University of Southern Maine USM Digital Commons Stonecoast MFA Student Scholarship Summer 2018 Hair on Fire: Essays from a Life Lee Kahrs University of Southern Maine,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/stonecoast Recommended Citation Kahrs, Lee, "Hair on Fire: Essays from a Life" (2018). Stonecoast MFA. 57. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/stonecoast/57 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at USM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Stonecoast MFA by an authorized administrator of USM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Hair on Fire: Essays from a Life _______________ A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE STONECOAST MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING BY Lee J. Kahrs _______________ 2018 1 Abstract This collection of essays comprises a memoir of the last 17 years of the author’s life, beginning with the decision to get sober and flashing back to her experience living through 9/11 in New York City. Her 9/11 experience was the catalyst for her decision to flee New York and seek a better life in Vermont. While she found love and the family she always wanted, her alcoholism grew until she decided to quit in order to save her family, and herself. Life in Vermont proved to be rich with the opportunity for a new career in journalism and domestic life in the county, replete with chickens and the annual quest for firewood.