“As a kid I never had the impulse to climb anything. I think that most kids who live in small towns or rural areas outside of the city, that's what they do - climb walls, or trees, or whatever. To me, it was more dance classes and not being very boyish.” ThinkingKidsCitiesClassTreeWallAreasTownsImpulseClimbsSmall TownDance ClassRural AreasBoyish Author:Jamie Bell
“In the great cities we see so little of the world, we drift into our minority. In the little towns and villages there are no minorities; people are not numerous enough. You must see the world there, perforce. Every man is himself a class.” PeopleMenWorldLittlesEnoughCitiesClassTownsEvery ManMinoritiesVillageGreat CitiesLittle TownsSmall Villages Book:The Celtic Twilight Source: The Celtic Twilight
“The image the Republicans have of themselves needs the image they have of the Democrats to bring it into sharp focus. The Democrats are plainly a disreputable crowd; the Republicans, by contrast, are men of standing and sobriety. Many a middle-class American in many a small town has had to explain painfully why he chose to be a Democrat. No middle-class American need feel uneasy as a Republican. Even when he is a minority--for example, among the heathen on a college campus--he can, like any white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, warm himself before his little fire of self-esteem.” MenNeedsFeelsLittlesSelfWhiteClassFireFocusMiddleSelf EsteemExampleCollegeRepublicanStandingTownsDemocratCrowdsWarmEsteemMinoritiesMiddle ClassContrastSmall TownProtestantsSobrietyCampusUneasyHeathenAnglo SaxonCollege Campus Author:Clinton Rossiter
“I feel blessed that I had an opportunity to be in the Big Ten for four years as a player and be in the Big Ten as a coach for eight years. To get 12 years in a conference like the Big Ten - it's a first-class league with great towns and great fans.” FeelsYearsFirstsBigsOpportunityClassFourPlayerFansTenTownsBlessedEightCoachesLeagueFour YearsConferencesFirst ClassGreat Fans Author:Steve Alford
“Baltimore's often called the most northern Southern town. It has a distinct essence. It's definitely post-industrial, definitely Rust Belt, very working-class. I grew up outside of Washington, and I felt I was moving to a completely different place when I moved 30 miles north out of college.” DifferentMovingFeltClassCollegeGrewGrew UpEssenceTownsMovedMilesPostsSouthernWorking ClassBeltsDifferent PlaceRustBaltimore Author:David Simon
“9/11 was my first day teaching at Harvard University. My classes were all canceled and I got back to town two days later. I'm one of those people who doesn't think the world has changed any at all since 9/11. It just seemed to be almost inevitable, something like that. That's one of the reasons why the backstory of Fay Grim goes all the way back into the '80s. I was trying to sketch out the continuity of all this hanky-panky between the security agencies of the world.” PeopleThinkingWorldWayTryingFirstsTwoReasonClassTeachingSecurityChangedTownsUniversityInevitableReason WhyAgency80sContinuityHarvardGrimTwo DaysHarvard University Author:Hal Hartley
“I grew up in Evanston and lived in Chicago for a long time, in Old Town and Wrigleyville. I did three films when I was in high school. The first was 'Class,' with Rob Lowe. I had a supporting role in that.” FirstsLongSchoolFilmThreeClassRolesGrewGrew UpLong TimeHigh SchoolTownsChicagoSupporting RolesLowes Author:John Cusack
“I was the kid in the class who was looking for the angles to question things or make wise-ass remarks, not knowing enough to be afraid of being myself or showing intelligence. But I wasn't the only kid like that in my classes because of where I grew up. I'm really thankful I grew up in a town where there were a lot of other mutant kids. I'm from Boulder, Colorado, which went through a lot of dramatic changes when I was growing up.” EnoughKidsClassGrowing UpKnowingWiseGrowingGrewGrew UpTownsAssDramaticNot KnowingAngleRemarksColoradoBeing MyselfBouldersMutantsDramatic ChangeWise Ass Author:Jello Biafra
“I lived in a little working-class town that had no black neighborhoods at all - one high school. We all played together. Everybody was either somebody from the South or an immigrant from East Europe or from Mexico. And there was one church, and there were four elementary schools. And we were all, pretty much until the end of the war, very, very poor.” LittlesWarEndsSchoolTogetherBlackChurchPoorClassFourHigh SchoolEuropeTownsSouthEastNeighborhoodImmigrantsMexicoWorking ClassElementary School Author:Toni Morrison
“My mom was my English teacher in high school. So to be able to bend the rules and be the class clown and get to take on my religion, my mom, and my town all at the same time was glorious. I think the desire to be funny was a mixture of wanting to be liked but also wanting to throw your elbows a bit. If you're cracking a joke in school, it's sort of anti-authority, but it's in the nicest, "Please like me!" way.” IfsThinkingWayAbleSchoolDesireBitsClassTeacherMomPleaseAuthorityJokesHigh SchoolTownsMy MomLike MeGloriousClownMixturesElbowsEnglish Teacher Author:Paul Rust
“I think in all small towns, all kind of working class communities around the world. They are kind of similar.” ThinkingWorldKindCommunityClassTownsAll KindsAround The WorldWorking ClassSmall Town Author:Sacha Baron Cohen
“In my class was an Annapolis graduate, several engineers, and most recent president of the University of Alabama.These were all small-town people who had good values. The families were tight. The schools reaffirmed the families and reaffirmed the church values that you were taught. I guess it was just one of those swell times to be a part of.” PeopleSchoolValuesPresidentChurchClassTaughtTownsUniversityJust OneGraduatesEngineersSmall TownAlabamaGood ValuesAnnapolis Author:Jeff Sessions
“People like me who grew up in a working-class town, who don't have a college education, you don't usually hear from us.” PeopleClassCollegeGrewGrew UpTownsLike MeWorking ClassCollege Education Author:Michael Moore
“My films play only in Bengal, and my audience is the educated middle class in the cities and small towns. They also play in Bombay, Madras and Delhi where there is a Bengali population.” PlayFilmCitiesClassAudienceMiddleTownsPopulationEducatedMiddle ClassSmall TownBengaliDelhiBombayMadras Book:Satyajit Ray: Interviews Source: Satyajit Ray: Interviews
“Where would David Copperfield be if Dickens had gone to writing classes? Probably about seventy minor characters short, is where. (Did you know that Dickens is estimated to have invented thirteen thousand characters? Thirteen thousand! The population of a small town!)” IfsKnowsWritingCharacterClassGoneThousandTownsPopulationMinorsSeventiesSmall TownThirteenDickensDid You KnowMinor Characters Book:The Polysyllabic Spree Source: The Polysyllabic Spree
“You lived intensely with others, only to have them disappear overnight, since the shadow class was condemned to movement. The men left for other jobs, towns, got deported, returned home, changed names. Sometimes someone came popping around a corner again, or on the subway then they vanished again. Addresses, phone numbers did not hold. The emptiness Biju felt returned to him over and over, until eventually he made sure not to let friendships sink deep anymore.” MenMadeSometimesHomeJobsNamesLeftFeltNumbersClassMovementChangedShadowTownsPhonesCornersDisappearEmptinessAddressesSubwayPoppingPhone Numbers Book:The Inheritance of Loss Source: The Inheritance of Loss
“But it's not just the ratty part of town. The upper class in San Francisco is that way. The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time - it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd. I can't shake hands with anybody from San Francisco.” WayI CanHandsClassImagineTownsCrowdsShakesSan FranciscoUpper ClassGroveBohemian Author:Richard M. Nixon