Hillbilly Elegy

me watch a movie about Ryan White, a
boy not that much older than I was, who
contracted HIV through a blood
transfusion and had to start a legal fight
to return to school. Every time I
complained about school, Mom
reminded me of Ryan White and spoke
about what a blessing it was to get an
education. She was so overcome by
White’s story that she handwrote a letter
to his mother after he died in 1990.
Mom believed deeply in the promise
of education. She was the salutatorian of
her high school class but never made it
to college because Lindsay was born
weeks after Mom graduated from high
school. But she did return to a local