Mori, KyokoCox, Traci2013-12-032014-08-282013-12-03https://hdl.handle.net/1920/8634This thesis is a collection of personal essays that span my entire life. A few concern my childhood, but most of the essays revolve around the past few years, from the ages of twenty-three to twenty-six. The collection poses questions about ideas of homecoming— what “home” means, why we feel the desire to escape, and what, inevitably, brings us back. The centrifugal force behind this work is the passing of my mother, Tina, who died on April 20th 2010. Although I spent years trying to get away from Virginia, traveling to nearly two dozen countries on three continents, living for extended periods of time in Germany and Slovakia, I’ve always come back to where I was from. I currently live in Virginia, tethered to a teaching job and a fiancé; however, in less than a year I will be escaping yet again—south this time, to settle down in Mexico City.enSlovakiaSlovak RepublicFulbrightCreative nonfictionColon cancerTravel essaysThesis