Steve Roggenbuck: A Retrospective

                Steve Roggenbuck stayed at my place last week. Hosting him was an absolute joy. Now I don’t know whether or not Steve will do this ‘national tour’ thing again, but if he does let me vouch for the bro. Steve Roggenbuck is the chilliest bro to chill with. 

                I saw him standing outside my building. We hugged, bro-hugged, which is a hug two bros have when they really care about each other. I’d met Roggenbuck before, at a reading in New York before I moved. My first impression was of a thoughtful person pursuing his dreams exactly the way he wanted with complete freedom.

                Of course a lot occurred between that meeting and last week. For one he dropped out of school, spoke at Duke University, and began a ‘Johnny-Appleseed like’ quest across America. Let me rephrase that: it was more of a journey along the East Coast, with stops in Chicago and Texas planned for the future (AWP and SXSW respectively). 

                After Steve woke up we drove to my farm. We picked corn at my farm from roughly noontime until about six pm. It was an intense battle to get the crops picked and brought to market. Thankfully Steve had some prior farm experience. Glad I got to have Steve work with me in the fields, doing back-breaking labor as we discussed Tao Lin. Later we hung out with my wife and children as Steve entertained them with stories about Brooklyn, New York. 

                 Steve Roggenbuck embodies the American spirit. I mean, fuck, he grew up on a farm. That sounds pretty awesome to me. Plus he follows his dreams. He sold his possessions and supports himself with his art. I must admit that is thoroughly excellent. Watching him hard at work, working on his life, on his life plus, on his Macros, and on his videos convinces me he’s committed to this lifestyle. A few people have mocked him, called him too loud, etc. Then when those critics get called out they call ‘shit’ or ‘don’t criticize the critic’ sort of arguments. Basically what I’ll say is this: if you are going to talk shit be able to back it up. 

                Don’t worry Roggenbuck critics: you will be featured in Steve’s latest creation “Crunk Juice” coming out of the rarest of days, February 29^th. This day happens only once every four years. The back cover of the book will feature the ‘best of’ shit-talkers of Roggenbuck. Plus, the book includes some rare work, never before seen text footage, and transcripts from his life-changing videos. And just look at the freaking cover. Crunk Juice’s cover is the witch-house album cover that never was. Pre-order the snot out of it. 

                I wonder though: did I really learn about Steve or did Steve learn about me? By visiting me he cheered me up immensely. While he was here I did learn that he wears shirts underneath his trademarked hoodie. Besides that I learned he enjoys living in a place with heating, very unlike me. And his now famous ‘Facebook profile picture’ was taken against the white blankness better known as ‘my wall’. It rocked having him around. Steve found my ‘Simply Lemonade’ addiction funny. We walked around the Baltimore harbor. I showed him the hill where Megan Boyle made her now famous trailer for her best-selling alt book. While we talked I got the feeling I was speaking to someone more alt and more relevant than myself. I’m a mere blogger, but Steve, well, he’s a vlogger. V is further down the alphabet than B, near all those alt letters like ‘X’ and ‘Z’. 

                As I wrote my blog posts Steve was there seeing my reaction. I’d throw memorable lines at him and he’d laugh because the lines were ‘hopelessly insane’ and ‘LOL-worthy’. Normally I write them in a quiet, lonely room by my lonesome. Part of the reason I write them is to show my appreciation for everything alternative literature does for me. I don’t own a TV. Alt Lit is my television, with far more reality and sincerity than anything else I’ve ever experienced. 

                Perhaps this experience has made me a bit more ‘willing’ to go out into the IRL world. Now I may try to meet more writers whose work I appreciate. I cloistered myself away in Blogspot, then Twitter, and finally Tumblr. Maybe 2012 is the year I come out of my blogging shell. If I am able to do this you can thank Steve Roggenbuck for helping me to see the alt lit world in a whole new way. 

                2012 will have more poetry written by me, more submission to Thought Catalog and perhaps even a chapbook of sorts. I of course will remain anonymous, unseen, never photographed, but I want to hug you, virtually at first and hopefully IRL. I hugged Steve Roggenbuck (bro-hugged to be precise) as he went off to North Carolina to continue his journey across this big beautiful country called the US of A. As he left I thought to myself, what a wonderful world. 

                Steve Roggenbuck can change your life #Stevewatch2012