The Farley brothers live out in this trailer with their mother.
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Photos by Jerry Hsu
“My brother collects dolls. This here doll ain’t mine. We won this up at the Food City in Louisa. You know those little games where you grab stuff with the crane? My brother Donny won this in one of those! He’s lucky. I’m not lucky.”
e and my brother were born in Columbus, Ohio. Daddy wanted to move back down here to Martin County. Daddy thought he could get him a job here in the mines, but he couldn’t get no job there because he didn’t have no high school diploma. I was seven years old when we moved back here. We bought this trailer brand-new back in 1976.
My dad got himself a job being a night watchman, looking after the new cars on the car lot. My father left us in 1979. He went back up to Columbus.
People’s cruel here. But the good Lord took care of us. In this county, people are so mean. In a little county like this one here, people will talk about you behind your back. They won’t say things right to you. If you’re not certain people here, they won’t kiss you. You have to be, like, with the certain in-crowd here. Like the rich people. But we made it pretty good.
There’s a problem with poverty here. My mamaw [grandmother] died when I was 16 years old. She had a big house up there. She got married to this family here and they just moved in. They tried to run us out. My mamaw owned some of the coal in this mountain back here. It’s been all stripped out. When my mamaw married to this family here, they stripped all this coal out. We never got no money or hired no lawyers to represent our case. But the guy who made money off our coal, it never done him no good. He died. He got all that money and bought him a new house but he died and left it. I hope God has mercy on his soul.
My dream has always been to be in a TV commercial. I want to be famous. I like television too. I like to watch movies on AMC. I like Cartoon Network. I like that Aqua Teen Hunger Force and that Family Guy. I like that Futurama too. There’s that new one, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.
We got an 11-year-old cat named Field Mouse. We took her to the doctor and she’s got a big old tumor on her stomach. But God kept her around for a pretty good long time. We’re pretty lucky for that.
My favorite thing about living here is going to see movies at the new theater we got. On the weekends I go up there and see a movie. That girl Lisa up there, she’s real nice to us and she lets us go and see movies for free. We don’t pay nothin’.
I quit school when I was about 16 years old. I was gonna graduate in 1988. I was a freshman when I dropped out. My brother Donny quit in 1990 when he was a sophomore. I left school because the other kids was cruel to me. They got onto me and Donny. It’s kind of redneck down here.
STEVE FARLEY
Photos by Jerry Hsu
“My brother collects dolls. This here doll ain’t mine. We won this up at the Food City in Louisa. You know those little games where you grab stuff with the crane? My brother Donny won this in one of those! He’s lucky. I’m not lucky.”
like collecting Barbies. I got this new one at KB’s in Ashland. I collect them, I play with them, I just love the pretty outfits they wear. She’s a very beautiful girl! I first got interested in Barbies when I was 22. I was out looking for girlfriends all the time. One time I was at somebody’s house and there was a little girl there who’d gotten a Barbie for Christmas. I said, “Man, she’s awful good-looking to be a doll.” I decided, I think I’m gonna start collecting ’em soon. I got started and I can’t quit! I think I spend $20 per month. My absolute favorite is the one in Fashion Fever clothes. She has a fur dress or a fur coat with fur trim and a butterfly belt buckle.
Some of the girls here are, like, real preppy and snobby. It’s kind of who you are in this town. Like, the county judge’s son or daughter, or the kids of people who own big companies. People really want to date them.
I’ve got Bratz too, and Barbies and some celebrity dolls. Here’s a That’s So Raven doll.
A while ago, our hot-water heater was leaking so I had to move all of them. I don’t want to get them damaged. Then, later on, I was gonna stack them. I stacked one side, but now I gotta restack the other side too.
Most of the time I don’t like to get into it with nobody. I try to be a friendly guy. I don’t want nobody to have hard feelings about me.
DONNY FARLEY
Photo by Patrick O’Dell
