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Cleveland native Rana Khoury's new book, "As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation," tells the stories of working-class Ohioans from throughout the state who are still struggling with the repercussions of the Great Recession that officially ended in 2009. "When we think of Ohio, we think of the swing state, the 'battleground' that's defined by the reds and the blues," Khoury said. "And I think that's a very misleading way to understand people's experiences in this state. I think that people have much more in common across those lines, because of their common economic situation and the disparities -- the growing disparities -- between them and the top income-earners in this country."

(Courtesy Anna Hunter)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland native Rana B. Khoury, author of "As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation," says working-class Ohioans statewide are still struggling to survive in the aftermath of the Great Recession that supposedly ended in 2009.

Rana Khoury, author of "As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation."

"When we think of Ohio, we think of the swing state, the 'battleground' that's defined by the reds and the blues," Khoury said.

"And I think that's a very misleading way to understand people's experiences in this state. I think that people have much more in common across those [political party] lines, because of their common economic situation and the disparities -- the growing disparities -- between them and the top income-earners in this country.

"I think the more important line to understand and the division to look at is along the lines of income," she said, "and not these partisan, polarizing ways of thinking of this state."

Amy Hanauer, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, agreed with her during a recent City Club of Cleveland event to launch Khoury's book. As Ohioans, "we benefit from increased attention once every four years, but we suffer from [outsiders] viewing our state as a sort of battleground, as opposed to a place where people live and are trying to just build their lives."

Khoury said that "an underlying objective of the book is to demonstrate that Ohioans -- like Americans generally -- have a lot more in common than our polarized and divisive political environment lets on.

"With the Republican National Convention coming up in Cleveland, and the general election campaigning across the state, I would only hope that we could view Ohioans as more than swing voters (and thus creating ever more antagonism) but as people whose lives can be impacted by thoughtful and compassionate policymaking," she said.

Cleveland native Rana Khoury's new book, "As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation."

"As Ohio Goes," a 200-page book just published by Kent State University Press, refers to the saying, "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation," the idea that presidential candidates can't gain the White House without winning Ohio.

Khoury said economists and politicians talk about the post-recession nation as if the tough economic times are behind us, but she found that for all the economic growth since the recession, 95 percent of those gains have gone only to the top 1 percent of the population.

Not only that, but as working-class Ohioans struggle to survive, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has never been greater, she said.

Hanauer said that when she read Khoury's book, "I could not put it down. Just incredibly compelling stories of Ohioans and the way they're surviving in this post-recession economy."

Khoury, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Northwestern University and the daughter of Syrian immigrants, was born and raised in Moreland Hills and graduated from Orange Public Schools. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the American University School of Public Affairs, and her master's degree in Arab studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

She spent time in Syria and Singapore before bringing her interviewing and analytical skills back home to study the lives of resilient, working-class Ohioans.

As Khoury crisscrossed Ohio in 2012 and 2013, talking to people across dining room tables, while walking through their planted fields, or over beers at their favorite pubs, she found them welcoming, friendly and willing to share their stories. She interviewed more than 60 people, about 35 of whom made the book, including Amish farmers, furniture-makers, war-scarred soldiers, and displaced autoworkers.

"The interview phase of the project was extremely enriching," Khoury said. "As much as we try to be aware of others' realities, we can never fully grasp them without partaking in the act of listening -- a lesson learned from Studs Terkel. To be compassionate with one another, we must understand one another first, and so we must listen."

One of those Ohioans, a working mother named Rhonda (Khoury does not divulge last names) on the lower east side of Cleveland, went back to school in her late 30s to study social work at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike. Getting a private-school degree, even with scholarships and financial aid, cost her nearly $60,000, but she was determined to finish. She wanted a career, not just a job.

After graduating with a master's in education from Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Rhonda got hired as a social worker by the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District. She also took a second part-time job to support her and her son, Jordan, and to have a little left over for an occasional splurge, like getting her nails done.

"Because I have a teenager, it's not easy," she told Khoury. "It's like feeding three people."

Her final year of school, because she was required to take an eight-month-long unpaid internship, Rhonda had to apply for food stamps. "Either we do that, or we don't eat," she told her son.

She cut their cable service and bought groceries from three different stores, trying to stretch her dollars. "Nonetheless, there were days Rhonda could not be sure she would make it to her internship, afraid the car would run out of gas," Khoury said.

She eventually got hired as a high school social worker, trying to help students set educational goals and go to college.

Rhonda is determined to overcome statistics that say black single mothers and their children are disproportionately hurt by poverty. Yet even though she "is doing what society expects of her, so far, she's hardly getting by," Khoury said.

The National Women's Law Center says more than 600,000 single mothers in the U.S. who worked full-time, year-round in 2011 were living in poverty.

Hanauer said that after finishing Khoury's book, "I found myself feeling somewhat weighed down by the really incredible challenges that the people in this book were facing, and it almost felt relentless... What gives you hope as you emerge from this?"

Khoury replied that even though she wanted to portray people's struggles, she also talked to people with six-figure incomes or who never lost their jobs or faced foreclosure. For them, the recession was less of a rupture and "more of this slow-growing adaptation and transformation of their economic lives."

"The people that gave me hope were oftentimes the women in this book," she said. "The women were consistently resilient, consistently working hard and loving hard. In the age that we live in, we have the highest number of female breadwinners, whether they're providing the sole or the primary income to their households. That's a very reassuring thing to see how much women are working.

"On the other hand, I also see that our policy is not keeping up with these women," she said. "We are only one of four countries in the world that does not mandate paid maternity leave for women."

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