I read an interesting article the other day that caught my attention on the yahoo home page.
This is an article about a man named Michael Harely and the hardships he had to endure in order to provide for his family. When the american car market took a turn for the worse, General Motors was forced to downsize and close many of their assembly plants. Michael, who has worked for the company since he was 19 years old, was forced to choose between losing his job entirely or relocating and driving the 530 mile commute from his home in Wisconsin to Fairfax, Kansas. He chose the commute. Michael currently lives in Kansas during the week, and makes the 8 hour drive home to see his family every weekend. At age 47, he has eighteen more months until he reaches thirty years with GM, and can retire with a full pension and benefits.
I liked this article because it was written about an averge, middle america family that has been effected by the economic downturn. This article “hits home” with, I’m sure, thousands or millions of families across the US because of the economy recently. I particularly liked how the author of this article included little quotes and stories of other people forced to relocate and endure a ridiculous commute in order to keep a job. Michael’s story is inspiring to those who are being forced to do the same thing as he, so that he can provide for his family. The lead definitely caught my attention and made me want to read on.
Here is a link to the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/S/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_the1000_mile_commute
Good post. Some sloppy grammar and typos — “America,” “affected.” 4/5