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Where Johnny Cash came from

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Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#11

Post by CapitalistCartr »

ronnier wrote: post #6

> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…

My mom grew up in Appalachia, in the same time as Johnny Cash, dirt farmers in a "holler". No indoor electric, plumbing, or phone. Wood stove cooking and heat. A spring house for water. Baths every Saturday night. Their livelihood was completely dependant on growing food and lumber. I find it unimaginable. Technically I know how it worked, but it's completely alien. In one generation.

Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#12

Post by DaveSchmindel »

ttymck wrote: post #8
ronnier wrote: post #6

> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…

Can you elaborate on what is lost? What is the difference in perspective?

I can, from the other side of life.

I was raised in middle-class suburbia, in the North East U.S. My family wasn't wealthy, but wasn't hurting either. I did well in school, but didn't have to try very hard to maintain grades in Advanced Placement classes. Outside of school, I worked easy lawn-care gigs with my neighbor and we made decent cash with 20-30 hours of work per week.

It afforded me a life of coasting, leisure, and throwing away my downtime.

I am nearing 30 years old and just realizing that I'd consider my behavior to be bad habits I need to kick. I want to work harder, and I have to teach myself what that means.

Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#15

Post by ronnier »

hereonout2 wrote: post #9
ronnier wrote: post #6

> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…

It sounds like your saying from the age of 5-11 years old you worked 7 days a week as a farm hand. Could you say more about what era this was and how many how's a day?

Yup, 7 days a week with my grandfather. I'm 44 now, he's 96 and still going strong but without the farm since he got too old to run it and simply retired.

But yeah, 7 days a week I'd tend to the turkeys, cattle, dig potatoes, pick tomatoes (we grew a lot of vegetables) , cut hay, rake hay, fluff hay, etc. Being 7 years old on a tractor cutting hay all day was extremely fun. We'd also make the square bales of hay and being 7 or 8, I wasn't strong enough to lift them, so I'd drive the truck with a trailer and my grandfather would be behind loading the square bales. We'd do this for hours in the heat (I had the easy part), he had pure raw strength. We had almost 200 acres of land.

Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#16

Post by thewildginger »

Solvency wrote: post #10

[flagged]

Take a deep breath. The US endowment for the arts wrote this article to preserve the history of a person who impacted the arts in the US. No one is worshipping him. He had known problems, took criticism for it and it is a known fact by those who enjoy his music.

No one is here to dismiss the damage he caused to the condor population. I do question why you wanted to bring this up though. While it is interesting and important, I don't know if it's commentary relevant for this thread specifically. Wishing you well these holidays

Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#17

Post by ronnier »

ttymck wrote: post #8
ronnier wrote: post #6

> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…

Can you elaborate on what is lost? What is the difference in perspective?

What was lost was hard work ethic and the perspective of how good life is now, respect for others, and we've gained some arrogance from never having to suffer.

I had an odd life, I lived in the projects as a child until I was sent to my grandfathers farm for 6~ years, and after that, back to the violent city I had originally lived in. I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my peers but from the hard word I was subjected to in those 6 years (work ethic it taught me), pure luck of getting into computer science (thanks to John Carmack via doom/quake), and meeting the right people, I was able to work much harder than those around me and rise up quickly through the worlds biggest tech companies, make a ton of money to the point where I was able to retire at 40 (though I didn't and still work).

To answer your question, in my view, that's what was lost -- a connection to brutal hard work that keeps the world moving forward.

Re: Where Johnny Cash came from

#19

Post by dvngnt_ »

ronnier wrote: post #6

> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…

the children yearn for the mines
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