Our well failed and we were without water in the house for a week, finally couldn't take it anymore and went to a hotel. This is an expensive and stressful problem but we were fortunate to be able to get a loan and the well is being repaired now. But I want to talk about Branson.

We live an hour away from Branson but in the same county, Taney. This town has nearly 20,000 hotel rooms but trying to find a room to stay in during an emergency was hell. Why? Because we're "local"

The first place I booked had an affordable rate but they called me after booking and told me I would have to pay a $150 deposit because I'm local. I was annoyed but I said ok because I was so stressed. When I got there they upped the charge to $200

So I cancelled that reservation but they still charged me the cost of a night's stay. The next place we tried didn't accept walk-ins. The next place said they wouldn't take locals, even with a deposit, but I begged and they allowed us to stay.

Why is it that you can't get a motel room if you're local? Because Branson is a tourist economy and every server, line cook, housekeeper, ticket taker and popcorn maker earns min wage. With few affordable housing options, the work force turned to living in the abundance of motels

More than 1,500 working poor families live in Branson motels and this is a problem for Branson because the culture here is to close their eyes to the town's problems.

"We always lie to strangers"

The intense evangelical christian morality of the area is wrapped up in this. The manager of the hotel where we stayed told me they don't accept locals because since they opened last year they had THREE people bring drugs in.

17% of Taney county residents live below the poverty line despite making the billion dollar Branson tourist academy run. Tell me why, with 20,000 hotel rooms, double the population of Branson, there are people who have to sleep out in the woods behind the walmart?

I can't think of a place that needs radical organizing more than Branson. There's a crucial need for a tourist industry union. These empty hotels (with more being developed every year) need to be turned into housing.

There are dozens of massive theaters that sit empty as the shows die out. These buildings could be converted to grow food that could feed the entire SWMO region.

But the stranglehold that christianity has on this town is so strong that they have everyone believing the things they want to pretend don't exist are the fault of the people that turn the wheels of the economy.

"Just accept Jesus and get a 3rd job and you'll prosper!"

Something needs to be done about Branson and, imo, an important step is putting a chink in the armor of christianity. The most important I think, would be unionizing. I'm thinking about making a free zine to spread around town with a title like
"JESUS WAS A RADICAL SOCIALIST"