Movies: Rush (1991)

On By H.P.In TV/Film4 Comments

I love 70s movies.  This is a topic I will return to.  The most relevant reason for my love of 70s cinema is that it was the last time Hollywood dealt regularly and evenly with the rural working class.  My original choice for this week was the Burt Reynolds vehicle Gator (available to stream for free with Amazon Prime), but I wound up rewatching Rush with my wife’s family, so Rush it is.  Rush was made in 1991, but it is a 70s movie in more than setting.  And it is a period piece that doesn’t commit the usual sin of getting cutesy and clever about it.

Rush takes place in 1975. Rush is based on a largely autobiographical novel inspired by Kim Wozencraft’s stint as a narc in Tyler, Texas, but the movie is set in an undisclosed location that is probably somewhere on the Gulf coast between Houston and Corpus.

Kristen Cates, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, is a rookie narcotics officer is paired up with veteran officer Jim Raynor, played by Jason Patric.  Jim isn’t old, but after going for early-career Jim Morrison in The Lost Boys, Jason Patric goes for late-career Jim Morrison here, and like late-career Jim Morrison, Jim Raynor wears his years pretty damn heavy.

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Nonfiction: White Working Class by Joan Williams

On By H.P.In Nonfiction8 Comments

I learned two things when I opened White Working Class.  One, I am a class migrant (“someone who has moved from one class to another”).  Two, apparently I’m not working class at all, and never was.  Williams curiously defines “working class” to mean middle class.

She defines working class as: “Americans . . . with household incomes above the bottom third but below the top 20%.”  She adds in as well “families with higher incomes but no college graduates,” highlighting the increasing relevance of education to class in America.  This results in a range of family incomes from $41,005 to $131,962.  Williams has a point when she says that almost all Americans consider themselves middle class.  But calling couples who make $130,000 a year “working class” is silly.  Williams contrasts the working class with “elites,” i.e., “Americans with household incomes in the top 20% and at least one member who is a college graduate.”  This elite is largely a professional and managerial elite (PME).

By this measure I was only working class for a brief few years between grad school and law school.  Otherwise I have been poor or elite my entire life.

(I don’t like Williams’ definition, but for the purposes of this post, when I say “working class,” I mean working class as she defines it.)

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July 2018 Month-in-Review

On By H.P.In OddmentsLeave a comment

Check out what has been happening over at the other blog, find out just how little reading I’ve been doing this summer, and learn what the top five posts were at Hillbilly Highways in July.

Every Day Should Be Tuesday

July was a good blog month and a bad reading month.  After reading fourteen books (not include two DNFs) last July, this July I only managed to read four books.  But despite a very busy work schedule and still being the primary-baby-taker-carer-of for a four-month-old not yet in daycare, I managed to keep both blogs humming.  I had my best month ever at Every Day Should Be Tuesday, including the most unique visitors by a wide margin.  I also had my best month ever at Hillbilly Highways.  I mean, it was only my second blog month there, but still, improvement!  I am no longer reblogging all of my Hillbilly Highways posts here, so if the new blog sounds like something that would be up your alley, please give it a direct follow or follow the Facebook page.  I will also be linking to the top five posts at…

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Music Monday: Dwight Yoakam by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

On By H.P.In MusicLeave a comment

Speaking of sinful omissions from Music Monday, my wife is going to kill me when she finds out I’ve gone two months without singing the praises of Dwight Yoakam.  But, if only to avoid having to change the subtitle of my blog from “Texas Country” to “Kentucky Country,” I’m going to leave the Kentucky boys be and show some love to my home state instead.

Sarah Shook grew up in a fundamentalist household, fell in with the right wrong element when she moved to North Carolina, and looks like a character from a country noir story.  And she kinda sings like Dwight Yoakam with a little more Hank and writes like Chris Knight.

Pic by Jillian Clark

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