American Dream

The world is changing so fast and some of it is so nasty, it's easy to forget the American Dream. It might be hard to define it, so 20 people have 20 definitions.

Danbury.patch.com is looking for American Dream stories. A whole slew of them. The ones that came true and the ones that turned into nightmares. This is going to happen nationwide through 900 Patch sites, and what I'm looking for are the stories in Danbury.

You saw that "Room for Rent," sign next door to your house? Remember the family that disappeared from that apartment at night a year or so back? They left the furniture on the lawn. What happened to their American Dream? How's that landlord doing today? Someone in that family worked somewhere. How is that business doing today? Is everybody's American Dream still intact?

Sometimes the American Dream came true because people met and overcame problems. It probably isn't a fantasy dream or even a nightmare. Maybe somewhere in-between. Hard work saw them through it. In tough times, people learn lessons about how to survive in those times, and they'll be just fine when happy days are here again.

Survival may be part of the American Dream. We're also looking for stories about making it through. Is your dream still alive? Are you living the dream? Will you be living the dream if you can hang on for another five years? That's all it will take? Did you give up the dream?

I'd like to write about those issues and hear your story. How did you do it? How is it going? What made your American Dream happen? What killed it?

Let me know. This is part of a nationwide effort by patch.com called "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream."