Eulogy for a Vanished Place

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Whether it has been on TV, in movies, or during painful moments in our own lives, we've all heard eulogies—those mournful speeches that celebrate the lives of people we loved, even as they are tinged with grief about their loss.

This assignment allows you to do the same thing for a place, a place that you once had but that you can no longer return to. Write an essay that uses thoughtful plotting, vivid description, scene, and perhaps dialogue, to tell a compelling narrative about one significant place that has vanished for you.

For example, you could write a eulogy for your childhood bedroom, for Veteran's Stadium, for an old diner that's been transformed into a Starbucks, your grandmother's kitchen, the lakehouse where you vacationed with your parents, Disney World when you were five years old, your home at a time when all of your brothers and sisters lived under the same roof, etc. The idea is to mourn a place that no longer exists for you. This "vanishing" can be tangible (like Veteran's Stadium, which was demolished) or it can be emotional (like your childhood home, which, though still standing, is no longer the place it was to you then). Use your eulogy to bring this place to life even as you mourn its loss.

See how one student completed this assignment: Sarah Schumacher's "The Clearing"

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