Just Read: “Paper Girl” (Macy)

How can I judge a book written about my hometown and people I know? 

Admittedly I was apprehensive to read this. I’m always a bit wary of writing seeking to explain the rustbelt as they tend to be overly reductive and turning into some variation of good (educated, liberal) vs bad (no college degree, conservative) and written almost entirely to make “good” coastal urbanites feel superior but not guilty. 

Of course I can’t be fair here. What can be written in a few hundred pages that comes close to capturing people that I actually know. Is it even possible to have any sort of message without reducing people and situations into points within a narrative? 

But the author is also from my hometown (but moved away long before most of the things described). Even I went away to college in 2016 and haven’t really spent a lot of time there since. So maybe we’re on the same page? But I can’t tell if it feels more despondent or I’m just used to living in a wealthy college town where public school students have to choose which Ivy League school to attend while I thought we were lucky to have AP classes at all. 

I’ll try to be fair and say that Beth Macy tries to be fair even if it does generally fit the mold. People from Urbana are either 1) crazy Q-anon supporters, 2) apathetic, or 3) the overachieving saviors. Academics are brought in to explain the overall economic changes (oh and David Axelrod???). There is hope for the community but also resistance to any change that would require admitting there’s a problem. The solution? That liberals can’t just ignore these people they consider uneducated xenophobes without consequences (even if they’re generally painted as uneducated xenophobes). But have no fear, a few heartfelt conversations can end political polarization! 

In many ways it was difficult to read about terrible situations that were probably happening when I lived there without noticing them. However, it’s all just a little too simple. Maybe this is what I expected–everything is just a little too clearcut for reality.  The people doing good are not perfect saints and those standing in the way are not necessarily malicious.

I do appreciate that this book isn’t really ragging on my hometown and using it as an example of everything wrong with America (there’s an effort at objectivity and a clear affinity the author has for her time there and the connections still maintained). In many ways it isn’t really scratching below the surface which leads to too much of a narrative of good saviors fighting bad people in power. 

Despite the authors criticism of such attempts, this does read like a book written for coastal audiences to understand while maintaining a sense of superiority. But fear not, she’s “from there” and highlights a few points of good against the apathetic and grotesque. Or maybe I’m a “country clubber” who just can’t face the reality because it wasn’t so bad for me. And maybe I would’ve felt quite differently if it didn’t seem to personal. 

A few big points: 

1. There is a  strange acceptance that the only way to improve situations is to have a few saviors going above an beyond, fighting the powers that be to achieve any sort of improvement for the community. But teachers shouldn’t have to be social workers and social workers shouldn’t have to be parents. There’s almost no consideration that systems should be in place. Or about how funding for schools and many social services happens at the local level which means that there often aren’t resources for poorer areas. It should be strange to people living in larger cities that the resources simply aren’t there. 
2. Many of the more extreme political views are linked to Donald Trump but the issues existed during Obama’s presidency. These views and the level of polarization/ideological isolation didn’t come from nowhere in 2016 but transformed from general resistance to actively bolstering a leader. 
3. While there is discussion about how many of Urbana’s youth simply don’t seem to want to improve their situation because they don’t believe it will get better, there is very little discussion about this trend on a national level. While it may manifest differently in lower-income, rural areas, there is a general impression among “Zillennials” and Gen-Z that homeownership and financial stability are unlikely as the cost of living continues to increase but wages don’t keep pace. Or do they just “not want to work”? 
4. What’s going on with the parents? Seemingly little attempt was made to hear their side. If things are really this bad then why are they unable to support their children? Why won’t they show up to work? What’s driven them to drug use?
5. A lot of the blame for political polarization is blamed on the loss of local news but very little focus is placed on social media which incentivizes inflammatory content which drives engagement. 

Several minor points: 

1. When focusing on the youth, it seems like everyone is living in abject poverty with a (step) parent who is either an addict or touchy. But it’s quite hard to tell how common this is and what outcomes look like for the children of more affluent (relative) youth. It just felt gratuitous at times.
2. What about the actual social services? It seems like one man is trying to fix everything but there’s only some abstract concept of CPS and really none of social workers. Are there enough? Do they have resources? This is brought up in a criticism of the youth center but not addressed.
3. What’s going on with the rest of the education system? Is everyone pointing fingers like the superintendent? Are things being held together by a truancy officer and a couple of people going above and beyond their job description (and maybe professional boundaries)? If students never show up how can more specific issues even be noticed/reported? There is only a brief mention of statewide regulations making this a slow process although it seems to be almost the crux of the issue.
4. A resilient community should also be able to bring back people who left for a degree. Despite interviewing someone working in economic development it’s unclear if steps are being taken to bring better paying jobs to the area.