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Things I Didn’t Learn in School has two parts—writing about what is going on in the world (macro) and podcasts of individual life stories (micro). To understand, it helps to both zoom in and out. The very best novels—Les Miserables or War and Peace—do exactly that.
Today’s podcast is with Amy Butcher, the author of the memoir Mothertrucker. You can hear the full episode here. Amy’s book is in part about Joy Wiebe, who made her money hauling fuel along Alaska’s Dalton Highway, a treacherous route that ultimately claimed her life. Mothertrucker is also about how meeting Joy gave Amy the courage to abandon an abusive relationship.
Amy and I recorded this episode before Russia invaded Ukraine. The war is a moment of tragic clarity that shifted my thinking about our talk. Modernity is a delicate balance between existing, sometimes tribal social structures and disruptive economic change. Economic shifts create wealth and by definition disrupt existing structures.
The two—structure and change—can coexist up until the point where tension descends into violence. At that point, a line must be drawn for modernity (and civilization) to persist. The West is drawing a line with Russia. Joy and Amy drew that line with romantic partners. The film world may draw that line on Will Smith. I wonder if America will draw that line on January 6.
Finding the Line in Love
Joy was an intriguing character, a “super petite 50-year-old woman” driving “an enormous 18-wheeler in front of these enormous snow-covered mountains in northern Alaska,” said Amy. Joy was also a small cog in the US energy distribution system, a system which, by the way, will get a huge boost as Europe replaces Russian energy with American alternatives, like liquified natural gas.
On the one hand, Joy was a tough ass, a woman in a man’s world. Her story has a simplicity and bravery to it. Yet, Amy doesn’t oversimplify Joy who, like all of us, was multifaceted. Joy was also deeply religious, a Trump supporter, mother of three, who long endured bad intimate relationships. She said driving a truck brought her closer to God. It also provided safety, both physical distance and financial security, until it didn’t and her truck plunged off the road in bad weather.
While Joy found meaning in Christianity, Amy’s partner used his interpretation of religion as a tool of abuse and control. Violence against women—either physical or in Amy’s case psychological—is widespread and ancient. The World Health Organization says one in three women are targets of violence.1 Despite their differences in background and profession, when it came to their men, Amy and Joy each drew the line at the same place.
This too has a tie to the Russia invasion. In recent days, there is mounting evidence of Russian soldiers raping Ukrainian women. The Russian army did the same during WW2, a fact that has been airbrushed from Kremlin-approved history.
Finding the Line On-Line
Social media is part of our economic disruption. Joy was a clever Instagramer. Her handle alone—AlaskaMothertrucker—tells you that.
The algorithms driving these applications alter our reality. I found Amy by looking at an Amazon dashboard on what books sold with Raising a Thief. Amy found Joy by looking at her Instagram feed. Social media is powerful enough that Russia unplugged from most of it lest the truth about Ukraine come out. Post January 6, we also know these platforms can be dangerous misinformation amplifiers. Social media companies are trying to find the line between unfettered information exchange and inciting violence.
The speed of change is such that finding this balance at any point in time requires us to constantly recalibrate. The desire of so many for erstwhile strongmen—Trump, Xi, Putin, Modi, Bolsonaro, etc—suggests we are in a dangerous spot, out of balance. Putin’s main ideologue, Alexander Dugin, said this week that he was delighted Putin had “crossed the Rubicon” and turned his back on globalization.
Given that social media for many (but not all) of my readers is not censored, we can see in real time what that really looks like. Bodies shot through the head, hands tied behind their back. Joy was trying to find her way through the confusion of modernity, as we all are. Listening to Amy helped me gain perspective. I think you will enjoy it as well. Happy Sunday.
Also:
What I’m reading:
The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel.
Native Realm, Czeslaw Milosz.
Where I was when I started to think through this week’s post (photo: Caryn P):
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women