This thesis is comprised of essays, short stories, and a screenplay that explore growing up in the upper Midwest. Prefab Modular Homes is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that interrogate the loss of a childhood home. Lake Tilson is a collection of connected short stories exploring the fraught relationship between Teddy Olssen and Jess Koski, two best friends growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Nightgames, a short screenplay, tells the story of Jess and Teddy’s earliest encounter with a school bully.