“Home” signifies where you’re from and where you’ll end up; it is a place in the world and a space into which you retreat from the world. Home is a setting for sustenance, where family, food, and rest are centered. It can also be a site of growth, self-fashioning and self-display—and, often, of deeply rooted conflict.

To kick off a new contributor conversations series here on the JQR blog, Anne Albert asked contributor Ellie Schainker a few questions about her essay and its implications.