Where Are You From? Editor: Annette 
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| “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.” ~ Dr. Seuss |
Where Are You From?
Sometimes, when meeting people for the first time, they ask me, "Where are you from?" Whenever I tell them where I am from, they don't believe me because I can't possibly be from that cool place where they spent a few weeks. Me, that simple person can't possibly have lived in one of the flash point cities in European history. I must be joking. Or a liar.
This raised the question in me: what are people asking when they ask that question if they have already made up their mind for answers that they will accept? And who decides which geographical place determines our "from?" There are so many.
 Place of birth
Place of elementary, middle, high school. (what if there were several?)
Place of university
Place where we had children? got married? live now?
There are a lot of things that go into the making of the creative, emotional, political, and religious makeup of a human mind. Where is that magical cutoff point where we decide that a person's geographical location past and present has shaped them?
As writers, we have to ponder that question several times over.
For ourselves. Where is our personal center. Which time and geographic location has shaped us the most? Have we moved? Maybe more than once? Did we significantly change by moving?
Additionally, for the characters we create. Which place on Earth, real or made up, has shaped their upbringing? How much of their origin has influenced the character that the reader meets?
Many famous writers like Jules Verne, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Jack Kerouac traveled a lot. Across continents and oceans. Did they bring their hometown selves along for the trips. Or did they bring their travel experiences back to their point of origin?
Does it matter where you were born, raised, and where you live now? |
| | | Trip to Paraguay (E) During the summer of 1984, between terms of university, I spent five weeks "Down South." |
| | Juneteenth (13+) A time for brevity and contemplation of the emancipation |
| | Beacon to Nassau (E) The new Governor battles to arrive and tame the Pirate Republic of Nassau |
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Replies to my last For Authors Newsletter "Typos Change the Meaning of a Text"
DRSmith  wrote: Oh, I dunno, Annette... maybe the dude who published that Bible in 1631 meant to leave out the "not" in "Thou shall commit adultry"... in order to cover his butt at home, to boost sales to twice expectations, and started a whole new religious cult of loyal practitioners in the process?
 I love your interpretation of that typo. |
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For Authors: August 05, 2026 Issue [#13878]
