This town of 15,000 in southwest Virginia is a good candidate for Anywhere, USA. There is bingo at the Elk’s Lodge every Monday night. Bowling is a blood sport. But Martinsville also has an unwanted distinction—a 20 percent unemployment rate, the highest in Virginia.
As the State of the Union approaches, the political class will turn en masse to the issue of unemployment. So I sat down with the objects of this attention—a group of men studying at a Martinsville vocational training college. From them I learned: It is not easy to make a living while a way of life collapses around you
That’s the point…it is a way of life that’s collapsed.
Sad stuff.
Laurel
