To accompany last week’s content on Emma Straub’s “The Vacationers” (Author Q&A and Book Review), and to celebrate the unofficial start of summer, our editorial staff provided recommended reading on the subject of TOURISTS.
by The Editors
1. “Green Screen: The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why it Matters” by Vanessa Veselka
The American Reader, February/March 2013
During her teenage years of hitchhiking across the U.S., Vanessa Veselka witnessed a harsh environment of violence against women. At one point she encountered a man whose actions against her led her to believe he had attacked and killed other female hitchhikers, an experience she recounted in her GQ feature, “Truck Stop Killer“. In this essay, she recounts the reasons that drew her to the road, and the need for fellow female road narratives. Jack Kerouac, Dean Moriarty, Huck Finn, and even Ishmael’s quests all have many things in common–the most poignant here being that they all ignore the female perspective.
“When a man steps onto the road, his journey begins. When a woman steps onto that same road, hers ends.”
2. “Traveling Solo: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman” by Ann Friedman
The Cut, July 3, 2013
To piggy back off of Veselka’s story (Friedman even links to her piece from The American Reader), this article makes a strong case for traveling alone as a woman. Not because you just experienced a break up, or a death in the family, or other life tragedy, but just for the pure joy of fulfilled wanderlust. Friedman, like Veselka, has been that woman sitting by herself on the plane or at the restaurant in between stops, and she can tell you firsthand just how valuable an experience it is.
For more female travel narratives, check out The Riveter‘s own Alex Baumhardt, who has written travel columns for us in the past and suggested this piece as one of her favorites.
3. “Gravy Boat: My Week on the High Seas With Paula Deen and Friends” by Caity Weaver
Gawker, February 14, 2014
Whereas the previous two pieces dealt with travel as quest, Caity Weaver’s week aboard Paula Deen’s cruise ship for one of those dinner cruises in Cancun is better described as an endurance trial. However, during her trip, Weaver treats the spurned hostess with mature analysis. The post’s audacious cover art hints at this empathy, reading “Everyone on this boat is racist and nice (including me).” Weaver’s piece is required reading for anyone interested in cruises, butter, and the mystery behind the downfall of cooking’s cultish debutante.
4. “Masha” by Marcia DeSanctis
The Coachella Review, Fall 2010
What’s it like to lead a group of businessmen through Cold War Moscow? Marcia DeSanctis relives her trip as a guide for American businessmen through Cold War Moscow. Tensions are high–Reagan has just given his Evil Empire address–and Americans are deemed either (at best) unwelcome or (at worst) potential spies. Yet in the middle of this turmoil a brief friendship emerges, proving that even the smallest encounters abroad can impact us for years.
5. “The Pain Tours” by Leslie Jamison
3 essays from The Empathy Exams, 2014
Jamison is a self-conscious tourist through the silver mines of Posi, Bolivia (where workers die at barely 40) and as she rides through LA’s gang-ridden “hood” on a cushy bus tour. Even the reality show Intervention, about addiction and salvation, provides a tour through pain. What good does it do to stare at suffering? She says that comes afterward, when the tourist takes the suffering home with them and it lingers and becomes moral outrage.
6. “‘God Bless Big Oil’: Field Notes from the Land of Industrial Tourism” by Amanda Girraca
Vela Magazine, July 23, 2012
Vela Magazine has a similar mission to The Riveter’s–publishing quality content by female writers–with an added focus on publishing primarily travel writing. This piece touches on the unique development of industrial tourism. America has aged far past the Industrial Revolution, leaving a trail of crumbling factories, mines and warehouses in its wake. This piece addresses what happens when these vestiges to failed commerce attract a new industry–tourism.
“I was unsure of how I felt about taking pictures of all that defunct metal and brick and calling it something like ‘malignant beauty,.”
7. “Long Day’s Journey” by Elizabeth Gilbert
GQ Magazine, June 2009
In 2009, Elizabeth Gilbert walked across Provence and wrote about it for GQ–read: Elizabeth Gilbert received the best assignment ever. Admittedly, the editors refer to this as the “vacation of a lifetime” in the feature’s introduction. But that doesn’t make us any less jealous of all the cheese, wine, and beauty that she describes from her intimate time with the French countryside.
8. “Say Hello To My Little Friend: Shrunken Heads from the Amazon & Ecuador” by Mary Roach
Outside Magazine, December 6, 2011
We thought we’d end this Canon on a high note, so here’s a post about shrunken heads! Not into that kind of thing? Then check out this book on human cadavers. Still not interested? Then surely you’ll love this investigation on sexual physiology. If you’re still with us, then chances are you’ll enjoy the work of science/culture journalist Mary Roach. Never one to let a story pass her by, Roach narrates her quirky experiences with rich detail, enlightening readers to some of the most inaccessible topics (yes, that includes shrunken heads).
