what I remember most of all is that I was happy — I no longer feared the school bell at the end of the day, I knew where I’d be living the next month… - JD Vance

She’s not doing a very good job.

With all due respect to those people, I think that theory is a load of bullshit. Whatever talents I have, I almost squandered until a handful of loving people rescued me.

Despite its reputation, Appalachia — especially northern Alabama and Georgia to southern Ohio — has far lower church attendance than the Midwest, parts of the Mountain West, and much of the space between Michigan and Montana. Oddly enough, we think we attend church more than we actually do. In a recent Gallup poll, Southerners and Midwesterners reported the highest rates of church attendance in the country. Yet actual church attendance is much lower in the South.