Saturday, April 28, 2007

Sister of the Road/Nabat Series

I've now officially gone from flirting with the Nabat Series that AK
Press puts out to jumping head first into the water. A little while back, I read BAD by James Carr and was completely enthralled by the idea of prison literature. What happens when I don't feed myself what I'm obsessed with at the moment? It fades to black; at least for the time being.
Now, Sister of the Road has put me back on the map. First of all, I love the concept that Nabat is a "series dedicated to reprinting forgotten memories by various misfits, outsiders, and rebels." Way to go AK Press! My girlfriend got pompoms as a gift and I feel like using them right about now. What's even better is a few weeks ago, when I got called to jury duty, I wandered through the shelves to pick something that might get me thrown out of the jury pool straightaway and settled on Sister of the
Road
. It isn't that I wanted something obvious...well, I did and almost brought in a Black Panthers photography collection. I ultimately settled on the hobo novel because in the back of my mind, I was sure that I could wriggle out of jury duty all by myself. It didn't work and by the end of day one, when I heard my name called loud and clear I had simultaneously finished the first socialist anarchist hobo novel I've ever read. I can guarantee all you fellowrockstars it won't
be the last. Who hasn't dreamt of the open road? The freedom of the trains? I mean, keep the whorehouses, pimps, and crooks. I'm all about the hobo,Brokeback Mountain style. Innocent and Beautiful. This book was none of that. Set in the early part of the twentieth century, this dense little novel speaks of an age long gone. Basically, she travels from Anarchist commune to Anarchist commune with a whole lot of stops
and a whole lot of trouble in between. We all know communes aren't what they once were. The collective wisdom gained through knowing your government is wrong and uniting against it in nationwide rallies and purpose is at least for the moment suspended. Pulling back because I don't want to stray too far.

Here's my challenge to you. Send my way your favorite forgotten kick-ass female character in the form of a comment to the blog. I don't want any pansies (excuse all the -isms inherent in that statement). I want more BoxcarBerthas and if you need
help even knowing what a Boxcar Bertha is, read Sister of the Road.