As the conversation built around their daily stress, I grew pissed and anger started to overflow. One was working more than sixty hours a week managing a restaurant team and still couldn't afford health insurance. Our other friend was seriously thinking of building a farm with everything she needed in order to cut herself off from American society. The American system's individualistic way of functioning had pushed her away into an even more solitary mode.

She wasn't the only one. When my father and I set off on our road trip we first visited Deer Lodge and ran into Joe and Viv, having a drink at the local downtown bar. After our first little chat we came back to town a few times and were able to go to their house. Joe had been a soldier in his early twenties. Following his years in combat he ended up going to prison a couple times, spending seventeen years in total. Today Joe is sixty years old, has just fought cancer and is infatuated with Viv. He works as a plumber but is ready to retire. Viv has had multiple jobs, including one working for the state. Unfortunately, she eventually ended up on the streets, homeless. Both now live together in a small white house. It has a kitchen and a living room with a couch that unfolds as a bed at night. Viv tries to keep their small kitchen clean. "I try to keep it clean you know? But it's hard". A small radio transistor blasts a good old bluegrass tune.

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January 13th, 2021

Retour sur un séjour Italien d'une autre époque

April 9th, 2020

January 13^th, 2021

April 9^th, 2020