Hillbilly Elegy

Instead, I found myself wondering the
same thing I’d wondered for much of the
past year: whether people like us can
ever truly change.
When Usha and I graduated, the crew
that watched me walk across the stage
numbered eighteen, including my cousins
Denise and Gail, the daughters,
respectively, of Mamaw’s brothers
David and Pet. Usha’s parents and uncle
—fantastic people, though considerably
less rowdy than our crew—made the
trip, too. It was the first time that her
family met mine, and we behaved.
(Though Denise had some choice words
for the modern “art” at the museum we
visited!)