Transmissions

Thanks for asking. Yes, I’ve been a bit of an absentee blogger lately, but don’t worry I’m not in Guantanamo! After a three week long friend finding frenzy on MySpace I found myself a wee-bit burned out and took a little break. Meanwhile Earl and I have been working on changing the look and function of the entire site. It occurred to us that there is a difference between a website being D.I.Y. and just looking like a confusing freaking mess. We will be done in a few days, until then the site might go down here and there. To get a preview of the new look, go to the upper left of this page and click “Home”.

Hey Max, why the obsession with getting more MySpace friends?

Many of you reading this probably came here from my MySpace link. Welcome comrade! I didn’t go looking for you guy’s because I’m particularly lonely or anything. And it wasn’t about the vanity of having a high friend count. The obvious reason was to get more people to my site and to BUY SHIRTS. However there was a greater reason: I need your help.

If I just wanted a high number I could have just looked for porn stars or high school punk bands, but I needed people with all of your attributes. You all don’t just believe that another world is possible and necessary, you are ready, willing and able to do what is needed to get there. Also most of you are already active and, if not, you want to be.

{A quick note: if you ever need to go on your very own radical friend finding mission I suggest keyword search “Michael Parenti”. Not only did nearly every person say yes, they were the feistiest bunch so far! I would click “add friend” and they would practically kick in my front door and scream, “I freaking accept you in friendship! Has the Revolution started yet?” Good times.}

Rejection 08

Be a Zapatista where you live!

Concluding that we here in the “belly of the beast” USA live essentially in a one party state, I was originally going to just boycott and ignore the upcoming election cycle. But then I started to think about our sisters and brothers in Chiapas Mexico, The Zapatistas. During their last election cycle they organized something called “The Other Campaign”. The new area of A Moving Train, called, “Rejection 08” is loosely inspired by their campaign.

We plan to cover the presidential election through a radical lens and point out, not just the similarities of the two parties, and not just the farce of the whole election, but also the rot that is the entire system itself. We also want to point to alternative ways we could organize ourselves as people and new ways to view the world around us. We are going to feature relatively well known writers, but we also want to feature the words and stories of ordinary people from all walks of life. Namely: You.

With the front page I will remain the website’s little tyrant and pick the ones I like the most. However we are setting up a forum that will allow anyone to post anything they want. It can be anything just so long as it fits with the basic theme. That means essays, poetry, personal stories, jokes, art or even advertise your protest or rally. We’re considering music as well, but as of yet haven’t figured out how that would work.

The only thing that will be censored will be calls for violence or crime, stuff that is clearly there to fuck with us or anything from people working with one of the major parties. Otherwise it’s yours.

Another goal of this project is to get enough momentum and interest going to where it takes on a life of it’s own and moves from the virtual world to the streets. This pretty much depends on you, your level of interest and getting other people in to it. It would be extremely helpful if all of you could get your friends on MySpace to “friend” me. My goal is to have 5000 like or similar minded people by the time of the primaries.

For those of you that already have your own websites or projects going, this could be a great way to mutually support one another. Kind of a mutual back scratching situation.

I should have more detailed information coming soon. Send any questions, comments or submissions to rejection08@gmail. The sooner you get in your work, the better the odds of getting published. I look forward to working with all of you. Let’s make this an election that those in power won’t soon forget.

Well?

Maxwell Black

A Moving Train

PS: I’m going to get back to writing this week.

Dear ruling elite,

We don’t despise you for what you have. We despise you for what you do. See you soon.

Signed,

The “Bewildered Herd”

PS: new post coming

A Moving Train meets:

Last week Earl and I stepped out of the digital world and in to the real world with fellow US dissidents. We met with our comrades from Slept On Magazine (my third MySpace friends) at the semi-famous “Busboys and Poets” in DC. It was an awareness raising event for the “Jena 6″, however we were late and missed the event. David Zirin was there which was pretty cool, but was also a reminder of what little tadpoles we are in the world of radical agitation.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant with the guys. I brought a camera, but due to their day jobs they keep their identities private, (like Earl) so here is a picture of their meal: a toy boat covered in sushi…

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