly the same

Bikes!
I didnt get to visit Times Up! but I did get to see various bike-related goings on. It's interesting to see so many low quality bikes locked with chains that cost (and weigh) twice as much, which are then abandoned as parts get stolen.

Below is one of the 'ghost bikes' installed to commemorate cyclists killed by automobiles. This girl was only 22 and killed by a truck in the Lower East Side, I remember reading about it a few years ago, she worked at Red Bamboo restaurant

5ptz Queens

2008-03-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to meet a conspirator within the Graffiti Research Lab whilst in NY, who suggested I check out 5ptz in Long Island City, Queens. I took the 7 train out to check it out, and quickly realized where it was as I passed by on the elevated train line

5ptz is supposedly the largest graffiti gallery in the world. It is all done legally, but to do a piece you have to obtain a permit, and then it only lasts for a year before it gets covered. This means the quality is generally amazing, artists from across the globe come to throw up pieces. The building is entirely covered, and takes up a whole city block. Inside are a bunch of artist work spaces not affiliated with the graffiti space. It all reminded me of Tacheles in Berlin, only a lot less commodified

There are a bunch of videos on 5ptz on youtube, but check the short doco here

P.S. 1 is located directly across the road, an old elementary school reconverted in to a gallery for installation art. Sadly there were no installations in the large outdoor spaces while I was there, though the "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution" exhibition was on that had recently been in L.A.

New York Deliciousness

2008-03-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

A brief foray back to the east coast after a 4 year hiatus, under the auspices of "academic/activist furtherance", but alas not through the help of institutional cash extraction, sigh. This largely though was an excuse to eat myself stupid. The biggest thanks goes to Harel for putting me up the entire time, in the smallest yet most homely space I've ever occupied

I met Harel in the deserts of Southern Arizona, two skinny social scientist Phd-nerds researching the border. One day we got out of our tents for the 5am patrol to find the biggest fashion disaster had occurred. It was friendship ever since...

One of the things I have discovered since going veg is the wonders of food tourism, something which I think vegans and veggies appreciate (or suffer from) most. I rarely hear of a carnivore traveling to another city/country only to have their friends insist they eat at these 10 amazing meat serving restaurants...

Red Bamboo - hands down the best vegan restaurant in existence, and the best mock meat I've ever devoured, even if it means waiting out in the snow for an hour to get a table (or waiting 4 years to return), fucking yuppie scum...

Atlas Cafe - the cake shop to end all cake shops, and a bunch of other good vegan meals, in the space of your closet. Cupcake here seen modeled by Scarlet, who also joined me at Kates diner (an institution for Australian illegal hiring), and who hosted the first New York 'Iron Chef' party (the ingredient of the night was jalapenos, which was then integrated into bread, cake, deviled eggs, and so on, see photos here)

Cake Shop!
A mix of record store, cafe, vegan treats, and a live music venue in the basement with Kirin Ichiban on tap, good god...I even found fEEDTIME's 'Shovel' album, mid-80s Australian underground goodness at its best

Strictly Roots - "We dont serve anything that crawls, walks, swims or flies" Rastafarian run veggie cafeteria food, with homemade ginger beer that'll make you see through time and speak like you've smoked a pack a day for your entire life, located in Harlem

The Tuck Shop - at 2am walking in the rain to the subway, a glorious vision appeared, real Australian food, open till 5am. Veggie sausage roll, Coopers beer, and a lamington, hot damn...

Temple in the Village Macrobiotic/Vegan - buffet vegan food deliciousness, thanks again to Scarlet

Further credit goes to the Hungarian Bakery, tofu cream-cheese bagels, Harel's coffee and tea expertise, kosher-friendly Southern Indian at Madras, eastern-European diner food(??), and the best Sunday morning hangover breakfast cooked by the most amazing welcoming people. Brooklyn beer also good; NYC vegan/non-vegan chinese not so good; the 'Grilled Cheese' store being closed could only be described as heartbreaking.

More to come...

Monotonix

2008-03-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

Easily one of the better shows I have seen at the Smell, or anywhere for that matter, in the past year, nothing like zero expectations to make things easier. Something like a cross between Frank Zappa, traveling gypsy-punks, and a creepy "you're too old to be wearing that" feel, capped off with an "air-drumming" sequence

L.A. Marathon

2008-03-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the annual L.A. Marathon, in which people dispense cash to run really far, good for them! Was a lot of fun to sit back and eat my popsicle (thats American for icy-pole!) and watch people suffer on another warm L.A. Sunday afternoon

The L.A. marathon passing through Boyle Heights and across the 6th Street bridge back towards downtown L.A., just a few blocks from home

Giving clandestine motivation from above to the masses is what I do best, "Run faster fatty!" really inspired them

Its 2am...

2008-03-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

Zim-zam-zoot-zoot...

Feel my legs...im gonna f***ing puke

2008-03-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

So last weekend was Matt's third annual "Feel My Legs, I'm a Racer" event, and this year instead of turning up still drunk and laughing at others, I decided to race, or er, attempt to finish. I'll spare the details and refer you to Matt's write-up/photos. All I can say is that no training, insufficient gearing, and general lack of ability meant my head was spinning constantly and I almost puked.

http://nowhip.blogspot.com/2008/03/feel-my-legs-for-the-third-time.html

At the bottom of Quintero. You can see how all the cars tyres are turned towards the curb so they dont roll backwards down the hill

Getting whipped before the hill even starts, it was about a 1 mile gradual uphill before hitting the roughly paved Baxter, I almost got a point on this hill, almost...

Going up Fargo, the steepest of the lot. Not only did I get whipped, I slipped a gear, came to a complete stop and fell over sideways. Full points for style.

Tacking like a legless wonder on the second side of Baxter

Live footage of Baseball

2008-03-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

There is some great footage from Baseball up here, some of the best music out of Melbourne at present:

http://www.moshcam.com/#?page=player&type=gig&id=8

Left Forum 2008

2008-02-26T11:27:00.001-08:00

Left Forum is on in New York, March 14th-16th. I will be speaking on a panel on the Saturday 15th, from 5pm to 7pm (at the same time as Tariq Ali just for some competition).

BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES: LINKING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND PRISON ABOLITION MOVEMENTS

The criminalization of migration builds on the nearly three-decade long project of mass incarceration. How can we understand how walls and cages target different groups of people, yet with similar effects, and how can the prison abolition and immigrant justice movements learn from and support each other?

Andrew Burridge – Geography, University of Southern California, “Might a theory and politics of open borders manifest themselves spatially and challenge current forms of border securitization and militarization?”
Trishala Deb – Audre Lorde Project, “The intersections of racism, transphobia, and homophobia for immigrant community members, particularly around issues of enforcement and incarceration”
Micol Seigel – African American Studies, African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, “Zero Tolerance Goes South: focus on the international police consulting of former NYPD and current LAPD Police Chief William Bratton”
Seth Freed Wessler – Research associate, Applied Research Center

No isn't on the ballot

2008-02-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

Normally I won't write about things like the topic below, at fear of sounding like the ranting white liberal. But this first hand account, written by a friend of mine this week, I think is important to get out there. It sums up well about how I feel about the situation, and it's an all too common occurrence.

And before you go out to vote, or tout the liberating aspects of the first possible female or black president, remember that all of the candidates support stricter immigration policies, and further fortification of the border, leading to more deaths. Remember that Hilary Clinton's husband put into effect Operation Gatekeeper, one of the most significant causes of migrant deaths. Leading to the next question, how often do you hear in the media or political campaigns about the deaths that happen each day at the border?

======================================================================================
Yesterday afternoon three young volunteers and I were on a No More Deaths patrol in a remote desert canyon. We were dropping off water, food, blankets, shoes and socks along some remote migrant trails. Walking up the canyon, I saw some green shoes, and, thinking they looked pretty new, began to yell, as we always do, "Hola, hola! Tenemos agua, comida, somos de la iglesia, blah blah..." I only got to the second "hola" before I saw her teeth, and spun around, and told my friends "Stop."

I had never found someone dead in the desert before. The feeling is horrendous. So ugly, frustrating, tragic. I just looked at my feet and said "Goddammit." I'm still mad.

Joseline was only fourteen years old. She was from El Salvador, heading to the West Coast to reunite with family members there. I can't stop thinking of all the freshmen I taught at VVS – she could have been one of them.

Because obtaining a visa through official means is next to impossible, she, and thousands like her, can't cross the border at a port of entry. Instead, our spineless government builds walls to force them into the furthest, most inhospitable stretches of desert. As crossing without documents becomes more difficult, the price of the journey rises. Now smuggling people is as profitable as smuggling drugs, so cartels are more involved and violence is increasing. "Securing the border" is a stupid term that just means speeding up this vicious cycle.

Each year, hundreds of people die trying to cross the southern borderlands, walking north for a better life. Still, it is very rare for humanitarian aid organizations like No More Deaths to find a deceased migrant in the desert. It only happens about once a year. I guess this year my friends and I are the unlucky ones.

I'm not writing this message asking for sympathy – I'm asking for action. Though the many calls and kind words I've already received are appreciated, I don't feel comforted. How can I take solace when what we ran across yesterday is a regular occurrence here in the U.S? Take a look at the attached letter from my friend Deb. Thankfully, the 13 year-old boy mentioned in her letter was later found alive and well. But it shows the racism and inhumanity that is consuming our country. How can we feel secure when our neighbors are being rounded up and scapegoated in our own communities, far from the border? How can anyone feel comforted when a kangaroo court called "Operation Streamline" is forcing poor and hungry people to beg a judge for forgiveness for their "crime" of trying to feed their families – or face jail time and criminal records?

U.S. border policy is designed to neglect, berate, scapegoat, humiliate, torture, and kill innocent people. Let's change it. Now, goddammit!

Burn it all

2008-02-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Packaged water with "30% less plastic", it's like saying the "most fuel efficient SUV on the road"...really, what does that even mean?

Now im off to purchase some water from down the street.

Crossing Arizona Screening

2008-02-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Crossing Arizona will be screening at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Monday 25th of February at 7pm. After the screening I will be joining the director for a discussion of the documentary and issues surrounding migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. I would love everyone to come and see this wonderful documentary

Info about the event and directions:
http://web.mac.com/frankromerojr/iWeb/faithactivism/film.html

Info on the documentary
http://www.crossingaz.com/

Sea Scouts

2008-02-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is some great footage from a few years ago that someone recently put up of the Sea Scouts, in Melbourne, 2000. For a succinct little history... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Scouts_(band)

Getty Museum - February 10th

2008-02-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

One of the few places that affords a totalizing view of Los Angeles is from the Getty Museum on the edge of the Santa Monica mountains, particularly in winter when the layer of brown smog leaves the city. In one sweeping view you have the ocean, the snow capped mountains, and one of the largest megalopolis' in the world laying in between - the full spectrum of living conditions, sections of green the spot the landscape in between the freeways that bisect the city, and planes taking off from LAX.

The marine layer rolled in across Santa Monica. When you are in it, you just assume everywhere is grey and overcast, but from above its a different perspective, like always.

Brother Thelonious Ale

2008-02-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

More house shots...

2008-02-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

The house was built in 1905, so we think this might have been the original servants quarters

The condemned stair case of death

Blood In Blood Out, or, "why do my legs hurt so much?"

2008-02-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I decided to make a half-assed return to doing roadie rides (all lycra-related taunts are welcomed, including, but not limited to "roadie-scum"). Matt and I hit up Elysian Park (past the fixed-gear swapmeet) to the L.A. River trail, and on to Griffith Park, up and over to the Observatory and past the Hollywood sign.

After leaving Matt at Griffith Park, and 30 miles later, I rode home and decided to immediately turn around (sans-lycra) to the alleycat that was being put on by some downtown messengers. This alleycat was themed after the movie Blood In Blood Out, and so was based in East L.A./Boyle Heights, my new neighbourhood. I thought I would just drop by to watch the start, but inevitably decided to race. It has been about two years since I last raced an alleycat ("Cranksgiving") - a few years of bitterness towards "messenger lifestyle" and my continually bad performance in alleycats (getting lost, forgetting to eat before, generally being slow) meant I have avoided these largely. At least I could ride home if I decided to return to 6 year old budge, and just quit half-way without telling anyone, ala primary school.

The race started at the infamous 4th and Flower location. Situated in downtown under an overpass, this is a site best known for smelling like you are down-wind of a giant urinal (and you are), amongst other delights. This made the start of the race even more interesting: after lining all our bikes up across the road to create a sprint start, we were made to take all of our shoes off and put them in a pile, walking through things I dont even want to imagine...

Where are my shoes?

Once we found our shoes and ran across four lanes of one-way traffic to our bikes, it was a sprint to the 6th street bridge to get the manifest that listed all the checkpoints we had to get ticked off (in any order we chose) before getting to the finishing point (the 'Purple Rain' house a few blocks from my place).

Lining up the bikes for the start.

The checkpoints were located at locations that were scenes in the film, and often included certain 'tasks', including eating an entire chili, getting a "Vatos Locos" neck tattoo, drinking a shot of tequila, naming the artist of certain murals, or the name of the only white character in the movie (or if you didnt know the name, like me, doing 10 push-ups). I struggle with eating whole chili's and doing push-ups at the best of times, but after riding at full pace against traffic and running up giant sets of stairs, I was not feeling so well. The race was a lot of fun, and most even avoided arrest or a fine from the cops after some close calls.

After finding that my local liquor store is actually the best in L.A., and one of only two in the state that sells Australian beer that isn't Fosters (this brings me great joy, it even has Pinkus organic pilsner from Germany), we all headed to the industrial wasteland alongside the L.A. River, near the 7th street bridge for bike polo

I am Jake's demented cat.

2008-02-05T21:38:00.001-08:00

Huck the wheel!

2008-02-01T23:06:00.000-08:00

Took the new single-speed 29er out on Thursday. A short train ride (smiling at the commuters as they trudge off to work)/pedal and you are in the mountains.

Matt cranking up the hill on the cyclocross

At the top of the fire road after a pretty arduous uphill ride, before hitting the single trail down
Looking out over L.A. on one of the few clear days of the year
Total BFF's

Huckin' the wheel

Feel My Legs, I'm a Racer 2008

2008-01-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

You are beautiful...

2008-01-28T17:41:00.001-08:00

Taken at Olympic/10 Freeway, East L.A.

Downtown L.A. / Debs Park

2008-01-26T23:50:00.001-08:00

Carson velodrome/UCI track racing

2008-01-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last night a few of us rode down to Carson for the UCI worlds that comes to L.A every January. After stopping off in Compton for tacos and beer in the park (the true sign of an athlete) we got to Carson and set up at turn 4. It's always a lot of fun to watch the track racing, to be able to sit only a few feet from the action, and only a few seats away from riders like Shane Kelley who I have been watching race since I was a kid. Australia cleaned up on a number of races, and Sunderland took a track record in the kilo. Then people looked in disgust on as I sat through my own country's (and many others) national anthems...

House update...

2008-01-19T12:46:00.001-08:00

We decided tearing down the kitchen and re-drywalling it would simply be too much effort, so instead we took the "paint over everything" approach, and it actually worked surprisingly well.

The contrast shot

Matt's candid photography

Taking it to the roof, the circle-A had to go sadly. So not the punk kitchen anymore

All finished in a blinding shade of white. Now to cover the rotting floor, fix the mysterious gas leak, and replace the sink pipes and remove the make-shift grey water system

A reminder of what it looked like

During a break Max's tall-bike came out, further confusing the neighbourhood about the white-kid house on the block

Ernest E. Debs Park

2008-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Another chilly 75f/24c degree Los Angeles winter day made for a good opportunity to explore a local and not-so well east-side urban oasis yesterday, Ernest E. Debs park, home also to the Audobon environmental education center (which as a side note is totally off the grid, self-sufficient in energy, water, waste etc). Only a 15 minute ride from home, I can escape the city and gain a 360 degree perspective on the megalopolis. Yesterday it was possible to see to the ocean, to the snow covered mountains, and across the entirety of L.A. city (not quite the whole county).

The lake at the top of the park, I think I'll be spending most of my summer here

Looking south to downtown (and beyond that to the ocean)

Little Rincon

2008-01-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

Against better judgment and a severe lack of sleep, we traveled up to Ventura to surf Little Rincon/Muscle Shoals today. Its been a while since I've been scared in the water, but today did it, with a few 10 foot freak waves coming in. There were a few broken boards to be seen, and I got put through the rinse cycle at least once. It's an impressive spot to surf though, with a huge pier that runs out to an industrial island for oil mining, lined with palm trees to look more 'natural'. The coastline is a dramatic hill/mountain range, just across from the where the La Conchita landslide occurred a few years back. The dirt mound from the landslide with crosses on it still remains as a grim reminder.

I left my camera at home, but here are some stolen photos from a few years back. The size was only slightly smaller than you can see in the first shot. It was impressive to see the wave tearing through from the other side of the pier. Even better were the few who skipped paddling out and just sneaked around the fence on the pier and jumped the approx. 20 feet drop into the big waves pushing through.

2 wheels good, 4 wheels...

2008-01-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

Taken on 4th Street Boyle Heights on my ride home

House update #3

2008-01-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

This week the drywalling of the bathroom was completed. Though there was very little original drywall left, a small section of ceiling still had to be tore down. This was particularly fun as years of the roof being "pigeon central" led me to being showered in pigeon presents from the sky as I tore the ceiling down.

Before...

Next stop Matt's room. And avoiding being taken to court by the City for being quote "a blight on the neighbourhood".

Things walkable from la casa:
- Smart and Final and Food for Less
- Several bus-stops
- Numerous panaderias
- Post office
- Veggie burritos
- Cafe
- Bank
- Mariachi Plaza
- Public pool (lookout summer)
- Hollenbeck Park (the non-gentrified version of Echo Park lake) and skatepark
- 10 minute ride to downtown
- Burnout neighbours playing foosball 24/7

Viewing Platforms

2008-01-10T22:19:00.000-08:00

A recent write-up on an exhibition in the L.A. Weekly caught my eye the other day, a series of photos of 'viewing platforms' from Germany, used by hunters to shoot game, in turn protecting local farmers crops. I came across these during the G8 protests as we were hiding in the forest. The structures were quite striking in the landscape, and interesting to me, as at the time I was unsure of their use. A few moments later I watched as a group of black masked kids tried to carry one through the forest and onto the road we were about to block, followed by being chased back into the forests by German riot cops, all entertaining in hindsight.

(all photos are the artists)

So I went to the gallery to check it out today, located inside the supposedly oldest book store in Los Angeles, with books costing well into the $1000s. I had joked to my housemate about meeting the artist to tell her we had destroyed one of her photographic subjects whilst fighting the cops. Well she walked in whilst I was viewing the exhibition, and my friend who happened to be working in the gallery mentioned I had a story for her, I'm not so sure how impressed she was by it.

Good ol' Lou

2008-01-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Nothing like being welcomed by the glowing face of a racist on your entry to East L.A. (taken at Cesar Chavez and Mission)

Koepi Bleibt

2007-12-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

I posted some photos about the Koepi squat from my travels in Berlin, one of the most inspiring and interesting spaces I have visited (coming from two countries where squatting is far from accepted or common). This is a recent story about the status of the squat which is soon to be evicted in Der Spiegel (read: warning mainstream media).

LAST STAND FOR THE FAR-LEFT
Berlin Commune Fights the Property Developers

By Stefan Berg and Marcel Rosenbach

The Köpi in Berlin is famous as one of the last remaining remnants of the city's squat culture from the early 1990s. The building, which is in a desirable location, has now been sold to a property developer -- but the residents aren't giving up without a fight.

The Köpi in Berlin's Mitte district is a symbol of the city's far-left scene.
Sabine Sauer / DER SPIEGEL

The Köpi in Berlin's Mitte district is a symbol of the city's far-left scene.
They sat down together just like every week, but this time the mood was different: nervous, tense, but also a bit agitated. "It was as if we had just survived a battle," said one of the people who attended the meeting two weekends ago.

The war comparison image is not that far-fetched. Nine cars and many trash containers had been set on fire in Berlin the night before. There had been an enormous police presence on the streets and more than 50 people were arrested. The tabloid Bild described it as an "anarchist war" right in the middle of Berlin's trendy Mitte district.

The demonstration -- the topic of discussion at the meeting the next day -- was about "autonomous free space." Its purpose was to protest against the victory march of capitalism ("Smash Capitalism" was one of the slogans) that is changing the face of the cash-strapped German capital -- slowly, but visibly, especially in the former East Berlin districts of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg.

The location of the meeting was not without significance. The group had convened in the "Aquarium" meeting room in the building known as the Köpi, located at Köpenicker Strasse 137 in Berlin's Mitte district. The Köpi is one of the self-defined "free spaces" that the violent protests had been all about.

In 1990, it was one of the first buildings to be occupied by squatters in former East Berlin. Today, it is the most important radical left-wing residential project in the former city of squatters. The building has even been featured on postcards, thanks to a slogan painted in giant white letters on the outside wall: "There are no borders between peoples, only between the top and the bottom."

Architecturally speaking, the Köpi is the surviving rear section and two side wings of a typical Berlin residential building with inner courtyards from the beginning of the 20th century. From the outside, it is in terrible condition. Next to the main building, the Köpi also has a lot for trailer homes and tents.

But for residents and the large contingent of sympathizers with the radical left-wing movement, the Köpi is more than just a run-down old building. It is a symbol, a sort of last refuge for alternative lifestyles.

The Köpi is self-organizing and run on communal principles. The plenary session every Sunday is the main administrative body. Participation is strictly limited to Köpi residents and representatives of the many cultural projects and bars that have found a home in the commune. Outsiders are barred from the meeting and mobile phones are prohibited -- for fear of surveillance by the domestic intelligence agencies, which keep a close eye on far-left activities in Germany.

On the day after the demonstration, there was a roll call of sorts to see if any of the Köpi's residents had been among those arrested. It appeared that this was not the case, and the demonstration was chalked up as a success. The slogan "Köpi stays" featured on many of the placards the protestors were carrying, and a few young sympathizers had even dressed up as "Köpi Knights," complete with helmets and shields.

The Köpi slogan has never been more topical. Since the spring, defending free space has taken on a very concrete meaning, namely preventing forcible eviction. The Köpi and two adjacent properties were auctioned off in a forced sale in May, under dubious circumstances and to an even more dubious buyer.

Since then, officials at the State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) have observed increasing levels of violence within the Berlin anarchist community. During the course of the year, 111 cars -- from Minis to luxury sedans -- have been torched, many of them company cars owned by industrial giants like Siemens or the German national railway company Deutsche Bahn. The authorities are convinced the perpetrators were members of the radical left-wing community.

Since the night of rioting in Mitte, security officials in Berlin have issued dire warnings that the city could face the sort of violent unrest that plagued Copenhagen in December 2006 and March 2007 after police evicted the occupants of the Ungdomshuset left-wing youth center. Many members of Berlin's radical left-wing community who had traveled to Copenhagen were among those arrested. The demonstration two weekends ago was held on the one-year anniversary of the first Copenhagen riot.

The fear of violence erupting on a similar scale in Berlin is not unfounded. In the past few days, Berlin's left-wing radicals have invited like-minded groups from throughout Europe to come to the city. They plan to hold an action week and a street festival at the Köpi around May 31 of next year, the date the property is to be handed over to the new owner -- empty, clean and complete with all sets of keys.

In May 2007, the presumed investor appeared in public for the first time, coming to the administrative court in Mitte, right on time for the auction. A tall man with a noticeable gap in his front teeth, he arrived with bodyguards and introduced himself to the court clerk as Besnik Fichtner, managing director of a company with the futuristic-sounding name Plutonium 114.

Fichtner, a former floor tiler from Kosovo, seemed unimpressed by the catcalls and attempts to intimidate him by the roughly 70 Köpi residents who had managed to get into the courtroom. The property was eventually sold to the company Fichtner represents for €835,000. This is roughly half the property's market value -- in other words, a steal for Fichtner. He also bought the two adjacent properties for a total of €900,000.

The eviction notice that was recently posted on the bulletin board in the hallway at the Köpi makes no mention of Plutonium 114. Instead, the documents are signed by a company calling itself Joles GmbH, headquartered in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. "Once all apartments currently occupied by tenants have been cleared," the eviction notice reads, the "construction work" will begin. Everyone knows that "construction work" in this case means only one thing: demolition.

From the standpoint of the radicals living there, the notice is nothing but a provocation and a declaration of war. They see it as a confirmation of the slogan on the building's wall, the slogan about class warfare; for them it's about anarchists versus speculators, and for them the rules of engagement are clear. Black banners now hang from the front of the main Köpi building, reading: "It'll be a hot winter" and "Köpi remains a risky investment."

Statements of support for the Köpi group have begun appearing throughout Germany, on signs at demonstrations, on the walls of buildings and on the Internet. Berlin's new Alexa shopping mall at Alexanderplatz had barely opened its doors before the first "Köpi stays" graffiti had appeared on the walls.

The Köpi residents are already getting organized ahead of the coming battle. One group is responsible for PR and dealing with the press, another is looking into the mysterious buyer and his backers, and a third manages the professionally designed website.

The attendees at a meeting in the "ACC," or "Antisocial Cultural Center," in the Köpi basement seem peaceful enough, even mild-mannered. Demian, a pleasant 29-year-old with a buzz cut, is a member of the PR committee. Of course, "Blase" ("Bubble") is there, a man who, with his flowing white hair and full beard, has the look of the chief of the Köpians and could easily be Demian's grandfather. Blase's real name is Peter Rösch. He was a courageous dissident in East Germany, and he has remained fundamentally true to his principles and his critical stance toward authority. He doesn't live in the building, but in a nearby former squat. He has made the Köpi his mission, and, unlike some others, he wants to see its problems resolved peacefully.

Standing at a counter in the windowless basement, Demian and Blase attempt to explain what it is they are fighting for, what the Köpi means to them. In addition to the "ACC," the building is home to "Koma F," a cocktail bar that is also used for concerts. There is a mattress-lined room with a climbing wall, a metalworking shop, a silkscreen-printing room and even a gym where the "Köpi Fight Club" practices martial arts.

In the former East Germany, the complex was home to a bowling club and ping-pong club, among other things. The slogan "Onward on the Road of Socialism" is still emblazoned above the door. From the perspective of Demian and Blase, the building has now truly become the property of the people. The Köpi PR man calls it a "utopian experience," an alternative form of cohabitation beyond the confines of the conventional family.

Blase has a significantly more political take on the situation. For many years, he fought his battles on behalf of the Köpi in round-table discussions with the district mayor and representatives of the Berlin Senate. In the upheaval of the early 1990s, Blase and his friends managed to convince the owners to sign leases with them, contracts which they insist are still valid. When an investor began building a nursing home directly adjacent to the Köpi's walls, which would have covered up the wall with the legendary top/bottom slogan, he was forced to agree to have the slogan painted onto the wall of the nursing home -- with sufficiently large letters.

Frank, whose hair is dyed peroxide-blonde, represents the Köpians' less moderate fighting contingent. He was one of a handful of original residents who selected the building after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and he remembers that Friday in February 1990 when he and the first squatters entered the building before the last tenants and sports clubs had even vacated the premises.

Frank was there when three mountain climbers rappelled from the side of the building and painted the famous slogan. The phrase was chosen by the plenary committee, which already existed at that time.

Frank became a father during his days living at the Köpi, and it was there that he celebrated his daughter's birthdays until she was 10. That was when he moved out, but he never left completely. Today Frank is the organization's chairman, is among its most loyal supporters and attends virtually every event.

There are several factions at the Köpi with varying positions on the question of violence. A strong faction believes that the Köpi has only survived as long as it has because its residents are considered unpredictable. The group has already issued an open threat on its Web site: "If Fichtner feels he needs to terminate the lease, then we will terminate the cease-fire."

This strategy has been sufficiently intimidating until now. According to officials at the Berlin Senate, there have been more than 50 inquiries from potential buyers of the property over the years. But all of them quickly reconsidered, and a number of scheduled auctions for the building were cancelled.

To nip these sorts of problems in the bud, the new owner opted for a more cunning approach. First he sent Besnik Fichtner and his intimidating bodyguards to Berlin. The legal correspondence came later, from Kosovo. He reasoned that perhaps ethnic Albanians from Kosovo could manage to drum some respect into the anarchists, and that intimidation is the best way to fight intimidation.

No one in the radical community believes that the Köpi was in fact sold to a buyer in Kosovo. In fact, Fichtner is merely a trustee. The real new owner has his offices only a few kilometers away, in an opulent building on one of the city's main shopping thoroughfares, the Kurfürstendamm. Siegfried Nehls, 43, who likes to put a "Dr." before his name, is an old hand in the Berlin real estate renovation business and operates a network of several interrelated companies.

Nehls and his partners underestimated the radical left-wing community. The Köpi residents hired an experienced attorney, Moritz Heusinger. Their research team obtained information about the Nehls empire from government offices and the courts and got hold of the relevant documents from the local corporate registry. It didn't take long before the identity of the real new owner was discovered.

Just one week after the auction, a group of Köpi residents showed up in the front yard of Nehls' parents' house in a Berlin suburb. Nehls' father was open to discussion and even invited the Köpi delegation into his house, but Siegfried's brother called the police. A few of the uninvited guests were charged with trespassing and were even arrested for a short time.

In addition to the squatters, investigators have their eye on the new owner of the building. Nehls has been peppered with lawsuits since the late 1990s -- from subcontractors and many buyers of his condominiums. According to the Berlin public prosecutor's office, several pending cases involving charges of fraud have now been put together. Nehls and his partners are accused of having defrauded construction companies of their revenues, a charge they deny.

One month after the Köpi auction, dozens of police officers raided Nehls' offices and his apartment. Fichtner's office and about 20 other apartments and offices were also searched.

Real estate developer Nehls is a giant of a man with a deep voice, and yet he prefers to respond to SPIEGEL's inquiries in writing. His statement comes from a company called Vitalis Beteiligungsgesellschaft für Altbauten mbH (Vitalis Holding Company for Old Buildings). Nehls is registered as the company's managing director. The letter explains, in smooth-talking real estate terms, that the company is interested in Köpenicker Strasse 137 because it is in "a highly appealing neighborhood" where properties, in the coming years, "will become increasingly attractive, in light of their charming potential for mixed-use residential and commercial development."

The letter also explains the reasoning behind the abstruse Plutonium-Joles-Vitalis purchasing setup: "From the standpoint of the State Office of Criminal Investigation, closing this center poses a not insignificant danger." Despite the fact that the sale was handled through the trustee, the letter continues, "our office, as well as employees and family members of the managing director, have received personal threats."

Vitalis also provides, for the first time, detailed information about its plans for the site: It intends to develop "approx. 150 apartments with almost 12,600 square meters (135,000 square feet) of living space," adding that it can be assumed "that it will not be possible to preserve the existing old buildings."

The man at the Berlin Senate who is responsible for managing such problematic cases is Ralf Hirsch. He is in charge of a project dubbed "Social City" -- and he comes across as somewhat helpless. Hirsch was caught unawares by the auction plans, just as the Köpi residents were. He invited Nehls and his attorneys to his office for a preliminary discussion, but he had little to offer as a mediator. "The only alternative," says Hirsch, "would have been for the state or the residents to purchase the property."

But Berlin is broke. The Senate's formerly deep pockets, into which it was able to reach to calm down the owners of more than 100 squatted buildings in the German capital by paying them subsidies, are now close to empty. Nevertheless, everyone involved senses that Berlin will be paying a high price for the controversy, one way or another. The policing costs are already in the hundreds of thousands of euros. If nothing else, there is one thing that Hirsch hopes to avoid if at all possible: individual evictions, which would take place apartment by apartment, tenant by tenant. "It would mean a state of permanent war," he says.

It's obvious that Hirsch doesn't even want to imagine the scenario. He represented the city during the long years of round table discussions with the Köpi, and he has a closer relationship with the residents than many would imagine. He knew Blase in the former East Germany, where both men were members of the dissident community.

"The truth is that everyone wants things to remain the way they are," says Hirsch. That may be the case for Demian, Blase and the other Köpi residents -- but it certainly does not apply to Nehls, the real estate developer.

Faced with the current stalemate, city officials nervously anticipate even more volatile times ahead. May 1 is normally considered a potentially explosive date -- far-left anarchists have a tradition of rioting in Berlin on that day. This year, many fear May 31 could also be a tad too lively for comfort: Inspired by current events, the Köpi cinema recently added a series of films about "liberation struggles" to its lineup.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Law Dogs - lukewarm justice in a bun (genious)

2007-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people ask if I had/have 'culture shock' from being in the U.S., usually under the assumption that the U.S. is drastically different to Australia, if only they knew. Occasionally small gems spring up to remind me I've been residing in the Empire however...

Law Dogs is one of them, a hotdog stand that gives free legal advice. Law Dogs...its just too good. I noticed this stand in a moment of disbelief from the backseat of a friends car, alas it apparently is a burrito stand these days (not that I don't support more burrito stands...)

For the full, movie-worthy story of Law Dogs:

www.thefreelibrary.com/WURST+CASE+SCENARIOS+VALLEY+LANDMARK+SERVES+UP+LEGAL+ADVICE,+WITH...-a090640341

7.5 months later...

2007-12-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

...I have a room again. The house is slowly coming along, the shower, dining room, and kitchen are functionable at some level, and we can walk from room to room without stepping over things. Now if we can just figure out a way to look like we are not trying to gentrify the neighbourhood...

What it looked like when I moved in 2 months ago...

2007-12-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

In contrast to the 80 degree weather and surf earlier this week, I was caught in the rain and high 40s temperature riding home last night. The combination of rain, wind, and a clear sunny day today meant you could see clearly the mountains further north of L.A. that are usually concealed by a thick blanket of smog and brown haze. Apparently it dumped snow last night...

This is from the Mt. Wilson observatory (about 5000 feet above L.A.) that we sometimes ride up to, about a 19 mile ride up from the base, an hour or so ride from downtown.

forward youth

Team Degani 3 Peaks Challenge - Sunday March 7th, Victorian Alpine Region, Australia

House updates

New house, and the return of the potluck...

Some small house updates...

Earth First! Roadshow in L.A., Sunday February 22nd

Recommended Radical Readings on Los Angeles

Are you living in a 'constitution free zone'?

Feel My Legs, I'm a Racer 2009

Grand Canyon, South Rim

Montezuma's Castle

Oak Creek and Sedona/Devil's Bridge

Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monument

Flagstaff, Arizona

Oakland on Fire Anarchists, Solidarity, and New Possibilities in the Oakland Rebellion

Video and interview of Oscar Grant shooting

Hallway - 8 months down the line

People with even more free time than me make wonderous things...

House update...

May it be filled with cheer...

Backyard update

Within a few blocks from my house...

Release the Bats!

Cabazon Dinosaurs

Hair Banditry

The Devil Wore Red

Dragon fruit!

Circle of Dead Pilgrims 2 @ Fort Pigeon

For those in Tucson

Voting Tuesday?

Death Valley Double October 25th 2008

Beehive Collective @ the L.A. Eco Village this Friday 17th October!

Quintron and Miss Pussycat @ Echoplex

Furnace Creek 508 race - Matt 'Desert Locust' Ruscigno

Getty Museum Gardens

Griffith Park Observatory

Hasta Siempre Sally Grace: Another US Activist Murdered in Oaxaca

Cyclecide

Full House

Sunken City San Pedro

The Goats of Bunker Hill

Watts Towers

Mt. Baldy

Ghost bike memorial, San Diego, 08.08

May Day, Downtown Los Angeles 2008

Tucson has dope lightning storms...

Terra Nullius

Mt. Lemmon

Fort Pigeon backyard party

Wolfpack Hustle Drag Race #3

Inner city living...

May Day

dope.

Velociraptors in my kitchen

House update - April

Boston/Providence

Bladerunner Alleycat

The New Face of Terror

Be more professional

Boston, activist geographies, and Colbert?

In An Absolut World

House update #...something

Friendly faces

John Zorn vs. Stephen Colbert

Justice Yeldham @ Hyperion Tavern

Fear of Grown Ups

Friday morning roll...

Theory of the Derive

5ptz Queens

New York Deliciousness

Monotonix

L.A. Marathon

Its 2am...

Feel my legs...im gonna f***ing puke

Live footage of Baseball

Left Forum 2008

No isn't on the ballot

Burn it all

Crossing Arizona Screening

Sea Scouts