Op Ed: "A Tool Most Useful & Dangerous"

There has been a lot of buzz on social media since my post this afternoon, wondering whose today's guest essayist would be.

It's been a long time since we heard some words of wisdom from my old friend Gumball, noted Hobo Historian and legend of his craft.  His offering this evening certainly does not disappoint and will well worth the wait.  Enjoy.



I've walked the hallowed streets of transiency for near four decades.  

Before that, I knew the life-style through my brother, my uncle and my great-grandfather, who were proud vagrants of the train & way-fare variety.  I don't bring these topics up to boast, oh no.  There are men who have been living the lifestyle a lot longer and more effectively than I, who consider myself a mere steward of this earth.  

A student, never more.

Instead, I bring up my years ingrained in this lifestyle as credentials to comment on some of the changes I've observed, both in the short- and in the very long-term.

Technology is a tricky thing.  Used modestly it allows us some beautiful advances, such as chicken hock that can last, unrefrigerated, for months.  Or a way to make an egg be fully cooked yet so deliciously runny.  But when abused--well, you know what happens when it's abused, friends.  When abused we have a populace that locks itself behind four walls and reinforced doors, or travels in the tight-packed insulated bubble of an automobile.  We end up with children who have never had opportunity to look up at a star-soaked sky, or old men who lie down in their death bed without ever watching the sun rise over an unknown horizon.

Technology has it's place in a transient's life--we're much better off than our fore-fathers in a goodly number of respects.  But there is a reason we choose to live this life, friends.  Let us not forget that.  

There is a reason we choose to live without the clutter of so-called modern convenience always at our fingertips.  There is a reason we abstain from the cutthroat rat-race of today's society.

For full disclosure, I freely admit that I am writing this essay from behind the glow of a computer's screen.  I sit here in the New Haven Public Library at 6:30 PM on a cold Wednesday evening, although the temperature in here is a comfortable 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  I rationalize this--perhaps presumptively--by using my time on-line to advocate for the Transient Lifestyle.  And (to me, most importantly), when I leave this warm building at the end of my hour, I will return to a bridge or the underside of a boat dock, build myself a fire and share stories of times past with my vagrant brothers of the night.

As we move forward into the future, we are bound to see more transients with access to technology--be it cellular phones, lap top computers or even television and radio hook ups.  Some will accept this as part of the changing culture, and others will despise such sights.  I only ask that you all, as individuals, periodically assess your technology use and make sure that you are staying within your own self-imposed boundaries.

As with any other luxury  technology can be used to the point of abuse.  Let us never forget our purpose, friends, and not allow our way to be deluded by the unneeded use of technological tools.  Our way of life is not easy, but it is important.

It always has been.

Keep the flame, my brothers.

GB

In solidarity,

Train Tom

Op Ed: Sugar & Spice...

Spirred on by Gumball's wonderful Op Ed, my good friend Satchmo from the Norfolk docks decided to share his two cents, with a little help from his brother (?) and eternal comrade named Petros, but his friends affectionately call him Tonk.

For those of you unfamiliar, Satchmo typically documents nearly everything that goes on around him, for what he claims will become his memoirs.  He's got literally stacks and stacks of the stuff, and it's interesting/exhausting to review.

Anyway, he insists on writing in his accustomed style no matter if it's his memoirs or an e-mail or a grocery list.  Give it a try, it's sure to grow on you.

Hello!  It’s Satchmo talking to you from my trusty Smith 8-10.  For many years me and Tonk have been fending for ourselves as vagrants and you tend to pick up a few skills as you go.  Today I’m gong to tell you how to get yourself some hot pecan pie!

    I have a bit of an advantage here as Tonk has been recognized as a Grade-A pie-snatcher in the tri-country area but I hope you still learn something from him that you can apply in your own ventures.  

“HELLO SATCHMO, REGINOLD SAYS HI TOO!”

“Yes, Hello Tonk, hello Reginold.”

Reginold is a little knick-knack that Tonk carries around, a mess of fence wire and twine he calls a rabbit.

“IT’S FLUFFY FUR!”

“I’ll tell you what it is!  Now stop reading over my shoulder, it makes me nervous!”

Sorry for the interruption.  About pie-snatching, the secret to Tonk’s success is that he can smell a pie cooling on a windowsill from a mile away.  When he smells some pie he’ll shout “OH BOY!” and that’s my signal to grab him by the scruff of his neck to keep him from getting run over as he leads me to the pie.  He’s pretty single minded when he’s on the scent (not that he’s very many minded most other times) so keeping him out of harm is a big challenge.

    Locating the pie is the easy part.  It’s so temping to dash and grab that hot pecan pie off the windowsill and take off!  But that’s the sign of amateurs itching to get shot full of buckshot.  The true pie maestro will distract the pie owner so that an associate can take off with the pie safely.  

Tonk will hide in the bushes while I ring the doorbell and engage the man-of-the-house.  My go-to distraction is as a travelling salesman.  I doff my hat and give my best pitch.  Unwanted items you acquire at the hobo swap make great fodder for this.  The goal isn’t to make a sale but to distract the man long enough for the associate to abscond with the pie and take off!  Tonk will tweet like a red-bellied woodpecker and that’s when I know its time to excuse myself and scram!  

“SOMETIMES IT’S A YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO!”

“That detail’s not important!  Now stop interrupting!”

If everything went well you will be well out of site before the absent pie is noticed.  Now your biggest challenge is how to enjoy that hot pecan pie!

You've given us a lot to think about, boys.

In solidarity,

Train Tom

Op Ed: "Christmas Presence"

Happy New Year!  I have news to share but it will have to wait, because waiting for me in my Inbox this morning was an Op Ed piece from my friend Gumball.  It was beautifully written, and sure to bring a tear to your eye.  I'm honored that he is my first guest writer for this blog, and it's wonderful that he has such a poignant message to share.

Please enjoy.





"What did you get for Christmas?"
That is often the question on the lips of old and young alike this time of year. Still, even as a transient man who has lived this way for the majority of my adult life, I am often asked this question by my non-transient friends and acquaintences.


What did I get this year? What did I receive? What did I treat myself with?


This year I treated myself to fresh air, the cool breeze on a hot July morning or a warm, crackling fire on a cold December night. This year I treated myself to seeing the west, exploring and enjoying the beautiful and ancient rustic spirit of this nation. This year I opened myself up to new tastes, new smells, new friends, new hopes and dreams and life and liberty. I treated myself to good clean air in my lungs, to breathtaking beauty and scenery. I treated myself to wake up in a different location every morning. I treated myself to never feeling trapped, asphyxiated within a box.


Some people look at me and my brethren and feel sorry for us. They think we are lacking because of our lack of a Christmas tree, or the ringing of Christmas bells, or special food or drink or time spent with blood relatives. Most of all, they seem to think I'm missing something because I do not afford myself Christmas presents.


Maybe I won't enjoy a bounty of Christmas presents, but instead I hold close to my heart something much more valuable...Christmas presence. A presence not in simply existing, but in living within the moment. Taking it all in. The world is a big, scary, tragic and hauntingly beautiful place. You can't see it from behind closed doors. You have to live it, be a part of it, not apart from it.


I have seen some things in my time, some things I wish I could un-see and other things I'd give my life to experience a second time. You take the good with the bad, the horrid with the lovely. This world has a knack for simultaneously breaking your heart and filling it with childlike wonder all at once.


It's hard to break away, and this path is not for everyone. Some are better off behind their closed, locked doors, away from the rest of the world. Let them have their cubicles, their mortgage, their auto repairs, their health insurance. Let them have their Christmas presents. For the select few of us--the ones who choose not to remove ourselves from what this world has to offer--we strive for something much more symbiotic with nature. A Christmas presence.


Keep the flame, my brothers.


GB

In solidarity,

Train Tom