Trippin' to the End of that Long White Line

Winter – Wk 11: A Year of Technophobic Mountaineering, Occult Curiosity, and Ethno-Engineering Analysis — in ColdType

From David Lynch’s “The Lost Highway” — 1997

I first discovered ColdType by reading their late columnist Joe Bageant, author of the 2008 cracker classic Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War. What struck me about Bageant, aside from his biting sense of humor, was his lunatic's quest to empower the working class of Appalachia, even if they were just a bunch of spittin', cussin', God-lovin' but don't-give-a-fuck-what-ye-think rednecks.

The way I saw it, any publication that would print a drunk socialist eager to fill union halls with hillbillies has to be alright. Besides, the photo spreads looked fantastic.

I submitted my first article back in January of 2019, when a man could still smell the roses without pulling down a stupid mask. It was a dual book review comparing Ship of Fools by Tucker Carlson with America: The Farewell Tour by Chris Hedges. I'd found them both on the same shelf at The Tattered Cover in Denver, CO—one of the country's last great indie bookshops.

What could a right-wing pundit and a leftist journalist possibly have in common? A lot more than you'd think.

My next ColdType piece was written from Amish country in early 2020, just before the world went looney tunes. Uwilling to “shelter in place,” I set out on a U-shaped path from one side of America to the other, taking notes along the way. My latest article was sent from a cozy den beside a frozen river that winds across an ancient lake bed under the Big Sky.

The editor at ColdType, Tony Sutton, has been gracious enough to publish these twenty stories in a single collection. Thanks to his sharp aesthetic, they look pretty damn good. We hope you enjoy them. — JA

— Download PDF here —

• Issue 175 - Gateway Drugs to the Fringe

• Issue 201 - Genesis on Acid

• Issue 202 - Viva Las Virus

• Issue 204 - A Redneck's Escape from Knoxville

• Issue 205 - Bill Gates: Chipping the Hand of God

• Issue 206 - Stay Indoors and Kill Robots

• Issue 207 - No Fear of Corona in Sedona, AZ

• Issue 208 - No True Friends in a Race War

• Issue 209 - The Volcanoes are Alive Pt. 1: Visiting Mt. Shasta

• Issue 210 - The Volcanoes are Alive Pt. 2: Where Heaven Meets Hell

• Issue 211 - Staying Human in a Techno Plague

• Issue 212 - Roadies of Fortune Pt. 1: Grid Monkeys in the Mist

• Issue 213 - Roadies of Fortune Pt. 2: Tech Ants on a Tourbus

• Issue 214 - Take Classes Online? It's as lame as it sounds

• Issue 215 - Raised by Fire, Carved by Ice

• Issue 216 - Two Tribes Go To War

• Issue 217 - 10 Transitions That Will Define 2020

• Issue 218 - Coughs Across America

• Issue 219 - The View From Abu Dhabi

• Issue 220 - Greta Burning!

— Download PDF here —

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Shout out to all the ‘necks holding down the holler.

Sturgill Simpson — “Long White Line”