Youngstown has certainly got a lot of attention in the media during the past year of political candidates running around the country, trying to make their case for why they should be president. I’ve seen articles from the New York Times to Japan’s version of the Wall Street Journal, and television reports from French and German and Australian channels. But I came across this video from Time Magazine today which features the little farm town I grew up in, Kinsman.
I resonate with much of what is presented in the video, although I’m not sure some of the spokespeople selected have much experience in urban settings to be able to recognize the same sort of kinship and aspects of community kindness that he feels is inherent to rural living. However, Sherry Linkon, co-director of Youngstown State University’s Center for Working Class Studies, speaks in this article as well, with some insightful commentary.
In any case, for those of you who might have thought I grew up in Youngstown, nope, I just went to college there and have made it my home more or less (between stints in California, Michigan, and Japan) ever since. Here is where I grew up. Old fashioned Ray Bradbury country.
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