Living the Outskirts

<p><em>Living the Outskirts</em> portrays coming-of-age and beyond in western Washington's Christmastown USA. Our protagonist pokes at hot tar plugging potholes watches movies at Babe Blue Ox Theater tosses diary pages to gulls at the county dump cries over a Boscoe sundae questions eternity while picking sour pie cherries looks up from the bottom of a shutting manhole sends black-edged aerograms to bees and witnesses the clear-cut that changes her hometown forever.</p><p></p>