Hillbilly Elegy

nickels and dimes for the offense.
Mom didn’t want me to understand
only the rules of football; she wanted me
to understand the strategy. We practiced
on our construction-paper football field,
going over the various contingencies:
What happened if a particular lineman (a
shiny nickel) missed his block? What
could the quarterback (a dime) do if no
receiver (another dime) was open? We
didn’t have chess, but we did have
football.
More than anyone else in my family,
Mom wanted us to be exposed to people
from all walks of life. Her friend Scott
was a kind old gay man who, she later
told me, died unexpectedly. She made