What Class Are You Ethan?

When I met Ethan Perry, he was taking a break from his job at Family Dollar in Orleans VT. At the time he was 29. When I asked him what class he is, he said he grew up lower-middle class. His mother was a teacher and his father a carpenter. He said that now he considers himself lower class, but not impoverished. He’s had about ten million jobs but still there are days when he doesn’t have enough to eat.

We chatted for a few minutes outside the store, and then I drove back up to Orleans, and we sat in my car up on the hill that overlooks the Ethan Allen Furniture mill and we talked.

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.