Published in December Magazine Vol. 27.1
“The lot I live on is about a third of an acre. It’s the biggest in my
neighborhood and is one of the main reasons I bought my home. Land. When I was
a child, I was taught it was important. An investment. A clear measure of a person’s
success.
The earth is damp here in Louisiana. Our yard floods so often that the Bermuda
mix we planted, a ferocious grass that takes over each garden we attempt, has given
up on certain patches. Tall, thin-bladed swamp grasses grow in those low, wet spots.
We joke about planting a cypress, and we build the yard up with dirt we excavate
whenever we dig a hole for another doomed lemon tree. My family moved here to
Louisiana after we lost our house in Miami to Hurricane Andrew. It took a while, but
I fell in love with this state, made it my home, and it is disappearing.”
Read the rest of the essay here.
