Giving Thanks

Any work whose journey has spanned more than a decade is bound to have an extensive band of gratitude recipients, and the folks who have believed in and supported these unruly characters along the way are bountiful and impressive.

I give thanks to Ann Todd Jealous, Bettina Aptheker, and Kate Miller for first championing these girls and believing their stories needed to be heard. Big gratitude to UCSC folks Roz Spafford, for wise support, and Carla Frecerro, for framing stories as narratives of resistance; to Mills crew Elmaz Abinader, Ginu Kamani, Toi Derricotte, Julie Shigekuni, Micheline Marcom, and Kim Hall for having my back every step of the way; to June Jordan for refusing to surrender; and Lucille Clifton, whose early support of Jackson and belief that linear time-defying ancestor truths are as real as any others kept me grounded and the work affirmed.

Deep gratitude to my lovely comrades at CSU Monterey Bay and the Creative Writing and Social Action Program: Frances Payne Adler (“Deb, you gotta get that book out there!”), Diana Garcia, Pam Motoike, Annette March, Maria Villasenor, Rina Benmayor, Ernie Stromberg, Umi Vaughan, and two amazing students, Nicole Jones and Monica Murdock, who first taught some of these stories in the Women’s Writing Workshop with such brilliance, grace, and expertise I almost wept with joy.

Appreciation for all the books and journals that have published parts of this novel in various forms: Eleven Eleven: A Journal of Literature and Art, Issue 15, 2013; Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape, 2014; Combined Destinies: Whites Share Grief About Racism, 2013; Fire & Ink: An Anthology of Social Justice Writing, 2009; and The Los Angeles Review: Number 4 – 2007.

Special thanks to Laurie Stapleton and Susan McCloskey, who “got” and affirmed this book at especially critical junctures; to Faith Adiele for a most timely encounter in the literary woods of Hedgebrook. Grateful to be blessed with the most supportive family one could dream of, and for Akasha Gloria Hull and Dana McRae, who had to live and/or hang with me during important chunks of the book’s journey and who still loved and supported me anyway, cheering on these wild girls and their beleaguered writer every step of the way.

Huge appreciation to my incredible agent Dana Newman and the terrific crew at Dzanc Books, whose love for literature and joyful perseverance in publishing is a most beautiful thing to behold. Michelle Dotter’s keen editorial eye and structural expertise has been especially astute and delightful. I feel so honored and fortunate to have such great folks shepherding this book along the way, making all this possible.

And, always, deep gratitude to all the four-leggeds—Bucky, J. Edgar, Jai, Shen, Kai, Coco, Sar, Xena, Uma, Cayla, and Luca— great beings who have taught me love and kept me in this world, sustaining spirit and giving heart for the journey.

I dedicate this book to all the kids and teens, queer and allies, who have and are currently living on the streets, making a way out of no way to find love and forge survival and resistance.