Throughout art school and the writing of this memoir—hell, throughout my entire life—I’ve been fortunate and felt grateful for my parents and my friends and my good luck. It’s as though a shielding cover, a protective quilt of family and friends, saved me from misfortunes that might easily have come my way. To protectors beyond the edges of this work, I thank you.
I could not have thrown myself into art school without women, older women, who knew both the snares and the means of escape. Some were already friends, others I just knew that they existed and that they would help me. They did. Thank you.
Some names have escaped me, but many I gratefully recall: Elizabeth Alexander, Russell Ames, Emma Amos, Ellen Few Anderson, Jared Ash, Katrina Bello, Mary Bergstein, Bethany Baptist Church Deacons, Dawoud Bey, Kevin Bewersdorf, Camille Billops, Elena Borstein, Dionne Brand, Judith Brodsky, Marcia Brown, the late Donna Bruton, Abena Busia, Mary Ellen Capek, Hazel Carby, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Marcy Chevali, Susanna Coffee, Stephen Colbert, Dennis Congdon, Cicely Cottingham, Cathy Gaines Crump, Evonne Davis, Victor Davson, Jeanette Démeestère, Jessica Dickinson, Greg Drasler, Anna Edwards, Ottmar Ette, Lauren Ewing, Rochelle Feinstein, Diane Fine, Claudia Ford, the late Lucille Fornasieri-Gold, Terri Francis, David Frazier, Henry Ferreira, Jerry Gant, Bill Gaskins, Judy Glantzman, Sarah Granett, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Brooks Hagan, Sue Hallgarth, Daniel Harkett, Mildred Howard, Holly Hughes, the Irvins’ Family Folks, Erica James, Brian Jermusyk, Anthony Johnson, Jeremy Johnson, Tayari Jones, Mary Lu Kirsty, Joyce Kozloff, Key Jo Lee, Cyra Levenson, Jennifer Liese, Barbara Madsen, Sam Messer, Vikki Michalios, Katherine Min, Carrie Moyer, Mansa Musa, Randa Newland, Linwood Oglesby, Ferris Olin, Coleen Gutwein O’Neal, Frank Owen, Irving Petlin, Anna Plesset, Madeleine Polymeropoulos, Richard Powell, the late Clement Price, Mary Sue Sweeney Price, Andrew Raftery, Charles Ramsburg, Faith Ringgold, Carin Rodenborn, Hanneline Røgeberg, Joseph Ruck, Nicholaas Rupke, Duhirwe Rushemeza, Charles Russell, Leslie Sanders, Joe Scanlon, Mira Schor, Deborah Schwartz, Janet Shafer, Ruth Simmons, Duane Slick, Jacqueline Bryant Smith, Jeffrey Stewart, Robert Storr, the late Denise Thomasos, Angola Thomson, William Villalongo, Kara Walker, Michele Wallace, Paul Andrew Wandless, Ken Weathersby, Alison Weld, Anker West, Stephen Westfall, Laura Wexler, Adrienne Wheeler, Roger White, Iain Whitecross, Stanley Whitney, Emma Wilcox, Didier William, Deborah Willis, Alexi Worth, Michele Zachheim, and Kevin Zucker.
My work—this book, especially—needed its sheltered time at Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony. Once the book was done, the ebullient team at Counterpoint Press, notably my editor Jennifer Alton and Lena Moses-Schmitt, Sarah Baline, and Wah-Ming Chang turned the processes of publication into pleasure. Jacqueline Ko remains indispensable.
I would have self-destructed without my Very Special People. Sarah Lewis, Sarah Chalfant, Meena Alexander, Debra Balken, Thadious Davis, and Glenn Shafer deserve outsize appreciation for helping me survive art school and learn a new way of writing. Thank you for standing beside me over many years of everything.