Welcome to My American ’80s, a series of linked essays with collages that tell stories of innocence lost and identity found while navigating early adulthood after repatriating to the U.S. during the age of Reaganomics, early Madonna, RUN-DMC, AIDS, and “We Are the World.” New essays will be posted in the coming weeks sporadically without regard to their chronology.

The first essay, “Birthday,” is the final story in the collection and is centered in late 1989. When the new essays go live, you’ll receive them via email if you are a Writing Is My Drink blog subscriber (subscription signup in footer) or you can find the links to the essays here on WritingIsMyDrink.com under the category “My American ’80s.”