Hobo culture
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You are currently reading a thread in /out/ - Outdoors
You are currently reading a thread in /out/ - Outdoors
Any hobos out there? I'm the caretaker for the Utah Phillips Centre for the Hobo Arts. We act as the union hall for SLOW (Street Labourers of Windsor), a union for anyone who makes their living on the street, like buskers, scrappers, street vendors, panhandlers, and pickers. You can see pictures of the centre on our crowdfunding page, Go Fund Me dot com slash SLOW-IWW.
For those who are unfamiliar with the terminology, the difference between a hobo, a tramp, and a bum is: a hobo travels from place to place to find work whenever possible; a tramp will work, but only when absolutely necessary, and a bum just won't work, period. Since the traditions of the hobo are all about being /out/ and about, I thought this would be a good place to talk about hobo culture.
Organizing hobos is not something new for our union. SLOW is a shop of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Wobblies, and we have a 110 year tradition of organizing in places other unions won't touch. During the Great Depression, for example, so many hobos were members of the IWW that if you tried to hop a train, the hobos would demand to see your union card; if you couldn't produce one, they'd pitch you right back off the train.
Anyone else out there tramping around free, living live on the open road?
>>680876
I was a Harmonica Hobo in the late 60's, early 70's. We were pretty famous and won a bunch of awards for playing harmonica, singing, and dressing like hobos
Good times
>>680918
You ever join the IWW?
>>680926
We were like 7-12 years old.
Thre used to a few in threads one or two years ago, when /out/ was smaller and less memey. Good people.
Where's this center? I'm from Utah but barely know anything about Utah Phillips.
>>680996
We're in Windsor, Ontario. Utah Phillips was a lifelong member of the IWW, and the centre is named after him because, in addition to being a Wobbly, he also spent his life recounting stories of hobo life and culture. Utah Phillips is a legendary folk singer and worked with basically everyone in the industry at some point. We got the blessing of both his widow, Joana, as well as his son, Brendan (who is a musician in his own right with the Fast Rattlers), to name the centre after Utah.
We're a union hall, but we're also open four days a week to the public and offer free training in the hobo arts. We teach people to make spoon rings, walking sticks, and other folk arts, for example, and our buskers will teach anyone who wants to busk how to play an instrument. We also act as a drop-off for old musical instruments, which we pass on free to people who want to become buskers.
>>681052
God damn looks like I'm saving up to go to ontario.
Hobos are just old school MGTOWs
>>681065
Let me know when you're heading down and I can probably rustle up some billeting for you while you're here. You can get ahold of me at Andrew at AndrewNellis dot org.
