The hobo lifestyle is still alive and well in the 21st Century.

Dawn Diventi, also known as "Hobo Queen Sunrise," recently hosted a program at the Sycamore Public Library to discuss what it is like to live as a hobo for a few weeks. The program was a part of the library's "One Community Reading Together" program.

Diventi currently works as coordinator of the Prairie Area Library System; however, during her vacation time, she takes time off to live as a hobo.

"It's a fascinating lifestyle," Diventi said. "I love being a librarian, but I really prefer traveling and singing and writing and doing some art kinds of things. But I've got to keep gas in the vehicle, so it's not really practical."

Diventi attends a hobo convention in Britt, Iowa, during the second week of August.  She has attended the convention every year since 2001, and said her former college philosophy professor encouraged her to go.

"I called him up and I said, 'Are you still doing the hobo thing?' He said, 'Yeah I am,' and I said, 'I'm ready to go. I've been giving it hours and hours of thought.' I needed to go and do something different," Diventi said. "He picked me up, and we drove for six hours to Britt, Iowa. I no more than stepped out onto the parking lot and hit the grass, and I felt like I was home."

Diventi was named "Hobo Queen" during the 2004 convention. She said the candidate who receives the most cheers is the one who receives the honor. She said the convention has crowned a "Hobo Queen" since the 1940s.

"They have hobos stationed throughout the crowd," Diventi said. "One of them has a sound meter that they actually use to measure the amount of clapping, not screaming, just strictly clapping, and I won hands down, and I was so excited that I cried."

Diventi said, even though living as a hobo can be fun, it is also dangerous and illegal. She said she has some hobo friends who have been fined or arrested.

"(The police) have every right to arrest you and stop you, and they will stop a train," Diventi said. "If you get spotted by somebody in a car at a crossing, and they call the police, they will stop the train, and they will search."

Diventi said she has never been caught, but she has a list of fellow hobos she could call to bail her out of jail in case she was arrested.

"I know who will send me money to get out of jail, if they can catch me," Diventi said. "I don't plan on ever being caught, but the best laid plans can go awry."

Diventi said she usually catches a train when it is not moving. She said, sometimes, it is difficult to find a place to hide on a train, because most of the boxcars are locked.

"It's hard to find an open boxcar nowadays," Diventi said. "I do not believe in cutting a lock. That's breaking and entering. That just ups the ante way farther than I want to go."

According to Diventi, she and other hobos find food by what they call "dumpster diving," which is looking through dumpsters for food. She said several restaurants throw unsold food in a dumpster.

Diventi said she and fellow hobos will often do some form of community service when they visit a city. She said, sometimes, they will perform at nursing homes.

"Mostly, I'm a goodwill ambassador for Britt and for the hobo convention, and I have an awful lot of fun playing music and talking about the hobos and telling stories and reading poetry," she said.

Even though the hobo convention is usually well attended, the hobo population has declined during the past few years.

"The old-time hobos, the ones we call bridgers because they rode both the steam and the diesel-powered trains, they're in their upper 80s and 90s, and we're losing them very, very rapidly," Diventi said.

Diventi has been interested in trains since she was a child. When she was 2 years old, she rode one of the last passenger trains from Rockford to Freeport, along with her sister, mother and grandmother.

"I can say, since I was 2, I've been a rail rider," Diventi said. "I'm no longer a paying rail rider. Just kidding. I do pay to ride the tracks once in awhile."