Like where you're from is so great
Abstract
The stories in this collection focus on leaving, staying, and coming back to the small town of Buffalo, Missouri, and how those decisions impact the characters who make them.
Three of the stories are centered around Milford Riley when he prepares to leave Buffalo at 18, when he comes back at 19 during a summer away from college, and finally when he moves back for good at 22. Some of the stories deal with the economic hardships in a town too small to attract jobs, but big enough that local businesses have died off, unable to compete with Wal-Mart or McDonalds, while other stories deal with the rampant drug use and violence that seems to emanate from high unemployment and uneducated youths. Issues such as rape, incest, and pedophilia are dealt with in new and interesting ways. The future of small-town America is predicted; the outcome isn't pretty.
Table of Contents
Like where you're from is so great -- Chocolate cherry date rape cupcakes -- In the prison hospital where John Gotti died -- Matthew 25:43 -- from brotherly love: a memoir -- Home of the Buffalo Bisons -- How the young vacation in Buffalo -- No one reads Kerouac anymore -- Luxuries we can ill afford -- The wild boy king of the Ozarks
Degree
M.F.A.