I grew up in the sticks. I lived near a little hamlet, and some changes are upsetting. It was difficult to read about the changes. A natural response would be to assign blame to someone or some group. The piece didn't mention it, but the changes started almost a century ago. They started in the sparsely populated hills where I lived near this little hamlet. Most of the changes were well underway by the time I arrived.
There are a few constants in rural America. You're a long way from your doctor, your durable supplies, and some, if not most, of your food. Of the few folks living in the sticks, most are tied to the land/environment, typically through their livelihood.
Big changes were driven by the operations working to reap the bounty of the land. Those operations grew in size and labor efficiency. In other cases, the fish, the timber, the water, or some other key resource has been strained.
These last factors have had one dramatic impact, a reduction in rural populations. When the wider ranges around a town depopulate, the need for services in the town shrinks. Distances between services grow, more people leave, and so on.
If there's one thing people can feel, it's a death spiral.
This doesn't explain precisely what happened near my old stomping grounds, but the folks living there shared the same pain.
Robert Reich may not have nailed the causes of suffering in rural America, but this piece and you folks got me to think about it.
That Robert Reich article angered me, too. But it's important to remember that he's one of those over-educated people who writes of things that he can't fathom, that he doesn't understand nor wants to understand. He's never made any effort to distinguish between a bustling rural metropolis of 30,000 residents in Kansas, a bustling rural metropolis of 10,000 residents in the Ozarks, a bustling hub of 2,000 people in Vermont, or a poor disadvantaged, isolated old woman 50 miles from the nearest grocery store in Nevada.
Reich can write about rural America like I can write about life in a Chinese mega-city. Like, he shouldn't, because he's never been there.
Im happy to learn about anything that makes writing fun. I mean, it’s not not fun. But I don’t chuckle a lot when I write and this could bring about some good chuckles! Especially the HEARD. I lived there too. 🥰 Thanks for keeping your senses on call!
🙏 I might not have plains, but I do feel you on the windswept.
I grew up in the sticks. I lived near a little hamlet, and some changes are upsetting. It was difficult to read about the changes. A natural response would be to assign blame to someone or some group. The piece didn't mention it, but the changes started almost a century ago. They started in the sparsely populated hills where I lived near this little hamlet. Most of the changes were well underway by the time I arrived.
There are a few constants in rural America. You're a long way from your doctor, your durable supplies, and some, if not most, of your food. Of the few folks living in the sticks, most are tied to the land/environment, typically through their livelihood.
Big changes were driven by the operations working to reap the bounty of the land. Those operations grew in size and labor efficiency. In other cases, the fish, the timber, the water, or some other key resource has been strained.
These last factors have had one dramatic impact, a reduction in rural populations. When the wider ranges around a town depopulate, the need for services in the town shrinks. Distances between services grow, more people leave, and so on.
If there's one thing people can feel, it's a death spiral.
This doesn't explain precisely what happened near my old stomping grounds, but the folks living there shared the same pain.
Robert Reich may not have nailed the causes of suffering in rural America, but this piece and you folks got me to think about it.
Oh, you might want to read/listen to this for complicated royal family prisons... https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/in-the-dark/the-runaway-princesses-episode-1-sisters
It really takes the sheen off the princess fantasy...
That Robert Reich article angered me, too. But it's important to remember that he's one of those over-educated people who writes of things that he can't fathom, that he doesn't understand nor wants to understand. He's never made any effort to distinguish between a bustling rural metropolis of 30,000 residents in Kansas, a bustling rural metropolis of 10,000 residents in the Ozarks, a bustling hub of 2,000 people in Vermont, or a poor disadvantaged, isolated old woman 50 miles from the nearest grocery store in Nevada.
Reich can write about rural America like I can write about life in a Chinese mega-city. Like, he shouldn't, because he's never been there.
Love the format! And it's inspiring me to use it for my journal too.
Im happy to learn about anything that makes writing fun. I mean, it’s not not fun. But I don’t chuckle a lot when I write and this could bring about some good chuckles! Especially the HEARD. I lived there too. 🥰 Thanks for keeping your senses on call!