From the outside in: ‘Keep on Truckin’

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Updated Feb 8, 2016

I came across a package of stories at the website of the Pacific Standard magazine this week that reminded me of a few things, chiefly what trucking can look like from the perspective of the outsider who isn’t 100 percent immersed in it day to day.

It can be beneficial, of course, to anyone who does anything in any insulated sort of setting to really get outside of it from time to time and take a look back in with new eyes — one reason why journalism, fiction writing, art of all types continues to exist (and why people do yoga or run marathons, take vacations, etc. …).

In any case, if you’ve got some time this weekend, give the mag’s “Keep on Truckin'” package of features a look and see what you think.

Catch electronic musicians (and apparent CB enthusiasts) Quintron and Miss PussyCat’s soundscape contribution to Pacific Standard’s package at the head of the Music to Truck By playlist at the bottom of this post. Click through the image above to read more about it PSMag.com.Catch electronic musicians (and apparent CB enthusiasts) Quintron and Miss PussyCat’s soundscape contribution to Pacific Standard’s package at the head of the Music to Truck By playlist at the bottom of this post. Click through the image above to read more about it PSMag.com.

I could nitpick over some errors (the technical details of those ever-more-complicated hours of service rules seem to perennially confound even the most astute of mainstream journalists, of course) and take exception to some of the points of view (how’s this for broad-brush generalization — “Truck drivers are plagued by depression, physical health issues, drug problems, and relationship woes”… sigh…), for sure, but all in all it’s an interesting take from a cohort that claims to direct itself to “affluent and influential readers interested in working toward forward-looking changes to private behavior and public policy…”

You can give it all a read through via this link.

As noted under the photo above, too, one part of the package is a Soundscape put together by electronic-music mavens Quintron and Miss Pussycat — catch it at the head of our “Music to truck by” playlist this week for something of a fresh take on some no doubt familiar sounds: