---------------------------------------------------------------------- CRASH Your guide to travel thru the underground May 1992 ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL METHODS ISSUE --------- GREETINGS from the Crash Crew When I was 18, and planning my first solo cross-country driving trip, I went to a travel agent and said, "I'm driving from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Can you give me some maps?" She asked, "Do you want to go the southern way, the central way, or the northern way?" "Uh... southern, I guess," I replied; I had always wanted to explore the American deep south. When she returned, she carried a tiny flip-book map she called a "Trip-Tik." It showed Interstate 40 (one of the main freeways traversing the United States), and the towns and side roads on 10 miles of each side of the freeway. I knew better then to trust my travels to this Reader's Digest caricature of a map, and chose to avoid as best I could all freeways on that trip. All too commonly, we are provided with only enough information to choose between the "accepted" forms of travel --Êmajor freeways, rushed plane flights, and crowded and confining buses and trains. Not only are these forms of travel expensive (both financially and ecologically), they are often dull and alienating. In this issue we give you a start on finding other modes of travel that are usually cheaper, often more socially stimulating, and a whole lot more fun. -------------------------------------------- LETTERS * LETTRES * TA GA MI * POSTE * CARTA Dear Crash Network, Thanks for the fanzine. Sorry about the length of time in replying. We've been kind of busy organizing travel. Splinter stopped in February -- as 2 of us have decided to see some of the world. I've passed your 'zine onto another good fanzine in New Plymouth. New Zealand is a really good deal for Americans travelling now, because our exchange rate is bad, i.e. US 54 cents for NZ $1. The South Island is for the type of traveller into the outdoors, and its beautiful scenery. Auckland is the largest city -- 1 million approx. It has heaps of hostels ranging in price from NZ$12-19. There are 6 in the central city -- all of which are clean and well run. Entertainment only really starts Thur-Sat. --Êbut there is a variety. There are also 2 hostels in Ponsonby (inner suburb) which is where I live --Êthey are pretty good too. Anyhow thanx again. Good luck. Splinter (New Zealand) hello there, my name is max & i'm about to escape from the suburban existentialist prison, sell all my worldly belongings and go high- plains driftin' over the dark fields of Amerika w/ nothing but a dawg and a spare pare of socks. no car, no home, no credit cards. it's kind of scary to be out there w/o a pot to piss in, so when i saw yr. ad in neil cunningham's Flower chapbook i thought you might be able to help me out. yes, i would like to meet fellow travellers, find alternative destinations, and experience different cultures. i'm bound for california one way or the other, but maybe you can make it easier for me. thanks a bundle. tex max (USA) ------ DEBRIS Networking and information * LIVE WILD OR DIE! A newspaper for the anarchist that's fun to read. Edutainment at its best. Issue #3 had "McThief the Crime Cat" showing us successful shoplifting, articles on "eco-terrorists," "Anarchist Olympics," and lots of other wild creativity. Great. Send a donation to: L.W.O.D., PO Box 329, Santa Cruz, CA 95061, USA. * ECO-VACATIONS: ENJOY YOURSELF AND SAVE THE EARTH by Evelyn Kaye. Hundreds of exciting environmental trips in Africa, Australia, India, Alaska and more. $25 postpaid from Blue Penguin, 3031 Fifth St., Boulder, CO 80304, USA. FREE LEAFLET (800) 800-8147. * BICYCLE AFRICA programs provide the opportunity for Westerners to see, learn about and enjoy this large continent (3 times the size of the U.S.). We journey through cultures, history, landscapes, cuisines and life-styles, close enough to touch them. Whether your interests are politics or architecture, religion or music, botany or world cuisine, community health or economic development, there are rich rewards. For more information write to: International Bicycle Fund, 4887 Columbia Drive South, Seattle, WA 98108-1919, USA. * INTERNATIONAL BIKE TOUR 1992. European Youth Forest Action (EYFA) will be having their third Bike Tour starting June 12th in Freiburg, Germany (departing right after the Freiburg Youth Festival), and ending 53 days and 40 cities later in Bulgaria on August 2nd. At the end of this tour, which is done to bring attention to ecological and social problems of Eastern Europe, EYFA will be holding their annual Ecotopia gathering. This event is a great chance to learn about living in harmony with the environment and with each other. For more information on the bike tour contact the international coordinator: Katarina Matejcikova, STROM ZIVOTA (Tree of Life), Prazska 11, 811 04 Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. For more info about EYFA and Ecotopia, contact: Green Tree News, Postbus 566, 6130 AN Sittard, Netherlands. * TRANSPORTATION CHOICES FOR A GREENER PLANET. Kokopelli Notes will tell you the advantages of bicycles, hiking, canoeing and other methods of self-propelled travel. The issue we received had an article on 3 people who biked from Canada to Chile! Packed with info and very inspiring. Send $3 for sample to: Kokopelli Notes, PO Box 8186, Asheville, NC 28814, USA. * PORTABLE DWELLING INFO. LETTER, POB 190, Philomath, OR, 97370, USA. Information on living in portable dwellings. Articles on prevention of bear attacks, stories on teepee, yurt and treehouse living, wild edible foraging, solar showers and much more! Sample $1. * HOSTELING NORTH AMERICA 1992: A Guide to Hostels in Canada and the U.S. Free with membership in The American Youth Hostels or $5. AYH, 724 9th St. N.W., POB 37613, Washington D.C. 20013-7613, USA. * NUDE PACIFIC TRAVEL GUIDE. EIDOS Magazine says: "The best grassroots international travel & info. zine for alternative nudist/nakist/ naturist lifestyles...While concentrating on nudity and the restrictions of such...N.P.T.G. also reports sexual customs and attitudes in many countries; plus general travel tips, etc." There will also soon be zines for East and West Asia and Caribia and Latin America from these guys. For a leaflet of more info. send a SASE to: Nudist Travel, POB 8714, La Jolla, CA 92038, USA. * EUROPE THROUGH THE BACKDOOR NEWSLETTER: Serves as an enticement to join ETBD tours or to buy their books, videos, etc. They organize some great tours but the short articles here will appeal to you even if you only travel to Europe by reading about it in the bathroom. #31 includes a Venetion Pub Crawl diary, Vespa scooters on Greek islands, Gypsy thieves, European toilet trauma, up-to-date train fares, and more. Send a buck or two to Europe Through the Backdoor, Inc., 109 4th Avenue, North Edmonds, WA 98020. ------------------------------------------- GREEN TORTOISE...LEISURELY ADVENTURE TRAVEL by Miles Poindexter I haven't traveled on the Green Tortoise bus lines yet. But I've heard so many good things about them that I called the company and asked for some literature. They sent me no less than 14 articles praising this unique service. So I sat down and started reading and you would just not believe the stuff that goes on in these buses, right now no less in this new age of Puritanicalism! I read confessions of skeptical travelers who became converted adventurers almost over night. Here was a typical description of a Green Tortoise Journey: Initially the writer would get on the bus and wonder at the complete absence of seats. Instead there are platforms covered by foam padding. At night even more platforms are unfolded and the bus becomes a giant bed for everyone. Pretty outrageous so far, eh? Sleeping right next to someone you never even saw before! Jesse Helms would shit. Then there's the curious sign on the bus that says "No Smoking Tobacco." Sounds strangely substance-specific to me. Does that mean smoking other things is...well...? Who knows. Try it. Anyway, gradually everyone on the bus gets to know each other. What with all the stops making it such a long trip. There's plenty of time for friendships to form. This is usually the point in all these articles where the beauty of Green Tortoise begins to seep in. It's a Leisurely trip, because half of the fun is the journey itself! There's all kinds of stops for swimming (clothes optional) in natural hot springs, getting food and alcohol, going to the bathroom (there are no bathrooms on board), and of course preparing and eating meals. Did I say preparing? You see, part of your fare goes towards food that is stored on the bus. For most of the trip, the driver will stop for breakfast and dinner. Usually the sight will be a park, Indian Reservation, beach, anything but a but depot! All the passengers pile out and help in the preparation of the meal. These are usually vegetarian since meat goes bad easily and many passengers don't eat it. After the meal and clean-up, there's some sort of outdoor adventures at hand, such as hiking, bathing, rafting, etc. Some nights the bus stays put and everyone rolls out their sleeping bag and falls into slumber under the stars. After a few nights like this the travelers start to get to know each other. Many are from Europe and Australia, many are young and during the summer there are many students from all over the world. There is always a generous exchange of addresses, information and opinions towards the middle of these trips. And great musical educations since many passenger bring their tapes for the bus's stereo system as well as instruments. That's a slim outline of your typical Green Tortoise experience. I was hooked so I inquired how this company had started. So to finish this article I'll leave you with a brief history of GT and their address in case you got guts to try it. Green Tortoise was founded in 1974 in San Francisco by Gardner Kent. His buses offered something you couldn't get on a plane, hands-on interaction with the scenery. Today GT has 10 buses and offers trips everywhere from Alaska to New Orleans as well as Canada and Mexico. Their San Francisco to Boston is still their most popular route. This bus company has been going strong right through the decline of Greyhound and the demise of Trailways. To me that means they're on to something. Contact: Green Tortoise Adventure Travel, PO Box 24459, 1667 Jerrold St., San Francisco, CA 94124, USA. ----------------------- AIRHITCH: MYTH OR FACT? by Miles Poindexter OK, the first time I saw an Airhitch ad in some paper in New York City, I figured it was a total scam. I mean, c'mon, New York to Europe for $160? They must put them in the luggage compartment or something. Unfortunately for me, I never even called to get more information about them, it was too unbelievable. Don't let this happen to you! Airhitch is a great opportunity if you're a flexible traveler. First of all, you don't travel in the luggage compartment. In fact, you are allowed the same amount of baggage of any other passenger on the plane. Once you are on the airplane you are treated like any other passenger, the only difference is your method of access to the aircraft. You must be flexible on 3 things in order to fly Airhitch; your date and time of departure, your destination and departure city, and your return flight. The reason for this lies in how Airhitch works. It is NOT an airline, a travel agency, a tour operator, or a charter operator. It is NOT a means of flying directly between point A and point B. The way it works is that you register any time you want and tell them what US cities you could depart from, your first 3 choices of destination cities in Europe, and a period of 5 or more days in a row that you are available for departure. A deposit is also necessary when you register. The farther away your chosen departure days are from your registration, the better chance you have of getting your first choice of destination, but this is not guaranteed. Airhitch will then tell you what flights are likely to be available during your "date range." At this point you must pick one of your flight opportunities and then Airhitch will give you all the information you need about how to get on it. Over 95% of people manage to fly to Europe during their date range; pretty successful for something this cheap. And you're entitled to a full refund if Airhitch was unable to find at least one flight for you. Now some bad news. There is no such thing as a round trip with these guys. They can book a another flight back to the US but these two flights are completely unrelated. Problems with one will not affect the other. Some people arrange both flights at the same time, others wait until they are in Europe before going thru the Airhitch process again in the other direction. It's up to you. The other negative point is that it is not wise to reject a flight Airhitch finds for you, even if it is not to one of the cities in Europe you chose. This will cause you to lose your deposit and your name will be put to the back of the waiting list, making it more difficult to get another flight. On the other hand 80% of the flights they choose go within a 300 mile radius of Brussels, Belgium, so you'll get pretty close to your destination in any case. As you can see the key is to be flexible. The system is ideal for students and in fact it was started by students. But anyone can use it. It is comparable to hitching a ride on the side of the highway (only a lot safer!), If you want to get to Boston from Miami and someone offers to take you with them to New York, you're not going to turn it down are you? Anyway, it's a good idea and I hope some other similar operations start up soon for other parts of the world. For info. write to Airhitch, 2790 Broadway, Suite 100, New York, NY 10025, USA. Happy hitching! -------------------------------------------- WHEN I HEAR THAT OLE TRAIN WHISTLE A BLOWIN' by Lee You know, it's a funny thing most usually when the subject of hoboing comes up which is a hobby of mine and I generally like to spread the word around, someone invariably says, "Gawd, didn't that go out in the '30's and whammo, aren't there big suckers out there that wanna take your head off?" Well, I might say "hmmmm..." to the first part and I know where they got that second stereotype: from Yul Brunner or some such as the Bull in "King of the North" with Paul Newman as the King Hobo and all that..."Wheesh" is what I say. Don't make a mistake, the Bulls (railroad police) were bad then -- I've read of attempted murder on the rails and I know a fellow who spent some time on a chain gang in Georgia in the '40's for hopping freights...but ridin' the rails in the '90's is the coolest thing, I highly recommend it! Now just watch, the first time you hop you'll get killed and you'll think what idiot advice is this but here's whatz up with this boy: I've never gone to jail or received a ticket in 20 or 30 encounters with bulls and in thirty-five thousand miles have had the gas of a lifetime. Ridin' the rails is one of the more consistently adventurous things one can do, it's one of those truly American things like having sex in cars or Jazz, etc. and it's scenic and free, free, free! Hey, here's something Jack Kerouac says about thumbing: "...one of the biggest troubles hitch-hiking is having to talk to innumerable people, making them feel that they didn't make a mistake picking you up, even entertaining them almost, all of which is a great strain when you're going all the way and don't plan to sleep in hotels." So, I can see you're convinced about the wisdom of the rails, O.K., here's whatz up, how to do it: First, try and get some maps of how the freight lines work and what companies (Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern, Santa Fe, etc.) go where but if you can't don't worry about it, it's pretty obvious -- freights go through all the cities and gobs of smaller towns and gobs of wilderness areas. Second: go down to the nearest freight yard and ask the workers about it. Say, "Hey, where's the best place to catch a northbound, eastbound, southbound, or westbound to so and so and when's the next one?" Inquire about "hot shots" and catch them if you can cuz they're the fastest. The secret is ask, ask, and ask around and don't be blown if you get bum info and miss a train or whatever. There's a thousand little things you pick up with experience that helpz a lot and after stomping around some yards you'll get the hang of it. Night time is best for avoiding the Bull, day time is alright, stay low and if the Bull stops you -- be straight and friendly, show your ID. Often as not she or he will be friendly, maybe even helpful. In any case they will usually say something vague like, "Did you know riding trains is illegal? And I'd like to not see you again." Translation: hang low and hide a bit better. About getting on: it's preferable to get on before the train moves out but as often as not you'll have to catch it "on the fly," which is pretty difficult if you're carrying a pack. Boxcars are darn difficult and dangerous to catch on the move. Grain cars, piggybacks, gondolas are much easier cuz of ladders that are just a big step from the ground. Look way ahead, make sure you won't stumble on anything while running alongside, concentrate, match your speed, focus on that moment -- this is part of the zen of hopping -- and boom, you're on. There's a technique to it, be careful -- safety first! As they say. Well...there's a lot to know I guess but it's also just an intuitive fun activity that gets you around, know what I mean jellybean? So, here's some safety shit to know: When you move around always hang on and don't hang out too close to the doors of boxcars -- trains jerk a lot. For that same reason always jam a spike or a piece of wood in the sliding track so the door won't slam shut. Never ever stand in between the cars, one can become moosh real quick. Always look both ways before crossing tracks, in yards especially as single cars can be moving around sometimes very silently. When possible sleep sideways near a front wall or with your feet towards the front of the train in case of a derailment (they're fairly rare) which causes the whole fucking thing to come screeching to a halt in which case you're still going 50 mph...eek! Keep your head and have a gas and a half and I don't want to hear it if you get smooshed cuz I'm not advising you to go out and do illegal dangerous things, blah, blah, blah... Fun stuff: At railroad crossings be sure and wave to all the people going by (actually you're going by, they're sitting still). Hang-out and talk with hobos and farm laborers; there's some good people there, also a few bad eggs I suppose. When there's nasty weather or going to be, try and catch a ride in a locomotive or caboose -- ask the engineer or caboose people first -- I swear your first ride on "the power" (locomotives) will be a ride to remember! Freights can be fast but often slow too. Patience is the name of the game -- more than likely on any given trip you'll do a day or two of just waiting around in yards so bring some good books and relax -- there's one comin' around the bend with your name on it. Women might want to take an old pee can; peeing ain't easy on a jiggling train. Make sure you've got some peanut butter and banana sandwiches and plenty of water and a warm sleeping bag and Gawd damn leave the driving up to them! ---------------------- AN AFTERNOON IN MONACO by Ann Rusnak How small is Monaco? I walked from the train station to the palace, the farmer's market and the harbor. If it hadn't been to tropically hot I would have walked to the casino as well. I knew it would be hot. I was attending adult classes in French at Ecole Actilangue in Nice during July. This school cost half what I had paid two years earlier to study French in Quebec, Canada. I liked this school. Saturday morning I took a plastic bottle of ice from the freezer and packed it in my purse along with sunglasses and a wad of French francs. I was a lot more carefree than the teenagers over whom I stepped to enter the train station at Nice. These kids, probable Germans and Americans, were dozing or playing cards in sleeping bags laid edge to edge on the sidewalk surrounding the station. The railroad runs high above the gentle Mediterranean waves. Many tunnels cut thru ridges to the sea. It seemed I spent a third of the half-hour voyage in the dark. Train stations along the route were all overrun with teenagers in shorts or other casual attire. Everyone glowed in the heat. No customs, no immigration, no money changing at the crowded Monaco train station. However, the mailbox that I passed, heading seaward, noted that all mail deposited therein must bear stamps of Monaco! The royal palace crowns a plateau licked by small ocean waves. An earlier Grimaldi once ordered the citadel's base scraped of loose rock to discourage armed assault. Now, in the reign of Prince Rainier, signs and arcades lead tourists up stairways to the castle and souvenir shops. A palace guard in white shirt, white cotton pants and topee paces a 30-foot path, back and forth. A linen marquee guides visitors to a ticket office for the palace tour in French or English. I liked the tour. It went thru a dozen rooms filled to suffocation with wealth, antiques, and red plush wallpaper. Amid many ancient family portraits were two modern compositions with Grace Kelly, former actress, former wife to Rainier. I thought both pictures were commercial-looking, more like magazine art, compared to the older folks in perukes and lace. On the other hand, "Napoleon meets the Pope" manifested plainly an artist's trick. He painted the upstart on a higher footing than the Pope in order to imply that he was winning an argument. In an open-air passage, a grotto of stalactites had been screened and filled with turquoise and chartreuse parakeets. They flitted and squawked. One budgie had somehow escaped thru the wire. Now he wandered the screens as lost and lonely as Jack Kerouac, trying to find his way back into the cage. Formal gardens and the aquarium were nearby; but I needed to sit. I chose a bench from which I could sketch an outdated guardhouse of stone. Six classmates from Ecole Actilangue happened by. They sat down and sweated beside me for a while. We all got out our bottles of ice, now melting nicely, and sipped. We agreed that Monaco -- spread against a mountain before us -- looked just like scenic views of Hong Kong. It is a dense patch of high-rise buildings climbing a steep mountain. Monaco has no beaches, just a rocky cove filled with gleaming white yachts. -------------------------- CODE OF RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL excerpted from *IBF News* (see "Debris") Tourism can promote national and international understanding and economic development, or it can destroy cultures and environments. The challenge is to create an activity that benefits both the host and guest and hurts neither, that respects and protects the natural and human environment, and that leaves decision making about development to the indigenous people who are most directly affected. TRAVEL TO MEET NOT CONQUER -- Understand your reasons for traveling. Pick destinations that you care about. Travel to meet the world and for the experience that brings, not to "conquer it." Travel in a spirit of humility and with a genuine desire to meet and share with local people, and appreciate their dignity. Rather than: counting rolls of film shot, calculating miles traveled, blasting through villages to reach mountains, racing along the coast to "discover" a beach paradise, rushing to collect entries in your passport or accumulating other items of travel materialism -- take the time to discover the enrichment that comes from seeing another way of life in its fullness. Be sensitive that what enriches you may rob or violate others. Select activities that celebrate and preserve the diversity of the world. Reflect daily on your experiences: seek to deepen your understanding. * BE CULTURALLY SENSITIVE -- Be aware of the feelings, values, customs and beliefs of other people, thus preventing what might be offensive behavior. Remember this especially concerning dress, photography and religion. Realize that people in the area you visit often have time concepts and thought patterns different from your own. Not inferior, just different. Don't wear sacred items or buy unique artifacts central to the culture. Don't patronize tourism projects or activities that undermine the local culture, value system, or ecology. * UNDERSTAND CULTURES IN THEIR OWN CONTEXT -- Don't just compare the superficial aspects of places you've been. Ask how the community is getting along within itself. How are the people interacting with their family and friends and their environment? Learn to observe, think, speak and write in a language that is non-ethnocentric, non-racist, non-pejorative and non-sensationalizing. Cultivate the habit of listening and observing, rather than merely hearing and seeing. Make a habit of asking questions instead of knowing all of the answers. * DON'T CREATE BARRIERS -- Travel in a manner that doesn't create barriers between you and the place you came to experience. Take advantage of opportunities to walk, bicycle and use other available forms of non-motorized transport. Consider using these as your primary means of travel. Only bring necessary technological gadgetry. Don't let gadgets get between you and the natural ways of your destination. * BE ECONOMICALLY BENEFICIAL -- Spend money so that it stays in the community's economy: use services and stay in lodgings that are owned by a member of the community, and that use and serve locally produced goods. If food and beverages are sufficiently available, purchase your needs from locally produced items. If food is scarce don't compete! Travel someplace else or be self-sufficient in your dietary needs. When buying, remember that the bargains you obtain are only possible because of low wages paid to the producer. Recognize that in most areas, spending on motorized transportation only minimally benefits the local economy because the equipment and energy is imported. Be satisfied with the comforts that the local economy can provide. If you need all the comfort of home, why travel? For more info on responsible travel and economic development contact: Ecumenical Coalition On Third World Tourism, Box 24, Chorakhebua, Bangkok 10230, THAILAND, or Center for Responsible Tourism, 2 Kensington Road, San Antonio, CA 94960 USA. ----------- MILES TO GO The Myth of Settling Down by Miles Poindexter A girlfriend of mine said "I like to travel and stuff but deep down I'm looking for that special guy who will say 'Stacy -- it's time for us to hitch up and settle down.'" Why is there a feeling inside so many of us that eventually we should "settle down?" Do we really understand what the term means? Most likely the term came from the western expansion days of early North America. People would head into the wilderness in those days until they found a spot they liked, then they would create a settlement. Nowadays it's come to mean much more. Settling down can involve falling in love and getting married, having children, joining the community you've settled in as a neighbor, and in the U.S.A. it can mean changing to become more acceptable to your neighbors, becoming less "crazy," more responsible, sensible, etc. If we look at the flipside of this term, then a person who has not settled down is an outcast. We are looked upon as "young-uns" sowing our wild oats, running around the world having fun and being carefree. Even people who travel in order to help people in other countries with environmental or social problems are commonly considered to be just going through some idealistic phase of youth. The smug assumption seems to be that when we finally grow up, we'll forget these silly world issues and worry about real problems like buying a house, car, having kids, and picking a nice church to join. But let us go back to the idea of where the term "settling down" came from, and how it has changed today. People formed settlements long ago because strength lay in numbers. The wilderness was dangerous and we needed the protection of our neighbors and a well fortified settlement. No one thought that they were living on land that other people had been living on for hundreds of years. They didn't think that if they had just asked these natives to share the land, maybe they wouldn't need a fortified settlement because there would be no need for fighting. They just took it. So the history of the phrase "settling down" is a bloody one filled with prejudice. And today, have things changed so much? If you are just a bit weird, it is very hard to just move into a "settlement" or town as they're called now. They'll be gossip, strange looks, talk behind your back, and sometimes violence. These are all forms of modern prejudice. You'll have to prove that you fit in, believe the same things, even personal things that are none of your neighbor's business, before they'll welcome your presence. Well, so what draws us to want to live in these places? Deep down, we get a sense of security, that the town will protect us, especially when we get older and less able to fend for ourselves, just like settlements protected our forefathers on the North American plains. This is just no longer true, because there's nothing to be protected from, unless you're in some town with mainly white people, and your community works together to keep out minorities, with subtle, indirect means of course. But this is practicing racism (prejudice plus power), and do we want to be part of that? Another reason we think we want to live in a town is so we can have a house. Why a house? So we can put all our stuff in it of course. And if we decide we want to buy a house, we have to settle down just so we can get a steady job and pay the mortgage. This just keeps getting more complex until we feel caught in an endless money loop. We start to feel strapped down against our will. So a lot of us start watching TV. The TV is this little box usually in the main room of the house. When it's off, it's just another piece of furniture collecting dust. But when it's on it takes us out of our house, to places all over the world, it lets us escape, it lets us...well...travel! So today settling down means getting stuck in a job so you can stay in a house where you can watch a TV and pretend you're traveling. The final reason many of us will use as an excuse to settle down will be the one my friend Stacy used -- to spend all your time together with a lover and to have kids. This reason has the right intention but it's believers are misinformed. Why do we have to settle down in order to share our love? Let's just say for example that in my travels I meet the girl of my dreams and I love her so much that I just want to forget the outside world completely and spend every waking minute in love. In that case maybe shacking up with her for a while would be a great idea. There wouldn't be a TV around because I wouldn't want to know about the outside world, much less be misinformed about it by a fascist media. There would also be no need for a long term commitment either because I believe that true love gets restless after a couple of years. Pretty soon one of us is going to be ready for new adventures. If the other isn't, it's time to become just friends and look for someone who is. Settling down just makes this rather natural process much more difficult (selling house, etc.) if not impossible. The needs for settling down are disappearing faster than North American virgin forestland. The world is getting smaller and much more accessible. The only reason to settle down these days is because the government wants you to. Notice the new urgency in the president's voice when he talks about "family values" or when he warns about the dangers of travel (from terrorists). He knows that people who stay home and watch the TV news and remain isolated from real contact with the outside world are very easy to control. We never have to settle down if we don't want to. People who really love you will always stay in touch, no matter where you go. Home is where the heart is. Of course, you can't store much in there, so you'll have to get rid of unnecessary things that tie you down -- the first two being fear and insecurity. ---------------------- JOIN THE CRASH NETWORK! Crasher: person who is traveling, guest. Crashee: person who is allowing Crasher to sleep at residence, host/hostess. Joining is free! Send email to johnl@netcom.com for a questionnaire (or send us an SASE to our mailing address, listed at the end of this file). Filling it out and returning it gets you listed in our Crash Directory, which is available only to members. Anytime you're planning to travel, send $5 for an up-to-the-minute directory and follow the guidelines below. ************* HOW TO USE IT You can use the Crash Directory to contact other members that you would like to meet. Or if you have a destination or journey in mind, you can use the directory to find potential crash sites along your planned route (flexibility helps). Before your departure, contact your potential crashee by mail, phone, or email and inquire about a visit. When all your crashes are confirmed, you're ready to hit the proverbial road. ************** THE CRASH CODE 1. Any Crashee can turn away a Crasher if they do not agree to the Crash by prior consent. 2. No charge for stay unless agreed upon by both parties beforehand. 3. Toilet and shower facilities should be made available to Crasher if possible. 4. Don't eat Crashee's food unless offered. 5. Don't use the Crashee's phone, stereo, TV or any other property without their consent. 6. No stealing. 7. Don't bring friends over without the prior consent of the Crashee. 8. Treat each other with respect. 9. Help each other in every way possible during Crashes. 10. Crasher must obey rules of Crash Pad unless they contradict above rules. ----------------- CRASH INFORMATION Editors: Miles Poindexter, John Labovitz. Crash is published in January, March, May, July, September, and November of each year. Subscriptions are $5 for six issues. A sample issue is $1 or three US 29c stamps. Back issues (text only) are available via anonymous FTP at netcom.com in directory /pub/johnl/zines/crash. The printed issues also contain illustrations and advertising; for the full Crash experience, send for a printed sample. Crash is happy to hear from you. Send artwork, articles, and aardvarks to us at: Crash 519 Castro Street #7 San Francisco, CA 94114 USA email: johnl@netcom.com If you are interested in advertising in the print or electronic version of Crash, please contact us for rates and sizes. Copyright (C) 1992 Crash. We encourage other zine editors to reprint or excerpt parts of any articles written by us (Miles Poindexter or John Labovitz). All we ask is that information about this magazine and the network be included with it. If you wish to reprint something by an outside contributor, please contact them beforehand (either by their contact information listed after the article, or c/o Crash). ------------------ END OF CRASH MAY92