Growing with Glimpses: A Hybrid Graphic Novel Memoir
Mentor: Kara Mae Brown
Growing with Glimpses is a graphic memoir detailing my relationship with my absent,
yet financially supportive, father. The title reflects what growing up without a stable father
figure felt like—glimpses, teasers of what life could’ve been like if I had him consistently. But
it’s also about the things he didn’t get to see, the difficulties and trauma I experienced growing
up: the consistent disappointments when I couldn’t spot him in a crowd at a band concert, panic
attacks when it came to calling him, needing to ask a man I barely talked to for money, and so
much more. While exploring this complex relationship and reflecting on its effects on me, I will divide the memoir into three parts: childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. During my
time as a Raab fellow, I aim to finish the “childhood” section. I plan to open each section with my current self narrating the past events, and then add lines from old diaries, intersplice artwork, and reference my sisters who have a different yet equally complicated relationship with our dad. At the end of the day, this project is just about the story of an extremely intersectional girl, how she came to be, and how you can, too. I want to create a story about fathers and daughters that is specific to me and that could help out others in a similar situation.
