Nomadland

Nomadland

Adult nonfiction
"Would you rather have food or dental work? Pay your mortgage
or your electric bill? Make a car payment or buy medicine? Cover
rent or student loans? Purchase warm clothes or gas for your commute?
For many the answer seemed radical at first.
You can't give yourself a raise, but what about cutting your
biggest expense? Trading a stick-and-brick domicile for life on
wheels?"
I just read a book that scared me more than anything penned by
Stephen King. Jessica Bruder's Nomadland documents a dystopic trend
that threatens to claim expotentially more of our futures unless
something is done to reverse it.
Many decent Americans who worked hard, raised families, and
played by the rules--did everything they were taught to expect would
earn themselves a decent retirement--have encountered a shitstorm
trifecta. Rents and mortgages are climbing higher while wages are
tanking. Ageism is rampant when it comes to semi decent jobs. And
the 2008 recession has demolished the savings many people relied on to
supplement social security.
So what do you do when you can't earn enough to keep a
stationary roof over your head? Many people have become nomads,
living in anything from travel trailers to retrofitted buses, trucks,
and even cars, driving between seasonal, low wage, no benefits,
arduous, and often dangerous gigs such as pre Christmas rush at Amazon
warehouses.
A lot of people took to the roads in jerry rigged trailers
during the Great Depression of the 1930's also. But there was one big
difference. Back then they perceived their plight as temporary.
There are plenty of perils. Vehicles can break down. The
amenities we take for granted--electricity, drinking water, and toilet
access--can be lacking for significant stretches of time. Extreme
heat and cold and carbon monoxide from improvised heating systems can
kill.
And while our economy is putting stationary shelter out of the
reach of more and more people we're increasingly criminalizing
anything else. Many parks limit stays to fourteen days. More and
more cities and towns outlaw sleeping in vehicles. Van dwellers dread
that knock on the door that could be the police with orders to move
on...
...or worse.
Bruder spent significant parts of three years on the road in a
vehicle she named Van Halen. She lived among the mobile residents and
really got to know a number of them. She went to their gatherings.
She even tried some of their seasonal jobs. She introduces readers to
resilient people, many of them making the best of the situations they
were thrust into. It makes for an eye opening narrative.
On a purrrsonal note, the book made me feel even more grateful than
usual for my trailer that stays in one place and has running water,
indoor plumbing, and electricity. Not to mention all the good food
and the spaces to read, study, do crafts, and pursue all my interests
and a wardrobe that way exceeds one storage bin. Then there's all the
places where I'm loved and needed in this area and the campus where I
pursue my education. I am feeling truly privileged. (Jules)
Home sweet home! (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene for working so hard to keep
us all in one place.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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