Excellent article. I feel I'm one of a few who haven't read "Educated" but I hope to soon. As tough as these personal memoirs may be, I believe they should be told. It's important to talk about the varieties of life, no matter how painful they may be.
On a side note, I grew up in the semi-mountain West, the Palouse country, certainly not as dramatic as other parts of Northern Idaho and Western Montana, but Joshua really hits it spot on with this fabulous paragraph in the article:
For years I have believed that those of us raised in the Mountain West enjoy an unspoken understanding. It comes from the seagreen color of the water, the way rivers cut through bedrock, how — when you are standing on that rock and watching whitewater boil beneath your feet — you feel that you have arrived somewhere near the beginning of time. It is the black and green blanket of timber against the ridgelines, horse pastures, and alfalfa fields, a melancholy color scheme that turns to green and gold in the fall, when the smell of wood smoke piques a deep yearning. No one can inhabit the place without tiptoeing along the razor’s edge, and I’ve tried to share that wildness with my children.
Glad that paragraph landed with you, Tim. I may have mentioned previously that I worked for three golden summers in the Moose Creek District in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Not Palouse country, exactly, but just a little east of there, I believe. There really are few places like the Selway and the Yaak. Which is one reason my son is named Selway :)
Great article Josh! “Educated” is one of my favorite books and I found her story so fascinating. I think part of it is my continual interest in how some people are able to break out while others remain in the cycle set for them. This crosses my mind every time I travel back to our little town. The nature vs. nurture theory comes to mind but I think it goes beyond that. I appreciate your perspective. Even though we grew up just down the road I’m sure our experiences were vastly different, yet being rooted in those mountains is foundational to our memories. Love your Yaak pictures and memories you are making with your kids!
Thanks, Robin! I think our cohort got lucky. It would require a very different combination of luck and privilege to break out of Troy these days. We were fortunate to have excellent teachers and a rigorous peer group. I never questioned whether college was an option for me, but I think if I were growing up in Troy now with the same economic profile and family culture, I'd almost certainly be learning a trade instead of contemplating higher education.
Wow. First off: beautiful writing, my friend. Second: I love hiking and backpacking as well. Third: I too write autobiographical work, though more autobiographical fiction and ‘fictional memoir.’ I have pissed my mom off by writing about her on more than one occasion. I try to always be kind yet honest; tricky balance. Fourth: I’ve wanted to read Educated for years. Maybe now I will. Loved this: “As Annie Dillard cautions us, memoir should be more than airing grievances. We don’t write nonfiction to get revenge. But it’s also true that the most powerful stories rise from danger zones that we are conditioned to minimize or avoid for years but still haven’t.” The memoir dilemma reminds of The Wild Truth, the memoir by Karine MCCandless about her brother Chris and their parents a la Into the Wild.
Anyway. Thank you for your sensuous, lush writing. I’m glad I found you! Good to connect with fellow SS writers!
Thanks for reading and for sharing your site! Yes, the McCandless family is an interesting test case for ethics in writing about others. The safe route is usually to write about everyone after they're gone, but I think Walt and Billie are still around, so it could not have been easy for Karine. It's also true that sometimes we make these choices based on our histories with friends and loved ones, knowing that some of those relationships will never be truly whole. But this is a rather cold-blooded ethical calculation that can mean accepting the risk of deeper estrangement for the sake of truth telling. There are some stories that we'll never tell, or that can only be told if we are the last character remaining, which is as it should be.
My favorite point of yours was: "By my own standards, those danger zones are worth probing publicly if a story taps into a slice of human experience that is substantially larger than the author’s." It's not hubris when you're in the universal. I've read your first memoir--it's gorgeous!
Excellent article. I feel I'm one of a few who haven't read "Educated" but I hope to soon. As tough as these personal memoirs may be, I believe they should be told. It's important to talk about the varieties of life, no matter how painful they may be.
On a side note, I grew up in the semi-mountain West, the Palouse country, certainly not as dramatic as other parts of Northern Idaho and Western Montana, but Joshua really hits it spot on with this fabulous paragraph in the article:
For years I have believed that those of us raised in the Mountain West enjoy an unspoken understanding. It comes from the seagreen color of the water, the way rivers cut through bedrock, how — when you are standing on that rock and watching whitewater boil beneath your feet — you feel that you have arrived somewhere near the beginning of time. It is the black and green blanket of timber against the ridgelines, horse pastures, and alfalfa fields, a melancholy color scheme that turns to green and gold in the fall, when the smell of wood smoke piques a deep yearning. No one can inhabit the place without tiptoeing along the razor’s edge, and I’ve tried to share that wildness with my children.
Glad that paragraph landed with you, Tim. I may have mentioned previously that I worked for three golden summers in the Moose Creek District in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Not Palouse country, exactly, but just a little east of there, I believe. There really are few places like the Selway and the Yaak. Which is one reason my son is named Selway :)
Yeah I need to read it as well
Great article Josh! “Educated” is one of my favorite books and I found her story so fascinating. I think part of it is my continual interest in how some people are able to break out while others remain in the cycle set for them. This crosses my mind every time I travel back to our little town. The nature vs. nurture theory comes to mind but I think it goes beyond that. I appreciate your perspective. Even though we grew up just down the road I’m sure our experiences were vastly different, yet being rooted in those mountains is foundational to our memories. Love your Yaak pictures and memories you are making with your kids!
Thanks, Robin! I think our cohort got lucky. It would require a very different combination of luck and privilege to break out of Troy these days. We were fortunate to have excellent teachers and a rigorous peer group. I never questioned whether college was an option for me, but I think if I were growing up in Troy now with the same economic profile and family culture, I'd almost certainly be learning a trade instead of contemplating higher education.
If you liked "Educated," you might enjoy my memoir :). https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/down-mountaintop
Love that photo of you and Linden.
Another story that needs to be told one day: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/opinion/hasidic-schools-new-york.html
Yes, indeed. It's one thing to choose orthodoxy as an adult. It's quite another to be raised without any other choice.
Wow. First off: beautiful writing, my friend. Second: I love hiking and backpacking as well. Third: I too write autobiographical work, though more autobiographical fiction and ‘fictional memoir.’ I have pissed my mom off by writing about her on more than one occasion. I try to always be kind yet honest; tricky balance. Fourth: I’ve wanted to read Educated for years. Maybe now I will. Loved this: “As Annie Dillard cautions us, memoir should be more than airing grievances. We don’t write nonfiction to get revenge. But it’s also true that the most powerful stories rise from danger zones that we are conditioned to minimize or avoid for years but still haven’t.” The memoir dilemma reminds of The Wild Truth, the memoir by Karine MCCandless about her brother Chris and their parents a la Into the Wild.
Anyway. Thank you for your sensuous, lush writing. I’m glad I found you! Good to connect with fellow SS writers!
Michael Mohr
Thanks for reading and for sharing your site! Yes, the McCandless family is an interesting test case for ethics in writing about others. The safe route is usually to write about everyone after they're gone, but I think Walt and Billie are still around, so it could not have been easy for Karine. It's also true that sometimes we make these choices based on our histories with friends and loved ones, knowing that some of those relationships will never be truly whole. But this is a rather cold-blooded ethical calculation that can mean accepting the risk of deeper estrangement for the sake of truth telling. There are some stories that we'll never tell, or that can only be told if we are the last character remaining, which is as it should be.
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
My favorite point of yours was: "By my own standards, those danger zones are worth probing publicly if a story taps into a slice of human experience that is substantially larger than the author’s." It's not hubris when you're in the universal. I've read your first memoir--it's gorgeous!
I appreciate that, Max! ❤️