Write A House

So I found this website for Write A House – a writing contest where the winner gets a free house. In Detroit. And I thought – we could do this in New Kensington!

The good people who established Write a House explain the rules here. They awarded 2 houses since 2014. Applicants must have a publication history. The winners should contribute to their neighborhood and its literary scene. For instance, the first Write A House winner blogs about her exciting new adventures in Detroit.

We would have our own twists:

1.) The winner of said house should make a good faith effort to defend New Kensington on the internet.  Defend it in the comments sections of local media websites, on Facebook boards, etc.  Don’t lie about New Ken. Just advocate for it.

2.) Give the winner a very old house and ask him or her to research its original owners, or ask him or her to research Fort Crawford. If the winner writes mysteries or historical fiction – even better!

3.) Of course I would expect the winner to blog his or her exciting new life here. In New Ken and in Western PA.

4.) Finally, since this is my fantasy world, the winner also agrees to staff the admission gates for Community Days.

New Ken already has fantastic writers. I own some of their books. But – it seems like the Detroit contest is more geared towards outsiders. Starving artists. Ones who will embrace a new city for a fresh start and more time to write.

This would be a good publicity stunt for the city.  Plus, what fun to read about someone else’s new life here. I’ve been in New Ken for about a decade now. I’d like to see how we all look through someone else’s eyes.

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Last decade, I would have been happy to move to Detroit for a free house.  I was up for any kind of housing right after I got my first “real job” out of college. I moved in with my friend Erin to a townhouse in the sticks outside Johnstown. This was my “fresh start,” my chance to prove to my family that I could support myself with a humanities degree and no boyfriend.

An open attic with no fire breaks covered all four units. We heard the neighbors argue violently and often.

My dad saw the place once, shook his head, and kept his mouth shut.

A month after I moved in, my bed poked through the floor and I could see down into our kitchen. We notified our landlord. I moved my bed over to the right and make sure to avoid the hole.

Our landlord forgot that we called him, so when the first of the next month came, we forgot to pay rent.

Our landlord sent us an “evicasion” letter with grammar so poor that we made copies and shared it with our friends. Then he claimed that the hole in the floor was our fault and kept the security deposit.

We could have – should have – fought the Slumlord of Davidsville, Pennsylvania.  He had the cojones – the sheer arrogance – to pull this on two young women. And he got away with it. But we were just so disgusted. So happy to leave and be done with it all. Our heating bills that winter were ginormous. We found a new place to live within a week.

Then we drove around to stores in Johnstown asking for free boxes. Toys R Us and the State Store actually gave us some. We showed up at our new digs with all of our stuff packed in boxes labeled as diapers and hard liquor.

Looking back, I’m not sure how we didn’t end up dead in the Davidsville “house.” But something other than the code violations still bothers me. This place sat on a hill,  isolated from other homes, and the road past it had no sidewalks. We didn’t know the tenants in the other units.  (Except for what we heard through the walls.) We didn’t belong to the community. Erin and I only trusted each other there.  I just felt so, so alone. Then, after we left the Davidsville house, we moved to a townhouse complex that had actual sidewalks and access to other people, and things felt better.

I really like that the Write a House homes in Detroit are part of neighborhoods, of communities. I had always lived in a community up until I came to Davidsville. I found a community again when I moved to New Ken.

Everyone deserves a safe place to live.  I wish Detroit’s Write a House program well. I hope that other cities follow Detroit’s lead.