Book Blurb
Peter Welch knew he was a different kind of boy from an early age. Growing up in Moody, Maine, a small coastal town of a few thousand people, he quickly understood the importance of fitting in. Still, Welch’s passage from boyhood to becoming a man wasn’t easy. He faced the violence of homophobia, misogyny and other social ills from other boys and men at nearly every juncture of his young life.
Kiss the Ground: A Maine Boy’s Life, tells the story of a boy’s unique take on the world through his everyday life in a working-class Maine family, his evolving resilience and personal agency, and his burgeoning sexual identity.
This heart-felt memoir explores Welch’s often disquieting relationship with his father, a hard working but volatile alcoholic, his loving and nurturing bonds with his grandmothers, and his discovery of the balm that nature provides as he navigates familial challenges and personal discoveries. Kiss the Ground illuminates how one boy, alongside his trusted twin brother, navigates an often-turbulent boyhood and discovers a path to the softer, tender man he becomes.
Welch teaches a course on Masculinities in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at the University of New Hampshire. He is also a watercolor artist. Visit his website at: https://peterwelch.weebly.com/
