Description
In 1929, my father was born in Ohio, the seventh of ten children—five girls and five boys. During the Great Depression, his family lost their farm, forcing my grandfather to become a woodworker, crafting parquet tables and mantelpieces for the wealthy. Meanwhile, my grandmother, confined to a wheelchair, passed away before reaching the age of 50. Despite these hardships, my father proudly referred to himself as a hillbilly throughout his life. He was the first in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree and the only one to obtain a master’s.
He earned a Master’s in Social Work and, though a lifelong Republican, actively contributed to implementing the War on Poverty in the 1960s in while working for the City Milwaukee. He then served as the assistant director of the Milwaukee Boys’ Club, working primarily with Black youth in the inner city, and later as the assistant director of social services in Wisconsin’s Washington County before transitioning into private counseling practice.
Each year, we would make the drive from Wisconsin to Ohio to spend a week with Aunt Betty Jane in Dayton. These visits, combined with my father’s identity and upbringing, inspired my fascination with Ohio’s history and cultural evolution. When J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy gained prominence and he was nominated for vice president, it reignited my interest in all things Ohio.
My reflections on Ohio extend beyond personal history to encompass broader social, environmental, and political narratives. My father and the youngest four of his siblings are central figures in this story, surrounded by symbols of Ohio’s transformation—from its agricultural roots to its industrial rise and eventual decline as part of the Rust Belt.
In the upper left, I’ve included references to the Goodyear smokestacks in Akron and the 1939 strike at Cleveland’s Fisher Body Plant. These are juxtaposed with the environmental decline symbolized by the dwindling Monarch butterfly population during this era of industrialization—and its recent resurgence.
Moving from left to right, other elements highlight the opioid crisis, the civil rights movement represented by a 1965 CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) march in Columbus, the racist “eating cats and dogs” slander directed at Haitians in Springfield during a past election, and the tragic shooting of Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Tamir’s story is memorialized by a butterfly park built in his honor.
For me, Ohio represents both the history and the ongoing manifestation of our nation’s social, environmental, and political challenges. This led me to reinterpret the state’s slogan, transforming it from “The Heart of It All” to “The Hurt of It All.”
