{"id":23,"date":"2014-03-27T06:15:50","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T06:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brennachapman.com\/portfolio\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2014-03-31T09:14:53","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T09:14:53","slug":"trailer-court","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brennachapman.com\/portfolio\/?page_id=23","title":{"rendered":"Common Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story and Photos by Brenna English Chapman<\/em><\/p>\n

Foreward<\/h4>\n

Some call them concentration camps, others call them glorified outhouses, but 25 percent of Montanan\u2019s call their trailers home. Some residents praise them to high heaven, and others damn them to hell. Still, all the residents know, as do the increasing numbers of Montanan\u2019s choosing to dwell in trailers, that when it comes down to it, at least they have a safe place to rest their heads, even if it is only for the time being.<\/p>\n

When I first moved to Missoula, the first thing I\u2008noticed were all the trailers, scattered in courts and throughout the Big Sky landscape, and I was intrigued. If so many of Montana residents are residing in trailers in increasing numbers than there must be a reason for it. So I set out to document every day life in trailer courts in and around the Missoula area, photographing and writing, letting the residents themselves represent what it means to live in one.<\/p>\n

For some Montanans, Montana is not the last best place, thier trailers are. Some people live in them as a first resort, and others as a last. Some people thank God for them, and others swear to God that they don\u2019t want to ever live in another one. To some, trailers symbolize freedom. To others, they are just as bad as imprisonment. Some people rent, and some people are paying to own. Some people live in them because they want something to claim as thier own. Some people live in them just until they get back on their feet again or generate enough income to purchase their own home, with a foundation that doesn\u2019t sway with the passing wind. Trailers are affordable. They are cheaper than renting a home or an apartment in town. Most college kids are not competing for lot space. They don\u2019t have to have neighbors against one wall or another, there is always grass in between. Trailers allow pets. Some people were born and raised in trailers, others have been newly initiated. Trailer parks are close-knit communities. Trailers can be moved, they are transitional. Trailers mean no strings attached, no committments. Trailers mean\u00a0stability in an unstable world, in a state defined by low wages and a high cost of living.<\/p>\n

Trailers vary in character as much as the people living in them. Some people are retired,others are on housing vouchers. Some are unemployed, some have bad credit, others are hiding from the law or the lives they knew before. Some are hermits, some are abusive drinkers and drug users who can do as they please as long as they pay their bills, yet the majority are just existing, working and raising their
\nchildren the best way they know how, balancing on the fringe.<\/p>\n

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