Hillbilly Elegy

disappearing—even when locked up—
from her front porch. She feared
answering her door toward the end of
her life because an able-bodied woman
who lived next door would not stop
bothering her for cash—money, we later
learned, for drugs. These problems were
not created by governments or
corporations or anyone else. We created
them, and only we can fix them.
We don’t need to live like the elites
of California, New York, or Washington,
D.C. We don’t need to work a hundred
hours a week at law firms and
investment banks. We don’t need to
socialize at cocktail parties. We do need
to create a space for the J.D.s and Brians