Usually the stereotype of truck drivers in the Midwest does not include a 38 year-old woman who longs for trips to the beauty salon with a fellow female companion in between shipping loads.
Well, meet Jonnie Cassens, a recent subject of a New York Times opinion piece, on how a female truck driver has dealt with the recession.
Jonnie, finding work scarce in California, moved to North Dakota expecting a windfall of opportunity due to the oil boom there, instead she found a male dominated desolate land that can crush her physically and emotionally at any moment. In her isolation, she finds refuge in her Chihuahua, her TV, and M&M’s candy.
Her outlook now is that the simple things in life make her happy.
With such a male dominated field it would be easy to find a companion to ease her worries, right? Wrong. Jonnie says she’s harassed everywhere she goes and actually fears for her life after hearing that a female teacher was killed while jogging.
Think about it, a smart and competent human being in search of work and friendship in a new land is objectified and humiliated. This is not the America that promotes opportunity, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.
This could be your wife, daughter, sister, or mother struggling to make ends meet in the new normal of American desperation.
What advice would you give Jonnie?