Every driver has a story.

In 18 years of truck driving I have experienced, seen,  and/or heard many of these stories, some will break your heart and others will make you smile. People outside of the trucking industry have a hard time understanding truck drivers. They ask questions:

How or why did you become a truck driver?

What have you done to get the freight from point “A” to point “B” on time?

Have you made friends on the road and what relationships have you lost?

What have you done to make sure you get home for holidays, birthdays, ball games, recitals and such?

Why are you still driving after everything you have been through or lost?

Is your job dangerous? Why are you no longer driving? Why do you still drive?

“The Face Behind the Windshield” is an oral history and photo essay project devised to capture the one thing that remains constant among all truck drivers; the love of the road. This project is not about the trucking industry itself, it is about the drivers that sit behind the wheel, what they sacrifice or gain in their dedication to keep America moving and their love of the road.

With the support of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage, I plan to record and photograph as many of these stories as I can over the next year. But I need your help. If you are a truck driver, it does not matter if you have been driving one day, 50 years or more, I want to hear from you. I would like to tell your story through photographs and recordings of your own words. You will receive a digital copy of all photos and recordings as well as the finished product. The finished product could be put on display as an exhibit on the USM campus in Hattiesburg and /or Gulfport, MS, as well as any other places that request it.

There are 2 forms to fill out; Gift of Personal Statement Form and the Photo Consent Form. I will also ask that you fill out as much or as little or the Biography Form as you are comfortable in doing. The questions under the photographs above will be a starting place for all interviews with the possibility of there being others. If there is a certain story that you would like to be included in your interview, you will have a chance to tell it and it be included in the final project.

If you would like to be included in this project, please leave me a message below or  shoot me an email at whiterose@gearjamminradio.com. Please tell me a little about yourself and how long you have been driving. I will contact you to give you the rest of the details on how the process will work and how the photographs and recordings will be gathered. If you would like to only participate in the oral history part of the project that would be fine as well. Please let me know that in you message as well. Thank you.

No matter how you see your life and what yo do, others will most certainly find it interesting and exciting. So remember:

There is always a story to be told.