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To understand America, you should know all about oil men and the strippers that entertain them

Susan Elizabeth Shepard is a writer. She's had her work published by the likes of Jezebel, Salon, and BuzzFeed. Also, she's a stripper.

Susan Elizabeth Shepard is a writer. She's had her work published by the likes of Jezebel, Salon, and BuzzFeed. Also, she's a stripper. Recently, Shepard authored an extensive post about her travels and experiences as a dancer in modern American boomtowns. Towns in the midst of the vast nothingness of Montana and North Dakota where she lived in trailers, crashed in basements, and danced for men flocking to the 21st century's answer to the Wild West in the name of oil.

Shepard's piece is everything but brief and paints a picture of the nooks and crannies of America that many will never see. She's the fly on the wall of the seedy motel. She's the big draw on the club's dance roster for the week. She's the nomadic stripper serving as the eyes and ears of America in a ghost town no one has ever heard of. She's the main attraction on the only stage and she's responsible for DJing her own show.

Check out an excerpt of Shepard's post below, but head on over to BuzzFeed to dive into the whole thing. It reads like a stained Norman Rockwell painting that's been collecting dust in a forgotten attic.