My mother is where I got my moral bearings. It wasn’t complicated but remains challenging in various ways. She read me The Little Match Girl on Christmas Eve and guided me consistently to the Sermon on the Mount. She also turned me on to Kit Carson, although I later learned of complexities there. At any rate, cheers, Mom, I am ever grateful.

By the way, the kitchen above was in one of these trailers in married student housing park called Hawkeye Village in Iowa City, Iowa.

My father was working on his MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Before he graduated, we moved up to a post-war Quonset Hut in Finkbine Park.