Through most of my childhood my father was in prison, and my mother worked long hours to keep us financially afloat; my world was narrow and limited and showed no signs of broadening. I am therefore enormously grateful for a social order that allowed me economic and professional mobility, that showed me open doors and encouraged me to go through them. But I would be lying to you and deceiving myself if I denied that that mobility came with costs. I have not had the intimacy with family that my parents and grandparents had; I have not known lifelong friendships. When I say this I do not wish my
...more