On The Road

by Brian Brooks

During the summer of 1997 I was depressed by my situation, a year out of school, and still working odd jobs. I didn’t want to grow comfortable working a job, I needed a challenge.

I was visiting the library and trying to keep educating myself, I began reading short story collections from around the world, figuring I could cover more ground if I read shorter pieces. I soon came upon the beat poet folks who I figured I should see what they were talking about as they had influenced the hippie movement, as the story goes. The psychedelic poster revolution centered in San Francisco in the later 1960s is what had been a huge draw that I wanted to be a part of.

After reading On The Road, I saw what I was not getting, adventure, I needed to travel, though hard to leave a place already established, I had a feeling it was what I had to do.

I visited Michelle up in Portland, and got a good feeling of it’s vibe. I visited Boston for my brother’s college graduation ceremony and fell instantly back in love with it. I had visited Boston twice before with my family as a child and as a teen with my brother Michael, and we visited every record and punk shop in town.

My parents are from Pennsylvania, and my father went to school at Dartmouth up in New Hampshire. I decided I needed to get some of that New England education, and, as the easiest way to move was to apply for graduate schools in New England.

Leaving San Francisco wasn’t easy. I was sharing an apartment with my friend Ryan. We talked some about finding a warehouse to start a screen-printing business of some sort.

I also had my close friend Derek around, and also Andrew was moving to Oakland to live with Shane. They were my high school band. The band almost got back together again, That would have to wait.

I left SF, went home to Phoenix, for the holidays where I wrote my application letters with my mom’s help. I typed them on a typewriter.

In January of 1998 I arrived in Boston to await the decisions of the schools. I was 26 years old.

I crashed at my brother’s place in an empty bedroom of a housemate who was on a cross country road trip with some motorcycle friends of hers. Andy also lived with Steve, Eisuke and I forget who. Maybe it was just the four of them, but they had a big crew of college friends from different school, and they had mostly all graduated. Schools represented: Boston University, Mass Art, Fashion Institute, Berkley School of Music.

It was a huge group of guys and girls, and I was instantly within a community, within a couple of days I met everyone, there was a lot of get togethers.

I soon found an apartment down the street with a graduate student from Portugal, who was studying at the Museum School. He subscribed to Art Forum, so I would look at that during breakfast, and later eat dinner with Judge Judy.

I soon grew close with Becca, a poet with free time. She worked at the Harvard Bookshop, and Found a part time job around the corner at the Poetry Bookshop. Becca had white Rabbit. We drove around all summer and in the fall we drove cross country.

(Nov 1997) San Francisco > Portland > Phoenix > Providence > Boston > Cambridge > New Haven > Manhattan > Brooklyn > Northampton > Springfield > Worcester > Nantucket > Cap Cod > Province Town > Plymouth > Quincy > Cambridge > Salem > Baltimore > Bethesda >Charlotte >Atlanta > Mobile > New Orleans > Houston > San Antonio > El Paso > Deming > Tucson > Phoenix > Strawberry > Winslow > Albuquerque > Taos > Oklahoma City > Little Rock > Memphis > Tupelo > Nashville > Natural Bridge > West Virginia > Bethesda > Boston > Oakland (Feb 1999)

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