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This kind of story is pretty typical for big city national news media meets rural, Southern small town.
There are certainly tibdits of truth in the story, but it's far from the whole story of a community that a big city reporter was quickly visiting.
It would be like a reporter from rural NC going to New York City and reporting on how the despair of three grown men well past what would be considered the typical "roommate age" (early-mid twenties) in much of the country sharing a dingy, drab apartment in a dicey area that they pay several thousand bucks a month for. And how their little bit of free time (which is minimal because they're having to having to work so many hours to even afford that dingy apartment) is spent waiting in depressing long lines. And how they can never really get some time and space to themselves, because they're always someone around them, behind them, in front of them, etc. , so woe is the pathetic life of a New Yorker. It would be equally as ridiculous to think this tells the whole story of New York, its people, or its entire cultural barometer. These kinds of "you poor country bumpkin" stories come across to me as equally patronizing.
Also, in Wilkesboro's defense, just in passing through there (and maybe it was just my good luck when I did), it seems to be one of the more polite towns in North Carolina (people holding the door open for you, being very approachable, etc.).
Cheap shots by the NYT with all its convenient, lazy "observations," but let's be honest, Wilkes has been tip-toeing out of a difficult "recovery" for over a decade. When that track closed to NASCAR races, that was the death knell.
I read the article and didn't see anything wrong with it. Basically it was written through the prism of the young man Kody Foster. Regardless of the emphasis on the negative side, most of it is true and reflects the state of most of NC's 100 counties. Job loss, population loss, and endemic economic growth. Basically people don't like when "outsiders" point out the bad and the ugly!
Job loss, population loss, and endemic economic growth.
Believe me, it could be a LOT worse. I don't know about those other rural counties in NC, but I grew up in eastern NC (which rightfully has the reputation of the problems you listed) and after living in southside Virginia the last few years, I have no problem saying that the economy in southside VA (especially the Martinsville/Danville region) makes eastern NC's economy look nearly as good as the Triangle's. I mean this place is f'n dead. I'm not saying there aren't serious problems in eastern NC, but it could definitely be a lot worse. At least eastern NC has a chance to recover, especially now that CSX is wanting to build their rail hub along I-95 and they have two future interstates, along with the future extension of I-795 from Goldsboro to I-40, which could help lure businesses and jobs if the cities and towns play their cards right. Southside VA is just dead, period. Count your blessings...
Believe me, it could be a LOT worse. I don't know about those other rural counties in NC, but I grew up in eastern NC (which rightfully has the reputation of the problems you listed) and after living in southside Virginia the last few years, I have no problem saying that the economy in southside VA (especially the Martinsville/Danville region) makes eastern NC's economy look nearly as good as the Triangle's. I mean this place is f'n dead. I'm not saying there aren't serious problems in eastern NC, but it could definitely be a lot worse. At least eastern NC has a chance to recover, especially now that CSX is wanting to build their rail hub along I-95 and they have two future interstates, along with the future extension of I-795 from Goldsboro to I-40, which could help lure businesses and jobs if the cities and towns play their cards right. Southside VA is just dead, period. Count your blessings...
I love nature space and wildlife and dislike rat race sprawl and urban density so I get what your saying but sometimes the "deadness" creates what's appealing to me
I love nature space and wildlife and dislike rat race sprawl and urban density so I get what your saying but sometimes the "deadness" creates what's appealing to me
The article is very accurate. Wilkes County is indicative of the plight of most of rural America today. The declining population of that segment of America is a testament of the despair that predominates there.
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