Missoula Rabble: September 16
Missoula Rabble started as a bet among coworkers about taking a photo a day. It has turned into one of the more entertaining Facebook pages in Montana. It recently put out its first book. The Montana Mint and Missoula Rabble are teaming up to bring the best of this page to a broader Montana audience. Be sure to check out Missoula Rabble’s Facebook page here.
Andrea
“I wouldn’t call my mom for months, sometimes a year at a time,” Drea said. “She’d find out I was locked up in jail and relieved that I wasn’t dead.” Drea told me she has been running for most her life, but she feels “found” here. She is a year and a half into recovery after 20 years of abusing substances. “I’ve been traveling all mylife, running from myself,” she said. “I’ve started planting roots. I know who I am now. I can sit down by those train tracks and I can look down one way and down another and I don’t want to run anymore.” I asked Drea what it feels like now after having been using for so many years. “When I first came into recovery I was emotionally stunted because I started using when I was twelve,” she said. “I’m like emotionally the age of 13 or 14 right now so I’m still a teenager.” Drea talked a lot about the importance of family especially the one she has developed here. I asked her to elaborate for me. “Being in recovery now, I’m grieving living losses,” she said. “Family to me has always been unhealthy friendships and now this transformation going into recovery, I’ve learned to build a huge network of family in recovery. People that love me until I’m staring to love myself.”
Clay
Clay, 41, retired from the military last October and has been growing his beard out since. “I haven’t been able to grow a beard for 20 years,” he said. I couldn’t pass this beard up. I’m sorry. He sported beard tails and zebras with wings flying around the word Z-Bird on his shirt. He’s clearly a cool guy. He was taking El Cazador carry out home to his family when I caught him. Clay is currently working on getting his degree in energy technology and paints for work during the summer.
Cameron and Andy
I got home from work today and found these two rabble hanging out on my porch. Cameron, left, and Andy are two of Missoula’s most talented musicians who play in The Lil’ Smokies, voted Best Band in Best of Missoula this year. Apparently they’re also looking for an apartment. I asked them a few questions about their music while they waited for my landlord. The Lil’ Smokies have been together for four years and just released their first self-titled album this year. “We played a lot of covers and this year we are finally writing our own songs,” Andy said. Andy describes their sound as cerebral folk music with an emphasis on lyrics and melody. “Melody is what gets me up in the morning,” said Andy. Cameron laughed and said, “Melody is what keeps me up at night. And for a few hours between morning and night we exchange melodies.”
Lynn
Lynn told me she is a country girl. She was born and raised on a farm in Nebraska. “We were farmers. Corn, beets, sugar cane, alfalfa sprouts,” she said. “‘Cornfed red.’ That’s what they say in Nebraska.” She moved here around a year ago from Wyoming. She told me her leather cowboy hat was stolen shortly after she got here so she bought the one she has on at a thrift store for 15 dollars. “It’s always been a part of me,” she said. “I need a hat.” Lynn has been fighting pancreatic cancer for the past year. She went through chemotherapy and says she won’t do it again. “Chemo is worse than the cancer itself,” she said. I asked her what helps her stay positive during a time like this in her life. “Nature, the beauty,” she said. “I divert my pain to nature and people. The beautiful things. We’re all human beings.”
Richard
Richard is a man of very few words. He was standing on the sidewalk watching people walk by when his hat and leather jacket caught my eye. I asked him what he was doing. “I’m being a part of the community,” he said. Richard grew up in Montana on a farm. Most of his family has passed away. He calls himself a loner. “I never have that much to say.”
Bob and Monica
Bob and Monica met in Long Beach, CA the night before JFK was assassinated. They were at a Catholic singles mixer. I asked Bob how long they’ve been married. “Forty-nine years, one month, and three days,” he said. He had asked her to play ping pong. “She said she knew how to play, but she didn’t,” he said and laughed. “We’re like oil and water. Cat and dog. She’s Hungarian and Spanish. I’m German.” They raised three daughters together. “I was outnumbered,” he said. I asked Monica how they made it. “A lot of love and a lot of tolerance,” she said. “Underneath his mixture of bravado, there’s a kind man.”
“Missoula Rabble is proof that everyone does have a story to tell. I started to profile people on the street and the overwhelming response from the public made me realize this was going to be something special.”
– Ashley McKeee, Creator of Missoula Rabble
All Photo and content credits to Ashley McKee
Related Posts
Griz Fan Podcast – Endless breadsticks and post-bye week chat with guest Kyle Hansen →
Griz Fan Podcast – Mo State recap & guest Zach Peevey →
Griz Fan Podcast – The Biggest Brawl Ever →
