Certain conditions in life can lead many of us with no choice but to hustle. There is a “do or die” mentality that goes along with being in a circumstance where there is either no safety net or a limited one. There can be a sense of desperation that can either lead to a series of increasingly detrimental decisions or it can generate a supreme level of focus and dedication that drives one to levels of achievement beyond what they could previously comprehend. In one way or another, hustling is what ultimately lifts one out of extreme circumstances to a better way of life.
Hustle, defined by dictionary.com as a verb meaning “to proceed or work rapidly or energetically”, is often a key factor in social mobility for individual people and broader communities. Hustling is a foundational element of American culture and society and is a multidimensional concept. A battle is being waged in many schools and communities over which aspect of “hustling” will become culturally dominant and guide the focus of students and prospective students. 
Dr. Marcus Bright
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson provided descriptions for bright hustling and blight hustling in his book JAY-Z: Made in America. Dyson described blight hustling as something that happens on the street corners of American society. Those who have their backs against the wall and feel that they are forced to go into the underground economy and cooperate with ill-gotten gain.
Dyson wrote that “positive, legitimate, legal hustling can be termed bright hustling. It encompasses a wide range of activities: creating multiple streams of income, renting a room in your house, earning passive income through real estate investments, opening a small business, building banks, donating blood for money, coming up with a computer software app for mobile devices, getting a Ph.D., playing professional sports, becoming a lawyer, doctor, engineer, hairdresser, barber…"
This choice between blight hustling and bright hustling is one that many adults, both young and old, are having to contend with as additional governmental supports associated with the COVID-19 pandemic continue to subside. The pressure to hustle gets ratcheted up as the weight of economic needs and expectations continue to build.
The pull and temptation to engage in blight hustling increases as bright hustling avenues appear dim. The immediate need for resources and gratification that blight hustling can appear to satisfy is a mighty one to contend with. Additionally, blight hustling is often mass marketed and glorified through music, television, and movies. It is hard to do long-term thinking and cultivate the ability to delay gratification when you are trying to figure out what and how you are going to eat that night.
For adults, figuring out how you are going to pay bills when there is more month than money often trumps theoretical concepts and vague policy proposals. The more extreme situations become, the blurrier the lines between good and bad and ethical and non-ethical become. The cost of housing, gas, food, and other elements that make up one’s quality of life are quickly accelerating while wages are either stagnating or only slightly improving. This increases the pressure on both younger and older students who are dealing with deciding between bright and blight hustling scenarios.
