Transitions and Trash

We’re in the last weeks of summer. Vacations will be ending soon. School starts back up on September 8th. The sun comes up noticeably later. As a morning person, this always registers as a disturbance in the force. Yeah, I know nothing’s actually wrong but the lessening of the light doesn’t thrill me.

The autumn equinox isn’t until Tuesday, September 22 but I’ve always felt like summer was over when school buses rolled out again.

I may’ve mentioned that Jen, Oni, and I have begun watching Stranger Things during our weekend “tea” times. NOT a warm, sci-fi comedy-drama, like Resident Alien but still a fine distraction from our current reality. It’s a creepy, suspense filled, sci-fi thriller, with evil government labs, alternate dimensions, and middle school kids playing D&D.

The setting is a bleak small Indiana town in the 1980s (that’s the vibe anyway – maybe it’s later but it seems pre-cellphone, pre-internet). The weather seems to be permanently overcast. 

This sounds like it would be a depressing drag, doesn’t it?  It's not.

There’s Joyce Byers’ (Winona Ryder) home though. Joyce is the distraught mother of the missing 12-year-old, Will. She’s a single mother who’s a clerk at the local general store. While she’s definitely not a top earner, this is rural Indiana so it’s, comparatively speaking, inexpensive. 

The house she and her two sons live in is the epitome of white trashdom. I mean, it’s not just a ramshackle mess, it’s grubby and grimy down to a molecular level. Dingy doesn’t even begin to describe it. It looks like it’s made out of cardboard and has never, ever been tidied let alone cleaned. Also, there is just SO much junk laying about. Fer Christ’s sake, a house fire would be a mercy. 

So far, this is the only part of the show that’s bugging me. Ya see, Joyce doesn’t come off as white trash. She’s certainly frantic and disturbed about all that’s happening (as one would be, what with a missing child, monsters and shit) but she seems to be intelligent and sane. She appears to be logically, scientifically working through the clues she’s given.

So, why is she living in this toxic waste dump? Paradox anyone?

Related – I’ve read that the term white trash is considered by some to be a terribly derogatory and offensive slam against all low-income white people. 

When poor (or formerly poor) white folks do get portrayed in the media and pop culture, they're often reduced to a series of offensive stereotypes: that they're angry, lazy, dirty, overweight, sunburned, stupid, racist, alcoholic, abusive, jobless, tacky, diseased, violent, backwards, Bible-thumping and uneducated. (source) 

This is NOT Joyce. WHY are they living in this beyond bleak house that looks like it’s given up its will to live?

When I use the term white trash, I’m referring to people of any income or education level who fail to behave in a rational, sane, kind manner. Fer instance, Prez Pedo and his entire administration are white trash. Pedo’s MAGAt cult (AKA the new Klan), are all white trash. Elon MusKKK is MOST def white trash. Bozo the multi-billionaire, same. 

Also, there are the folks who spend the rent and grocery money on Trump merch and wear shirts that proudly proclaim they welcome the president’s sexual assaults.

I only mention it but J6 was Woodstock for white trash.

There’s Rachel Powell, business owner, mother of eight, and rioter who was convicted of three felonies and six misdemeanors. She def counts as white trash. David Dempsey, who had been sentenced to 20 years for stomping on police officers' heads, amongst other things during the riot, and then pardoned by Pedo. He's white trash. Andrew Taake assaulted Capital cops with pepper spray and a metal whip. He was sentenced to over six years and pardoned. Andy was just rearrested on child sex crimes charges. Trash. Theodore Middendorf pleaded guilty to destruction of government property. He’s now doing 19 years for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old. That’s worse than trash.

At least 40 January 6th insurrectionists pardoned by President Trump have been rearrested, charged or sentenced for other crimes since January 6, 2021, according to new analysis by CREW. At least 12 pardoned insurrectionists have allegedly reoffended since receiving their pardons. Several have argued that the pardon should cover unrelated criminal convictions and in one case in November 2025, Trump explicitly re-pardoned one insurrectionist for his unrelated weapons charges.

Seven of the pardoned January 6th insurrectionists are charged with committing child sex crimes, ranging from sexual assault to possession of child pornography … (source) 

Go read the full piece at Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington’s site (dated December 18, 2025 – the figures are undoubtedly MUCH higher now). It’ll blow your mind. At least 97 former Capitol rioters have been accused of other post-J6 crime. 

This, these people are white trash.