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essays about growing up: You Don't Have to Like Me Alida Nugent, 2015-10-20 Nugent is a proud feminist--and she's not afraid to say it. From the 'scarlet F' thrust upon you if you declare yourself a feminist at a party to how to handle judgmental store clerks when you buy Plan B, [her book] skewers a range of cultural issues-- |
essays about growing up: The Harry Potter Generation Emily Lauer, Balaka Basu, 2019-04-10 The generation of readers most heavily impacted by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series--those who grew up alongside the boy who lived--have come of age. They are poised to become teachers, parents, critics and writers, and many of their views and choices will be influenced by the literary revolution in which they were immersed. This collection of new essays explores the many different ways in which Harry Potter has shaped this generation's views on everything from politics to identity to pedagogical spaces online. It seeks to determine how the books have affected fans' understanding of their place in the world and their capacity to create it anew. |
essays about growing up: Out of the Ordinary Noelle Howey, Ellen Samuels, 2000-08-10 Out of the Ordinary is a groundbreaking collection of essays by teen and adult children of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender parents. The essays range from humorous to poignant and provide insight into numerous topics on dealing with a parent's sexuality while figuring out one's own. 100 photos. |
essays about growing up: The Library Book Susan Orlean, 2019-10-01 Susan Orlean’s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post). On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. “A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Trans Lindsay Herriot, Kate Fry, 2021-08-17 What does it mean to be young and transgender today? Growing Up Trans shares stories, essays, art and poetry created by trans youth aged 11 to 18. In their own words, the works illustrate the trans experience through childhood, family and daily life, school, their bodies and mental health. Together the collection is a story of the challenges, big and small, of being a young trans person. At the same time, it’s a toolkit for all young people, transgender or not, about what understanding, acceptance and support for the trans community looks like. In addition to the contributed works, there are questions and tips from experts in the field of transgender studies to challenge the reader on how to be a trans ally. Growing Up Trans came out of a series of workshops held in Victoria, British Columbia, to bring together trans youth from across the country with mentors in the community. |
essays about growing up: That Mad Game Jessica Lynn Powers, 2012 What's it like to grow up during war? To be a victim of violence or exiled from your homeland, culture, family, and even your own memories? When America's talking heads talk about war, children and teenagers are often the forgotten part of the story. Yet who can forget images of the Vietnam baby lift, when Amer-Asian children were flown out of Vietnam to be adopted by Americans? Who can forget the horror of learning that Iranian children were sent on suicide missions to clear landmines? Who wasn't captivated by stories of the lost boys of Sudan, traveling thousands of miles alone through the desert, seeking shelter and safety? From the cartel-terrorized streets of Ju rez to the bombed-out cities of Bosnia to Afghanistan under the Taliban, from Nazi-occupied Holland to the middle-class American home of a Vietnam vet, this collection of personal and narrative essays explores both the universal and particular experiences of children and teenagers who came of age during a time of war. J.L. Powers is the editor of Labor Pains and Birth Stories and the author of two young adult novels, most recently This Thing Called the Future, an alternative fantasy set in post-apartheid South Africa. She began collecting essays on children and war while pregnant with her first child and says, The experience was both painful and uplifting, not unlike giving birth. The most memorable aspect of these essays is their stark portrayal of both survival and hope in the midst of incredible suffering. |
essays about growing up: Sting-Ray Afternoons Steve Rushin, 2017-07-03 This is a story of the 1970s. Of a road trip in a wood-paneled station wagon, with the kids in the way-back, singing along to the Steve Miller Band. Of brothers waking up early on Saturday mornings for five consecutive hours of cartoons. Of growing up in a magical era populated by Bic pens, Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles, lightsabers and those oh-so-coveted Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes. And of a father -- one of 3M's greatest and last eight-track salesmen -- traveling across the country on the brand-new Boeing 747, providing for his family but wanting nothing more than to get home. In Sting-Ray Afternoons, Steve Rushin paints an utterly nostalgic, psychedelically vibrant portrait of a decade overflowing with technological evolution, cultural revolution, as well as brotherly, sisterly, and parental love. Funny, elegiac... a remarkably sunny coming-of-age story about growing up in a Midwest world. -- NPR |
essays about growing up: Twentysomething Samantha Henig, Robin Marantz Henig, 2013-10-29 A mother-daughter writing team reports on what's really up with kids today Science writer Robin Marantz Henig and her daughter, journalist Samantha Henig, offer a smart, comprehensive look at what it's really like to be twentysomething—and to what extent it’s different for Millennials than it was for their Baby Boomer parents. The Henigs combine the behavioral science literature for insights into how young people make choices about schooling, career, marriage, and childbearing; how they relate to parents, friends, and lovers; and how technology both speeds everything up and slows everything down. Packed with often-surprising discoveries, Twentysomething is a two-generation conversation that will become the definitive book on being young in our time. The fullest guide through this territory . . . A densely researched report on the state of middleclass young people today, drawn from several data sources and filtered through a comparative lens. —The New Yorker |
essays about growing up: Portraits from Memory Bertrand Russell, 2020-11-29 ‘I have come to think that one of the main causes of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence.’ – Bertrand Russell, Portraits from Memory Portraits from Memory is one of Bertrand Russell’s most self-reflective and engaging books. Whilst not intended as an autobiography, it is a vivid recollection of some of his celebrated contemporaries, such as George Bernard Shaw, Sidney and Beatrice Webb and D. H. Lawrence. Russell provides some arresting and sometimes amusing insights into writers with whom he corresponded. He was fascinated by Joseph Conrad, with whom he formed a strong emotional bond, writing that his Heart of Darkness was not just a story but an expression of Conrad’s ‘philosophy of life’. There are also some typically pithy Russellian observations; H. G. Wells ‘derived his importance from quantity rather than quality’, whilst after a brief and fraught friendship Russell thought D. H. Lawrence ‘had no real wish to make the world better, but only to indulge in eloquent soliloquy about how bad it was’. This engaging book also includes some of Russell’s customary razor-sharp essays on a rich array of subjects, from his ardent pacifism, liberal politics and morality to the ethics of education, the skills of good writing and how he came to philosophy as a young man. These include ‘A Plea for Clear Thinking’, ‘A Philosophy for Our Time’ and ‘How I Write’. Portraits from Memory is Russell at his best and will enthrall those new to Russell as well as those already well-acquainted with his work. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by the Russell scholar Nicholas Griffin, editor of The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Poor Robert Coles, Randy Testa, Michael H. Coles, 2002-06-01 A multicultural anthology of writing on poverty--including stories, essays, poetry, and biographical excerpts--features the work of Sherman Alexie, Dorothy Allison, Raymond Carver, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, and William Carlos Williams. |
essays about growing up: Why Grow Up? Susan Neiman, 2015-05-05 Originally published in 2014 by Penguin Books, Great Britain--Title page verso. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Russell Baker, 2011-09-06 The Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir about coming of age in America between the world wars: “So warm, so likable and so disarmingly funny” (The New York Times). One of the New York Times’ “50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Ranging from the backwoods of Virginia to a New Jersey commuter town to the city of Baltimore, this remarkable memoir recounts Russell Baker’s experience of growing up in pre–World War II America, before he went on to a celebrated career in journalism. With poignant, humorous tales of powerful love, awkward sex, and courage in the face of adversity, Baker reveals how he helped his mother and family through the Great Depression by delivering papers and hustling subscriptions to the Saturday Evening Post—a job which introduced him to bullies, mentors, and heroes who endured this national disaster with hard work and good cheer. Called “a treasure” by Anne Tyler and “a blessing” by Time magazine, this autobiography is a modern-day classic—“a wondrous book [with scenes] as funny and touching as Mark Twain’s” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). “In lovely, haunting prose, he has told a story that is deeply in the American grain.” —The Washington Post Book World “A terrific book.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
essays about growing up: Definitely Hispanic LeJuan James, 2020-07-14 Perfect for fans of Jane the Virgin’s celebration of Latinidad and Fresh Off the Boat’s situational humor, Definitely Hispanic is a collection of introspective and witty essays by social media influencer and viral phenomenon LeJuan James about growing up Hispanic in the US. Social media influencer and viral phenomenon LeJuan James loves being Hispanic. But growing up in the United States to immigrant parents, he quickly noticed that their house rules and traditions didn’t always match up with his friends’. Years later, the result was a lifetime of laugh-out-loud, relatable moments that he reenacted on camera and shared with the world online. Now, LeJuan is taking a closer look at everything he loves about his family, culture, and community. Definitely Hispanic is a collection of heartfelt memoiristic essays that explores the themes LeJuan touches upon in his videos, and celebrates the values and traditions being kept alive by Hispanic parents raising US–born children. He shares anecdotes about discovering the differences between his and his friends’ households, demystifies “La Pela” (the Spanking), explains the vital role women play in Hispanic families, and pays reverence to universal cultural truths like “food is love” and “music is in Hispanics’ DNA.” From the chapter “#Home”—in which LeJuan talks about how his family moved back and forth between the United States and Puerto Rico until settling in Orlando, Florida—to “#TheHouse”—in which he was finally able to buy his parents the home they deserve thanks to his online success—this wide-ranging collection celebrates being Latino and offers a humorous yet warm-hearted look at the lives of second-generation immigrants in the US. LeJuan’s hilarious online persona comes to life on every page. |
essays about growing up: Manhood for Amateurs Michael Chabon, 2012-01-24 The Pulitzer Prize winning author -- “an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times) -- offers his first major work of nonfiction, an autobiographical narrative as inventive, beautiful, and powerful as critics and readers have come to expect. A shy manifesto, an impractical handbook, the true story of a fabulist, an entire life in parts and pieces: MANHOOD FOR AMATEURS is the first sustained work of personal writing from Michael Chabon. In these insightful, provocative, slyly interlinked essays, one of our most brilliant and humane writers presents his autobiography and his vision of life in the way so many of us experience our own: as a series of reflections, regrets and re-examinations, each sparked by an encounter, in the present, that holds some legacy of the past. What does it mean to be a man today? Chabon invokes and interprets and struggles to reinvent for us, with characteristic warmth and lyric wit, the personal and family history that haunts him even as -- simply because -- it goes on being written every day. As a devoted son, as a passionate husband, and above all as the father of four young Americans, Chabon’s memories of childhood, of his parents’ marriage and divorce, of moments of painful adolescent comedy and giddy encounters with the popular art and literature of his own youth, are like a theme played -- on different instruments, with a fresh tempo and in a new key -- by the mad quartet of which he now finds himself co-conductor. At once dazzling, hilarious, and moving, MANHOOD FOR AMATEURS is destined to become a classic. |
essays about growing up: Getting to 30 Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Elizabeth Fishel, 2014-05-06 “This is the book parents have been waiting for”—Michael Thompson, coauthor of Raising Cain. The book that is “helpful, hopeful, and engaging”—Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ph.D., Columbia University. It is the book that addresses the new reality for parents of kids in their 20s and the issues that everyone in the media is talking about: When will this new generation of 20-somethings leave home, find love, start a career, settle down—grow up? And it's the book that will soothe your nerves. It’s loaded with information about what to expect and guidance on what to do when problems arise (as they probably will). In other words, this is the book parents need—Getting to 30, by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, the world's leading authority on the post-adolescent phase he named emerging adulthood, and Elizabeth Fishel, author of Sisters and other books. As Getting to 30 shows, the road to adulthood is longer than we think—and, for parents, bumpier. It explains what’s really happening to your 18- to 29-year-old, including the story behind your child’s moods. The phenomenon of the boomerang child—and why it’s actually a good thing, for parents and kids. The new landscape of 20-something romance. And it gives all the tools parents need to deal with the challenges, from six ways to listen more than you talk, to knowing when to open (and close) the Bank of Mom and Dad while saving for retirement, to figuring out the protocol for social media. Published in hardcover as When Will My Grown-Up Kid Grow Up?, Getting to 30 includes the latest research on the optimistic and supportive attitude most parents have regarding their 20-something children. |
essays about growing up: My Life: Growing Up Asian in America CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), 2023-04-25 A collection of thirty heartfelt, witty, and hopeful thought pieces “that highlights the humanity and multitudes of being Asian American” (Kirkus Reviews, starred), for fans of Minor Feelings. There are 23 million people, representing more than twenty countries, each with unique languages, histories, and cultures, clumped under one banner: Asian American. Though their experiences are individual, certain commonalities appear. -The pressure to perform and the weight of the model minority myth. -The proximity to whiteness (for many) and the resulting privileges. -The desexualizing, exoticizing, and fetishizing of their bodies. -The microaggressions. -The erasure and overt racism. Through a series of essays, poems, and comics, thirty creators give voice to moments that defined them and shed light on the immense diversity and complexity of the Asian American identity. Edited by CAPE and with an introduction by renowned journalist SuChin Pak, My Life: Growing Up Asian in America is a celebration of community, a call to action, and “a vital record of the Asian American experience” (Publishers Weekly). It’s the perfect gift for any occasion. Featuring contributions from bestselling authors Melissa de la Cruz, Marie Lu, and Tanaïs; journalists Amna Nawaz, Edmund Lee, and Aisha Sultan; TV and film writers Teresa Hsiao, Heather Jeng Bladt, and Nathan Ramos-Park; and industry leaders Ellen K. Pao and Aneesh Raman, among many more. |
essays about growing up: The Making of the American Essay John D'Agata, 2016-03-15 Now, with The making of the American essay' the editor includes selections ranging from Anne Bradstreet's secular prayers to Washington Irving's satires, Emily Dickinson's love letters to Kenneth Goldsmith's catalog's, Gertrude Stein's portraits to James Baldwin's and Norman Mailer's mediations on boxing. In this volume the editor uncovers new stories in the American essay's past and shows us that some of the most fiercely daring writers in the American literary canon have turned to the essay in order to produce some of our culture's most exhilarating art.-- book jacket. |
essays about growing up: Jasper Jones Craig Silvey, 2011-04-05 A Michael L. Printz Honor Book Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night. Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion. He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart. |
essays about growing up: When I Was A Child I Read Books Marilynne Robinson, 2012-03-22 From the author of the magnificent, award-winning novels GILEAD, HOME and LILA comes this wonderful, heart-warming collection of essays about reading. 'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' Barack Obama Marilynne Robinson is not only a writer of sharp, subtly moving fiction, but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In this luminous collection she returns to the themes which have preoccupied her bestselling novels: the place literature has in life, the role of faith in modern living, the contradictions inherent in human nature. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our best-loved writers. |
essays about growing up: He Never Came Home Regina R. Robertson, 2017-06-13 “The strong, authentic voices of the women sharing their own narratives and awakenings from life without fathers is the power of this book.” —Esme AAMBC Non-Fiction Self-Help Book of the Year AAMBC Breakout Author of the Year He Never Came Home is a collection of twenty-two personal essays written by girls and women who have been separated from their fathers by way of divorce, abandonment, or death. The contributors to this collection come from a wide range of different backgrounds in terms of race, socioeconomic status, religion, and geographic location. Their essays offer deep insights into the emotions related to losing one’s father, including sadness, indifference, anger, acceptance—and everything in between. This book, edited by Essence magazine’s west coast editor Regina R. Robertson, is first and foremost an offering to young girls and women who have endured the loss of their fathers. But it also speaks to mothers who are raising girls without a father present, offering important perspective into their daughter’s feelings and struggles. The essays in He Never Came Home are organized into three categories: “Divorce,” “Distant,” and “Deceased.” With essays by contributors including Emmy Award-winning actress Regina King, fitness expert and New York Times bestselling author Gabrielle Reece, television comedy writer Jenny Lee—and a foreword by TV news anchor Joy-Ann Reid—this anthology illustrates the journey of the fatherless, and provides a space for these writers to express their pain, hope, and healing, minus any judgments and without apology. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Queer in Australia Benjamin Law, 2019-08-06 ‘No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment.’ ‘The mantle of “queer migrant” compelled me to keep going – to go further.’ ‘I never “came out” to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation.’ ‘All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints.’ ‘I became acutely aware of the parts of myself that were unpalatable to queers who grew up in the city.’ ‘My queerness was born in a hot dry land that was never ceded.’ ‘Even now, I sometimes think that I don’t know my own desire.’ Compiled by celebrated author and journalist Benjamin Law, Growing Up Queer in Australia assembles voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity. Spanning diverse places, eras, ethnicities and experiences, these are the stories of growing up queer in Australia. ‘For better or worse, sooner or later, life conspires to reveal you to yourself, and this is growing up.’ With contributions from David Marr, Fiona Wright, Nayuka Gorrie, Steve Dow, Holly Throsby, Sally Rugg, Tony Ayres, Nic Holas, Rebecca Shaw and many more. |
essays about growing up: Without a Net Michelle Tea, 2018-02-27 An urgent testament to the trials of life for women living without a financial safety net Indie icon Michelle Tea -- whose memoir The Chelsea Whistle details her own working-class roots in gritty Chelsea, Massachusetts -- shares these fierce, honest, tender essays written by women who can't go home to the suburbs when ends don't meet. When jobs are scarce and the money has dwindled, these writers have nowhere to go but below the poverty line. The writers offer their different stories not for sympathy or sadness, but an unvarnished portrait of how it was, is, and will be for generations of women growing up working class in America. These wide-ranging essays cover everything from selling blood for grocery money to the culture shock of jumping class. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Bee Lavender, Eileen Myles, and Daisy Hernáez. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up in Australia Black Inc., 2021-11-30 The ultimate book about growing up in Australia – a choice selection of wonderful stories and recollections This special collection is the perfect introduction to Black Inc.’s definitive ‘Growing Up’ series. Featuring pieces from Growing Up Asian, Growing Up Aboriginal, Growing Up African, Growing Up Queer and Growing Up Disabled in Australia, it captures the diversity of our nation in moving and revelatory ways. Growing Up in Australia also features gems from essential Australian memoirs such as Rick Morton’s 100 Years of Dirt and Magda Szubanski’s Reckoning. Contributors include Tim Winton, Benjamin Law, Anna Goldsworthy, Nyadol Nyuon, Tara June Winch and many more. With a foreword by Alice Pung, this anthology is a wonderful gift for adult and adolescent readers alike. |
essays about growing up: My Misspent Youth Meghan Daum, 2014-12-23 The cult classic essay collection from “one of the most emotionally exacting, mercilessly candid, deeply funny . . . writers of our time” (Cheryl Strayed, The New York Times Book Review). First published in 2001, My Misspent Youthcaptured a generation’s uneasy coming of age as the world made its chaotic way into a new millennium. It also established Meghan Daum as a leading literary voice, widely celebrated for her fresh, provocative approach to the hidden fault lines of America’s cultural landscape. From her New Yorker essays about the financial demands of big-city ambition and the ethereal, strangely old-fashioned allure of cyber-relationships to her dazzlingly hilarious riff about musical passions that give way to middle-brow paraphernalia, Daum delves into the center of things while closely examining the detritus that spills out along the way. With precision and well-balanced irony, Daum implicates herself as readily as she does the targets that fascinate and horrify her. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up in Country Australia Rick Morton, 2022-03-29 Black Inc.’s bestselling Growing Up series goes to the country 'You will find in these pages a colourful and gripping pastiche that updates the experience outside Australia's cities and large regional centres. You will find, despite the absolute variety in these essays, that there is still something ineffable about life in the country.' -Rick Morton Growing Up in Country Australia is a fresh, modern look at country Australia. There are stories of joy, adventure, nostalgia, connection to nature and freedom, but also grimmer tales - of drought, fires, mouse plagues and isolation. From the politics of the country school bus to the class divides between locals, from shooting foxes with Dad to giving up meat as an adult, from working on the family farm to selling up and moving to the city, the picture painted is diverse and unexpected. This is country Australia as you've never seen it before. With nearly forty stories by established and emerging authors from a wide range of backgrounds - including First Nations and new migrants - Growing Up in CountryAustralia is a unique and revealing snapshot of rural life. Contributors include Holden Sheppard, Laura Jean McKay,Annabel Crabb, Sami Shah, Lech Blaine, Tony Armstrong, Bridie Jabour, Jes Layton, Lily Chan, Jay Carmichael and many others. |
essays about growing up: Caca Dolce Chelsea Martin, 2017-08-15 An “enchanting” memoir of an artist in search of herself: “A sure hit for fans of Sara Benincasa’s Agorafabulous! and Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl” (Booklist, starred review).Caca Dolce is the “funny, candid, and bracingly self-aware” story of Chelsea Martin’s coming of age as an artist (The Rumpus). We’re with the author of cult novels Mickey and Even Though I Don’t Miss You as an eleven-year-old atheist, trying to will an alien visitation to her neighborhood; fighting with her stepfather and grappling with a Tourette’s diagnosis as she becomes a teenager; falling under the sway of frenemies and crushes in high school; going into debt to afford what might be a meaningless education at an expensive art college; navigating the messy process of falling in love with a close friend; and struggling for independence from her emotionally manipulative father and from the family and friends in the dead-end California town that has defined her upbringing. A book about relationships, class, art, sex, money, family, and growing up weird and poor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Casa Dolce is “a wild ride of a memoir, and a true glimpse into the mind of an artist as she’s figuring out what life is all about” (Kristin Iversen, Nylon). |
essays about growing up: The Twelve-Mile Straight Eleanor Henderson, 2017-09-12 “[A] superb novel whose roots can be traced to Harper Lee and Carson McCullers”—from the New York Times–bestselling author of Ten Thousand Saints (O, The Oprah Magazine). Cotton County, Georgia, 1930: in a house full of secrets, two babies—one light-skinned, the other dark—are born to Elma Jesup, a white sharecropper’s daughter. Accused of her rape, field hand Genus Jackson is lynched and dragged behind a truck down the Twelve-Mile Straight, the road to the nearby town. In the aftermath, the farm’s inhabitants are forced to contend with their complicity in a series of events that left a man dead and a family irrevocably fractured. Despite the prying eyes and curious whispers of the townspeople, Elma begins to raise her babies as best as she can, under the roof of her mercurial father, Juke, and with the help of Nan, the young black housekeeper who is as close to Elma as a sister. But soon it becomes clear that the ties that bind all of them together are more intricate than any could have ever imagined. As startling revelations mount, a web of lies begins to collapse around the family, destabilizing their precarious world and forcing all to reckon with the painful truth. Acclaimed author Eleanor Henderson has returned with a novel that combines the intimacy of a family drama with the staggering presence of a great Southern saga. Tackling themes of racialized violence, social division, and financial crisis, The Twelve-Mile Straight is a startlingly timely, emotionally resonant, and magnificent tour de force. “Henderson immerses you in characters worthy of Flannery O’Connor . . . A masterful piece of storytelling.” —The Seattle Times |
essays about growing up: Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing Lauren Hough, 2021-04-13 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A memoir in essays about so many things—growing up in an abusive cult, coming of age as a lesbian in the military, forced out by homophobia, living on the margins as a working class woman and what it’s like to grow into the person you are meant to be. Hough’s writing will break your heart. —Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist Searing and extremely personal essays, shot through with the darkest elements America can manifest, while discovering light and humor in unexpected corners. As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe--to Germany, Japan, Texas, Chile—but it wasn't until she finally left for good that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond The Family. Along the way, she's loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next. She's taken pilgrimages to the sights of her youth, been kept in solitary confinement, dated a lot of women, dabbled in drugs, and eventually found herself as what she always wanted to be: a writer. Here, as she sweeps through the underbelly of America—relying on friends, family, and strangers alike—she begins to excavate a new identity even as her past continues to trail her and color her world, relationships, and perceptions of self. At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave, and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity, and how to reclaim one's past when carving out a future. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL |
essays about growing up: Half and Half Claudine C. O'Hearn, 2008-12-10 As we approach the twenty-first century, biracialism and biculturalism are becoming increasingly common. Skin color and place of birth are no longer reliable signifiers of one's identity or origin. Simple questions like What are you? and Where are you from? aren't answered--they are discussed. How do you measure someone's race or culture? Half this, quarter that, born here, raised there. What name do you give that? These eighteen essays, joined by a shared sense of duality, address both the difficulties of not fitting into and the benefits of being part of two worlds. Danzy Senna parodies the media's fascination with biracials in a futuristic piece about the mulatto millennium. Garrett Hongo writes about watching his mixed-race children play in a sea of blond hair and white faces, realizing that suburban Oregon might swallow up their unique racial identity. Francisco Goldman shares his frustration with having constantly to explain himself in terms of his Latino and Jewish roots. Malcolm Gladwell understands that being biracial frees him from racial discrimination but also holds him hostage to questions of racial difference. For Indira Ganesan, India and its memory are evoked by the aromas of foods. Through the lens of personal experience, these essays offer a broader spectrum of meaning for race and culture. And in the process, they map a new ethnic terrain that transcends racial and cultural division. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up at Grossinger's Tania Grossinger, 2008-06-17 To be devoured in one non-stop gulp...fascinating reading.—The New York Post From 1919 to 1986, Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel provided a summer retreat from the city heat for New York's Jews, and entertained the great, the near-great, and the not so great, Jews and Gentiles alike. A melting pot of the Borscht Belt, sports, and show-biz worlds, loyal visitors included Red Buttons, Rocky Marciano, Eddie Fisher, and Jackie Robinson. Tania Grossinger grew up there. In her fascinating insider's account of life in the hospitality industry, she sheds light on how hotel children keep up with the frenetic pace of life, and how they come to grips with the outside world (which intrudes now and again), sex (happening in every room), and, occasionally, their intellectual interests. Growing Up at Grossinger's is both a wonderful coming-of-age story and a sentimental reading of a chapter of the Jewish experience in America that has now closed. 25 b/w photographs. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. |
essays about growing up: Grown and Flown Lisa Heffernan, Mary Dell Harrington, 2019-09-03 PARENTING NEVER ENDS. From the founders of the #1 site for parents of teens and young adults comes an essential guide for building strong relationships with your teens and preparing them to successfully launch into adulthood The high school and college years: an extended roller coaster of academics, friends, first loves, first break-ups, driver’s ed, jobs, and everything in between. Kids are constantly changing and how we parent them must change, too. But how do we stay close as a family as our lives move apart? Enter the co-founders of Grown and Flown, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington. In the midst of guiding their own kids through this transition, they launched what has become the largest website and online community for parents of fifteen to twenty-five year olds. Now they’ve compiled new takeaways and fresh insights from all that they’ve learned into this handy, must-have guide. Grown and Flown is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to—and through—high school and those first years of independence. It covers everything from the monumental (how to let your kids go) to the mundane (how to shop for a dorm room). Organized by topic—such as academics, anxiety and mental health, college life—it features a combination of stories, advice from professionals, and practical sidebars. Consider this your parenting lifeline: an easy-to-use manual that offers support and perspective. Grown and Flown is required reading for anyone looking to raise an adult with whom you have an enduring, profound connection. |
essays about growing up: Privilege and Prejudice Karen Weekes, 2020-10-27 “Privilege and Prejudice: Twenty Years with the Invisible Knapsack” explores various areas of contemporary American culture where sexism and racism still leave an indelible print. In 1988, Peggy McIntosh published her groundbreaking essay “White Privilege and Male Privilege,” an examination of white privilege and its role in perpetuating racism. Twenty years later, these seven essays reveal problems that persist even in systems that are ostensibly trying to address problems of inequality. Beginning with a foreword by McIntosh on our society’s resistance to confronting privilege, this text then delves into a variety of fields. In the first section, on higher education, Simona Hill, Lucien Winegar, Juanita Johnson-Bailey and Ronald Cervero contribute two essays examining racism in the academy, while Donna Axel explores the stigma in law school alternative application processes. The next section interrogates privilege and its effects on females’ choices, with Kyla Bender-Baird questioning global contraception policies and Mary Carney giving a historical overview to contextualize persistent gender inequities in computer technology. Media studies and stereotypes are considered in the final section, in which Janice Stapley analyzes children’s birthday cards for gender bias and Ellen Miller critiques male dance films. This text would be useful for social science and humanities scholars of all types with its explorations of the continuing ramifications of race, gender, class, and their intersections. |
essays about growing up: You Don't Have to Like Me Alida Nugent, 2015-10-20 Nugent is a proud feminist--and she's not afraid to say it. From the 'scarlet F' thrust upon you if you declare yourself a feminist at a party to how to handle judgmental store clerks when you buy Plan B, [her book] skewers a range of cultural issues-- |
essays about growing up: The Incredible Shrinking Woman Athena Dixon, 2020-09-15 |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Asian in Australia Alice Pung, 2015-01-29 Asian - Australians have often been written about by outsiders, as outsiders. In this collection, compiled by award - winning author Alice Pung, they tell their own stories with verve, courage and a large dose of humour. These are not predictable tales of food, festivals and traditional dress. The food is here in all its steaming glory - but listen more closely to the dinner - table chatter and you might be surprised by what you hear. Here are tales of leaving home, falling in love, coming out and finding one's feet. A young Cindy Pan vows to win every single category of Nobel Prize. Tony Ayres blows a kiss to a skinhead and lives to tell the tale. Benjamin Law has a close encounter with some angry Australian fauna, and Kylie Kwong makes a moving pilgrimage to her great - grandfather's Chinese village. Here are well - known authors and exciting new voices, spanning several generations and drawn from all over Australia. In sharing their stories, they show us what it is really like to grow up Asian, and Australian. Contributors include: Shaun Tan, Jason Yat - Sen Li, John So, Annette Shun Wah, Quan Yeomans, Jenny Kee, Anh Do, Khoa Do, Caroline Tran and many more. |
essays about growing up: Living Beyond Borders Margarita Longoria, 2022-05-10 *This superb anthology of short stories, comics, and poems is fresh, funny, and full of authentic YA voices revealing what it means to be Mexican American . . . Not to be missed.--SLC, starred review *Superlative . . . A memorable collection. --Booklist, starred review *Voices reach out from the pages of this anthology . . . It will make a lasting impression on all readers. --SLJ, starred review Twenty stand-alone short stories, essays, poems, and more from celebrated and award-winning authors make up this YA anthology that explores the Mexican American experience. With works by Francisco X. Stork, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, David Bowles, Rubén Degollado, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Diana López, Xavier Garza, Trinidad Gonzales, Alex Temblador, Aida Salazar, Guadalupe Ruiz-Flores, Sylvia Sánchez Garza, Dominic Carrillo, Angela Cervantes, Carolyn Dee Flores, René Saldaña Jr., Justine Narro, Daniel García Ordáz, and Anna Meriano. In this mixed-media collection of short stories, personal essays, poetry, and comics, this celebrated group of authors share the borders they have crossed, the struggles they have pushed through, and the two cultures they continue to navigate as Mexican Americans. Living Beyond Borders is at once an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and hopeful love letter from the Mexican American community to today's young readers. A powerful exploration of what it means to be Mexican American. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia Anita Heiss, 2018-04-16 Childhood stories of family, country and belonging What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart – sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect. This groundbreaking collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today. Contributors include: Tony Birch, Deborah Cheetham, Adam Goodes, Terri Janke, Patrick Johnson, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Latimore, Celeste Liddle, Amy McQuire, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Miranda Tapsell, Jared Thomas, Aileen Walsh, Alexis West, Tara June Winch, and many, many more. Winner, Small Publisher Adult Book of the Year at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards ‘Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia is a mosaic, its more than 50 tiles – short personal essays with unique patterns, shapes, colours and textures – coming together to form a powerful portrait of resilience.’ —The Saturday Paper ‘... provides a diverse snapshot of Indigenous Australia from a much needed Aboriginal perspective.’ —The Saturday Age |
essays about growing up: Original Minds Eleanor Wachtel, 2012-05-15 Eleanor Wachtel’s award-winning CBC Radio programme Writers & Company has set the gold standard for intelligent, insightful, riveting interviews. To mark the dawn of the new millennium, Wachtel talked to some of the most inspiring and influential thinkers of our time -- people who have forever changed their area of specialty and influenced the world around them. As she writes in her introduction, I wanted to interview people who had shaped the last century and whose influence would continue into the next...I hoped to have wide-ranging conversations with some of the most inspiring men and women of our time, people who’ve made a difference. And what an outstanding list of people she met: Jonathan Miller — internationally acclaimed theatre and opera director, writer, member of Beyond the Fringe comedy troupe Jane Goodall — primatologist and scientist best known for her work with chimpanzees Bernardo Bertolucci — director whose films including the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor and Last Tango in Paris George Steiner — teacher, literary critic and theorist Desmond Tutu — former Archbishop of South Africa and co-chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Susan Sontag — writer of novels, essays, works of non-fiction, and plays. In America won the National Book Award in 2000. Amartya Sen — Nobel Prize winner in Economics (1998) Gloria Steinem — feminist and activist, author whose 1983 collection of essays is titled Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions Jared Diamond — teacher, Pulitzer Prize winner for Guns, Germs and Steel Oliver Sacks — neurologist, best known for his books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Jane Jacobs — internationally respected commentator on city design and planning Umberto Eco — the Pavarotti of Semiotics and writer of the international bestseller The Name of the Rose Mary Douglas — anthropologist, author of the classic Purity and Danger (1966) Noam Chomsky — world-famous linguist and dissident intellectual Arthur C. Clarke — writer, best known for his science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey Harold Bloom — one of the world’s most influential critic-scholar-theorists according to The New York Times Each interview enlightens not only the subject’s master area but how we see the world and our role in it. Not content to sit back on their intellectual laurels, Wachtel’s subjects seem driven to influence their world and encourage us to do likewise. As Jane Goodall says, The nicest thing I’m told after lectures is that I make people realize that their lives have more value. And thousands of children from all over the world have said, ‘You taught me that because you did it, I can do it too.’ That’s amazing. That makes it all—all this effort—really worthwhile. A book for Eleanor Wachtel’s many devotees and for anyone who has a curiosity about the fascinating intersection of people and ideas, Original Minds is a captivating read. |
essays about growing up: Growing Up in Transit Danau Tanu, 2017-10-01 “[R]ecommended to anyone interested in multiculturalism and migration....[and] food for thought also for scholars studying migration in less privileged contexts.”—Social Anthropology In this compelling study of the children of serial migrants, Danau Tanu argues that the international schools they attend promote an ideology of being “international” that is Eurocentric. Despite the cosmopolitan rhetoric, hierarchies of race, culture and class shape popularity, friendships, and romance on campus. By going back to high school for a year, Tanu befriended transnational youth, often called “Third Culture Kids”, to present their struggles with identity, belonging and internalized racism in their own words. The result is the first engaging, anthropological critique of the way Western-style cosmopolitanism is institutionalized as cultural capital to reproduce global socio-cultural inequalities. From the introduction: When I first went back to high school at thirty-something, I wanted to write a book about people who live in multiple countries as children and grow up into adults addicted to migrating. I wanted to write about people like Anne-Sophie Bolon who are popularly referred to as “Third Culture Kids” or “global nomads.” ... I wanted to probe the contradiction between the celebrated image of “global citizens” and the economic privilege that makes their mobile lifestyle possible. From a personal angle, I was interested in exploring the voices among this population that had yet to be heard (particularly the voices of those of Asian descent) by documenting the persistence of culture, race, and language in defining social relations even among self-proclaimed cosmopolitan youth. |
essays about growing up: What My Mother and I Don't Talk About Michele Filgate, 2020-08-11 “You will devour these beautifully written—and very important—tales of honesty, pain, and resilience” (Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love and City of Girls) from fifteen brilliant writers who explore how what we don’t talk about with our mothers affects us, for better or for worse. As an undergraduate, Michele Filgate started writing an essay about being abused by her stepfather. It took her more than a decade to realize that she was actually trying to write about how this affected her relationship with her mother. When it was finally published, the essay went viral, shared on social media by Anne Lamott, Rebecca Solnit, and many others. This gave Filgate an idea, and the resulting anthology offers a candid look at our relationships with our mothers. Leslie Jamison writes about trying to discover who her seemingly perfect mother was before ever becoming a mom. In Cathi Hanauer’s hilarious piece, she finally gets a chance to have a conversation with her mother that isn’t interrupted by her domineering (but lovable) father. André Aciman writes about what it was like to have a deaf mother. Melissa Febos uses mythology as a lens to look at her close-knit relationship with her psychotherapist mother. And Julianna Baggott talks about having a mom who tells her everything. As Filgate writes, “Our mothers are our first homes, and that’s why we’re always trying to return to them.” There’s relief in acknowledging how what we couldn’t say for so long is a way to heal our relationships with others and, perhaps most important, with ourselves. Contributions by Cathi Hanauer, Melissa Febos, Alexander Chee, Dylan Landis, Bernice L. McFadden, Julianna Baggott, Lynn Steger Strong, Kiese Laymon, Carmen Maria Machado, André Aciman, Sari Botton, Nayomi Munaweera, Brandon Taylor, and Leslie Jamison. |
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There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are …
The Four Main Types of Essay | Quick Guide with Examples - Scribbr
Sep 4, 2020 · Descriptive essays. A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly …
Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks - Scribbr
Feb 9, 2015 · At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays, research papers, and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises). Add a citation whenever you quote, paraphrase, …
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Janice holds a PhD in German studies from Duke University. As a former professor, she has helped many students refine their application essays for competitive degree programs and study-abroad programs. …
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Sep 18, 2020 · In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument …