American Cloaca: A Memoir: 2b

By Oronte. Truth of micro, lie of macro,
or, 
the relative quality of stories
Imagine a certain kind of big-picture story from the American Century:
Son of a struggling Midwestern sharecropper—there’s already been a Fall in prehistory, you see, since it’s known the family is ancient and accomplished, as if these are seeds for future seasons—is born during the Great War, gets a New Deal as a teen, labors through the Depression. Goes to battle in history’s Greater War, on return is educated by a grateful nation. Becomes university faculty himself, serves on educational missions to Vietnam and Afghanistan. Does a sabbatical in Paris at a lost-wax gold foundry, tends to Beirut, advises Indonesia. Moves into administration. Read more...