Lost to the ages but clear in my memory is a news story about a Midwestern family with a broken refrigerator. They couldn’t afford a new one, so their church friends came together to raise money for a replacement. This early example of crowdfunding worked: Everyone pitched in, working-class parents gave their hard-earned pay, their kids scraped the last coins out of their piggy banks, and in the end they raised just enough for a new appliance. But the family spent the money on a Disney vacation instead.
Civil rights lawyer, law professor, and high school dropout. Writes about the Midwest, class struggle, and the untold horrors of the legal system.