I’m admittedly biased in this: we get nicer when we learn more about each other. A quote that periodically circles the webworld: “Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” (source debated). Creative/literary nonfiction (or “true stories well told,” as Creative Nonfiction exquisitely defines the genre) often invites readers to observe such a battle, identify an adversary (a debt, a disease, a conundrum, an idea, a thief, a prejudice, a loss, a question, an untenable situation, a meanie) cheer for a champion, and learn a few maneuvers to help us with our own troubles. I loved CNF when I was 13 and I love it now.

So to learn more about each other and get nicer, we need more venues for creative/literary nonfiction.

Through a mutual friend, I met Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher, a West Virginia writer now living in Vermont. Elizabeth’s creative and critical work has been widely published…