COWBOY HIDEOUT
Personal Project (Excerpt)
I met this cowboy at high noon. Face lined with every hard road he’d ever walked. His eyes did all the talking, deep and cold, like he’d seen it all and wasn’t fazed by any of it...
Growing up in Italy, I used to watch old westerns on TV—Clint Eastwood squinting into the sun, dusty saloons, endless deserts. The cowboy always felt like a myth, something that existed only on screen. I’d never seen that kind of life in person; it felt as far away as Mars.
Years later, driving through the American Southwest, that myth suddenly became real. I’d stop at gas stations in the middle of nowhere and see men who looked like they’d stepped right out of those films—sunburnt skin, beat-up trucks, clothes that looked like they’d been lived in for decades. But they weren’t movie heroes. Some were kind, some were rough, most were just tired.
The cowboy life I saw wasn’t glamorous. It was hard work, long hours, dirt under the nails, and a lot of solitude.
Yet, something about it pulled me in.
Cowboys seem to have their life figured out in a way that feels rare today. They don’t worry about likes or opinions. There’s a kind of peace in that.
For young guys trying to figure out their place in the world, that kind of confidence and calm feels powerful.
hgh
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