After a week in Paris, culminating today in a walk of epic proportions across half the city with my sister, I would love some home-delivered super-novacaine for my legs (codeine coated tylenol would be fine too). My feet feel like 1000 of the worlds most vicious fire ants chomped on my feet make them swell but also causing massive leg stiffening. But aside from the lack of all sensation but pain and stiffness in my legs, this has been quite an enjoyable trip. I am afraid that I have so much to say, it is as if a bundle of stuff has burst from a bag, scattering all the contents on the floor, so that I can’t usefully say much now.

But before I retire early so that I can take one last dash in Paris tomorrow, here is some provocative news from the SF Indymedia collective. In short, they are changing directions:

August 29, 2004
As this is being written, thousands of people are pouring into New York City to demonstrate at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Four years ago, encouraged by WTO/Seattle demonstrations, organizers mobilized impressive protests at the previous national party conventions, and the Independent Media Network was just getting started. On the west coast, people determined to have a San Francisco Indymedia raced back from the Democratic Convention protest in Los Angeles for a whirlwind month of IMC-building. In the four years since, San Francisco Indymedia has grown as a hub of independent media and information/technology dissemination during tumultuous, historic times in our own city and around the world.

This year, San Francisco IMC has had a unique opportunity to reflect on successes and mistakes of our local Indymedia organizing. Examining our own work experiences with Indymedia, we’ve attempted to understand how we think about Indymedia and where we think it could go. Finally, we’ve emerged with a solid vision about our IMC’s future (and we hope to expand these discussions on a network-wide level)…. This reality conflicts with Indymedia’s broader potential