Another gem Kim! So well written, eloquently articulating important issues and their origins. As much as I abhor everything that's going on, it sure has made the covert overt. Willful blindness is a disease we need to eradicate.
Well written, well and factually explained. However, there is so much more for us to want nowadays and so many ways of persuading us that we not only want but need all the tech, the cars, the furniture. the home, the yard and all the gadgets that make our lives easier. We non millionaires are told that we can have it all by paying so
much a month plus interest to
obtain all these essentials. It only takes a few weeks if our income fails for us to become fodder for the courts for non payment. Don’t buy what you don’t need, let necessity be the basis for your shopping list. Don’t fall into the trap of “live now pay later”. Which can end in your complete bankruptcy. Be wise, be careful, be safe!
This is beautiful. And evocative of many places and countries - including my own. The ladder being pulled up behind them happened here too, leading to much the same derision of the ‘lower classes’ and the racism that came with it.
Black farmers were also excluded from programs - for decades - benefitting White farmers. I still don't quite understand how I came to push outside of my social class, recognizing their bubble as a teenager, coming to see it as a lessening of a full life, instead a shrunken world where only those who are an extreme fit may be recognized. Often "punishment" for pulling away was not hatred, but worse, ridicule, becoming a clown. Hatred shows one is taken seriously.
We should be past the time of excluding another based on gender, sex orientation, color, culture, minority religions, social background. Instead, 30% of the U.S. are grasping each other and the current administration with no room for air, trying to keep a death grip on the rest of us.
I am not a liberal; I often think I'm too conservative. However, Mr. Tramp and his minions would view me as an extremist. I resent that they force me to view them as more radically extreme than I.
I can't even verbalize how important this is! I want to see it published everywhere. Pat and Horace could very easily be my former in-laws (who I love deeply) but have forgotten how they got their money, as have their two sons. I read this post outloud to my grandson -- he's almost 14. I have said many times that I refuse to die before he understands how and why people in the US feel and act the way they do. Not to approve or disapprove of the behavior, but to understand how they most likely got there. Thank you for getting him closer. Much love!
Oh boy, Horace and Pat sound like my parents except they were conservative Evangelicals so obeying the government was given the same weight as obeying God, and that mentality is what got us into this mess-- Read Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Du Mez for more on that.
Kim, thank you for this exceptional writing and insight.
This is an amazing piece and exactly what I’ve been trying to articulate. Thank you! I was reading my parent’s lives (and therefore mine) up until Reagan entered the picture. Somehow my blue-collar-auto-workers-union dad and my ERA-sports-playing mom didn’t get that memo. They stayed so cool and liberal. Farm co-op delivery from our garage, recycling in a small suburb of Detroit waaaayyy before it was hip. And at 83 my mom knitted pink pussy hats and wore hers way down at the bottom of Texas! I stand on the shoulders of giants just by chance. It’s infuriating that all the potential of that time was erased by white men terrified of losing their positions.
Thank you for this clear articulation. We need to be constantly reminded.
Another gem Kim! So well written, eloquently articulating important issues and their origins. As much as I abhor everything that's going on, it sure has made the covert overt. Willful blindness is a disease we need to eradicate.
Well written, well and factually explained. However, there is so much more for us to want nowadays and so many ways of persuading us that we not only want but need all the tech, the cars, the furniture. the home, the yard and all the gadgets that make our lives easier. We non millionaires are told that we can have it all by paying so
much a month plus interest to
obtain all these essentials. It only takes a few weeks if our income fails for us to become fodder for the courts for non payment. Don’t buy what you don’t need, let necessity be the basis for your shopping list. Don’t fall into the trap of “live now pay later”. Which can end in your complete bankruptcy. Be wise, be careful, be safe!
I sp very much appreciate your writing. thank you.
This is beautiful. And evocative of many places and countries - including my own. The ladder being pulled up behind them happened here too, leading to much the same derision of the ‘lower classes’ and the racism that came with it.
Black farmers were also excluded from programs - for decades - benefitting White farmers. I still don't quite understand how I came to push outside of my social class, recognizing their bubble as a teenager, coming to see it as a lessening of a full life, instead a shrunken world where only those who are an extreme fit may be recognized. Often "punishment" for pulling away was not hatred, but worse, ridicule, becoming a clown. Hatred shows one is taken seriously.
We should be past the time of excluding another based on gender, sex orientation, color, culture, minority religions, social background. Instead, 30% of the U.S. are grasping each other and the current administration with no room for air, trying to keep a death grip on the rest of us.
I am not a liberal; I often think I'm too conservative. However, Mr. Tramp and his minions would view me as an extremist. I resent that they force me to view them as more radically extreme than I.
Damn. This is some incredible writing. Kim, you never cease to amaze me at how adept you are at hitting the nail squarely on its head.
I can't even verbalize how important this is! I want to see it published everywhere. Pat and Horace could very easily be my former in-laws (who I love deeply) but have forgotten how they got their money, as have their two sons. I read this post outloud to my grandson -- he's almost 14. I have said many times that I refuse to die before he understands how and why people in the US feel and act the way they do. Not to approve or disapprove of the behavior, but to understand how they most likely got there. Thank you for getting him closer. Much love!
This hit me in the sweet spot as a poverty adjacent kid in the 70s. Such a beautiful explanation of how we got to this baffling time.
What a moving post, one that captures the confusion and angst we all feel.
Wow, spot on. Loved it. Seems clear as glass, yet the world can't see it.
Brilliant storytelling, thank you.
Thank you for this. I'm saving it to read again and share.
Oh boy, Horace and Pat sound like my parents except they were conservative Evangelicals so obeying the government was given the same weight as obeying God, and that mentality is what got us into this mess-- Read Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Du Mez for more on that.
Kim, thank you for this exceptional writing and insight.
All too true.
This is an amazing piece and exactly what I’ve been trying to articulate. Thank you! I was reading my parent’s lives (and therefore mine) up until Reagan entered the picture. Somehow my blue-collar-auto-workers-union dad and my ERA-sports-playing mom didn’t get that memo. They stayed so cool and liberal. Farm co-op delivery from our garage, recycling in a small suburb of Detroit waaaayyy before it was hip. And at 83 my mom knitted pink pussy hats and wore hers way down at the bottom of Texas! I stand on the shoulders of giants just by chance. It’s infuriating that all the potential of that time was erased by white men terrified of losing their positions.
This made me smile. Hooray to your parents and their path!