J.J. Anselmi reads from "Heavy: A Memoir of Wyoming, BMX, Drugs, and Heavy Fucking Music"

How heavy is it to be the one who got out alive?

In twenty heavy chapters, Heavy chronicles J.J. Anselmi’s experiences growing up as a straight edge, BMX-riding metal head in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a place with one of the highest per capita suicide rates in the United States. His grandpa was a well-known businessman and politician in the area, and was featured in a 1977 60 Minutes episode for his alleged connections to organized crime. This is only the beginning of Anselmi’s heavy saga, and his book interweaves all of the social and personal history one might expect from a story like this-including Black Sabbath, Pantera, and Metallica logo tattoos, explorations in LSD, metal and BMX culture, self-loathing and sobriety, and--finally--a very unique perspective on what it means to live in a heavy, heavy world.

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J. J. Anselmi teaches undergraduate writing at CSU Fresno, and also works as the assistant nonfiction editor of The Normal School. His work has appeared in Copper Nickel, Jackson Hole Review, Connotation Press, Slab, Flyaway, Nickelsteak, Entropy, The Dr. T. J. Eckleberg Review, and The Writing Disorder. He lives in Minneapolis.