A Mini Essay About Nomadism
Ive found this write among goodreads readers; from a very investigating reader's commentsheet.
Kelli points out that nomadism is no so good as been talked about accross the scoiety. Please do look a bit that sheet and try to sense her, friends.
Because i think there are some considerable subtitles in her write about nomadism&to botch on to sustain of freeing.
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I want to begin by saying that I listened to this audiobook and I definitely do NOT recommend that experience. I am truly surprised I made it through to the end. Trust me, get the actual book. (Also, this book uses lots of special jargon and because I listened, I may be misspelling these special words and may have incorrectly punctuated the quote at the end.)
I’m having a hard time reviewing this book. At its core it’s about a little known subculture of poor retirees who are basically forced by circumstance to live in vans, used campers, trucks and other old, tiny vehicles not intended for living. They travel from state to state doing hard labor for low wages. This community of “workampers” share tips and ideas through social media and at annual gatherings like the “Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.” The author followed these people around for three years, but the star of the book is Linda May, a woman who seems infinitely happy and positive, despite living in a tiny camper without a bathroom, having no healthcare, and frankly working her ass off for very low wages. Honestly, this woman should be an inspirational speaker. She was always so upbeat. But therein lies my issue with the book. It often felt like the author was selling this lifestyle as something good. It’s not good. When people who have worked hard their entire lives are forced into these living situations, no bonfire party can put a shine in that. These people go without healthcare and work like dogs. I found it tremendously depressing.
This book could benefit greatly from more input from sociologists, economists, and psychologists. While it brought to light this phenomena of van-dwelling itinerant workers, it lacked balance, lost its power and eventually felt redundant. Story after story of people, many from California, rising above their circumstances to celebrate their new “wheel estate” and “vanily,” yet they are living in vehicles and essentially alone.
The biggest shock for me was the horrendous working conditions at Amazon, where older workers are recruited through their Camper Force initiative. Amazon provides free over-the-counter pain medication for these workers, who are expected to keep a dizzying pace filling orders, often walking more than 15 miles in a work day. Repetitive motion injuries abound, as do many other physical problems that accompany racewalking on concrete.
Here is a quote from the always upbeat Linda May:
Right now I am working in a big warehouse for a major online supplier. The stuff is crap all made somewhere else in the world where they don’t have child labor laws, where the workers labor 14 to 16 hour days without meals or bathroom breaks. There is 1,000,000 ft.² in this warehouse packed with stuff that won’t last a month. It is all going to a landfill. This company has hundreds of warehouses. Our economy is built on the backs of slaves we keep in other countries like China, India, Mexico...any third world country with a cheap labor force where we don’t have to see them but where we can enjoy the fruits of their labor. This American corporation is probably the biggest slaveowner in the world.
She then goes on to comment on how consumers are in turn enslaved by said corporation as they buy more and more things then don’t need and work more and more to pay for those things. Hmmm.
Food for thought and perhaps another conversation. 3 stars but again, if you do decide to read this, skip the audio. (less)
I’m having a hard time reviewing this book. At its core it’s about a little known subculture of poor retirees who are basically forced by circumstance to live in vans, used campers, trucks and other old, tiny vehicles not intended for living. They travel from state to state doing hard labor for low wages. This community of “workampers” share tips and ideas through social media and at annual gatherings like the “Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.” The author followed these people around for three years, but the star of the book is Linda May, a woman who seems infinitely happy and positive, despite living in a tiny camper without a bathroom, having no healthcare, and frankly working her ass off for very low wages. Honestly, this woman should be an inspirational speaker. She was always so upbeat. But therein lies my issue with the book. It often felt like the author was selling this lifestyle as something good. It’s not good. When people who have worked hard their entire lives are forced into these living situations, no bonfire party can put a shine in that. These people go without healthcare and work like dogs. I found it tremendously depressing.
This book could benefit greatly from more input from sociologists, economists, and psychologists. While it brought to light this phenomena of van-dwelling itinerant workers, it lacked balance, lost its power and eventually felt redundant. Story after story of people, many from California, rising above their circumstances to celebrate their new “wheel estate” and “vanily,” yet they are living in vehicles and essentially alone.
The biggest shock for me was the horrendous working conditions at Amazon, where older workers are recruited through their Camper Force initiative. Amazon provides free over-the-counter pain medication for these workers, who are expected to keep a dizzying pace filling orders, often walking more than 15 miles in a work day. Repetitive motion injuries abound, as do many other physical problems that accompany racewalking on concrete.
Here is a quote from the always upbeat Linda May:
Right now I am working in a big warehouse for a major online supplier. The stuff is crap all made somewhere else in the world where they don’t have child labor laws, where the workers labor 14 to 16 hour days without meals or bathroom breaks. There is 1,000,000 ft.² in this warehouse packed with stuff that won’t last a month. It is all going to a landfill. This company has hundreds of warehouses. Our economy is built on the backs of slaves we keep in other countries like China, India, Mexico...any third world country with a cheap labor force where we don’t have to see them but where we can enjoy the fruits of their labor. This American corporation is probably the biggest slaveowner in the world.
She then goes on to comment on how consumers are in turn enslaved by said corporation as they buy more and more things then don’t need and work more and more to pay for those things. Hmmm.
Food for thought and perhaps another conversation. 3 stars but again, if you do decide to read this, skip the audio. (less)
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