Extreme Bootstrapping

She procured the calf, raised and slaughtered it, tanned the hide, made the boots, attached the straps, lifted herself up.

Written in response to a challenge to craft a twenty-word composition, this is the story of a young woman who lost her father at age six, then through a series of family crises landed in foster care. She “aged out” of foster care at eighteen and became homeless. By some miracle, she entered college with the help of a special program the state of Virginia developed for former foster youth. She is about to graduate, carrying a 4.0, and will soon start an MBA program, probably at Johns Hopkins. She is Tara Westover of “Educated.” She is Damon Fields of “Demon Copperhead.” Extreme bootstrapping indeed.

This piece was published in the literary magazine Ink In Thirds (https://inkinthirds.org/vol-6-i-2/)