Quotes from Jessica Bruder

am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops," reflected the late writer Stephen Jay Gould.

deepening class divide makes social mobility all but impossible. The result is a de facto caste system. This is not only morally wrong but also tremendously wasteful. Denying access to opportunity for large segments of the population means throwing away vast reserves of talent and brainpower. It's also been shown to dampen economic growth.

During one long reporting trip, I had to get a prescription refilled. My doctor called a drugstore. Later he told me that, when the pharmacist demanded my home address, he didn't know how to answer and blurted out, "She's living in a van!" The pharmacist let it slide, but the episode made me think. In America, if you don't have an address, you're not a real person.

In many ways we modern day vandwellers are just like the Mountain Men of old: We need to be alone and on the move, but we equally need to occasionally gather together and make connections with like-minded people who understand us.

Today the United States has the most unequal society of all developed nations. America's level of inequality is comparable to that of Russia, China, Argentina, and the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Are humans spiritual beings who transcend this planet? Or just fuck-ups trashing the earth?

she walked from ten to twenty miles a day on concrete in the 915,000-square-foot complex for $11.25 an hour.

You are finally debt free and living in your forever home! No more freezing in the desert or in Kansas! No more cramped spaces. Like I always say when I hang up the phone: I love you Patti. I will miss you dearly.

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 Corp. is probably the biggest slave owner in the world.

and problems compounded by student debt and degrees that turned out to have little practical value. Many hoped life on the road would be an escape from an otherwise empty future.

Woodswoman: Living Alone in the Adirondack Wilderness and Linda devoured it, marveling at the independence and frugality of the author, ecologist Anne LaBastille, who was inspired by Walden and built her own cabin using just $600 worth of logs. Next she started Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality, an entrepreneurial self-help tome that she scoured for advice on building a fulfilling future.

When Swankie arrived at an RTR session wearing a T-shirt that said "Introverts Unite: We're Here, We're Uncomfortable, and We Want to Go Home," she got smiles and nods of acknowledgment all day.

income-segregated neighborhoods are on the rise, isolating—and insulating—the wealthy from the poor. Quartzsite

On December 2 (aka Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving) alone, customers ordered some 36.8 million products—or about 426 orders a second—helping to bring the company's overall sales for 2013 to a record high of $74.45 billion.

One guy at a Rubber Tramp Rendezvous campfire was horrified to learn I hadn't yet read Travels with Charley; the next day he arrived at the van to lend me a paperback. Other entries in the literary canon of this subculture included Blue Highways by William Least Heat- Moon, Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Walden by Henry David Thoreau, and Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

She talked about getting some Pam cooking spray—or WD-40, but Pam was cheaper—because coating the walls of the toilet chutes with it makes waste less likely to stick.

life are you willing to give up, so you can keep on living? Most who face this dilemma will

Anyway, I'm seeing my parents in their mid-sixties with no retirement, you know, everything that they built over their entire life just disappeared. And then with the recession you see that happening to more people," Ash said. Though she'd always considered herself a "follower," she began to worry that, even if she

Inevitably bouts with obstacles offer discouragement as you cut every tether holding you from freedom.

Today the United States has the most unequal society of all developed nations.

awe-inspiring shit we put on shelves." These included live waxworms, a five-pound gummi bear, a diver's speargun, a book titled Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women, a butt plug attached to a plush foxtail,

In the widening gap between credits and debits hangs a question: What parts of this life are you willing to give up, so you can keep on living? Most who face this dilemma will not end up dwelling in vehicles. Those who do are analogous to what biologists call an "indicator species"—sensitive organisms with the capacity to signal much larger shifts in an ecosystem.

One of them, FreeCampsites.net, logged idyllic places in nature where visitors could stay for free, from small city parks to sprawling national forests.

What was his plan for the future? I asked. "Don't die. Don't get old," he said. "I don't know." If things got desperate, he added, a niece and nephew had offered to take him in.