Jody A. Forrester joins us on the blog today to discuss her memoir, Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary
Author Name: Jody A. Forrester
Book Title: Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary
Book Genre: Memoir
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Odyssey Books (au)
Welcome, Jody! Please tell us a bit about your memoir.
It is 1969 and Jody A. Forrester is in her late teens, transitioning from sixties love child to pacifist anti-Vietnam War activist to an ardent revolutionary. Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary, revolves around her three years in the Revolutionary Union, a Communist organization advocating armed overthrow of the ruling class. In readiness for the uprising, she sleeps with two rifles underneath her bed.
How long did it take for you to write the book? What sort of research did you have to do?
All in all, it took me close to ten years from beginning to end, with long stretches when I put it aside. Initially it started as a short story that evolved into several personal essays and only became a chapter book two years ago.
I researched pretty extensively, immersing myself in references to the sixties, Vietnam War in all its aspects, farm worker’s struggles to form a union, and the free-wheeling drug culture.
For you, what’s the hardest thing about writing?
Fighting restlessness and distraction.
What do you love most about it?
When I’m in the throes of creativity, there’s no words to describe the sense of pure transcendence.
Thank you, Jody! Guns Under the Bed is available NOW.
Guns Under the Bed
It is 1969 and Jody A. Forrester is in her late teens, transitioning from sixties love child to pacifist anti-Vietnam War activist to an ardent revolutionary. Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary revolves around her three years in the Revolutionary Union, a Communist organization advocating armed overthrow of the ruling class. In readiness for the uprising, she sleeps with two rifles underneath her bed.
One of millions protesting the war, what sets Jody apart her from her peers is her decision to join a group espousing Mao Tse Tung’s ideology of class war. But why? How does she come to embrace violence as the only solution to the inequities inherent in a capitalist empire? To answer that question, Jody goes into her past, and in the process comes to realize that what she always thought of as political is also deeply personal.
More than a coming-of-age story, this memoir tells the more universal truths about seeking a sense of belonging not found in her family with themes of shame, pride, secrecy, self-valuation, and self-acceptance explored in context of the culture and politics of that volatile period in American history.
Author bio:
Jody A. Forrester was born and raised in Los Angeles during the uneasy Fifties and tumultuous Sixties. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Sonora Review, Two Hawks Quarterly, WriteRoom, Dreamers Writing, Citroen Review, Gazelle and several others. A story received an honorable mention in the Anderbo/Open City Competition (2009) and another story was featured in the 6th Annual Emerging Voices Group Show (2010) in Los Angeles.
A retired chiropractor, Jody received a MFA from Bennington College in 2010. She lives in Venice, California, with her husband, John Schneider, a classical musician.