Doll Haus
by Nadia Ritter

A dollhouse is a metaphor for a home that looks beautiful, well-kept, and happy on the outside but wrecked interior. This metaphor is used often in pop culture to describe a broken home. In this case, it is used to describe a broken heritage in addition to various family struggles. A large portion of my family came from Germany. Some left in the 1700s after the 30 years war, others fought to make it out of the Holocaust. In addition, my Irish heritage was marked with famine and poverty, while my Pueblo ancestors had even more battles for years. Everything about these struggles has been either covered in the media behind a smiling image, or has been silenced by the pleasant facade of a happy home. Inside my doll house, you can find images of places that I have lived. Each one has a lovely exterior that has kept struggles secretive, never to be seen from the outside. We all live in a doll house.