A Drop in the Bucket Would Be Good

Back in 2011, I posted the opening paragraphs of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, about the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of the 1930s and its effects on the people (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2011/05/just-because-grapes-of-wrath.html). I also posted a link to a truly well-done short documentary comparing the troubles of the Midwest and our middle class to those of the Joad family and their fellow itinerants in that amazing, iconic novel (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2014/01/nor-any-drop-to-drink.html). The related story, "In Steinbeck's Footsteps: America's Middle-Class Underclass" is equally compelling (story, videos): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14296682
   The comparison remains apt, for as some parts of the country are literally under water, others are desiccating under layers of the same dust Steinbeck wrote about. (Reader comments at the end of the story are fascinating and eye-opening): http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140516-dust-bowl-drought-oklahoma-panhandle-food/