ABOUT
ALYSSA D. METCALFE
Alyssa D. Metcalfe was born in the early 1960s in the Inwood section of New York City, which sits at the northern tip of Manhattan. At the time, the area was mostly low to middle income, with a large population of immigrants from European and Latin Countries. She and her older sister were raised by her British father, American mother, and German maternal grandmother, who conveniently lived right across the street.
Her father was a jazz pianist who played in a band on a Cunard cruise ship that toured the Caribbean Islands. Alyssa’s mother was working as a secretary at the time, and was invited to accompany her employers on a business cruise. It was there that the couple met and began their love affair. They subsequently wrote letters to each other, and would meet whenever the ship docked in New York. Alyssa’s father eventually immigrated to the United States, got gigs playing around the city, and the couple started their family.
THE BIG CHANGE
By 1970, the Metcalfes qualified for affordable housing for artists in the West Village. The building took up an entire block and was full of families with children, in what was considered a relatively safe neighborhood. Given the times and the community, it wasn’t unusual for people to share a hands-off style of parenting—something that’s currently referred to as “free-range parenting.”
Lack of supervision and the beaconing streets of New York eventually lead to a series of unsavory choices, hanging out in dangerous situations and associating with people who influenced her less-than-healthy lifestyle choices for years to come.
Realizing her inevitable fate if she stayed, Alyssa left New York City to follow an earlier passion—Equine Studies.
After obtaining an A.S. degree, with honors, from Northwest and a B.S. in Animal Science in UMASS Amherst, Alyssa moved to Cape Cod, where she had a long career in the animal industry. She helped countless animals while working at a veterinary hospital, managed a stable where she taught horseback riding, and trained horses in the discipline of Dressage.
BRIGHT FUTURE
Alyssa continues to live on Cape Cod, where she and her longtime boyfriend own a small horse farm.
She is active in the local writing community, is a member of Grub Street, the SCBWI, The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and sits on the board of directors for the Cape Cod Writers Center. In 2017 she won first place in Gemini Magazine’s short story contest.
The following year, a creative nonfiction piece was published in Dark Ink Magazine, and in 2019 a flash fiction piece was chosen for Déraciné Magazine.
And she's actively writing a series based on her life and times in New York City.
