Writing has been a part of human culture for thousands of years. The historians of the past gave their descendants the written word of their culture, telling the stories which would otherwise have been lost. These are the roots of nonfiction writing . Creative nonfiction writing, however, traces its roots back to Les essais de Michel seigneur de Montaigne: The Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne chose the word essai for his writings, which means "to try." Montaigne'::; writing helped him to try to understand himself, giving birth to the creative nonfiction memoir. In the spirit of Montaigne's writings, this collection of creative nonfiction also aims to create a better understanding of myself and weigh my own experiences against my knowledge of the world. In doing so, this collection will also explore the boundaries of creative nonfiction, often stepping outside genre lines in order to better understand the genre itself.