YOU WERE HERE: My family’s story, without shame, in Under the Gum Tree

I hadn’t intended to write about my grandparents’ house on Walnut Street. Not really. Not until I found out it was being sold and then wandered from room to room, documenting every damn thing that happened there.

A couple friends read my lengthy non-fiction essay. They cried and told me it was beautiful. When I told those few readers “You Were Here” was beingpublished by Under the Gum Tree, they seemed surprised. One woman said, “But it’s so personal.”

So why not share it?

On the cover of th...