The House That Made Me

Writers Reflect on the Places and People that Defined Them

Grant Jarrett

Home—the place where we were born, where we learned our first lessons, where family was defined. The very notion evokes powerful feelings, feelings as individual as our fingerprints, as enduring as the universe and as inescapable as gravity. In this candid, evocative collection of essays, a diverse group of acclaimed authors reflects on the diverse homes, neighborhoods, and experiences that helped shape them—using Google Earth software to revisit the location in the process. Moving and life-affirming, this poignant anthology gives fresh insight into the concept of Home. This anthology includes 19 essays by an array of diverse award-winning authors, including: • Tim Johnston, author of Descent and winner of the O. Henry Prize, the New Letters Award for Writers, and the Gival Press Short Story Award • Laura Miller, culture columnist at Slate and co-founder of Salon.com • Porochista Khakpour, author of The Last Illusion and recipient of the 2012 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing (Prose) • Lee Upton, author of The Tao of Humiliation, named one of “Best Books of 2014” by Kirkus Reviews • Pamela Erens, author of the critically acclaimed novel The Virgins • Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank and winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and the Whiting Writer's Award

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Mid-Michigan, Wacousta Road
• Surviving Wayne Avenue
• 155
• This Brown, This Green
• Battling Fear and Gravity
• Waxing Din Rises from the Asphalt
• Belonging to a Place, Once Lost
• Scars
• Classic Six
• Smile When You Say That
• Commonwealth
• Home is for the Hard
• When the Moon Fit in My Window
• My Dingbat
• 4305 Niagara
• Smalltown Canadian Girl
• Where We’re Going
• Touched by Grace
• Contingency Procedures are in Effect
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Selected Titles from Sparkpress
• About Sparkpress