wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Mike from lower Manhattan February 01, 2008 - 09:58AM

  It will be interesting to read Vollmann's account of riding the rails and then compare it to Ted Conover's first book, "Rolling Nowhere" about the same. (Though Conover's book was pre-9/11, as it was written in the early 80s.) Please ask if Vollmann is familiar with Conover's work (Vollmann's title seems to suggest as much) and if so, what his thoughts are on it.

  
  
• [2] ab February 01, 2008 - 11:45AM

  wow...what a waste of a segment.

  I'd rather hear more kooky republicans

  
  
• [3] Trebbe Johnson from Thompson, PA February 01, 2008 - 11:57AM

  As a 23-year-old woman in 1971, I hopped freights with my boyfriend. We were hitchhiking across the country from New Haven and rode the rails between Denver and Sacramento. The men at the rail yards were usually very kind and helpful. They advised us which cars we should ride in to avoid conflicts with the hobos, and sometimes found big pieces of cardboard for us to sit on to keep us cleaner during long hours in the freight cars. It was beautiful riding along for days, watching that wild landscape of desert and mountains zip by from an unusual direction... sideways.

  
  
• [4] Liz from Brooklyn February 01, 2008 - 12:06PM

  It's interesting that your guest thinks the "ipod" generation is scared to ride the rails. There is actually a very influential subculture of rail riders and those with a similar ideology in mind. Take a look at the zine "cometbus". It's about traveling around the country with little money or any typically excepted purpose. I think the idea of Freeganism is another take on the hobo as well. Not that these lifestyles don't have their hypocracies, most of the kids doing this are white, suburban and well educated. However, maybe that's not so different than what happened in the sixties.