I have been reading your substack for a few weeks now Chris and I must say I eagerly wait for them. I love the empathetic tone I find in your writing. Keep going and stay safe!
I still fondly remember greyhound and train rides I caught visiting America 10 or 11 years ago - also chatted with a guy out of prison and remember some of his quotes to this day..
Thank you for writing this. As a woman, I'd be afraid to take a long Greyhound journey now, but I did use Greyhound for a few long-ish trips as a student in the '90s. I feel like public spaces have diverged so much since then and it's helped almost no one. One reason why New York is such a great city, I think, is the unavoidable proximity with a wide variety of people from everywhere. Proximity nurtures empathy.
Read Chris Hedges' 'America the Farewell Tour' if you want to begin to understand how the US got this way. I think he could have gone further in pinpointing the precise origins behind the wholesale debasement, but that's a story for another time.
Don't think that as a 'white collar' reader we are immune to any of this. Considering most modern jobs are absolutely pointless make-work feeding at the trough of 20 years of the Fed money-printer, we're just one bubble pop away from living like this.
50 years ago we would have had family, community, or church to steady us: now we just have Instagram, snide Substack subscriptions, and Sam's Club memberships.
I'd be curious about your impressions of Amtrak as well. Probably more interactions during the trip, though less long stops. And yeah, in the dining car they will very likely make you (as a solo rider) sit with others, well, at least they did with me (and they sell beer on board)....
About the poor and sharing, it's (on a societal, NOT individual level) the case that we are rich because we are not sharing... At least that is how I understand Joseph Heinrich's "WEIRD" argument (though still have to read the book...). The west grew educated, industrial, rich, and democratic because of a focus on the nuclear family away from strong kinship relations with extended and large families and tribes (and the expected sharing of resources with many of them....)
I wish it surprised me to hear that the less well off are more generous than the wealthier. And I wish I could say that back when I lived in the US I had been better when organizations came to our door. But we were always so suspicious it was a scam because that's what we were always reading about it.
What's the truth? I don't know.
But I do know at some point I stopped worrying about how people had come to their dire situations. The guy passed out on the street? Maybe he was a total jerk who had ruined his own life. I still tucked a twenty dollar bill into his pocket.
I've tried to do more things like that as we travel -- and to get to know people outside of my expected circle. The African immigrant opening the grocery store door in Matera, Italy, or the old man in Sarajevo who had turned out to suffer so much during Siege of Sarajevo.
And I think that's why I'm finding your dispatches from America to be so worth reading.
After subscribing for several months it is very gratifying and satisfying to read your observations about people and not just places. We who have “more” or have worked (or by good fortune) to have more than we used to have, usually know what it’s like to travel the G-Dog (as I used to call it). But when we’re traveling it’s just the way it is. It’s normal for where we’re at. And that is good enough. I hope all the people you profiled find that “better place” they’re looking for.
As I understand You have written that people in religious countries like Turkey and Vietnam seem happier, knowing their place via religion etc.
How does that fir with this situation where these men seem religious yet ‘lost’.
I’m so sad to think our country is gone so far down some very bad ‘roads’ and the with hardening of attitudes I cant see a good future ahead for my dear great grandchildren.
Another interesting read. It’s good to see humanity as it is and not the glossy world we often see portrayed.
I have been reading your substack for a few weeks now Chris and I must say I eagerly wait for them. I love the empathetic tone I find in your writing. Keep going and stay safe!
Thanks, Chris! Beautiful stuff. I think it's high time I took a Greyhound somewhere. For the experience.
I still fondly remember greyhound and train rides I caught visiting America 10 or 11 years ago - also chatted with a guy out of prison and remember some of his quotes to this day..
Thank you for writing this. As a woman, I'd be afraid to take a long Greyhound journey now, but I did use Greyhound for a few long-ish trips as a student in the '90s. I feel like public spaces have diverged so much since then and it's helped almost no one. One reason why New York is such a great city, I think, is the unavoidable proximity with a wide variety of people from everywhere. Proximity nurtures empathy.
Keep it rolling, Chris. Good stuff here.
Read Chris Hedges' 'America the Farewell Tour' if you want to begin to understand how the US got this way. I think he could have gone further in pinpointing the precise origins behind the wholesale debasement, but that's a story for another time.
Don't think that as a 'white collar' reader we are immune to any of this. Considering most modern jobs are absolutely pointless make-work feeding at the trough of 20 years of the Fed money-printer, we're just one bubble pop away from living like this.
50 years ago we would have had family, community, or church to steady us: now we just have Instagram, snide Substack subscriptions, and Sam's Club memberships.
Beautiful insights and writing Chris—thank you. I really hope you write a book or several, and maybe create a documentary or two, in the future.
I'd be curious about your impressions of Amtrak as well. Probably more interactions during the trip, though less long stops. And yeah, in the dining car they will very likely make you (as a solo rider) sit with others, well, at least they did with me (and they sell beer on board)....
About the poor and sharing, it's (on a societal, NOT individual level) the case that we are rich because we are not sharing... At least that is how I understand Joseph Heinrich's "WEIRD" argument (though still have to read the book...). The west grew educated, industrial, rich, and democratic because of a focus on the nuclear family away from strong kinship relations with extended and large families and tribes (and the expected sharing of resources with many of them....)
I appreciate you lifting up the dignity of the destitute. The "literati" don't really ... go there and see them as fully human in their writings.
Used to ride the Greyhound a fair bit. It wasn't quite as "bottom class" as it sounds like its gotten (I rode it more back around 2000-2004).
So well done. Thanks for taking us with you.
I wish it surprised me to hear that the less well off are more generous than the wealthier. And I wish I could say that back when I lived in the US I had been better when organizations came to our door. But we were always so suspicious it was a scam because that's what we were always reading about it.
What's the truth? I don't know.
But I do know at some point I stopped worrying about how people had come to their dire situations. The guy passed out on the street? Maybe he was a total jerk who had ruined his own life. I still tucked a twenty dollar bill into his pocket.
I've tried to do more things like that as we travel -- and to get to know people outside of my expected circle. The African immigrant opening the grocery store door in Matera, Italy, or the old man in Sarajevo who had turned out to suffer so much during Siege of Sarajevo.
And I think that's why I'm finding your dispatches from America to be so worth reading.
I've hitchhiked across the USA a few times and I've always found folks who want to lend a hand, offer up their backyard for camping, etc.
Traveling without pretentions and expectations is like a spiritual journey. A religionless religion
After subscribing for several months it is very gratifying and satisfying to read your observations about people and not just places. We who have “more” or have worked (or by good fortune) to have more than we used to have, usually know what it’s like to travel the G-Dog (as I used to call it). But when we’re traveling it’s just the way it is. It’s normal for where we’re at. And that is good enough. I hope all the people you profiled find that “better place” they’re looking for.
As I understand You have written that people in religious countries like Turkey and Vietnam seem happier, knowing their place via religion etc.
How does that fir with this situation where these men seem religious yet ‘lost’.
I’m so sad to think our country is gone so far down some very bad ‘roads’ and the with hardening of attitudes I cant see a good future ahead for my dear great grandchildren.
Long dead feminist writer wrote about riding Greyhound to visit old friends. Transportation for the poor, I recalled; and the not too tall.