Very special thanks to: Thomas A. Brady, Jr. Jacqui Chagnon Konrad Ege David Elder William Ellis Carol Ireson Randy Ireson Steve Johnson Brett Ken Cairn Amy Klauke Don Luce Ulrich Richers David Rowe Roger Rumpf Paul Shannon Wayne Sosin Arun Narayan Toke Martha Wegner Laos photos: Jacqui Chagnon Roger Rumpf Carol Ireson Randy Ireson 1970 photos: Oregon Daily Emerald Photo Lab: Cliff Coles Printing: Atwood Printing Editors: Danielle Janes Greg Bryant RAIN is published quarterly. Subscriptions are $20/year, single issues $5, available from RAIN, PO Box 30097, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. Letters and unsolicited submissions accepted, but we can't pay anything just now. Include SASE if you would like material returned. Copyright© 1991 Rain Magazine. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Winter/Spring 1991 RAIN Page 47 A note to Librarians on RAIN and TRANET As RAIN was vanishing in 1987 it made a ghostly appearance in TRANET, the terrific international networking magazine for ecopolitico-socio-activists. TRANET's staff worked even more tirelessly than usual in taking over RAIN's subscription obligations. This is a debt difficult to repay. The RAIN masthead appeared on the front page of TRANET, along with the TRANET logo. Through this merger, both RAIN Volumes and TRANET numbers incremented, even though RAIN, in all but name, had disappeared. Any good library should carry TRANET, and since the TRANET/RAIN issues have TRANET numbers, the revived RAIN is starting with Volume Fourteen, Number one-one volume after the last independent issue of RAIN. The confusion can be alleviated by treating the TRANET/RAIN issues as issues ofTRANET, not of RAIN, as the contents of those issues will reveal upon examination. TRANET is $30/year ($50/ year for libraries) TRANET, PO Box 567, Rangeley ME 04970, USA. What is RAIN? RAIN began, in 1974, as a . networking tool for ecologists. It quickly became, and was subtitled, a "Journal of Appropriate Technology", and played a role in defining what that phrase might mean. Later still, it took as subtitle "Resources for Building Community". Much of the time the collective ~taff dropped subtitles altogether, finding them mildy oppressive. RAIN is based in Oregon, and its name comes from one of the most prominent features of the Cascadia bioregion. Rain The Weather is a dependable member of the ecology here, and RAIN The Magazine became important to many who studied ecology and worked for social change. The Appropriate Technology Sourcebook (Darrow and Saxenian, . Volunteers in Asia Press), reviewed RAIN: "The Staff is committed to unearthing the best, serious documentation supporting arguments for environmentally sound, decentralized human-scale technology ... " A Trumpet to Arms (Armstrong, South End Press) found that "not only is RAIN strong on clear, usable how-to features, but it also includes ... social/political overviews of technology". A coeditor at the time, Carlotta Colette, felt that RAIN defines "alternative technology as more than just equipment. The best technology is a good society." For years it carried variations on this self-description: "RAIN magazine publishes information that can help people live simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions economically selfreliant, and build a society that is durable, just, amusing and ecologically sound." RAIN the magazine is needed more than ever today. During a brief publishing hiatus of five years, ecological and community destruction, social injustice, alienation, isolation, imperialism and domination have not gone away. At RAIN we explore the possibilities and the examples, research the alternatives to old-school socialism, rapacious capitalism, technocracy, tyranny and megacorporate culture that promotes greed, violence and persecution. There are ways out of this mess. Good things do happen. But how have they happened, and how are they relevant today? This is what the magazine is about. The working details of making .a better future.
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