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News & ArtsFriday, September 11, 2009
Economy Do the Hobo
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Also, people in automobiles sometimes become really interested in you and offer you employment. This does not happen too infrequently. I should say that I average about one offer every three days. I have been a gardener, a waiter, a gravedigger, a fisherman, a lumberman, a farm hand, a clerk, a newspaper reporter, a ghost-writer, a chauffeur, a toy salesman, and garbageman. I never keep these jobs long because I am over-fond of the road, and after a week in one place I long to be on an open truck again, watching houses slip by and the land change.
Now that the economy is down again, I hope some people are out having a good time like this. It sounds like fun.
1
If you think the hobo life is for you, check out this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Mostly-True-Bill-D…
It's the best book I read last year, designed to look like a single issue of a hobo magazine but not the least bit ironic or tongue-in-cheek. Lots of art, too. Terrific read.
http://www.amazon.com/Mostly-True-Bill-D…
It's the best book I read last year, designed to look like a single issue of a hobo magazine but not the least bit ironic or tongue-in-cheek. Lots of art, too. Terrific read.
3
Of course I should have suggested that everyone buy a copy direct from Microcosm Publishing,
http://microcosmpublishing.com/
not some corporate giant.
http://microcosmpublishing.com/
not some corporate giant.
5
"No Jules, you're gonna be like those pieces of shit out there who beg for change. They walk around like a bunch of fuckin' zombies, they sleep in garbage bins, they
eat what I throw away, and dogs piss on 'em. They got a word for 'em, they're called bums. And without a job, residence, or legal tender, that's what you're gonna be
-- a fuckin' bum!"
A concerned Vincent to a confused Jules in "Pulp Fiction"
eat what I throw away, and dogs piss on 'em. They got a word for 'em, they're called bums. And without a job, residence, or legal tender, that's what you're gonna be
-- a fuckin' bum!"
A concerned Vincent to a confused Jules in "Pulp Fiction"
6
Somehow I'm not surprised by the fact that a 1937 article in Esquire glamorizes hobos as people who are voluntarily going on an open-ended camping trip/walkabout.
7
@5:
That's a good definition of a bum, but not of a hobo.
Hobo's WILL work, but have too much of the wanderlust to stay in one place for any length of time. Tramps, OTOH, also have the wanderlust, but are adverse to work. Bums enjoy neither work nor travel.
That's a good definition of a bum, but not of a hobo.
Hobo's WILL work, but have too much of the wanderlust to stay in one place for any length of time. Tramps, OTOH, also have the wanderlust, but are adverse to work. Bums enjoy neither work nor travel.
8
@7 - Yeah, that's exactly the kind of romanticized silliness Jules was trying to describe when Vincent corrected him.
11
What kind of romanticized silliness are you talking about @8?What I described are pretty much the accepted definitions for the three types:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo
12
@1 and @3: I reviewed that book last year! I loved it:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Conte…
@2: Yes.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Conte…
@2: Yes.
14
Funny, I thought Hobos were called Transients now and most, if not all, were criminals.
http://www.therailroadpolice.com/crimina…
http://www.therailroadpolice.com/crimina…
16
Paul@12, I loved "On Subbing" too. It ought to be required reading for college students with any interest in teaching.
17
I've been homeless, jobless, and traveling on my thumb for weeks now. The worst day on the road still beats any day at work. Suckers.
19
You can get another view of hobo life from Jack London's writings about his year on the road. He describes it as a brutal time.
http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/TheRoa…
http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/TheRoa…
20
If I'm not mistaken, Hobos were a product of the great depression. If there were a new analogous situation, these days, and I don't think that there is that much real blue collar work in Seattle anymore, microsofties wouldn't make good hobos, just bums. They have a niche talent, for sure, but I can't see them hitchhiking for jobs. I see them crying.
21
Marjorie Hillis's 1937 book _Orchids on Your Budget_ is much more genteel, for the down-and-out female urbanite.
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