If looking for what makes Piirto tick, A Location in the Upper Peninsula is a good place to start. The collection of essays, poems and short stories reflect the challenging beginnings of a serious writer and educator's life. The daughter of a welder father and an artistic mother, Piirto moves readers through the iron mines, isolated communities, a remote Air Force B-52 base, and birch branch switching in ubiquitous saunas. Her Finnish background plays a major role in the life portrayal. . . It is out there for everybody to read.