Oh, look. A city girl decided to move to the country. And she still has no idea how real America thinks or how the world works.
Perhaps she should take the time to garden, go fishing, or learn to can food. Perhaps if she could stop condescending long enough to actually do something productive, she would start to understand the real America that ignorant city snobs have so much contempt for.
Do people have reading comprehension problems? She move BACK HOME after living in cities and is rediscovering things like you mention all over again.
Well said.
My guess? If the NYT bothers to follow up in about five years, they will discover that Michelle and her family have decamped for Minneapolis, Portland, or some other larger city, having discovered the rurals had little use for her arts projects and similar activities.
I grew up in a small farming town in Missouri. The kind of place where they rolled up the side walks at eight o’clock and most people were in bed by 10—the night owls stayed up long enough for the late news and Johnny Carson’s monologue on the Tonight Show. It was early-to-bed and early-to-rise because most of the residents worked hard; on the farm, in local factories, or running their own businesses.
By Michelle’s standards, they were probably uncultured and even uncouth, but they build a better life for themselves and their kids, giving them the opportunity to run off to the big city and build a career working for non-profits on projects that, in the larger scheme, don’t amount to a hill of beans.
I don’t make it back to my hometown much anymore. My parents are gone and my brother lives in California. I have a few friends from high school who decided to stay (for whatever reason), and they’ve watched the town slowly fade away. The factories are gone; Wal-Mart closed a couple of years ago and legalized gambling wasn’t the panacea everyone thought it would be (what a surprise). Many of the people who stuck it out no drive 20 or 30 miles (one way) for a decent job. Many have just gone on the dole (perhaps the only growth industry in the area).
Not sure if any Michelles have returned to my little town, but if they did, I’m sure they didn’t stay. Once the grant from the NEA or the NEH ran out, there was no incentive to stick around and do the real work needed to rebuild. Organic peach farming isn’t really an option in an economy built around cotton, wheat and soybeans.