This picture appeared on MSNBC's site about a year ago, in an article titled "In hard times, tent cities rise across the country" which profiled the growing population of those who have had to give up houses and apartments due to increasing economic hardship. As I mentioned in class when we were studying the image of the car used as a home several decades ago, I was immediately reminded of this trend, which is reported on somewhat, but still remains an unknown issue for the majority of country.
I think a phrase like the "anti-American dream" could apply here - to both the photo we saw earlier, and to this one. The idealistic society that was, (and still is) so highly fantasized about by immigrants and even those who lived in the country already, shatters when looking at a photo like this. Especially in an age now where we think, "sure, there are people worse off than I am, but nobody in America has to live like that."
That old belief that history repeats itself seems to ring true for this horrific mode of life within the bubble of the American dream, but did this every actually go away? Or now, because we are in an economic downturn and therefore find ourselves feeling vulnerable to the possibility of losing everything, are we slowly taking notice again?
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