culturehall feature 50: HOLDING PLACES

Thank you to writer and cultural critic Emily Carter for culturehall's current feature issue, HOLDING PLACES, describing work that captures a sense of place. Featured artists are Daniel Kukla, Adam Ekberg, Marie Koetje, and Jamie Maxtone-Graham.

A close friend from our overlapping years in Minneapolis, Emily and I got to spend a hot, sunny afternoon this summer exploring her new place in New Haven, CT.


Emily Carter
New Haven, CT
July 2010

St. Paul, Minnesota

After we retrieved the car from the snowbank, I drove Emily back to her temporary home in St. Paul. She took off the winter head gear and put on lipstick, and I followed her around the house looking for some place with enough light to take pictures.

I told Emily she was like a force of nature - not like anyone I have ever met.

She once told me she never let things get confusing because she is not gay and that's not a nice thing to do to gay girls. And that's real love in my world and why we remain such great friends.

Emily and the Shanty of Misfit Toys

Anyone who has read her book, Glory Goes and Gets Some, knows that Emily Carter has been through some pretty rough experiences and has survived to tell the story. Last week, Emily and her dog, Lefty, agreed to brave a blustery afternoon on Medicine Lake in order to explore the shanties with me. While Lefty slid on the ice and sniffed various shanties, Emily and I discussed how it feels to have siblings who get married, have children, own homes and enjoy a financial security that eludes the likes of the two of us. Upon exiting the parking lot near the lake, Emily and I got the rental car stuck in a snowbank for dramatic effect and were rescued once again by Minnesotans.