This past weekend I was listening to music with my two daughters, both born in major cities, but I grew up on the frontier in Pennsylvania between suburbia and small town Appalachia. & hearing the song "Tiny Little Life" by the Okee Dokee Brothers spoke to me about something quite profound, the riddle of life, that all of us are trying to puzzle out no matter where we live or grew up. It's not a book, so it's really more like a conversation opener / appetizer to the main event, than a full-on meal. But I do like the song, and I believe that life is a dance. This song is certainly worth dancing to - https://genius.com/The-okee-dokee-brothers-tiny-little-life-lyrics - and then talking about afterwards.
Demon Copperhead was a love letter from Barbara Kingsolver to Appalachia, and though I don’t have personal ties to that region gave me a curiosity and empathy about the forces you reference that have been transforming and eroding community life there.
In addition to Arlie Hochschild's work, I'd recommend Jennifer Sherman's "Those Who Work, Those Who Don't: Poverty, Morality, and Family in Rural America" (2009). I was not aware of Rebecca Solnit's essay, so thank you for bringing that to my attention! Anything written by her is a treat
You’re probably familiar with it since Arlie Russell Hochschild is from Berkeley, but I thought “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right” offered some interesting insights (and was never harsh).
I was raised on a dirt road in Wood County WV with my four siblings in the 60s and 70s. I have lived and worked and raised a family here continuously since returning home from the DC area in 1989.
Wood County isn't all of WV and I am certainly not necessarily representative even of Wood County.
Bona fides and caveats taken care of, Rachel Maddow isn't the reason we are 50th in the nation in % of college graduates. Neither is Bette Midler. They also didn't make us one of oldest, least diverse populations of any state in the nation.
Paul Krugman didn't stop large areas of the WV coalfields from having access to potable running water for decades right up to today either.
I'm neither hopeless nor hopeful for this place I love. I firmly believe this though: no one is coming to save us. If that's going to happen we have to do it.
Isn't this what "elites" do? Look down on those they consider not good enough. This smacks a bit of a hit dog will holler syndrome. That you might feel unheard that you might be afraid for your children's future does not allow for bigotry, or the shenanigans of trump supporters. We ave I do expect civility even from those with whom I disagree.
This past weekend I was listening to music with my two daughters, both born in major cities, but I grew up on the frontier in Pennsylvania between suburbia and small town Appalachia. & hearing the song "Tiny Little Life" by the Okee Dokee Brothers spoke to me about something quite profound, the riddle of life, that all of us are trying to puzzle out no matter where we live or grew up. It's not a book, so it's really more like a conversation opener / appetizer to the main event, than a full-on meal. But I do like the song, and I believe that life is a dance. This song is certainly worth dancing to - https://genius.com/The-okee-dokee-brothers-tiny-little-life-lyrics - and then talking about afterwards.
Thanks for sharing! The song reminds me a bit of John Prine’s Spanish Pipedream, a song I find I play on repeat whenever I feel dislocated.
Anna, I get so many newsletters and this is one of the very, very few that is really GOOD! Thank you!
Demon Copperhead was a love letter from Barbara Kingsolver to Appalachia, and though I don’t have personal ties to that region gave me a curiosity and empathy about the forces you reference that have been transforming and eroding community life there.
In addition to Arlie Hochschild's work, I'd recommend Jennifer Sherman's "Those Who Work, Those Who Don't: Poverty, Morality, and Family in Rural America" (2009). I was not aware of Rebecca Solnit's essay, so thank you for bringing that to my attention! Anything written by her is a treat
You’re probably familiar with it since Arlie Russell Hochschild is from Berkeley, but I thought “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right” offered some interesting insights (and was never harsh).
I was raised on a dirt road in Wood County WV with my four siblings in the 60s and 70s. I have lived and worked and raised a family here continuously since returning home from the DC area in 1989.
Wood County isn't all of WV and I am certainly not necessarily representative even of Wood County.
Bona fides and caveats taken care of, Rachel Maddow isn't the reason we are 50th in the nation in % of college graduates. Neither is Bette Midler. They also didn't make us one of oldest, least diverse populations of any state in the nation.
Paul Krugman didn't stop large areas of the WV coalfields from having access to potable running water for decades right up to today either.
I'm neither hopeless nor hopeful for this place I love. I firmly believe this though: no one is coming to save us. If that's going to happen we have to do it.
Isn't this what "elites" do? Look down on those they consider not good enough. This smacks a bit of a hit dog will holler syndrome. That you might feel unheard that you might be afraid for your children's future does not allow for bigotry, or the shenanigans of trump supporters. We ave I do expect civility even from those with whom I disagree.
Great podcast from 2 years ago about the strengths of rural America. https://www.brookings.edu/tags/reimagine-rural/.