Living In America Raw -

You wake up to the hum of the AC fighting 95-degree humidity or the radiator clanking in a studio you pay $1,800 for because it has "exposed brick." The coffee is burnt, but you drink it black because the oat milk latte is $7. You scroll past a GoFundMe for your coworker’s appendix surgery.

Friday night you sit on a cracked curb drinking a tallboy. The sky is orange from wildfire smoke or sunset — doesn’t matter. A neighbor blasts reggaeton. Another screams at their kid. Sirens wail three blocks over. You think: this is it. The grind. The dream. The raw fucking nerve of it all. living in america raw

At work, you’re expected to reply to Slack messages at 10 p.m. because “we’re a family.” Your boss talks about mental health awareness while denying your PTO. You smile. You cash the check. Half of it goes to health insurance you’re terrified to use because the deductible is a used Honda Civic. You wake up to the hum of the

You drive past a strip mall with a dentist, a vape shop, a dollar store, and a church in the same plaza. A guy is yelling at a lamppost about the FBI. Nobody looks. That’s the real code: keep moving, don’t engage, protect your energy. The sky is orange from wildfire smoke or