• oldGregg@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Im a 25 minute drive in any direction to the first store of any kind. Its a gas station/mini mart with a casino. Second closest store is also a casino in the opposite direction. The roads to get either are so fucked most of my friends have popped tires coming over, but by now i know how to dodge the holes.

    I genuinely dont know where the nearest hospital is, i think its across the state border to [neighboring state]. And ive worked in the medical field for at least 5 years before i moved here.

    Theres so many ruins of houses around me, after the rainy season im going to ask the landowners if i can tear down their ruins and use the scraps to build sheds/animal housing etc.

    Long story but we had a hangout with friends from the local Dnd group, one kids mom called the cops to pick him up. He had to go home in a cop car. The cop driving him home was very obviously more drunk than anyone at our place.

    People are racist. Not like ‘ohh conservatives are evil’ racist. Like ‘they belong in cotton fields’ racist. Hard to find friends. Im a vocal non-straight anarchist from california, i have a mohawk. Very vocally anti-politics. These cunts still try to act like we’re on the same team and like im in on their shitty views. Cant start a fight about it because they all carry a gun. I also carry a gun. Best outcome is walking away.

    I have a few younger friends solely from playing Dnd at the local card shop. Any time we talk about school they have a new story of someone getting expelled for bringing a gun to school. Which i mean props on the school for finding them but the kids i know are more numb to it than worried.

    Also the internet sucks. My power goes out a few times a week. My well water smells flamable.

    • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      That all sounds really rough, sorry to hear you have to deal with all that. My grandparents were victims of a similar system of casino type stuff, over here the pubs have “pokies” (slot machines) and often that is literally the only “entertainment” in rural areas, so people spend all their time just gambling away all their money and drinking. As far as I can tell, things aren’t “as bad” now, but still pretty awful in a lot of places (meth is often a substitute for gambling and alcohol) And I know what you mean about the ruins, they’re just everywhere, but people don’t want them touched because they are “their property” so nothing useful is done with them.

    • SovereignState@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      My unsolicited advice? Get out. ASAP.

      Rural Amerika will not be where revolution emerges. I tried to convince myself that there was some sort of organizing worth doing, that having to drive an hour each way every day to work was bearable, that I could radicalize enough people for my presence there to matter. It never would have.

      Do not apologize for leaving that misery in your dust, do not look back. These places are spiderwebs that will keep trying to pull you back in every time you escape.

      I spent the majority of my life thus far in the extreme isolation and cultural hell you are describing. I’m sorry you’re there now. The past few years have been the happiest, most actualizing of my life. Part of growing up for me, maybe, but know that I owe so much of it to having people to interact with.

      If you meet someone insufferable, do not worry. They are but one of many. You will meet better people.

      I relate to the hospital bit. There is a hospital 25 minutes from that area, however it has (I am not exaggerating) appeared on multiple blog posts like “top 10 worst hospitals in America”. I once spent 14 hours there as a kid just to get dx’d with bronchitis in about 10 minutes. My dad kept leaving the room to go fetch someone every few hours. He’d always come back alone, angrier than the last time.

      • oldGregg@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I just moved here in january, i still have my house in california. I just got some hunting land in the south to build a vacation home on essentially. Basically treating it like building a private resort in a 3rd world country lol.

        My town in california wasnt much better. The hospital i worked at just went bankrupt so theres no hospital there within 30+ miles either. But theres at least better food and access to major cities in one days drive.