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Before I rented my apartment in New York, several people were kind enough to let me stay in theirs, to think and write awhile. Thank you to Amanda Palmer, Michael Gutwaks (sorry about the wineglass), Amanda Zantal-Wiener (sorry about the wineglass), and Kaylan Sliney (sorry about the coffee cup).
Decision makers at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research agreed to let a heartbroken rapper into their world-class research lab. I am outrageously grateful to Cheryl Olman, PhD; Andrea Grant, ScD; Philip Burton, Jeromy Thotland, PhD; Patrick Bolan, PhD; Essa Yacoub, PhD; Alexander McKinney, IV, MD; Dr. Kamil Ugurbil; Dr. Zeke McKinney; and to the generous clinician Penijean Gracefire, LMHC.
Many thanks to the people in my life who agreed to let me write about them, including my parents, Maxie, Amanda Palmer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jaclyn Mothupi, Andy Thompson, Aby Wolf, friend and colleague Becky Hoffmann, Linda Frankenstein, Leslie Wander, Ben Burwell, and all of Doomtree (Ander Other, Cecil Otter, Lazerbeak, Mike Mictlan, Paper Tiger, P.O.S, and Sims). To Sean McPherson, Dustin Kiel, and Joey Van Phillips, thanks for our many months spent cruising around on busted bench seats.
A bunch of people read these essays when they were still sort of confusing and misspelled. Thank you to Brian Bieber (it’s nearly impossible to overstate how much your comments improved this collection), John Jodzio, Sylvia Burgos-Toftness (aka “Mom”), Robert Wander (“Dadman”), Alexa Stevenson, Eric Lorberer, Steve Marsh, Andrew Sims, and Catherine Burgos.
Thanks to my agent, Sam Stoloff, for the vote of confidence and the sound guidance; to my editor, Maya Ziv, who took a risk on me and encouraged me to take risks in my writing; to Christine Ball for the creativity and the muscle; and to Dutton for the chance at bat.
Special thanks to X for letting me tell my side of our story. If you’re reading this on the road, I hope tonight’s show slays.