Crumbling American Dreams

The New York Times ^ | AUG 3,2013 | ROBERT D. PUTNAM

[Bigg Red]

...wealthy kids park BMW convertibles in the Port Clinton High School lot next to decrepit “junkers” in which homeless classmates live....

&&
Yeah, right, there are abandoned cars sitting on the school’s parking lot.

What a load of rubbish. Well, this is from the NYT, so, I suppose, it’s a given that there will be lies and distortions.

[snuffy smiff]

A HUGE load of something much smellier than rubbish.

From the comments by Ronnie:

Mr. DeForest,

Rest assured that Mr. Putman’s piece is NOT an accurate picture of Port Clinton, in my opinion. I, too, knew Rev. Harry Holzapfel very well having been a newspaper editor and photographer in Port Clinton from 1970-1980. The photography accompanying the article is an out-an-out hatchet job. (It showed the demolition of an old elementary school but not the modern elementary or junior high schools that opened in the city this past fall. It also showed a dilapidated church that hasn’t been used in, perhaps, 20 years.) As a working journalist these past 43 years (newspapers and magazines), and as a Port Clinton resident since 1970, I can tell with all sincerity that Port Clinton, remains a very nice community. Yes, it could use some fixing up . . . but Mr. Putnam’s rose-colored but devastatingly negative portrayal of Port Clinton reads like something out of Dickens rather than real commentary or real-world reporting.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks. Dickens, indeed.