A writer with humble beginnings at my grandmother’s kitchen table in York, PA, I was determined to differentiate myself from a lineage of horse farmers and Harley Davidson factory-workers. Ambitious, lavish, and sensitive—seemingly nothing like my small-town, rural family—I felt the book I knew I would write beat like a second heart inside me. But more powerful was an undercurrent of obsession, an insatiable longing born of the alcoholic tumult of my upbringing. By the age of twelve, I was ... view more »
A writer with humble beginnings at my grandmother’s kitchen table in York, PA, I was determined to differentiate myself from a lineage of horse farmers and Harley Davidson factory-workers. Ambitious, lavish, and sensitive—seemingly nothing like my small-town, rural family—I felt the book I knew I would write beat like a second heart inside me. But more powerful was an undercurrent of obsession, an insatiable longing born of the alcoholic tumult of my upbringing. By the age of twelve, I was swept up into dark, drug-infested basements—an intoxicating carousel of endless parties, flashing red-and-blue lights, early deaths, and reckless relationships. It was there, though, where I felt, at last, like I belonged—and there, too, where I recognized I was more like my family than I’d ever imagined.
After an arduous journey into sobriety, I attained a BA at York College and later moved to NYC to attain my MFA in creative nonfiction where I worked on a book. Atriums, Arteries, + Other Family-Sized Holes is a coming-of-age, lyrical memoir about family, addiction, and coming home. It’s a multigenerational story of mothers and daughters, fathers and lovers, enmeshment between sisters, and the nuances of struggle of loyalty to a family of origin with conflicting ideologies. My work is inspired by the beauty of the ordinary moment, vulnerable confession, + magical realism.
My work is both a testimony to second chance + a love note to home. When not writing, you can find me teaching in York.
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