I first heard about the tent cities from my friend, D. She is one of those folks who always has their hand on the pulse of social and cultural shifts. We were talking about the current state of affairs and what we would do if we ended up homeless. How much could we live on? Where could we go? I mentioned that my family would probably start camping out in the Sierra Nevada foothills if things got that bad. Then D. mentioned that there were already tent cities filled with people who had lost their homes due to job loss and foreclosure. At first, I did not believe her. What are these tent cities you speak of? They are all over the country? Apparently, it was the dirty little secret of the economic downturn. Total Grapes of Wrath and no one in the mainstream media seemed to be talking about it. Fast forward a few months: Leave it to the Big O for producing a show on the whole tent city phenomena.