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Join a monthly book club hosted by the Humanist Association of Connecticut and discuss great books. All are welcome!
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh
In this furious, regretful, and loving memoir, Sarah Smarsh examines the life of America’s rural poor through the microcosm of her extended family. Growing up working-class white on the Kansas plains, Smarsh enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but witnessed the hideous legacy of poverty in her relatives’ untreated illnesses, unsafe job conditions, abusive marriages, and addictions to everything from cigarettes to opioids.
For Smarsh, one of the cruelest blows the poor suffer is society’s assessment that they somehow deserve less than others. “People of all backgrounds experience a sense of poorness – not enough of this or that thing that money can’t buy. But financial poverty is the one shamed by society, culture, unchecked capitalism, public policy, our very way of speaking.” Heartland will make you check your privilege before you refer to anyone as “white trash” or “red neck.” (from Amazon.com)
"Smart, nuanced and atmospheric...Heartland deepens our understanding of the crushing ways in which class shapes possibility in this country. It's an unsentimental tribute to the working-class people Smarsh knows – the farmers, office clerks, trash collectors, waitresses – whose labor is often invisible or disdained." – NPR Books
AGE GROUP: | Adults (18+) |
EVENT TYPE: | Literature, Arts, and Culture | Literacy and Language |
The Courtland S. Wilson Library opened in 2006. With the largest footprint among the NHFPL branches, Wilson is a beacon of opportunity and life-long learning in the Hill neighboorhood. Wilson supports literacy with monthly bulk book delivery to school teachers. A youth Lego club, and a newly formed tween and teen computer group meet weekly; and launching in 2019, a youth Girls Who Code Club. Many community groups convene in Wilson’s seven meeting rooms. The Computer Lab hosts groups and offers computer instruction including digital literacy classes in Spanish and weekly free tax preparation during tax season.
2019 Recipient of National Medal for