Maggie 7.5
Upon hearing that many people in poverty vote Republican, Maggie chose this to try and understand why. She found it an easy read. Their lot in life results mainly from bad life decisions that have perpetuated themselves into learned cultural behavior. There's no encouragement to do well in school. Laziness, a lack of opportunity, drug and alcohol abuse, and violent responses to stress help create an insular community that relies heavily on loyalty, patriotism, and Evangelicalism to cope. It made some sense to her when she read that Hillbillies were of Scots/Irish descent since those countries are some hard drinking nations. She found it interesting that this region used to be Democratic but eventually gravitated towards Republicans with their emphasis on guns, God, and country. They see Democrats as proponents of interfering big government which promotes social decay and the welfare state, somehow ignoring the fact that they're often the ones benefitting from welfare. Industries moved for cheaper labor leaving them with no jobs. Trump exploited these feelings of abandonment and anger to his advantage. Maggie is tired of hearing about the Middle Class. It's the poor who need help, NOT the Middle Class. Too many poor in the US are left to fend for themselves, living in a constant state of fight or flight, addicted to substances and often using the concept of addiction as a disease as a crutch so they can blame others and not take responsibility for their actions surrounding the addiction.
Sandy 4
Ranted and raved to Jeff how much she hated the author who she described as a whiny, selfish, conservative that she wanted to punch. She found his writing poor and, "Oh My Gawd! if he said 'hillbilly' one more time!" Played the hillbilly card over and over again and exaggerated millions of things. For example the eight pairs of eyes that stared at him from behind the windows as he walked down the street. BS. She had a hard time believing his stories. How does one deal with generation after generation of ignorance? Thought he was blaming the schools for poor graduation rates which she can't stand. Schools aren't there to be parents. That's not their job! Liked the quote by the teacher who said, "We're shepherds to kids raised by wolves." Thought he was saying that his town and experiences with poverty were unique, and she strongly disagrees. Found Mawmaw an awful person, but fun to read about. Thought JD was inconsistent, proclaiming that he had no choices, but he did! Was able to bounce back and forth between Mawmaw, his Mom and bio-dad. Took issue with his references to studies throughout the book but listed none in an appendix. The solution to all these problems is more schools with more teachers and more counselors, but no, we won't do this. Was surprised to find that the military was not made up of primarily low income people. Looked up the math and literacy scores of her home town high school and they almost made her cry: Math Proficiency - 15% Reading Proficiency - 27%.
Becky 5.5
Found this somewhat disjointed though his social commentary made her stop and think. It provided a white working class perspective she doesn't have. He embraced the Kentucky Hillbilly mentality though was able to eventually look at himself in the mirror when so many others weren't. For example, rather than acknowledging the problem of Mountain Dew Mouth many were just upset at having the problem exposed. She saw them as poor, unhealthy, mean folk, who don't want to be judged. They seemed to always be thinking of loyalty, honor, toughness, and hillbilly justice, ready to fight at a perceived slight, and proud of their feuds. Mawmaw was a horrendous mother but tried to make up for it as a grandma, 'Get good grades, get a job, or get off your ass and help me." JD's mom was a nightmare, imagine asking your own kid for clean urine or being jealous of family members getting along with each other. Becky saw that there were two general types of hillbillies, those who were hard working and those who weren't and blamed everyone else for their problems. Lots to think about, felt sort of hopeless while reading it.
Carolyn 4
Thought it moved too slowly. The same things kept happening over and over again. Part of teacher training is often a poverty training workshop (NPR survey along the same lines) in which you learn about the socio-economic norms of those living in poverty, and how they often conflict with those of teachers who are decidedly middle to upper-middle class. People in poverty often see money as something to be spent right away, so it makes sense (to them) to have the latest XBox or $200 shoes while we shake our heads. Another somewhat recent development in teacher training is to be 'trauma informed' which helps you understand why some kids respond to seemingly normal interactions abnormally. JD briefly mentioned the Adverse Childhood Experiences quiz. The higher your score, the more trauma you endured as a child which can have lifelong consequences. Carolyn shared Mawmaw's consternation that we can afford multi billion dollar aircraft carriers, but can't help people sleeping on the street. Was curious about why JD's reading material at 16 was social policy among the working poor. She liked that people helped him appreciate reading and learning. It's good to be reminded of how others live.
K'Lynn
Pat 6
I enjoyed his voice. His calm, sensible telling of the chaos that surrounded him made the material and subjects approachable. Taking difficult material and making it simple to access is tough. I thought he was able to distill large amounts of emotional material with remarkable self-analysis. I listened to Malcom Gladwell's Outliers several years ago and was reminded of a study they did to test if people from the South were in general more willing fight than those from the North. They were, and it was very interesting. See Part 3. Overall the story left me wanting more, but not in a good way. After his Pawpaw died the story continued, but I didn't get much of a feel for why he was making the choices he was making, which would have been interesting. Deciding to enlist in the Marines, deciding to apply for Yale, these huge decisions were told with the same sort of detached style that he used to relate his family life, but it fell short of giving any real perspective on why he made these decisions. While reading this I often thought of the documentary, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, which I highly recommend. It's an amazing train wreck of hillbilly humanity. You can find it on YouTube for $1.99
Pat 6
I enjoyed his voice. His calm, sensible telling of the chaos that surrounded him made the material and subjects approachable. Taking difficult material and making it simple to access is tough. I thought he was able to distill large amounts of emotional material with remarkable self-analysis. I listened to Malcom Gladwell's Outliers several years ago and was reminded of a study they did to test if people from the South were in general more willing fight than those from the North. They were, and it was very interesting. See Part 3. Overall the story left me wanting more, but not in a good way. After his Pawpaw died the story continued, but I didn't get much of a feel for why he was making the choices he was making, which would have been interesting. Deciding to enlist in the Marines, deciding to apply for Yale, these huge decisions were told with the same sort of detached style that he used to relate his family life, but it fell short of giving any real perspective on why he made these decisions. While reading this I often thought of the documentary, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, which I highly recommend. It's an amazing train wreck of hillbilly humanity. You can find it on YouTube for $1.99
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