This book is the memoirs of "A Driven Class American." The author uses his own life to characterize the after "Boomers" generation (X, Y, and Millennial's) and their traditional middle class aspirations. He shares a story about the trade-offs necessary to elevate himself and his family economically. He weaves the external factors of boom and bust activity into decision making for home ownership, higher learning, career advancement, retirement, and other life priorities. He shares his deep motivations, successes, and failures that are common to the pursuit accepted by "Driven Class Americans."
Оглавление
Cory Psy.D. Ash. Driven Class America
Chapter 1 - At the Base of the Column
Chapter 2 - So I Left the Nest
Chapter 3 - Little Did I Know
Chapter 4 - Excuse Me for a Minute
Chapter 5 - Back to Work
Chapter 6 - Among the Pine Plantations
Chapter 7 - Finally Some Progress
Chapter 8 - Life Gave Us Lemons
Chapter 9 - The Ship Hit the Sand
Chapter 10 - The Insiders' Game
Chapter 11 - Shaken but Not Stirred
Chapter 12 - Lost and Found
Chapter 13 - A Fresh Start
Chapter 14 - A Stranger No More
Chapter 15 - Safety in Numbers
Chapter 16 - Speaking Out
Отрывок из книги
My family gathered from near and far in our house in Columbus, GA. They had all come to attend my high school graduation ceremony. They had always shown great love and support to my parents, the same way my parents had for them. I was proud of my family with all the flaws and beauties. I could not have picked a better one.
However, this day I felt a bit removed. It was June 6, 1998, I remember because it was my dad’s 38th birthday. I was 17 years old. Before going to the new civic center for my ceremony, I reflected on my journey so far. I thought about the places I had been and where I had come from. Four years earlier I was in Savannah, GA where my sister Shalonda died. Three years before I was living in Florida when my best childhood friend Mark died. Two and half years before I started smoking weed. Two years before I was in a car accident where I sustained a hair line fracture in my neck.
.....
Now I worked Monday through Friday, went to class Monday through Friday, and drove an one ½ hour back to Columbus on the weekends to see my son. One semester passed, and then the next came and went. Finally, I was exhausted. My heart and head were in the right place but my priorities were screwed up. My marijuana habit began to bear on me.
During finals in that third semester instead of studying, I was smoking and clubbing with my friends. Like all my courses before I knew I could just cram and get it done. I thought I would "Forrest Gump" my way through it but that’s when I got shot in the butt. See I had anticipated studying, but I had overlooked completing the research paper. Fair enough I crammed then I began writing the research paper. I wrote and printed several copies until my printer ran out of ink. I though great now I have to drive 10 miles through construction zones and weekend traffic to Stone Mountain for ink.
