Ted Conover's "Rolling Nowhere"

The freight train Ted Conover rode for his piece, "A Morning with Pops."

Description

Conover spent four months living as a tramp, riding the rails, which ultimately became his first book, Rolling Nowhere. Research for the project began for his senior thesis, while still an undergrad at Amherst College, which has awarded him an honorary degree.

Authors

Links and Resources

Subjects

Effects and Outcomes

Rolling Nowhere launched Conover's career. His second book, Coyotes, on migrant worker immigration, grew out of his research and reporting for Rolling Nowhere.  

Media History

The reporting was intended for these media types: Magazine, Book

"A Morning with Pops" - Ted Conover - Amherst Alumni Magazine

1981-01-01

The sun has not yet risen over the mountains east of Portola, California, but in the early morning dimness I can see that Pops is already stirring.  I watch from the shrubs across our "jungle," as the mound of blankets and plastic sheeting which contains Pops shifts and gets thrown back.  Stiffly, Pops rises to his feet. He glances over at me, still wrapped in my own blankets, and I not.  That means "good morning."  It's been a long night's sleep - like most tramps, we "rolled out" just after sundown - but November mornings in the Sierras are cold, and I wait until Pops has fire going before climbing from my bed on the ground.  Dressing is not necessary - we sleep in our clothes to help keep up warm - so the first business of the day is to heat the coffee water. Pops has the "gunboat" (cooking can) ready, but pouring the water from the plastic-jub water bottle is hard this morning because chunks of ice keep blocking the mouth.  I hold the jug while Pops pushes the ice back with a twig, and the water pours.  

"The Way of All Flesh" – Ted Conover - Harper's Magazine

Undercover in an industrial slaughterhouse

2013-05-01

"The cattle arrive in perforated silver trailers called cattle pots that let in wind and weather and vent out their hot breath and flatus. It’s hard to see inside a cattle pot. The drivers are in a hurry to unload and leave, and are always speeding by. (When I ask Lefty how meat gets bruised, he says, “You ever see how those guys drive?”) The trucks have come from feedlots, some nearby, some in western Nebraska, a few in Iowa. The plant slaughters about 5,100 cattle each day, and a standard double-decker cattle pot holds only about forty, so there’s a constant stream of trucks pulling in to disgorge, even before the line starts up a little after six a.m."