A Coming-Winter-Storms Letter............

Winter sky is dirty laundry, planet desaturated; Starlings leave the trees en masse. Out past the roof's angle, birds pepper cloudbank. Swirling shreds of spilled tobacco, their bodies become an amoebic jumble, twisting like smoke into... is that... a pattern? A shape? Impossible! The vast flock tightens, coalescing, forming the unmistakeable sillhouette of an....

IRON RAIL NEWSLETTER

This is the bad time, the frozen hibernal heart of death's own season. It's frickin' miserable, & when the going gets tough, the prose gets purple. What to do? how to survive? Suggestions follow:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6 <-- a big daaaay RECORD SWAP! Lobby of the Rail 1PM-5PM. FREE. Remember the 80s? I don't; I'm too young. Tell me, were there cars back then? Could women vote? I'm curious about such days of yore. Were there humungous novelty frisbees that only stored like 10 songs? Is this true? LOLz! People really had those? Let us verify or disprove this cultural apocrypha by attending the massive and eagerly anticipated RECORD SWAP! at the IRON RAIL. There will be an abundance of obsolete media storage formats, ranging from the 8-track & cassette tapes of our great-grampas' days to those shinier things that are like wack, low-capacity DVDs... Compact Disks, I think my auntie calls them. Yes, all sorts of folks are pumped up about this, and for good reason. If you want FEWER RECORDS than you have, MORE RECORDS than you have, or DIFFERENT RECORDS than you have, for sure come by on Sunday to buy, sell, and trade records/tapes/etc... or be extra awesome and just give the damn stuff away! Bring a table! Browse a wide selection... so many genres, so many decades, so many different people to be.

On same daaaay....
MASSAGE! The Rail, also 3-7 pm. Pay what you can! Want to see a roomful of jaded, sullen burnouts begin giggling and squirming like they were adolescents in sex ed class? Just tell them "Asher's going to be giving massages." His hands are legendary, his training is professional, and his touch will change your life. He will be present with his massage chair giving pay-what-you-can massages. No price would be too high, for realz; Asher's wicked good at what he does. He will be on hand from Three to Seven in the PM.

And....
BOOKS 2 PRISONERS WORKNIGHT Nowe Miasto, 4-7PM This isn't at the Rail per se, but it's 100% Rail-endorsed. Books 2 Prisoners has experienced a glorious renaissance; NOW is the time to parasitically attach yourself and ride their cresting wave of mega-success!

- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15.
Iron Rail Movie Night RETURNS!... en Espanol.
Película de Disney / Some Disney Movie
8PM. FREE. Iron Rail Book Collective
Disney hace lo mejor doblado (hay que entrar a las cabezas de los jóvenes de
todas las lenguas). Entonces vengan y vuelvan a vivir una memoria sórdida de
su niñez y cantamos. Hay varios, entonces vamos a hacer el voto.
Subtitled!

- MORE/MISC:
*There was a fun party on Monday; see the details at http://nolarts.wordpress.com

*Our pals over at Hot Iron Press were kind enuf to plug the Rail & the 'Zine
Library in "ReadyMade" magazine's December issue. Kyle & Jenny are hardworking
artists who do a lot, and we appreciate the juice. To see the article for
yourself, shoplift a copy of the magazine from the Borders on St. Charles.

*People wanna start doing Iron Rail Social Nites, because... that's... a very
appealing idea. We're looking to coordinate with some other local folks, maybe
Ashe, maybe that Gay & Lesbian center over by Frenchmen. There will be food,
folks and fun. Interested in helping? Come by a meeting!

*On January 3, the Iron Rail presents Margaret Killjoy in an evening of ANARCHY AND FICTION, including readings from "Mythmakers and Lawbreakers," edited by
Killjoy hirself & newly published by AK Press. This book looks good. "Learn
about novelist assassins, post-colo­nial african squatters, writers who fought
in revolutions and went on to write childrens’ stories!" More details about
this event, before it happens... Print Out The Pretty Flyer.

*Also coming up soon (though dates still TBD) the Rail will host a roadshow from
Climate Ground Zero. They do non-violent direct action in West Virginia to help
stop mountaintop removal coal mining. What is "non-violent direct action"? Is
that like, levitating the pentagon? Can't wait to find out!

*Hopefully we will also soon be having a teach-in about security culture and how
best to deal with those pesky snoopy indictin'-ass federales. Details TK...

*Every Wednesday at 8pm the collective drags its constituent carcasses into the
Rail for our open-to-everyone Collective Meetings. These are a blast. New
volunteers are welcome; everyone's welcome.

*Every Thursday at 7:30pm is Iron Rail Ladies' Nite, a time and place for
females and female-identified persons only. For this week's plans or other
info, write ladiesnight.ironrail@gmail.com

Hang in there. Winter's a motherfucker all 'round.
Sunsets come at 3 pm,
wind whips off the river,
lips too chapped for kissing,
bicyclists a-shiver,
"warm" clothes smell like mold and dog pee,
heat bills eat up all your money.

When everyone you like's in jail... come volunteer, down at the Rail!