Zine Review Issue #24

Extended Riders: Greyhound Interviews

By Emily Fiffer
Published: June 1st, 2005 | 3:25pm

Extended Riders
$1 (quimbys.com)

Chuck, 19, was on his way to see a friend who had recently been shot six times, not yet knowing whether he was alive or dead. Sandy, 52, believed that, “God’s kingdom is the solution to the problems we see today.” Randy, 24, was heading back to Oregon to turn himself in to the authorities. These are a few of the people you’ll meet in Ruth o-r’s zine, Extended Riders: Greyhound Interviews.

Extended Riders is a pocket-sized collection of interviews Ruth o-r conducted on a Greyhound journey of her own after the 2004 presidential election. Before reading this zine I had never considered Greyhound riders to represent a sort of culture. Unlike many other cultures, however, its participants haven’t necessarily embraced its quirks or even chosen to be a part of it.

Some are drawn in due to financial limitations. Others ride out of mere habit, blissfully unaware of falling airline rates. Then there are those who merely enjoy riding Greyhound for what it has to offer. For instance, o-r herself rode to ponder the state of our country. A passenger she refers to as Lloyd the Void used the time to write songs for an upcoming musical.

Every rider may not have been on an enlightened path or had an emotional tale to tell. But each interviewee divulged a part of him or herself to a complete stranger, and, in turn, to us. And that, to me, is a tiny inspiration.