BlogHer is featuring my post “Are bloggy friends real” today, weigh in over there.
And over here I thought it would be nice to get to know one another better.
I’ll start…(with this fabulous prompt seen everywhere around the Internets)
Where I’m from
I am from the garden patch built atop a garbage heap, from Flaming Hot Cheeto shame and clove cigarettes.
I am from the second story window in the yellowish house, from creaky floorboards, leaky faucets, and beds filled to capacity….someone’s used up the last of the good toilet paper again.
I am from the cabbage patch (past the onions), reportin’ for potato bug pickin’ duty, weary of the thorns on that rose bush and climber of the tallest cherry tree.
I am from the wicked squirell who leaves treats on my window sill and Drama with my mama (with a capital “D”.) I am from Kats, Ayzenberg and Patsay.
I am from fierce passion and impressive obstinance.
From if you laugh on Friday then you’ll cry on Sunday and pray to your nuggets the bus won’t turn.
I am from self diagnosed Animism and a tiny golden cross tucked away for safe keeping. From kosher pork and the absence of a bar mitzvah to standing under a chuppah with my beshert.
I’m from Khmelnitsky and Krasnormersk, pickled herring and caramel n’ cocoa waffle cake, boiled hot dogs on toast in the ruthless school cafeteria and Capn’Crunch Peanut Butter under the floorboards.
From stolen bread loaves, hiding in my daddy’s trenchcoat backstage, carpentry workshops and kitchen stoves.
I am from the cardboard blue box with diplomas, war medals and proof of citizenship.
Where are you from?
No kidding, this is probably my favorite of the posts I’ve read from this prompt. I love it.
I wish I could say that it was easy to do and just flowed, but I found it rather challenging…I think it would be fun to do it again at another point in time to see what would happen.
I was much too intimidated by the prompt to even try! But it would be interesting to see your progression.
I loved reading everyone’s post on this prompt, I feel like I know you so much better. It’s amazing, this exercise. It looks easy but it was actually pretty hard for me. I agree with you, I’d be interested to see if it’d be different if we try it again in the future.
I think we should make a pact to do it every year, at least for ourselves to see
i RTd this post hours before I read it because I knew you would bring the awesome. and you did. LOVE this.
Love that kind of confidence in me! Thank you for being an awesome cheerleader!
I love how this gives you such insight into a person with just a few words.
The writing was hard, but worth it.
Completely agree, hard but worth it!
I loved this. I felt like I got to know you a little better. Like you said above, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be as I wrote mine and I’d definitely like to do this again in the future to see the result.
And I you, I didn’t know we had to so much in common! Do you know where in Russia your ancestors are from?
This is what makes the you.
The writing that is raw and real …
This is the life you led, the history you know …
and what makes you different from the all American Pie …
mmmm Pie! So glad you enjoyed it, sometimes I worry this kind of thing is like an inside joke privy to one.
Lovely, raw, beautiful you. XO
Thank you friend, can’t wait to read yours!
Really insightful and good.
Thank you so much! It was really fun to write, I recommend everyone try it.
Oh wow, this is amazing Yuliya. Perfect.
Excellent!
Great stuff, Yuliya. Just great!
I have so enjoyed reading everyone’s entry on this prompt! I liked that yours provided humor and such vivid visuals.
Gorgeous, my dear! I love it, and thank you for letting us see these parts of you!
I’ve seen this prompt, like you said, everywhere. But yours is the one that makes me want to do it myself. I’ve read it three times, and it’s just so…better than fiction.
That is the best compliment ever. I didn’t realize how hard it would be until I did it, so I suggest you go into it all naive and see what happens.
PB cap’n crunch under the floorboards baby.
Awesome.
Thank you, I must clarify that peanut butter was strictly verboten in our home, my parents thought it was a capitalist plot.
Where you’re from is simply fabulous.
I love this prompt ~ and how you dealt with it.
Naturally.
I just smelled someone smoking a clove cigarette last night at a bar (date night! hooray!) where the average patron was two decades younger than my husband and I. We couldn’t stop laughing about being the geezers.
So I smiled when I saw that in your post. The cloves, not the geezers. You’re young. Damnit.
And now I want some Flamin Hot Cheetos.
(Shame
XO
I think this is my favorite from the prompt as well. I love it!
Yeah, it was way harder for me than I thought it would be, too. But good. So, so good…
I love this prompt. Love your take on it. Wondering if I could do it justice. I can’t decide!
This post is beautiful. It gives a glimpse to your childhood. I love this prompt and it’s been so much fun reading everyone else’s posts.
LOVE this. Powerful, funny, perfect.
This is definitely one of the more “individual” ones I’ve read if that makes sense. I mean, I know they are all unique in there own right but this one really stands out to me.
Wonderful to know more about where you are from.
Pickled Herring. My favorite.
Every time I visit my parents they buy an entire container for just me. To mock me for the Thanksgiving that I accidentally ate the whole jar without realizing it.
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