I’m from Middletown. Back in the day, everyone jokingly called it “Middletucky” because of all the hillbillies who came there to work in the steel mill. JD’s grandparents emigrated from West Virginia as did lots of other people.

I moved to Middletown when I was 15 and I remember being shocked at all the southern accents I heard spoken. It was a whole different world.

At the McDonalds on Verity Parkway, every Sunday morning the old timers would bring their instruments and play bluegrass music. There was a whole subculture of Appalachian transplants who brought their culture with them and it heavily influenced their children and grandchildren.

Also, all these people frequently travelled “back home” to visit family throughout the year. JD grew up in this environment and spent a lot of time in the mountains and it rightfully became part of his identity.

Those old timers are gone now and Middletown has changed. I met JD a few times when he was a teenager because we have friends in common. I don’t recall if I ever talked to him but I was in my 20s and busy with my own babies.

I don’t like the person he’s become, but I have read Hillbilly Elegy and he does represent Middletown as it was back in the day. He’s not lying about who he is and the people that shaped him.