I try to always read your pieces when they come by, because I learn so much. That, and your rhythmic, passionate storytelling is music in itself. Thank you for doing this invaluable work.
Excellent piece. My mom's family was the quintessential "white trash." A lot of them have been able to move beyond that because of the mobility of the post WW2 years, but there are still plenty of them still in that level of society in the rural South. And I grew up looking down on them. Work like yours as well as some good education in sociology and history has helped me to see how social forces affect life more than we gave it credit for. Thanks for this writing. It really helped enlighten me some more about social class in this country.
It means a lot when people take time to say thanks, and it is always heartening to hear the voices of others who know that that education and writing still matter!
Who, specifically, are these Israeli-Ukrainian oligarchs of whom you write? I thought when you became an oligarch, you “transcended your background”? (Mockery intended, but there it is.)
I wondered if that was meant to be a criticism of Ukraine generally, or just to note that not all Ukrainians are good guys. Which of course is true of every nation.
Thanks for commenting. I have to admit that I hadn't even considered that my remark might be taken in those ways. I had hoped to show how transnational "Big Capital" has no interest in nation-state borders, except insofar as tax policy or environmental legislation might affect their profits. Billionaires change passports the way most people change shoes. People like Kolomoisky can buy a mountain in Mason County, WV, with no regard to the mountain community whose people have lived, worked, and died there for 250 years. Obscenely rich people collaborate with other rich people across borders, while local politicians do their bidding. Politicians also uphold the illusion of democracy as a way to control the "little people". The oligarchs of both Ukraine and Russia are cut from the same cloth. A decent hard-working farmer in Ukraine, or a mechanic in Moscow, are affected by the interactions of Putin, Trump, and Big Capital/oligarchy the same way that a miner in West Virginia is affected. I try to criticize regimes or "gangs" rather than entire countries.
Well said. My father grew up in 1940s Eastern Kentucky, where they didn’t know they’d gone through a depression because they’d always been that poor. One-room school houses, homemade apple jack, and outhouses were his way of life, and hillbilly was a term of endearment to him. I was embarrassed by many of the antics on Hee Haw and The Dukes of Hazzard, but didn’t know why. As I grew up, I figured it out.
Thank you for this. It’s so well written and thought out. Since you spoke of the portrayals of “hillbillies “ on tv, where do you feel a show like “Justified “ fits in?
Sandi, that show's airing coincided with me becoming a father for the first time in my 40s. TV went out the window for a few years! I must give it a look now that the young man is heading off to college.
I try to always read your pieces when they come by, because I learn so much. That, and your rhythmic, passionate storytelling is music in itself. Thank you for doing this invaluable work.
Thank you for the kind words!
Excellent piece. My mom's family was the quintessential "white trash." A lot of them have been able to move beyond that because of the mobility of the post WW2 years, but there are still plenty of them still in that level of society in the rural South. And I grew up looking down on them. Work like yours as well as some good education in sociology and history has helped me to see how social forces affect life more than we gave it credit for. Thanks for this writing. It really helped enlighten me some more about social class in this country.
It means a lot when people take time to say thanks, and it is always heartening to hear the voices of others who know that that education and writing still matter!
Interesting history.
One of your best, ever.
Mind blowing! This is so interesting and an excellent piece of writing as usual!
I remember watching Deliverance and being completely freaked out…I was way too young to be watching it at the time. Thank you for your deep insights!
I never fail to learn something….
Who, specifically, are these Israeli-Ukrainian oligarchs of whom you write? I thought when you became an oligarch, you “transcended your background”? (Mockery intended, but there it is.)
In this case, I was thinking of Ihor Kolomoisky. He's some bucko...
I wondered if that was meant to be a criticism of Ukraine generally, or just to note that not all Ukrainians are good guys. Which of course is true of every nation.
Thanks for commenting. I have to admit that I hadn't even considered that my remark might be taken in those ways. I had hoped to show how transnational "Big Capital" has no interest in nation-state borders, except insofar as tax policy or environmental legislation might affect their profits. Billionaires change passports the way most people change shoes. People like Kolomoisky can buy a mountain in Mason County, WV, with no regard to the mountain community whose people have lived, worked, and died there for 250 years. Obscenely rich people collaborate with other rich people across borders, while local politicians do their bidding. Politicians also uphold the illusion of democracy as a way to control the "little people". The oligarchs of both Ukraine and Russia are cut from the same cloth. A decent hard-working farmer in Ukraine, or a mechanic in Moscow, are affected by the interactions of Putin, Trump, and Big Capital/oligarchy the same way that a miner in West Virginia is affected. I try to criticize regimes or "gangs" rather than entire countries.
Well said. My father grew up in 1940s Eastern Kentucky, where they didn’t know they’d gone through a depression because they’d always been that poor. One-room school houses, homemade apple jack, and outhouses were his way of life, and hillbilly was a term of endearment to him. I was embarrassed by many of the antics on Hee Haw and The Dukes of Hazzard, but didn’t know why. As I grew up, I figured it out.
Gonna have to come back to this one at a quieter moment in my house! 😅
Thank you for this. It’s so well written and thought out. Since you spoke of the portrayals of “hillbillies “ on tv, where do you feel a show like “Justified “ fits in?
Sandi, that show's airing coincided with me becoming a father for the first time in my 40s. TV went out the window for a few years! I must give it a look now that the young man is heading off to college.