{"id":5564,"date":"2019-12-21T12:35:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=5564"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:43:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:43:32","slug":"jd-vance-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance’s Sister: Lindsay’s Shocking Appalachian Childhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is JD Vance’s sister Lindsay Vance like in Hillbilly Elegy<\/em>? How do she and Vance cope with an abusive mother and a town that prizes violence and devalues education?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hillbilly Elegy <\/em>sets out to explore the struggles of the rural white working class<\/a> in 21st-century America through the personal story of its author, JD Vance. Learn how JD Vance and his sister Lindsay Vance overcome the odds and achieve lives of success and respectability outside of the hillbilly culture<\/a> from which they came\u2014but at a heavy personal cost, and with many struggles along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

JD Vance & His Sister: A Troubled Home Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JD was born in 1987 in Middletown<\/a>, Ohio, to a family of transplanted Kentucky hillbillies<\/a>. His mother, Bev, would struggle with substance abuse issues for most of his childhood<\/strong> and adolescence, inflicting severe emotional trauma on him and his older sister, Lindsay. On one occasion, she pulled over the car while she was driving him and threatened to severely beat him\u2014until he escaped to a nearby house and had her arrested. On another occasion, her drug addiction spiraled so far out of control that she forced her teenage son to provide a clean urine sample so she could pass a drug test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD\u2019s mother had once been a promising student and seemed on track to rise up from the poverty and abuse that had surrounded her as a child. Unfortunately, she fell into the same cycle of dysfunctional that she had learned from her parents. She married her high school boyfriend and quickly found her life beset by the drama, fighting, and violence that had so defined her parents\u2019 marriage.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At nineteen, she gave birth to a child (JD Vance’s sister Lindsay), filed for divorce, and began life anew as a single mom. After remarrying in 1983, she gave birth to JD in 1984, in Middletown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normalizing Dysfunction<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There was a long series of father-figures who would come and go from JD\u2019s life<\/strong>, a product of his mother\u2019s inability to form stable relationships and her extreme willingness to jump into living arrangements with men she barely knew\u2014a pattern of tumult and instability that would become a constant source of pain and anxiety for JD and JD Vance’s sister Lindsay Vance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an adult, JD doesn\u2019t point to the domestic abuse itself <\/em>as the most harrowing aspect of living with his mother and Bob. Instead, it was the uncertainty <\/em>that was the most unnerving. He could never be sure what might trigger a knock-down, drag-out brawl. Even seemingly innocuous events\u2014a wrong word here, a mild childhood transgression there\u2014could provoke a plate being smashed or a door being kicked in.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As JD sadly reminisces, however, his domestic situation was hardly exceptional. These behaviors were quite normal and widespread in his community. After a while, seeing families hurl barbed insults at one another and engage in acts of physical violence ceased to be shocking: it was simply a part of life for JD, JD Vance’s sister, and their friends. He came to believe that this was just the way that adults treated one another.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning to Brawl<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This social context<\/a> encouraged\u2014in fact, demanded<\/em>\u2014that a young man like JD enforce and uphold hillbilly justice himself. Loyalty to family, upholding one\u2019s honor, and demonstrating toughness were the core values<\/a> of this \u201cjustice\u201d system.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social expectation was that young men should resort to violence to avenge any <\/em>insult towards the family, whether the insult was intended or not. When JD Vance’s sister Lindsay was dumped by her boyfriend, custom demanded that JD brawl<\/a> with her ex to maintain the family\u2019s dignity. Even though he proceeded to lose the fight (badly), he was rewarded <\/em>for his display of violence by Mamaw<\/a>, who told him that he had done the correct and honorable thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom\u2019s Situation Accelerates<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although her marriage with Bob was loveless and marked by verbal and physical abuse, its deterioration clearly took a powerful emotional toll on her already-fragile and unstable psyche.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bev began to turn to drugs and alcohol<\/strong>, and started having numerous affairs with strange men who would suddenly appear and then disappear from JD\u2019s life. As a result, JD and JD Vance’s sister grew having no idea of how a man ought to treat his family and without any true father figure at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, Bev\u2019s behavior began to take a turn for the worse. The kids got a full view of the extent of their mother\u2019s dysfunction, as she would stay out all night with new friends that JD and JD Vance’s sister Lindsay had never met before. She would also subject them to extreme emotional outbursts and episodes of physical violence<\/strong>. She was transformed into a person completely unable and unwilling to conform to the basic norms and standards of adult behavior<\/strong>. Eventually, she had to go to rehab in Cincinnati, where JD and his JD Vance’s sister Lindsay Vancewould visit her on weekends. These visits showed JD the true horrors of American addiction, but they also gave him key insights into why <\/em>his mom was the way she was. For example, she revealed to him that she had turned to drugs to escape her financial stress and to cope with the loss of her father<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family therapy sessions at the treatment center also brought to light resentments and wounds that had been long-simmering between Bev and her children. One weekend, Lindsay Vance confronted her mother about how much she hated watching her little brother (JD) get attached to one of Bev\u2019s boyfriends, only for the boyfriend to suddenly disappear from JD\u2019s life.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD Faces a Test<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once Bev was discharged, her pattern of erratic and unstable relationships quickly resurfaced<\/strong>. She took up with a constant parade of new men, and JD was forced to change homes frequently. What was most painful was the instability and tumult: he was always surrounded by strangers, always in a new place, and cut off from everyone he knew and loved.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, he was able to remain in school in Middletown and was able to visit Mamaw and his sister and her husband whenever he wanted. This provided him some measure of stability. But his mother\u2019s romantic life was increasingly chaotic, even by her standards. JD and Bev ended up moving in with a man she\u2019d gone on a date with just a week before!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As adults, people replicate the instability they themselves witnessed as children<\/strong>. Thus, JD\u2019s mother descended from being a salutatorian of her high school to the multiple marriages and drug addiction of her adulthood. Even people like JD Vance’s sister Lindsay, his cousin Gail, and his Aunt Wee, all of whom managed to achieve stability, struggled through periods of dysfunctional relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is JD Vance’s sister Lindsay Vance like in Hillbilly Elegy? How do she and Vance cope with an abusive mother and a town that prizes violence and devalues education? Hillbilly Elegy sets out to explore the struggles of the rural white working class in 21st-century America through the personal story of its author, JD Vance. Learn how JD Vance and his sister Lindsay Vance overcome the odds and achieve lives of success and respectability outside of the hillbilly culture from which they came\u2014but at a heavy personal cost, and with many struggles along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,12],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-5564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","category-relationships","tag-hillbilly-elegy","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nJD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"468\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Penn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0\"},\"headline\":\"JD Vance’s Sister: Lindsay’s Shocking Appalachian Childhood\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\"},\"wordCount\":1155,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Hillbilly Elegy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"People\",\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\",\"name\":\"JD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":468},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"JD Vance’s Sister: Lindsay’s Shocking Appalachian Childhood\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0\",\"name\":\"Amanda Penn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Penn\"},\"description\":\"Amanda Penn is a writer and reading specialist. She\u2019s published dozens of articles and book reviews spanning a wide range of topics, including health, relationships, psychology, science, and much more. Amanda was a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in schools in the US and South Africa. Amanda received her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/amanda\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"JD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood - Shortform Books","description":"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"JD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood","og_description":"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":468,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amanda Penn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amanda Penn","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/"},"author":{"name":"Amanda Penn","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0"},"headline":"JD Vance’s Sister: Lindsay’s Shocking Appalachian Childhood","datePublished":"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/"},"wordCount":1155,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","keywords":["Hillbilly Elegy"],"articleSection":["People","Relationships"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/","name":"JD Vance's Sister: Lindsay's Shocking Appalachian Childhood - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-21T16:35:15+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T19:43:32+00:00","description":"What is JD Vance's sister Lindsay like in Hillbilly Elegy? Learn how Vance and his sister overcome the odds of their upbringing at a heavy personal cost.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","width":768,"height":468},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-sister\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"JD Vance’s Sister: Lindsay’s Shocking Appalachian Childhood"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0","name":"Amanda Penn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg","caption":"Amanda Penn"},"description":"Amanda Penn is a writer and reading specialist. She\u2019s published dozens of articles and book reviews spanning a wide range of topics, including health, relationships, psychology, science, and much more. Amanda was a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in schools in the US and South Africa. Amanda received her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/amanda\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/hillbilly-sister.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5564"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6106,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5564\/revisions\/6106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}