Brian Williams (6)

I also object to the romantic notion that only physical labor is real labor, and that by extension only working class people are living ‘real’ lives. This sort of romanticization can only be carried out by people living secure, middle or upper class lives. This romanticization is only possible in a larger sense under conditions of industrialization and marketization. I feel the pull of this romanticization, which is why I think I understand Williams and feel kind of sorry for him at the same time. Like other people who does not make a living with my hands or my gun I have romanticized more ‘real’ lives – those of peasant villagers in exotic lands, soldiers, and the like. In fact, my growing up years were one long imagination of being a soldier, something I shared with Mike Higgins in our many battles fought at recess and in the woods of Hickory Lane.