A Place to Call Home

About the Book

The book "A Place to Call Home" is, in some small part, the author's biography - not a recording of individual episodes or events, but of emotions and thoughts at various stages in life. It is about the search to belong, to fit into a world that can be confusing. Most people experience such feelings at some stage in their life, but some feel more than others do.

This, then, is the book of the consummate outsider in American society. It is about growing up in the lower working class - the unskilled factory laborers' world - under the old auspices of the American Dream in a world that seems to deny the existence of, or the opportunity for, such a dream. It expresses that anger and frustration, the observations, and the occasional joys of someone who grew up in the working class but had an eye that tried looking past that horizon of old brick buildings and housing developments. It is not that one can't overcome the obstacles which society places in the way; it is about the emotional toil that is extracted in such efforts.

Each chapter is a mockery of the classical "Seven Ages of Man" writings. Each section vaguely deals with periods in life such as childhood, schooling, the search for religion, the working years, family, and so on. Poems written at those specific times are intermixed with poems looking back from later times to contrast the changing moods and visions of life. The core poems in this book follow the crests and valleys of emotional development in the author's life, but slowly and ultimately build to a crescendo of primal scream outrage and anger, followed by the calmer acceptance and resignation that come with middle age. The poems are predominantly from the years 1985-1997, with a few poems coming from earlier eras or more recent ones.

The book is about contrasts so prevalent in America: the promises of the Camelot years and the realities of America at the end of the 20th Century; about wanting to believe in equality when everything is so unequal. The work is a documentation of a struggle to climb from anonymity and despair, if just to achieve something slightly better than what one's grandfather had. It is, lastly, about trying to find a place where one can be content and accept the terms of life.

About the Author

Anthony Scott Dodge was born December 19th, 1964 in Toledo, Ohio. He is the fourth child of five in a working class family - his father and, occasionally, his mother were factory workers.In his early years, his family, like many, moved around as his father searched for getter jobs or better neighborhoods. By age 7, Anthony had lived in many different cities and attended three different schools. His family eventually returned to Toledo and settled in a working class housing development (small, cheaply built, cheaply sold homes) where the moody young boy was identified as a gifted student. It was in the enrichment programs where Anthony first became aware of class attitudes within the enrichment program and schools in general. He eventually worked his way through high school and, after declining an appointment to West Point, through college. His restlessness was evident in his attending three colleges during his four years before graduating from the University of Toledo with degrees in Education, English, and German. Anthony began work as an English and German teacher in 1987, and after stints in other towns, returned to Toledo to teach. He met Joyce Ellen Redding in 1983. They were married in 1987 and now have 3 children - Laurelyn (1988), Elizabeth (1992), and A.J. (1995).