Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas

And in that moment she knows that this is the spot where her future begins. The place is almost too perfect to be believed, but there it is: a pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm, with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and vistas so beautiful, they take her breath away. Until a hot summer afternoon led to a drive in the country, where a place that had existed only in her fantasies turned out to be real-and for sale. A dream she never ever expected to come true. A dream she would discover was about something more profound than that. A dream of fleeing her otherwise happy urban life for fresh air and open space. Laskas directs The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing.Jeanne Marie Laskas had dreams of life on a farm that she couldn't get out of her head. She also wrote 'Ask Laskas' in Reader's Digest and the 'My Life as a Mom' column for Ladies' Home Journal. She was formerly a contributing editor at Esquire, and a weekly syndicated columnist ( 'Significant Others') at The Washington Post Magazine. Laskas has been writing for national magazines for 20 years, with work appearing in The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. Her earliest essays and features are compiled in The Balloon Lady and Other People I Know (1996). Her GQ piece about coal miners, 'Underworld,' was a finalist in feature writing for the 2007 National Magazine Awards. Laskas' work has been widely anthologized, including in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 ('Underworld') and The Best American Sportswriting 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010 ('Game Brain'), and 2012. Laskas' other works include Hidden America (2012), Growing Girls (2006), The Exact Same Moon (2003), and Fifty Acres and Poodle (2000). Most of Laskas' current work appears in GQ, where she is a correspondent. The article was also adapted by Laskas and screenwriter Peter Landesman into a film of the same name, starring Will Smith as Omalu. The book is based on her 2009 GQ article 'Game Brain' about forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who tried to publicize his findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players despite NFL opposition.

Laskas is the author of seven books, including Concussion (2015).

Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas