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Pride In Sarah Carson's When Home, Go

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The City that Built Me There is a certain pride that comes from living and enduring life in a place where people consider to be dangerous and poisoned- Flint for example. In the anthology Happy Anyway by Scott Atkinson tells the stories of the people who call Flint home. My favorite story in particular is Sarah Carson’s “When home says, “Go.”” Carson tells her story about growing up and planting roots in Flint, just like her entire family did generations ago. Carson beautifully captures what it’s like growing up in Flint with blunt, truthful and clever stories about her dog, and the civilians of Flint. Although I find flaws with Carson claiming the city of Flint after living in Chicago for over ten years, the story itself is a brilliant …show more content…

Carson also offers stories of her family and describes how whole generations were built in the streets of Flint by the working class men and women, and pride was hard earned in Vehicle City. As a result of the deep heritages and rich histories built in Flint, Carson explains that no one leaves Flint because it’s familiar, even as the crime rate surges. “…no one leaves home unless leaving home is a necessity, unless home is a set fire burning too hot to go back (110).” Carson herself ponders leaving after witnessing several violent acts and becoming very close to being involved with one too. One incident described was ‘men creeping through the neighborhood’ and stealing whatever they could get their hands on. They had hit every house except Carson’s, claiming her dog Amos was there to protect her. Other incidents involving a smashed truck window, a stolen purse and cell phone, and being a witness to a violent crime, never made Carson afraid until one particular day. When she locked eyes with a man carrying a TV across her lawn, this is when she decided she must uncover her roots and leave Flint Michigan. Carson justifies leaving flint citing: “I started wondering if there weren’t only three kinds of people from Flint: those who’ve always been there, those who’ve come back and those who’ve gone. I started wondering if Amos and I weren’t meant to be all three

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