My Trip to Kansas and a practical suggestion for outreach

[Mizmoon]

Since we've been yapping so much about the "heartland", I thought I'd share a few highlights from my trip to Kansas a few years ago. At the end of this missive, I even make a practical suggestion! Amen!

I have relatives in Kansas ... ones that live way in a deep rural area ... think 2 hour drive from the Wichita Airport kind of far out rural.

The first thing we saw as we drove down the highway was a cross made of telephone poles that was erected in someone's yard. It was immense. In the center was a piece of plywood with the image of a fetus in the center.

When we got there, I was amazed at how fat everyone was. I know that's cruel, but it was true that nearly ever person I saw had about 100 lbs. on me. I assumed they were eating well seeing how it was farm country and all, but they served us lunch and every single item was from a can, even the veggies. WTF?

The relative I met was the same age as my grandmother in NY, but she looked about a million times older. She was all bent over from osteoperosis. I felt very bad for her.

I noticed that while we wore some small gold necklaces and whatnot, they wore none. I started to feel a little embarassed by all of our jewelry.

When we got 'to town', I was appauled. "Town" consisted of three streets of boarded up stores. There were only three businesses left: a "grocery store" that was about as well stocked as a NY 7-11, a feed store that sold gas too, and a bar. THat's all that was left from their pre-Great Depression heyday.

I met my cousin who, though only in her early 20s, had already served in the Air Force and been discharged. She had no idea what she was going to do with her life. She wanted to do something interesting and big, but had no idea how to move forward or what it was that she wanted. She mentioned that nearly everyone she had graduated with had left town because "there is nothing here for them".

All the people complained that the youngsters moved away the first chance that they had.

They were very nice, kind people. So were we. We didn't seem like one group from venus and one from mars. But, damn, there were no jobs there except from government instiutions like the county hospital and the local school. There were still soybean farmers, but they were going under left and right.

Now if we can't reach people like these ... we've lost the magic of the old Democratic Party. They deserve better than that, they just don't seem to know it.

I suggest that our first Heartland Outreach program would be to help "red state youth" go to college. Help them figure out how to apply, how pay their tuition via student loans and grants and whatnot, and help them go onward and upward. That way they wouldn't see the military as their only chance to "get away". This is a practical project that would help us bond.

[Skidmore]

1. We also need jobs in our communities for our

red state youth to come back to. We need investment in these communities too. There are no incentives for our kids to come back and they are lured away by the shiny promise of city lights. The prairies out here are wonderful and we love them, but we love our kids more. We educated our kids and my son managed to find a job stay in the state, but he plans to move to a more urban area after a couple of years so he can advance. My daughter and her husband moved to Chicago, because there were no job opportunities for him locally.