Racing Ourselves: Stories from the Frontlines of Suburban Striver Culture

dc.contributor.advisorLevenson, Jacob
dc.contributor.advisorToumani, Meline
dc.contributor.authorGaines-Buchler, Emily
dc.contributor.programMFA in Creative Nonfictionen_US
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-18T21:57:28Z
dc.date.available2020-12-18T21:57:28Z
dc.date.issued2020-12-18
dc.description.abstractIn Racing Ourselves: Stories from the Frontlines of Suburban Striver Culture, author Emily Gaines Buchler delves into the hypercompetitive achievement culture in which she lives, works, and raises a family, Towson, Maryland, a suburb on the outskirts of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Her compilation of essays question the world in which she lives, contemplating the sanity of the very cultural trends she embraces: year-round, travel sports for her kids; workaholism and extreme racing (think: IronMan competitions) among parents; and kid birthday parties with kegs of craft beer. In each story, she considers the costs of going all in with her peers and questions where the drive and pressure to live this way come from. She holds a microscope not only to her peers but also to herself as she attempts to cut down on her obsessive Googling of health problems and competing over “busyness” among friends. At times funny and satirical and other times edgy and judgmental, Racing Ourselves ultimately investigates how to live and find meaning in today’s complicated, contradictory educated class culture.en_US
dc.format.extent187 pagesen_US
dc.genrethesisen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m27izc-xxh5
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/20267
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtGoucher College, Baltimore, MD
dc.rightsThis work is restricted for 10 years from the date listed above. No access will be permitted until the embargo has expired. Once the embargo expires the work is available only on Goucher College's campus.
dc.subjectEssaysen_US
dc.subjectStriver Cultureen_US
dc.subjectSuburbsen_US
dc.subject.lcshCreative nonfiction -- Theses.
dc.titleRacing Ourselves: Stories from the Frontlines of Suburban Striver Cultureen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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