Our mother and her parents grew up in this country, her folks both hated farming but raised her in Montezuma anyway so she could grow up safe from the dangers of the world. She was valedictorian and went off to Oberlin at 18, where she met my dad. So much for her sheltered life. He was a pianist and assistant dean of men, but it was the cold war and he ended up becoming an expert in Asian studies and a career army intelligence man. Thats where I get my defiance from, my old man. He told me never to follow authority if I know it is wrong -to let my conscience in all cases guide me. He bucked authority once himself and paid dearly, but still believes he did the right thing. Oddly, hes a fox news fanatic in his old age, but god I love him. This is him with his sister -it was the first time in months dad had played, hes been so fatigued. Now hes pledged to practice again every day...anyway, were about halfway between desmoines and grinnell. My grandparents met at grinnell college, BTW.. So my privilege is all from being descended from not just farmera but white settlers, as my grandparents continued the tradition by buying into the sun city retirement scheme to finish pushing the indigenous and people of Mexican descent from their traditional lands, populating the state with white bigots and frightened old people who would build luxury retirement homes in unsustainable deserts without much thought to the consequences. This is where my people come from, on moms side anyway. Lovely people, my grandparents S were, but they voted for arpaio Im sure just the same...
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:52:56 +0000
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