Depressed and Depraved

Depressed and Depraved from Chris Lamphere on Vimeo.

Derek Bacon resides in a dilapidated two bedroom trailer with his brother, sister, mother and father on the outskirts of Cadillac Michigan. His family epitomizes a cross section of America that the rest of us have conveniently pushed under the rug. His family has remained under the poverty line for the better part of the last decade. Efforts to change the situation remain frustratingly fruitless. It would be funny if it wasn't so needlessly tragic. Tragic and typical of disadvantaged families in the onset of the 21st century. The outside of the trailer is littered with the filth and waste of the family dogs, who must remained chained to the porch for fear that they would wonder off and become stolen. Their pelts seem infested with vermin, and open infections on one of the poor beasts ears must be regularly salved with antibiotics to prevent further spreading. Bacon's father works part time as a taxi driver, which nets him around 300 dollars on a good week. Work for the rest of the household is both temporary and extremely unstable. Derek's older brother Dave recently lost his job working for a factory that produces car doors for Fords and Chevy's. Lost his job not for shoddy job performance or coming in late every once in a while, but because the factory moved to Mexico. Derek also became terminated from his job at McDonalds, which he cannot collect unemployment on because the firing manager decided to block it. On more than one occasion, Bacon has claimed that the circumstances that have created his environment seem to be out of his control. It is hard to comprehend a omniscient force that oppresses people for no other reason than to prove it can. Talking with Bacon long enough will make one a believer. As he puts it, “Every time we get something going, something else goes wrong. I got to go to work, oh no, the car breaks down. Instead of going to work, I have to walk to the store with my Dad to buy parts to fix it.” Although their world seems grim, the Bacon families demeanor remains consistently half full, which inspires simultaneous feelings of hope, rage and heartbreak. Good things don't always happen to good people, the bacon's are a prime example of this.