Hillbilly Elegy

like to move, you can’t, because the
bottom has fallen out of the market—you
now owe more than any buyer is willing
to pay. The costs of moving are so high
that many people stay put. Of course, the
people trapped are usually those with
the least money; those who can afford to
leave do so.
City leaders have tried in vain to
revive Middletown’s downtown. You’ll
find their most infamous effort if you
follow Central Avenue to its end point
on the banks of the Miami River, once a
lovely place. For reasons I can’t begin
to fathom, the city’s brain trust decided
to turn our beautiful riverfront into Lake
Middletown, an infrastructural project