The Hardest Year

Giving Thanks

Julie — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:53:14 +0000

“There’s always somebody worse off than you.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that phrase or sentiment expressed in some way or another over these past six months. I can tell you my first reaction was always silent disbelief. I never doubted the sincerity; I only wondered how the person who said [...]

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Home

Julie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:56:44 +0000

The Escaper’s retired from The Hardest Year duty and just in time by the weather reports I’ve seen lately from Colorado! The camper served us well, carrying us from Virginia to Seattle, WA and back again. Of course, there were some speed bumps along the way: gas caps kept getting left behind, the air conditioner [...]

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Off to see the Wizard

Julie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:28:18 +0000

I dare you not to hum the song. Absolutely NO humming about how we’re going to see the guy who can give us a heart/brain/courage/way home. Can’t do it? Neither can I. Why…? I’ll get to that later. This marks the 70th anniversary of the year the world was introduced to the Technicolor wonder “The [...]

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Homeward Bound: Leaving the big city behind for a better life

Julie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:49:05 +0000

Detroit was the only home Stacy Marcell Harper had ever known, so leaving all that was familiar should have been difficult. But making the decision to leave was easy. It was everything that led up to that decision that was hard. As a divorced, single parent she wanted the best for her son Justin, 12, [...]

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At Home on the Road

John Sanders — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:35:39 +0000

The Walmart parking lot in Butte, Montana resembled a campground. More than twenty RVs, campers and travel trailers were parked on the outskirts when we arrived in the late afternoon. The vehicles varied from top-of-the-line, bus-shaped motor homes to old, creaking models that had seen far better days. Our 1986 Toyota Escaper fell toward the [...]

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“In an Instant:” From Affluence to Bankruptcy in Denver’s Housing Meltdown

John Sanders — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:48:18 +0000

Bob and Callae didn’t know it, but in 2007 their family was on the precipice of a devastating slide from affluence to bankruptcy. They lived in an upscale Denver neighborhood, were members of a country club and employed a nanny for their two young boys. Bob’s small business and hard work made their comfortable lifestyle [...]

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Growing Difficulties: Kansas farmers caught between good times and bad

John Sanders — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:35:08 +0000

Dan Daniels says there are few things he loves more than a challenge, and this year he’s getting just that. He stands to lose more than $100,000 on his farm near Topeka, Kansas. It’s a story that began a year ago, strangely, in one of the most profitable growing seasons farmers there had ever seen. [...]

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In Their Shoes

Julie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:18:17 +0000

We take our shoes off before entering the Escaper. Not while we go in and out during the day, but when we’re in for the night. It’s become a ritual: John stands in the doorway, scraping the heel of one foot with the toe of the other until his running shoes land outside. He pushes [...]

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“That Piece of Paper”

Julie — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:14:44 +0000

No one seems more surprised at what a single piece of paper can do for you than Cory Willingham. Had he known what life would be like, the constant struggle to find and keep a job that did not require a high school diploma, he might have done things differently. Twenty years ago, Cory dropped [...]

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Maisie’s Pool

John Sanders — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:16:12 +0000

We arrived in Eskridge, Kansas on the Maisie DeVore Highway. It said so right on the big green road sign outside of town. We were on a tour of rural Kansas with friends from Topeka and were prepared to roll right through Eskridge without stopping. It wouldn’t have taken long; the town’s population is about [...]

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