StrangeSox Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 http://prospect.org/article/pressing-upward-way/ (much more at the link) By her second semester of college, in the spring of 2008, Sue Christian was about as tired as she’d ever been in her 40 years. It wasn’t that her studies kept her working hard; she was used to long hours. It wasn’t that she was missing her salary; she was already good at fretting over bills. It wasn’t that the daily trip from her home in Booneville, Kentucky, was more than an hour long, a drive that, when rains washed out a one-lane bridge, took her over the nauseating Hatton Holler Mountain. It was more that, listening to lecture after lecture in crowded classrooms with people half her age, Sue felt her brain was stretched as far as it would go. “I thought, ‘I’m so dumb, I’m not good at college,’” she says. “Professors seemed to be more focused toward that age group fresh out of high school. So, if you’re past that, it’s like, ‘Catch up or get out.’” Going to college was an accident of timing. The previous spring, SourceCorp, the data-entry company where Sue worked, had closed, which had come as a shock. The company had received a five-year contract from the federal government, but a year and a half into it, the company shut down its Booneville office. “It’s like these data-entry companies either work you to death or lay you off,” Sue told her husband, J.C. Since the age of 15, Sue had used her only marketable skill—typing fast—to get minimum-wage jobs at data-entry companies. They were the only ones around. While her two children, Kody and Ciara, were in elementary school, she often worked the second shift to earn night pay. For most of their adult lives, the Christians have made less than $22,113 a year, the poverty line for a family of four. This makes them like a lot of families in Owsley County, where 40 percent of the population lives in poverty and 30 percent lives just above it. More families rely on food stamps than make the national median household income of $49,445. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 11:01 AM) http://prospect.org/article/pressing-upward-way/ (much more at the link) What a decision to have two children while making minimum wage. No mistakes though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) I'm pretty sure the moral of that story is that only the wealthy deserve to procreate. eta: the "moral" of the story is simply a profile of the life of American rural poor as experienced by one family. Edited July 11, 2012 by StrangeSox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) I'm pretty sure the moral of that story is that only the wealthy deserve to procreate. Only reality says the wealthy/well to do that can actually afford it do so far less often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) I'm pretty sure the moral of that story is that only the wealthy deserve to procreate. Yeah, what a terrible thing to think - when you're a parent you should be able to provide basic things for your kids. The horror! Seriously though, she made minimum wage since she was 15 living in one of the poorest counties in the country. She did nothing in her life to advance herself to be able to have children. It's the epitome of irresponsibility. Why the hell should I feel sorry for her? It's not like it was one mistake, but two! How do you not have a conversation with your husband about this? Wife: "You know husband, I'd really like to have a kid." Husband: "Yeah, but we don't make any money." Wife: "Well, we could hold off until we have some savings, or we could go to college or a technical school to make some decent money......NAH, f*** it, let's just have a kid. Hell let's have two!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenksismyhero Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) I'm pretty sure the moral of that story is that only the wealthy deserve to procreate. eta: the "moral" of the story is simply a profile of the life of American rural poor as experienced by one family. No doubt, and that's a problem I recognize. I just get tired of reading these stories and no one ever talks about the fact that these people shouldn't be having kids in the first place. That's put them in an insurmountable position in life before they even get started. That should be part of the education of the issue but it never is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I thought it was kind of sad how she pressured her daughter into going to a college closer to home and trying to find a job closer to home instead of letting her go out into the world and making something of herself. It also bothered Sue that Ciara was so dead set on majoring in broadcasting. Broadcasting would take Ciara far away. Ciara was as ready to leave as Kody had been. By early 2012, she’d settled on Morehead State University, but Sue didn’t like Morehead—it was liberal and the kind of place where Ciara would forget who she was—so she worked on Ciara to change her mind. As Ciara moved toward graduation, she decided to go to the University of the Cumberlands, a Christian school near the Tennessee border. She also decided that she’d become a 4-H agent. Ciara had always loved 4-H. Sue liked that, as long as it was what she really wanted to do, because it meant Ciara might work close to home after college. Kinda crushing her daughter's dreams there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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