Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the
Search for the American Dream by
Adam W. Shepard
This Guy Has Guts!
Adam Shepard graduated from college in the summer of 2006 feeling
disillusioned by the apathy he saw around him and incensed after reading
Barbara Ehrenreichs famous works Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch
—books that gave him a feeling of hopelessness over the state of the
working class in America. Eager to see if he could make something out of
nothing, he set out to prove wrong Ehrenreichs theory that those who start
at the bottom stay at the bottom, and to see if the American Dream can still
be a reality.
Shepards plan was simple. Carrying only a sleeping bag, the clothes on
his back, and $25 in cash, and restricted from using previous contacts or
relying on his college education, he set out for a randomly selected city
with one objective: work his way out of homelessness and into a life that

would give him the opportunity for success. His goal was to have, after one
year, $2,500, a working automobile, and a furnished apartment.
But from the start, things didnt go as smoothly as Shepard had planned.
Working his way up from a Charleston, South Carolina homeless shelter
proved to be more difficult than he anticipated, with pressure to take low-
paying, exploitive jobs from labor companies, and a job market that didnt
respond with enthusiasm to homeless applicants. Shepard even began
donating plasma to make fast cash. To his surprise, he found himself
depending most on fellow shelter residents for inspiration and advice.
Earnest, passionate, and hard to put down, Scratch Beginnings is a story
that will not only inspire readers, but will also remind them that success
can come to anyone who is willing to work hard—and that America is still
one of the most hopeful and inspiring countries in the world.
Personal Review: Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search
for the American Dream by Adam W. Shepard
To many folks, the American dream is dead. The idea that working hard
can advance a person beyond their current condition is seen as namby-
pamby optimism. Scratch Beginnings is written to test, and attempt to
disprove, this pessimistic view. Shepard picks a city at random and goes
there with $25 dollars in his pocket, a sleeping bag, and a driving work
ethic to see how far he can get in one year.
As mentioned in his introduction, Shepard wrote this book, in part, as a
reaction to the pessimistic Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in
Americaby self-professed socialist Barbara Ehrenreich. Her experiment
was similar (working "undercover" at low end jobs) but attempts to show
that the lower class cannot get ahead, even with hard work. (On a 20/20
interview, Shepard intimates that he suspects that Ehrenreich inadvertently
sabotages herself so as to reach her desired conclusion.) To counter
Ehrenreich's "won't do" attitude, Shepard brings a "can and will do"
attitude; instead of renting a one bedroom, Shepard sleeps in a homeless
shelter. Instead of complaining, Shepard does whatever he can to get
ahead, taking any job that comes his way.
I don't think I am spoiling the book when I say that Shepard achieves his
goal of ending the year in a place of his own and $2,500 in his pocket.
Through industry, frugality, willingness to ask for help, and sheer positivity,
Shepard rises from (his phrase) "rags to fancier rags." Correct: this is not a
"rags to riches" story, but a story chronicling the good things that can
happen when one applies themselves with patience and perseverance.
Above all, Scratch Beginnings is a book about the importance of work
ethic, industry, frugality, and a positive attitude. Shepard points out several
times the truism that we Americans have become impatient, overly

materialistic, and surprisingly unwilling to do the hard things we sometimes
must do to succeed. Shepard, for instance, shops at the Goodwill even
after he has enough money saved for "good" clothes. He walks a mile to
work rather than spend for bus fare. He works an extra job on Saturdays
even when he doesn't "have" to. He does not often spend on non-
essentials, preferring to save his money for a later day. How many of us
would do these things? (Certainly, Ehrenreich did none of them.)
Scratch Beginnings is a fascinating and uplifting story about one man's
ability to make it armed with nothing but $25 and self-determination. As
naysayers like to point out, Shepard's story can certainly be dismissed as
the atypical result of a very intelligent and lucky individual staying in an
inexpensive city (Charleston, SC). But to do this is to miss Shepard's point:
once we know that such results are possible, it becomes a lot harder to
say that the American dream is dead. Maybe it is just sleeping, waiting for
the ambitious and hard-working to wake it up.
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