I am a first generation American, and not entirely a self-made man. My parents started me off in life in America with every possible resource that they could afford or provide - from good schooling to more important, constant encouragement to patience with my many characteristics and turn as a rebel teenager.
But the unfortunate world that J.D. Vance reveals in his excellent and truly heartbreaking book "Hillbilly Elegy" is one that I know only through some of m friends when I was growing up in Pittsburgh, living in Columbia, South Carolina, Richmond, Virginia or hanging out with friends in Steubenville, Ohio and Morgantown, West Virginia. *What is a Hillbilly *What is an Elegy J.D. (our author) grew up in Appalachian Ohio and Kentucky, in impoverished white neighborhoods where family struggle and disorder was a constant, work was not, and even numerous pawn shops even closed stores. Yes, that poor! Just imagine what it was like for J.D. when he somehow managed - through the high expectations of his grandmother, the order and discipline of the Marines, and his own intelligent - to get himself into Yale Law School. So his life was no longer the experience of the "abandoned son of a man I hardly knew and a woman I wished I didn't" but as a highly sought-after member of America's most elite universities. As a first generation American, early on, I thought of myself as being a stranger in a strange land. Just imagine how J.D. felt. When he was at Yale University, recruiters from law firms were beating a path to his door. "Two years earlier, I had applied to dozens of places in the hope of landing a well-paying job after college but was rebuffed every time," he writes. "After only a year at Yale Law, my classmates and I were being handed six-figures salaries by men who had argued before the US Supreme Court." J.D. shares deeply personal stories like these in his book, but "Hillbilly Elegy" casts light on America's enormous cultural divide - a topic that had become far more important than the author ever imagined when he was writing this book. And not many of us get to see or experience it. I was very excited to read Hillbilly Elegy not just because of the now visible indications for American Politics. But because I was learning about a part of America, we often ignore or neglect. I have always been fascinated by politics and economics. How people move up from the lowest levels of the economic ladder (what experts call mobility from poverty). And pursuing the "American Dream." Although the book doesn't use much data, I truly came away with fresh insights into the multidimensional cultural and family dynamics that add to poverty and much more in this land. Hillbilly Elegy is not just an essential read in today's America; it surprised me too. There is no "how will it end?" -Type mystery was driving this story. I recognized from the start that J.D outlives his rough and for the most part fatherless childhood and lands at Yale Law School. But the book was such a great read in part because of J.D.'s courage and stamina. He learns early in his life that there is "no greater disloyalty than class betrayal." By writing this book, he risks being called a traitor by calling a culture that, in his view, is hurting from self-inflicted wounds. One of the truly most brilliant parts of the book is the part where he admits that his childhood troubles his marriage. "Even at my best, I'm a delayed explosion - I can be defused, but only with skill and precision... In my worst moments, I convince myself that there is no exit." The book is full of interesting characters. My favorites are Vance's grandmother and grandfather, Mamaw and Papaw. J.D.'s half-sister Lindsay is another one. In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. doesn't pretend to be a policy expert or a scholar. He doesn't offer simple solutions either. As I read the book, I imagined disadvantaged and impoverished communities, rural and urban alike in America. The key point for me was the complex realities of poverty in America that we don't get to see much these days. If you want to learn more about the part of America, we don't get to see much, talk about, or understand fully, read Hillbilly Elegy.
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Growing up in Iran, it was mandatory to study Persian literature. I regularly had to memorize Persian poetry and was often examined on it. Not fun at all.
I had a very difficult time relating to Persian literature, particularly poetry and notably Hafiz. I was told by my 6th-grade teacher, that 'Hafiz is this mystical poet that would help us reach a better life.' Those days and for a teenager, a better life didn't have such mystical purpose and memorization of such verses compounded to the misery. Let me briefly introduce you to Hafiz. He is the 14th-century Persian poet. His work is not only beautiful; it is beyond useful in life. Hafiz poetry teaches us how to get the most out of our lives. The man - Hafiz - is one of the most respected and loved poets among Persians. In fact, from Emerson to Goethe and many others have viewed him to be one of the seven literary sensations of the world. Both Emerson and Goethe have translated Hafiz. Emerson stated of Hafiz: "He fears nothing. He sees too far, he sees throughout: such is the only man I wish to see or be." Goethe's extensive study of Hafiz - utterly states, "Hafiz has no peer." Thinking of those days in middle school and how I ought to memorize his poetry as a teenager does not leave me with many pleasant thoughts. Not knowing that many people like Nietzche admired his poetry, even Sherlock Holmes quotes Hafiz. The legendary 19th-century Spanish poetGarcia Lorca praised Hafiz many times. And the musical legend, Brahms was so moved by Hafiz verses that he adopted several in his compositions. Queen Victoria too was said to have consulted Hafiz poetry in times of need. As a tourist in Iran, one will never leave the land without being offered "FAL - E - Hafiz" which is an ancient tradition in which a reader asks Hafiz for advice when facing a hurdle or a critical crossroads in their life. I have taken Fal-e-Hafiz many times, treating Hafiz as an oracle and opening it with a profound wish from my soul for direction. I have a confession to make. I have stopped reading poetry since I attended middle school. Nonetheless, I was reintroduced or candidly introduced to Hafiz last week when I picked up a book in Farsi (my native language) by Masoud Khayam. How I know the author is irrelevant, but how he made Hafiz enter my heart for the first time is deserving of contemplation. Majority of us have been born in the East, in Asia. Poetry has been certainly a favorite literary class for thousands of years in the East. There is a famous Chinese saying coming from Zhao Yi - the historian of Qing dynasty that "the anxiety of the land leads to the emergence of great poets" 国家不幸诗家幸 - or perhaps more literally "when the state is unfortunate, poets are fortunate." In the East, remarkable men like Hafiz and Zhao Yi have observed the phenomenon in which classic works of poetry often appears during times of disaster; war, starvation, dynastic destruction and so on. In the epilogue of his book, Masoud Khayam reminds us that Hafiz lived during the Mongol conquest of Persia. But we are reminded how poetry is perfectly dwelled in times of turmoil and tragedy. When things go wrong, you can trust that poets will find a way to put into words what many are thinking and feeling. What Hafiz and Zhao Yi say to remind us of Sichuan Earthquake of 2008 that killed over 70,000 lives but remarkably an outpouring of poems that widely circulated on the cyber space, in newspapers and on televisions and radio at fundraising events. It was an extraordinary form of writing that followed from emotions and passions. Masoud Khayam's Hafiz book reminded me that we read poetry because the world is more than the facts, laws, and realities. Life is way too short, only poems will make it last a bit longer. |
AuthorRoozbeh, born in Tehran - Iran (March 1984) Archives
April 2024
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