Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America

A neo-Nazi homeschool network promoting white supremacy is discovered operating in northern Ohio. Perry believes that most local homeschooling stems from parents avoiding truancy charges rather than ideology. At the sovereign citizens’ farm, two deputies arrive for backup. One warns that they will not enter the property for fear that the owner will become violent. Perry affixes the legal notice to the driveway chain while deputies stand guard.

Perry’s dedication persists despite severe injuries from a bus crash in which a driver who was impaired by drugs and experiencing suicidal ideation hit Perry’s vehicle head-on. She experiences chronic pain, nerve damage, and post-traumatic stress, requiring hundreds of medical appointments. Nevertheless, she provides personal support to students, even taking one to a convention at her own expense.

Rural education scholars describe successful attendance interventions: meeting students’ individual needs, celebrating small wins, and building relationships. Macy reflects on her brother, Tim, a high school dropout who became a successful automotive engineer, and their mother, a brilliant woman who never earned more than $8,000 annually. Clark State’s Blondin criticizes Ohio’s failure to use federal job-training funds effectively, though Chris Flowers has managed to add career programs and driver’s education grants at Urbana High.

By January, Perry’s chronic absenteeism list has tripled to 27% of district students. She mediates family disputes, escorts students to school, and helps families find housing after rent hikes. Judge Lori Reisinger criticizes Ohio’s attendance law, noting that cases reach court too late. Perry assists Shirley, a 74-year-old grandmother raising two grandchildren after working 38 years in factories. Eleven-year-old Lindsey refuses to attend school and becomes violent. When Perry tries to take her to school, Lindsey assaults her, breaking Perry’s toe and causing other injuries; a week later, her back pain grows so intense that she requires emergency disc surgery. Lindsey is arrested and expelled.

Maddie Allen, a promising senior with a history of abuse and self-harm, develops trauma-induced tics. After her abuser moves back in with her mother, Maddie relocates to a roach-infested motel. Despite working after school and participating in activities, her attendance problems threaten her graduation and scholarship.

Current and retired teachers gather to discuss Urbana’s decline. They learn that graduation rates have dropped 12 points in a decade and that 30% of freshmen now fail English. Some of their concerns center on cell phone use in schools, which the Ohio legislature later votes to limit.

Tensions persist between Macy’s high school classmates over racial issues. Mark Evans is frustrated by local reluctance to acknowledge the brutal lynching of Charles “Click” Mitchell in Urbana. At a Black History Month panel, historians describe how a mob of 1,000 killed Mitchell based on false rape allegations. Evans’s research suggests that the relationship was consensual. After delays, officials finally approve national Underground Railroad recognition for local sites.

Macy returns home for her brother-in-law John’s celebration of life. He died at 83 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Her sister Terry, 75, is living alone for the first time. Terry recounts meeting John at an Urbana bar when she was 31. She disclosed her disability from polio contracted at 18 months, but John’s response was casual, noting that he had only asked her to dinner. Macy recalls getting an open-container charge in college and panicking over the $85 fine. Terry sent money immediately. For 40 years, John teased her about the incident until she finally asked him to stop two years before his death.

At the funeral home, Terry defies John’s wishes by purchasing an expensive marble urn for his ashes. Macy takes Terry to visit their mother’s grave. When Terry’s wheelchair gets stuck in mud, Macy drives the van off-road between headstones to reach the site.

All the siblings attend the celebration of life at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. Macy’s child, Sasha, performs John’s favorite song. Her brother, Tim, with whom relations were strained over politics, has reconnected with the family. He recently drove hours to see Sasha’s band and will attend Macy’s son Max’s wedding.

Tim recounts his troubled youth: Their father, who struggled with alcohol addiction, once choked him against a wall, prompting him to run away at 14. He dropped out of school and later developed epilepsy, possibly from a childhood head injury when future mayor Bill Bean threw a brick that struck him. Bean does not recall the incident but acknowledges that it is possible.

Cookie and Macy exchange polite words. Macy suggests a community paramedic to help Cookie and her ailing husband, but Cookie later rejects the idea. Terry gives Macy some of John’s ashes to scatter in the Chesapeake Bay during Max’s wedding weekend. As Macy carries out this request, Terry speaks directly to John over speakerphone, telling him to find the Pacific Ocean.

Liza, Tim, and Tim’s wife attend Max’s wedding. Sasha delivers their grandmother’s traditional bawdy toast.

The annual Champaign County Fair takes place during a heated presidential race, with President Biden having dropped out and Senator J. D. Vance as Trump’s running mate. The fair’s history as a place for genial social interactions contrasts with current tensions. The pig scramble emcee injects political commentary criticizing current leadership, drawing loud applause.

An off-duty police chief from a nearby town is arrested for refusing to comply with the fairgrounds’ weapons ban. In response, three members of Ohio Gun Owners openly carry guns to provoke arrests and challenge the rule. The group’s director posts a confrontational video urging followers to harass the fair board. Macy contrasts this aggression with memories of her genteel grandmother.

Local Democratic chair Heather Tiefenthaler scrambles to update campaign materials from Biden to Harris when the former drops out of the race in the summer of 2024. She struggled for months to find a landlord willing to rent space for a Democratic headquarters. Tiefenthaler fears election violence, noting that local police officers openly support Trump and Christian nationalism.

Political scientist Lilliana Mason reports that a record 60% of Americans now approve of political violence under certain conditions, particularly if the other party initiates it. Macy describes extensive voter-turnout efforts by Christian nationalist groups. Journalist Jeff Sharlet blames media gatekeepers for inadequately reporting on rising fascism. Macy argues with photographer Sally Mann about rural rage; conceding that Macy may be right about some of the rage being justified, Mann later decides to volunteer for Democrats.

At the fair, Macy and Chris Flowers meet with Silas and his boyfriend, also named Max. Silas has earned his welding certificate but has taken a management-track job at an auto parts store for $17 per hour instead of a higher-paying welding position. His stepfather is out of jail, creating a tense home environment. He and Max are saving for their own apartment. Silas says that he dislikes repetitive factory work. Flowers urges him to reconsider welding. His former mentor has privately speculated to Macy that Silas is afraid of failing a drug test required for welding jobs. After he leaves, Macy reflects that people who have been traumatized often cling to familiar security.

Natalie Yoder, director of the Urbana Youth Center, highlights the success of Grace Slagle, 18, who was unhoused, experiencing suicidal ideation, and a high school dropout when they met. Yoder, a certified foster mother, took Grace into her home. She taught Grace basic life skills, including how to use bed sheets and safely eat food stored in a refrigerator. Grace earned her General Educational Development diploma in three months, completed a life-skills program, and now has her own apartment and a job as a school bus aide. She struggles with boundaries, loaning her mother rent money that leaves her unable to pay her own.

A civic leader confronts Yoder at the fair, repeating false rumors that youth center director Justin Weller, who is gay, is a predator. City officials blocked a state grant for the center’s expansion. Weller filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against city leaders, alleging discrimination. Before filing, Weller met with school board member Taylor Armstrong, who allegedly threatened that Weller would end up six feet under. Following the threat, Weller and his husband purchased firearms.

Maddie Allen begins online college classes while working two jobs. However, her plans are jeopardized as Springfield becomes the center of national controversy after Senator Vance and candidate Trump spread false rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets. The claims lead to bomb threats and Proud Boys protests, and Maddie must field accusations that she is serving dog meat at her Burger King job. Macy’s ex-boyfriend, Bill, leads the local anti-immigrant movement, Stop the Influx into Springfield.

Poverty scholar Ruby Payne explains that survival-based decision-making keeps poor people from saving money. Maddie leaves the motel and moves into a stable home with a friend’s family on a farm.

Cookie’s husband experiences a medical emergency. After their sister Terry insists, Cookie calls emergency services and accepts help from community paramedic Cheryl Wears. For the first time, Cookie makes a major decision independently, buying a one-story condominium.

For the purposes of fact-checking, Macy reads Cookie her section of the book. Cookie reacts viscerally, saying that her pastor told her not to believe Macy’s niece, Liza, about the childhood abuse. Cookie begs Macy not to include the story. Macy refuses. A week later, when Cookie is willing to apologize, Liza declines to take her call, believing the apology cannot be genuine after 40 years.

Macy cites statistics showing that one in four American girls is sexually abused before age 18, yet only 12% of cases are reported. She connects the burial of such secrets to vulnerability to conspiracy theories. A teenage girl reports to the youth center that she was sexually assaulted at a football game and received an inadequate response from school officials.

Silas’s mother relapses, and Child Protective Services removes his youngest siblings. Silas is given emergency custody of his teenage siblings. He and Max set up their apartment to accommodate the children. Max’s parents, who once belonged to an anti-gay church, became supportive after his depression and suicide attempts and helped the couple furnish their home. On Christmas Eve, Silas proposes to Max.

Chad Seeberg, a police captain, takes Macy to a shooting range to teach her self-defense. He confides in her regarding friends who have experienced mental health crises and drug addictions; a study links deaths of despair to vulnerability to misinformation and radicalization. Macy profiles Dr. Rachel Townsley Church, 31, who returned to Urbana to work at a federally qualified health center serving low-income patients who often believe conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 vaccinations she offers. Dr. Church describes widespread loneliness among her patients and quietly provides gender-affirming hormone therapy despite political opposition.

Seeberg draws parallels between current anti-Haitian sentiment and 19th-century anti-Irish nativism. Journalist Andrea Pitzer theorizes that advocates of “Make America Great Again” are sparking local fear of immigrants to destabilize the country and win over undecided voters. Macy’s ex, Bill, appears on conservative media spreading false information about Haitians receiving excessive government benefits. A large “Trump Train” parade takes place in Champaign County.

School attendance continues declining. Perry visits a record number of homes in two weeks. Homeschooling numbers climb. Lindsey, who assaulted Perry, has attacked three more people. Weller and his business partner explore purchasing the local newspaper to revive journalism.

After the shooting range experience, Macy decides against gun ownership, finding it more dangerous than protective. She reflects that rigid thinking is a trauma response fueled by decades of job losses and the opioid crisis. She offers an alternative list of actions: supporting local news, running for office, practicing grace, and resisting hatred. Macy recounts mentoring a Liberian refugee family who named their granddaughter Beth Macy Glay.

Trump wins the election and immediately pardons the January 6 insurrectionists. In mid-February, the uninsured Bill dies of heart failure at 63 after delaying pneumonia treatment. He had become immersed in white nationalist Great Replacement Theory. The Trump administration halts Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.

Silas was among 30 million poor and low-wage people who did not vote. The administration quickly rolls back rights for transgender people. Democratic strategist David Axelrod says that Democrats failed to dialogue with alienated Americans. Macy concludes with a call to resist fascism, register voters, and fight for democracy and human rights.