As Sinclair Lewis wrote in It Can’t Happen Here, “Under a tyranny, most friends are a liability. One quarter of them turn ‘reasonable’ and become your enemies, one quarter are afraid to speak, and one quarter are killed and you die with them. But the blessed final quarter keep you alive.” He would know. He was married to Dorothy Thompson who was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934.
I would like to thank that quarter of friends in my life. To Pam, Barry, and Thomas Ahearn, for the best family a girl could have; for Bekye Faragson, my big sister whom I love so much; always to Suzie Jagger Richards, eternally gorgeous inside and out; and, last but not least, to Donni Young and Corinne Cloud, my rock when I needed one. Also to my homegirlz: To Vonnie Lynn Sox (I’ll always be your Dogg!); to Julia Sotcilina who proved to me that the Russian and American sense of humor is exactly the same; to Ashley Turner Clinton who wears the same social justice armor as I do; and lastly, to the artist Lovetta Clark, the bravest, kindest, most amazing person I’ve ever met.
To those who’ve made my path to writing this book infinitely easier: To Marie Dufour Goodwin; Halvor Mikel Halvorson; Bettymae Cronheim; Tommy Lyons; Monique Muñoz; and, to the fabulous doyenne of the family, Anna Peterson Delson.
Lastly, with love forever and ever, to my two boys, Thomas Young Roberson III and Richard John Lafayette Roberson. I’m grateful every day for you both.