Book excerpt: The Push and Pull by Noah Berghammer is a book that follows the transitional period of being eighteen and graduating high school to whatever comes next. It encapsulates the feelings of one chapter of life closing and a new, more-uncertain one opening. The “push” can be described as wanting to get out of one’s hometown, eager for a fresh start, with new people and experiences. As for the “pull,” well, it is everything trying to hold one back: the comfortability, a sense of home place, nostalgia, and more. This work is a series of nonlinear lessons learned and still learning, and it is told through Noah’s eyes and experiences while pulling from the undeniable relatability of this time period in one’s life.