iowahawk: Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values

Things are tough all over! You really need to read the whole article so that you can look for these warning signs in your friends and families.

iowahawk: Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values: "'I'm not sure where we went wrong,' says Ellen McCormack, nervously fondling the recycled paper cup holding her organic Kona soy macchaito. 'It seems like only yesterday Rain was a carefree little boy at the Montessori school, playing non-competitive musical chairs with the other children and his care facilitators.'

'But now...' she pauses, staring out the window of her postmodern Palo Alto home. The words are hesitant, measured, bearing a tale of family heartbreak almost too painful for her to recount. 'But now, Rain insists that I call him Bobby Ray.'

Even as her voice is choked with emotion, she summons an inner courage -- a mother's courage -- and leads me down the hall to 'Bobby Ray's' bedroom, for a firsthand glimpse at the psychic devastation that claimed her son.

She opens the door to a reveal a riot of George Jones CDs, reflective 'mudflap mama' stickers, empty foil packs of Red Man, and U.S. Marine recruiting posters. In the middle of the room: a makeshift table made from a utility cable spool, bearing a the remains of a gutted catfish.

'This used to be all Ikea,' she says, rocking on heels between heaved sobs. 'It's too late for us. Maybe it's not to late for me to warn others.'"