We have got to get out of the mindset that the only way to live a good life in this country, the only way for our children to succeed, is to go to a … - JD Vance

I started to understand that Mamaw saw returning to Jackson as a duty to endure rather than a source of enjoyment. To me, Jackson was about my uncles, and chasing turtles, and finding peace from the instability that plagued my Ohio existence. Jackson gave me a shared home with Mamaw, a three-hour road trip to tell and listen to stories, and a place where everyone knew me as the grandson of the famous Jim and Bonnie Vance. Jackson was something much different to her. It was the place where she sometimes went hungry as a child, from which she ran in the wake of a teenage pregnancy scandal, and where so many of her friends had given their lives in the mines. I wanted to escape to Jackson; she had escaped from it.

Section 8 vouchers ought to be administered in a way that doesn’t segregate the poor into little enclaves.

...Mom equated money with affection...but I never cared about the money. I just wanted her to be healthy.