Location: 43.754988, -105.490691
If ever a place to be known as Desolation, it is not the high plateaus and mountaintops of unknown and uncharted valleys, it is the endless stretches between the steppe and the great plains. In this expanse which creates the Badlands of South Dakota, the sea of sagebrush turned crab grass, and a swathe of innumerable dry beds, the phantoms of this world hang low and dreary awaiting their coming messiah.
Here in Wright which numbers under 1400 people, the detection of common ground is little. There is reason enough why the coming generations are emigrating to larger metros but, for those that stick around, the bleak outlook in the sky's shadow is only withheld by one singular factor. I have yet to discover that factor--something that likely is savored in old age. In this two-dime town, incorporated only in the 1980s, the mall is an adhoc aluminum shack that houses a bar, a laundromat, the local paper, and the grocery store. Because of the coal mine, the reasoning behind this existence, there is some service industry but, very little: a real city is but a stone's throw away. Thus, the town has refitted itself to only service the immediate needs of the people.
How would it be to grow up in a space devoid of cultural exploration, of literate not suited for simple minds, of words and sounds not like your own? How would it be to feel the calm clammering in on your soul as you quickly become another face, another forgiven innocent? Out here, those who have the drive and ingenuity to climb above the tumbling hills are far stronger than your hipster from Ohio.
And what brings the immigrants here? What possess a person to sit and wait on a lucrative position, stuffed in the ground, in a peak that stretches beyond the eyes reach?
I should be grateful that this little enclave does exist; that I am so close to the jobsite as not to be "working" for 14 hours but only getting paid for 12. It should be humbly noted on my part that, for as barren as this place may seem, there are the tenements of civilization here: a service station, a grocery store, even a subway (the only fast-food joint in town). I should take note that, some people here are running away from the horrids of urban life, some people are sticking it out because they have mouths to feed. I should note all this but, it is hard to take sight of the hidden realities laying low in the stifling dead-yellow grass and spirit-piercing winds.