Читать книгу An Archaeology of Yearning - Bruce Mills - Страница 9

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have received support, large and small, from many people. At Kalamazoo College, I owe a special debt to Andy Mozina, whose close attention to the manuscript as a whole can be felt throughout the book. Along the way, Con Hilberry, Marion Hilberry, Jim VanSweden and Amy Smith provided timely reflections on early chapters. Through annual campus readings, Gail Griffin, Marin Heinritz, Amelia Katanski, Diane Seuss, and Babli Sinha voiced ongoing encouragement. As for those colleagues who have moved on, I thank Glenn Deutsch, Kathy Crown, Lisbeth Gant-Britton, and Ellen Caldwell for their feedback and faith in the writing.

Over the years, I have also drawn from conversations with many students in my first-year seminar, Autism and Other Ways of Knowing.

Both indirectly and directly, I have also been fortunate to see my work through the eyes of many writers who, for personal or professional reasons, have found themselves among those on the autism spectrum: Kristina Chew, Debra Cumberland, James Fisher, Vicki Forman, Mark Osteen, and Ralph Savarese. My book is richer for this re-seeing through their experiences and insights.

During my time at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference as the B. Frank Vogel Scholar in Nonfiction, I benefited from the feedback of Garrett Hongo, Rus Bradburd, and my fellow nonfiction scholars, Fred Bahnson and Kimberly Meyers.

A special thanks as well to PJ Mark, who helped me get the manuscript into a shape more fitting for publication.

I gratefully acknowledge the previous venues for three pieces: “An Archaeology of Yearning,” The Georgia Review; “Sleeping with Jacob,” New England Review; and “The Meltdown,” Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum. I am especially indebted to Stephen Donadio and Carolyn Kuebler at NER for their support.

To Philip Brady, executive editor at Etruscan Press, who enthusiastically embraced the book and to Starr Troup, managing editor, who clearly understood and effectively shepherded this project to its publication, I also owe deep thanks. You have helped complete a long journey.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge my daughter, Sarah, and partner, Mary, for their patience and love, and my son, Jacob, whose own love and rituals of living compel me to write and to reconsider all that I think I know.