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Bug's avatar

As a born and raised Montana ex-pat, currently living in hell, you captured the zeitgeist(?) of the new Bozeman pretty well. The one thing missing is the price of housing and how this contributes to the backlash of what you call the underclass. Between the influx of coastal elites and AirBnB, the non landowning locals are toast. You wouldn't believe me if I told you I rented a 3 bedroom house on 5th Ave with two room-mates when I went to college there. 10 minute walk to class. And no, I'm not a boomer. When I dropped out of college I worked nights washing dishes at a local ski area restaurant. Ski all day. get a free dinner after my shift. Worked for the Forest Service in the summer time. Then collect unemployment in the spring and fall while road tripping across the western US. Rent was never an issue. Not possible today. The service workers get flown in from god knows where and are lucky to get put up in some shithole company dorm. I get nostalgic when I'm sitting on my barstool, acting like darn fool, dreaming of that past life. When I sober up it becomes clear as day. The place no longer exists.

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Tunku Varadarajan's avatar

I am Indian. I can be mistaken for nothing else. I just spent 4 days in a small town in Montana which, I'm just guessing here, is 97% white. Based on my experience, this piece is stark, raving bollocks. I walked extensively in modest parts of town (I'm trying not to say poor). The streets ran parallel to the railroad. As I walked i had: little towhead kids playing on the sidewalk say "Hi mister!" to me; a man in a pickup stop and ask if i needed a ride; an old man wave to me from his porch and say "Good afternoon"; a workman at a house who was listening to--gasp!--Country music nod at me and say "howdy." In dive bars i was treated as well as everyone else, by staff and drinkers alike. A guy sitting next to me said "You're not from around here, are ya?" after he heard me ordering my drink. Mr Simpson would think that was racist. His is a sloppy, fevered, risible, paranoid piece that panders to the prejudices of a Manichean liberal elite. Stay away from Montana, please. Reunite your family some other place next year. ~~ Tunku Varadarajan

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