The Free School of Saint Paul as depicted in these books is not the Saint Paul Open School. Though my time at the latter certainly informs my creation of the former, all of the characters and situations in these volumes are fictitious and creations of my imagination rather than reconstructions from memory. That said, my eleven and a half years at the Open School are fundamental to my life and to my work as an artist, and I would be a very different person without them. I owe so much to the school, its teachers, founders, and my fellow students. Thank you all. The me that I am today wouldn’t be possible without you.
It is also worth noting that the downtown Saint Paul of this book differs in some significant ways from Saint Paul as it is now. It’s been thirty-five years since I used to sneak off to play hooky downtown, and the version of the city I describe in this book is a mixture of Saint Paul as it was then, as it is today, and pure fancy that serves the purpose of my story.
Finally, on the subject of mental illness and its treatment within the book, there are things I can’t say without violating the privacy of people I love, but I will note that I occasionally take anxiety medications and also that I grew up in a house with people who had significant neurochemical issues, including paranoid schizophrenia and major depression. To this day, I have people I love who have serious mental health issues. I come at the subject very much from the inside.