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This hits home for me particularly well as a rural American myself who migrated to a major city to get some job skills, then moved back when a job opportunity opened up. Though I'm older than the people in this article, I see many of my school friends and peers who have never left the general area - some wanting to, some not - and many, many people under 50 or so are truly struggling to make ends meet.
I've seen rural and small towns drying up all over the areas of the South and Midwest that I've lived in. Many rural residents, without the ability to truly take care of themselves financially, are turning to drugs and other unproductive outlets for their frustrations.
Those who want to leave often can't. When I got my first job outside the area, I basically packed up and go, but I was still earning over the local median income and was single. I can't imagine how someone low income, two low income people, or someone with kids can do this.
Many rural residents are basically isolated from mainstream America. You see this locally here. We may get a national chain ten years after it becomes popular in mid-major metros if we ever do. Many things don't seem to have changed since I was a kid in the 1990s. In many ways, things are a timewarp. Rural and small town residents are often unaware of what it takes to compete in the modern labor market.
These are sad times for rural and small town America.
The only option really is to gain 21st century job skills and move. Of course this is much easier said than done for many people. Many of those who get left behind during the mass exodus after high school graduation usually have issues, and will likely find themselves in serious economic trouble.
Could they have picked less sympathetic protagonists to the story if they tried?
The girl with the swimming scholarship clearly suffers from a syndrome of failure to launch and a bad case of the snowflakes. Left college after 1 week to move back home because not everyone's values aligned with hers? What is this, summer camp? Tried a different college, but dropped out because she was asked to write a paper about Trump (admittedly, the subject matter shows another problem - the liberal invasion of academia - but she could have done that project by simply flipping the script of the paper to suit her tastes). Tried a THIRD college, and then dropped out of that one because her fellow students would smoke pot and have sex? The whole point of the story was a lack of mobility, but this girl got out THREE TIMES and just kept coming back home because she can't handle the concept that people will not be exactly like her. It's ironic that her dream is to move to Denver, given her incapability to be able to put up with diverse sets of values.
The guy who got his house foreclosed on basically admits he likes living in low income housing because he doesn't have to work to maintain it.
Another guy decided to not move to the city because a panhandler asked him for money.
The only person they found that comes off as sympathetic is the mother who genuinely seems to be trying to get out, but can't make the money line up. This entire article is a case study in why it's a bad thing to raise humans who can't adapt.
Could they have picked less sympathetic protagonists to the story if they tried?
Yeah, part of life is learning how to deal with people that don't agree with you on every relatively unimportant minor detail. College is a nice, safe environment to do that in. I had to write a paper on on Naomi Wolfe's beauty myth. It was one of the stupidest drivel pieces I've ever read. I ended up getting extra credit on the paper because I went the opposite direction that most of the people in the class did and said I thought it was complete crap from a liberal feminist lecturer. Even if you are a Trump supporter though, it's not like it would be hard to do the assignment and write about why Trump would make a bad President. You could write the same paper about anyone running for President. They all have weaknesses. You have to be a pretty braindead mewling sheep to not be able to write that paper. Or as you say, you can turn the topic around and say some things that would make him a bad President but then defend your position as a Trump supporter despite the things that would make him a bad President. Mission accomplished.
It's difficult to find sympathetic protagonists though as they're the ones that left. The ones remaining behind either don't want to leave, and thus don't fit the narrative, or are likewise full of excuses and thus not very sympathetic. Both sides of my family moved out to California from rural areas during the great depression. On one side I'm from Okie stock, on the other rural Massachusetts.
One huge problem for these young people is the cost of rent.
For example, here in Colorado, the rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is about $1200 per month. So to pay the first and last months rent plus a deposit requires about $2700 up front with a verifiable income stream from a verifiable job. It also requires a clean credit and criminal record.
A person with a high school diploma would find it very difficult to make it without financial help from their family. Also, their family likely would prefer that they not move away.
One huge problem for these young people is the cost of rent.
For example, here in Colorado, the rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is about $1200 per month. So to pay the first and last months rent plus a deposit requires about $2700 up front with a verifiable income stream from a verifiable job. It also requires a clean credit and criminal record.
A person with a high school diploma would find it very difficult to make it without financial help from their family. Also, their family likely would prefer that they not move away.
If all you have is a HS diploma and limited skills you're better off staying rural where the COL is low.
One huge problem for these young people is the cost of rent.
For example, here in Colorado, the rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is about $1200 per month. So to pay the first and last months rent plus a deposit requires about $2700 up front with a verifiable income stream from a verifiable job. It also requires a clean credit and criminal record.
A person with a high school diploma would find it very difficult to make it without financial help from their family. Also, their family likely would prefer that they not move away.
Yep, around here you can get an apartment for about $600/month, sometimes you can find a house in an outlying area for that.
If all you're making is $10-$12/hr, it's difficult to even come up with that money to move.
If all you have is a HS diploma and limited skills you're better off staying rural where the COL is low.
Or, if fortunate enough to get a ticket out via college scholarship (like the young woman in the article) you suck it up, adapt as best as you can, do your assignments, and earn that degree.
Making ones way in the world has always been hard for those who have no safety net.
Taylor Tibbet wants to go around promoting red bull now....does she even know what is expected of her? Will it be an issue with her conservative belief?
Taylor Tibbet wants to go around promoting red bull now....does she even know what is expected of her? Will it be an issue with her conservative belief?
That was the other bizarre thing. It sounds like she was raised on a diet of Jesus and sacramental wine. So much so that the thought of smoking weed and having sex in a college campus was so terrifying and ungodly to her that she went running back to mommy. And her "dream" is to go be a booth babe throwing cans of Red Bull at a bunch of testosterone overladen men that are going to feel her up and proposition her at every turn?
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