The author, who tends a 200‑acre farm in the Ozarks, says his upcoming book does not contain a single reference to JD Vance or the political trope of “rural people” that dominates headlines.
He explains that his family’s deep connection to the land—spanning four generations of graveyard caretakers and a childhood of tractor work—illustrates a personal sense of place that resists monolithic labeling.
Drawing on observations of forsythia blooming at different times on a single hill, he argues that even a single plant shows variation, making it illogical to assume a uniform “rural culture.”
The essay recounts an incident when a group of university students, briefed to expect hostility from “Ozark folk,” approached the farm with caution; their perception shifted only after learning the author was a professor, highlighting how stereotypes shape interactions.
While acknowledging his own rural credentials—owning a tractor, wielding a chainsaw, and maintaining a family burial plot—the author stresses that his philosophical training does not qualify him as a sociologist, and he prefers to let local experience speak for itself rather than serve as a national talking point.