Ty Rushing wrote a deeply personal story about how student debt forgiveness impacts him. His unique angle on the Biden student loan controversy was prompted by the response the move generated on Twitter and elsewhere. Wrote Ty for Iowa Starting Line:
The social media outrage about this was something, especially considering a lot of the most vocal critics benefited from forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans in increments higher than what Biden’s forgiving and, in some cases, hundreds of thousands in federal farm subsidies.
It is his personal story that brings the issue home:
I’m the product of a single mother. My late mother raised me, for the most part, by herself. I say for the most part because my grandparents and maternal aunts and uncles also played a big role in my upbringing. I also sort of have three fathers, which is something I’ve never written about before…
…There were times we had to fill the bathtub up with water before they cut it off because of a missed bill. Sometimes in the winter, we had to sleep in the same bed under numerous comforters because she couldn’t risk running up the gas bill since we didn’t have the money to pay.
Read the entirety of his story here:
Why I Needed Student Loans To Go To School
I ‘discovered’ Ty on Twitter a couple of years ago when he was a reporter for N’West Iowa Review. I followed his subsequent work with The Sheldon Mail-Sun, and now Senior Editor for Iowa Starting Line. As a reporter for local newspapers, he would typically rake in the ‘Best of…’ awards from Iowa Newspaper Association contests annually.
Ty Rushing is in demand. His passion for social media clicks is a masterclass on going viral. He is a life-eater. His friends tell him he has to learn to say ‘no,’ but it doesn’t appear he has taken their advice.
Case in point. Here is an Iowa PBS special featuring Ty.
One year ago, he founded the Iowa Association of Black Journalists.
And starting September 19, Ty Rushing will return to the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat, offering participants his wit and wisdom on basic storytelling and social media. We are going to have a blast.
This plan will change between now and September 19, but it will give you a sense of what is to come (we have just a few spots remaining). Here is Day One, September 19, click: https://okobojiwritersretreat.com/monday-september-19-2022/
Share this story, please. If there’s a ‘bootstrapper’ in your world who questions the wisdom of student loan forgiveness, Ty’s story is just one. But it is well-told and real.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative now includes Ed Tibbetts, who covered politics for the Quad-City Times before becoming Editorial Page editor. He left the Lee Enterprises paper during a recent layoff.
Ed is the kind of professional journalist and observer we will all benefit from reading. When you subscribe to the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roundup, you will find a weekly email featuring links to the members of our group listed below:
Iowa Writers Collaborative: Iowa Writers Collaborative
Here is the group so far. We are on the grow:
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury
Dave Busiek: On Media
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt
Dana James: New Black Iowa
Bob Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi
Thanks to the Iowa Capital Dispatch for partnering with us. Please support as many of us as you are able.
Do you have a story you can share about student loan debt?