America! You in Danger, Girl

If you’re not in jail, in debt, in service, or in the ground… you in danger, girl.

That’s not just a punchline. It’s a reality for millions of people living in the margins of America’s systems — people who are poor, disabled, overworked, displaced, or barely hanging on.

This essay is long. It’s dense. But it had to be.

Some truths don’t fit into TikToks, Instagram carousels, or even long-form posts such as the other pieces that appear here.

I wrote this to pull back the curtain on five interconnected crises:

• The criminalization of poverty
• The collapse of disability support
• The housing trap that squeezes workers
• The burnout culture is stealing people’s health and years
• The illusion of phantom wealth in a country where many are barely surviving

To ground the data in something human, I created five composite characters — Darnell, Clarissa, Emily, Linda, and Jorge — each drawn from real circumstances. Their stories are fictional, but their pain is very real.

If you’ve ever felt like the system wasn’t built for you…

If you’ve been exhausted by survival…

If you’re just trying to understand what’s happening and why it feels so hard…

This is for you.

👉 Click here to download the full essay (PDF)

Take your time with it. Share it if it moves you.

And if it stings a little, sit with that, too.