We’re Not in Boston Anymore

Photo: Tim Murphy

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Athol, Massachusetts— Thirty minutes past Leominster (“home of Johnny Appleseed,” or more accurately, “the place that Johnny Appleseed ran away from”) on Route 2A in Athol, we’ve officially, definitively, started our trip. We passed the house three times before we finally pulled into the driveway. It was the sign that stood out, I guess: “Need Prayer? Stop Here.” Because the point of the trip is to talk to people, and because, as prepared as we are, there’s no way we’ll make it three months without at least a little bit of heavenly help, we pulled over. A woman named Robyn came out to greet us. She’d lived in town for seven years, driven west by rising housing costs, but the weekly prayer groups are more recent occurence. A year ago, “He showed me the sign,” she says, speaking of the Lord. In a good week, seven people will stop by to join her and her husband; some are regulars, some just pop in off the highway unannounced. “I’ll meet people in town and they’ll mention the sign and I’ll say, ‘that’s me!'”

From here it’s on to the Mohawk Trail, west to North Adams and up into Vermont.

 

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate