Happenstance

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Quotes

Verso Runninghead i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happenstance Verso Runninghead ii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. sightline books The Iowa Series in Literary Nonfiction Patricia Hampl & Carl H. Klaus, series editors Verso Runninghead iii 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happenstance University of Iowa Press Iowa City Robert Root Verso Runninghead iv University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Text and photographs copyright © 2013 by Robert Root www.uiowapress.org Printed in the United States of America Design by Teresa W. Wingfield No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. All photographs reproduced in this book are from the author’s collection. The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is committed to preserving natural resources. Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Root, Robert L. Happenstance / Robert Root. pages cm.–(Sightline books: the Iowa series in literary nonfiction) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 978-1-60938-191-2, 1-60938-191-2 (pbk.) ISBN: 978-1-60938-220-9, 1-60938-220-X (ebook) 1. Root, Robert L.—Childhood and youth. 2. Root, Robert L.—Family. 3. Lockport (N.Y.)—Biography. 4. Geology— Niagara Escarpment. 5. Chance. I. Title. F129.L765R66 2013 974.7'98—dc23 [B] 2013007536 Verso Runninghead v 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 For Linda, David, and Barbara Verso Runninghead vi My friend is laughing, saying once she asked her mother when the world turned color— all the photographs of distant wars, her mother’s childhood, her father’s, these were black and white, or sepia, or simply gray. How could she imagine it otherwise? —Elizabeth Dodd True memoir is written, like all literature, in an attempt to find not only a self but a world. —Patricia Hampl ...