Where I Am From: An Artist's Tale

This is normally an assignment I give my students, but I decided to give it a shot myself.  Enjoy!  :) 

I am from the English, Germans, Scotch-Irish, Native Americans, Italians, and Prussian Jews. 

I am from a dogwood tree in our back yard that could not survive the Michigan climate. 

I am from the affluent south and the blue collar north. 

I am from golf balls that flew into our back yard, summer swim team mornings, and softball afternoons. 

I am from straight A's, taunts from cruel children, a passion for books, and parents who tucked me in every night. 

I am from creative writing stories, the lead role in school plays, piano music sheets, and the sounds my violin bow created 

I am from winning distance track races, against girls who were much taller than me

I am from ballet, tap, jazz, swollen ankles, physical therapy, and dance lessons returned 

I am from long hours spent rehearsing and preparing for The Sound of Music and the friends I made because of it. 

I am from summer writing programs where I made lifelong friends.  

I am from the "magic square", the palm trees and dry heat of Valdosta, Georgia, during Summer 1997. 

I am from graduating with high honors, white and yellow cords against my black robe 

I am from a college hall filled with eating disorders, fighting the urge to stick my own finger down my own throat.  I am from the friends who saved me from that fate. 

I am from college Rho Gamma "sisters", late nights at concerts, theater classes that changed my life, and published newspaper articles. 

I am from late nights on the Myers quad and late morning breakfasts in Snelling and O-House dining halls. 

I am from my students of the past and the present, those who care about school and those who I have to encourage. 

I am from journeys to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, and China, and the stories I tell because of those trips. 

I am from a father who survived a tumor, a grandmother who survived alcoholism, and ancestors who survived Dachau.  I am from survivors. 

I am from love found, love lost, love found again, love twisted, love lost, a heart broken, a heart revived, a heart broken, and a heart revived again. 

I am from an uncle who played music for money and two parents who have published books. 

I am from a family of artists and scholars, survivors of loss and turmoil, who see light amid a sometimes foggy sky.