This morning I was reading the story of Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel. Boyfriend and girlfriend, Mieth and Hagel immigrated from Germany to America in 1929. They became two of the more important photographers to document the indigent and immigrant worker populations in the years during and following the depression.

While they produced some stunning photographs, it was their lifestyle that made me think. Otto Hagel took a job as a deckhand on a freighter, and jumped ship once he arrived in the United States. From that point, Otto took odd jobs as a window washer and laborer, making his way across the country from Baltimore to San Francisco.

Would it be possible to do such a thing today? Ignore the difficulty of immigration. Would it be possible to live entirely off of the world's radar? Work for cash, pay for everything with cash, yet make a living?

Can a person still exist in the United States without being numbered, cataloged, tracked, and counted?