Tracie White

Capstone Project
Arkansas Tech University
Author of Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar
Dreams
Award winning journalist
Six national journalistic awards
Philadelphia Inquirer featured writer and
columnist
Commentator for National Public Radio
Undergraduate degree in urban studies from
Columbia University
Master's degree in journalism from
Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism
Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams,
addresses Lubranos and others experiences of
living in limbo - a world between the blue-collar
class and white-collar class.
Lubrano names people who have one foot in
the blue-collar world, and another foot in the
white-collar world Straddlers.
Straddlers are born to blue-collar parents, but
end up becoming first generation college
graduates and work in the white-collar world.
Lubranos book has three sections
Lubrano talks about is experience as a Straddler
A short overview of class and mobility from social
class experts, an economist, and psychologists:
Charles Sackrey, Jake Ryan, Michelle Tokarczyk, Michael
Zweig, Sherry Linkon, Michael Hout, Patrick Finn, Isabel
Sawhill, Barbara Jensen, Laurene Finley
Lubrano interviews 100 Straddlers and examines
their experiences.
Lubranos father was a bricklayer
Lubranos mother was the daughter of a
bricklayer
Lubranos mother didnt get a chance to go to
college, but instilled the love of books into
Lubranos life.
Lubrano accepted a scholarship from Columbia
because his mother wanted him to attend
Columbia University.
Lubrano was offered a full scholarship at New
York University.
He accepted the scholarship from Columbia, a
more expensive university.
Lubranos mother took a job at a nearby high
school to help out financially
Lubrano and his father were on the Columbia
Universitys campus at the same time.
Lubranos father was working on a bricklaying job a
the university.
Lubrano attended the university as a student.
Lubranos parents supported Lubranos decision
to get an education because they wanted him to
get an education to make more money.
However, Lubrano wanted to be a journalist,
and journalism majors dont make a lot of
money.
During college, Lubrano started to feel different
from his blue-collar parents.
Lubrano started to have different interests.
He started to have different ideas about life.
Lubrano wanted a career, not a job.
Lubrano started to feel like he was in limbo a
Straddler.
Class experts Charles Sackrey and Jake Ryan
define social class as:
A culture of shared values, meanings, and
interaction.
Social class is a costume with instructions on how
to behave.
Blue-collar children learn how to behave from
their blue-collar parents.
Blue-collar people value:
Family loyalty
A strong work ethic
They speak truthfully sometimes bluntly.
They also have a physicality and a do whatever-it-
takes attitude.
White-collar children learn how to behave from
their white-collar parents.
White-collar children learn soft skills that are
needed in the middle-class world.
White-collar families talk more.
Sackrey explains white-collar families speak three
times more than a blue-collar family.
White-collar people think before they speak.
They are more analytical, and show less emotion.
Lubrano interviewed Straddlers from a wide
range of age, gender, and ethnicities.
White
African-American
Asian
Hispanic
Straddlers feel like outsiders in the blue-collar
world and the white-collar world.
Straddlers have a difficult battle, especially
daughters of blue-collar parents and daughters
of immigrant blue-collar parents.
Some blue-collar parents believe college is
criminally self-indulgent.
Straddlers can easily get sucked back into the
black hole of the blue-collar world.
The Straddler experience affects every part of a
Straddles life.
Workplace
Social setting
Marriage
Parenting
The purpose of Lubranos book was to examine
his experience as a Straddler and compare it
with the experiences of other Straddlers.
Lubranos book is work of journalism not an
academic or a sociology book.
Lubranos goal was to examine the challenges of
being a Straddler.
Lubrano says his book is a first step in
understanding what Straddlers leave behind in
the blue-collar world, and what they gain by
stepping into the white-collar world.
Lubrano is both biased and influenced by his
personal experience as a Straddler.
However, it is the topic for this book and it
works well for this journalistic essay.
Lubranos book is an easy read.
Lubrano is an excellent writer and his words
paint a clear, sad picture of the struggle of
Straddlers.
Lubrano reels the reader into the Straddlers
world.
The only weakness of the book is the length of
the interview section.
Lubrano goes into detail explaining each of the
interviewees stories.
The interview section seems to go on and on.
I didnt enjoy reading the book.
Some of stories of the Straddlers were too
similar to the stories of my family and friends.
I have experienced issues of class in several
ways. The concept of different classes bothers
me then and it still bothers me.
Both of my parents are Straddlers.
There are distinct classes in the military.
There are also classes in higher education.
Although Lubranos book isnt what I would call
light reading, it has merit.
Hopefully, by opening the dialogue and reading
about the experiences of the Straddlers, we can
be more respectful and empathetic to all
people.