I was drawing a distinction between out-and-out poverty and the working class. The point was, the steel mills shut down in Michigan decades ago, so there's not much left to people in the region (especially away from the lakes) outside of desperate poverty. There are enclaves of industry still around in the Midwest — Gary, Indiana comes to mind. The point about vacationing — my friends and I all were traveling into rural Michigan from urban environments, where you experience a different kind of poverty than you'll see on the South Side and, yeah, we were conflicted about it. I don't mind giving my bonafides when I'm called out for being "out of touch" or whatever because of my profession.