Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to be able to acknowledge and thank the many people who supported me through the process of writing this novel. First and foremost, much gratitude and love to my Wonder Woman, Luciana Ricciutelli, Editor-in-Chief of Inanna Publications, for her patience, wisdom, and “dear-heart” encouragement. Also to Elizabeth Greene, whose generous guidance and support, helped me to see my blind spots. Without their belief in this book, I would be lost.

I am also deeply appreciative the University of Guelph’s Creative Writing MFA program, where I had the opportunity to work on the manuscript. Much love and gratitude to Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, my thesis advisor and mid-wife, who generously offered her knowledge and encouragement, and to Jeanette Lynes, whose kindness and faith in this story, as well as my ability to tell it, were precious in the early stages. I would also like to thank the wonderful staff and instructors I worked with in the program: Catherine Bush, Meaghan Strimas, Lynn Crosbie, Michael Winter, and Russell Smith. Also my brilliant fellow students, especially Matthew Harris, Kathy Friedman, Leesa Dean, Adam Honsinger, Naoko Kumagai, Ayelet Tsabari, and Nick McArthur.

Much love and gratitude also to my long-time mentors, Lillian Allen and George Elliott Clarke for their nurturing, generous support and guidance over the years, and to Austin Clarke for being the first to encourage me to give fiction a whirl. Also key during the early stages were: Marilyn Biderman, Mari Floros, Marianne Micros, and Olga Petrik, who all went above and beyond in their assistance and support.

Thanks to Jessica Thompson for her encouragement and inspiration, to bill bissett, for introducing me to the phrase “gone to spirit,” to Eric Verspoor and Professor Robert K. Logan for assistance and support around the science details, to Mona Rizatti and Dominic Dileo for helping me understand the realities of living with mental illness, and to The Taiaiako’n Historic Preservation Society for preserving the legacy of Snake Mound.

Thanks also to my beloved friends for all their faith and support: Seth-Adrian Harris, Clara Blackwood, Adebe DeRango-Adem, Brenda Holden, Maureen Taylor, Missy Marston, John Balabik, Wakefield Brewster, Katherine Bitney, Sheila Stewart, Heather Birrell, Patti Ann Trainor, Jo Citro, my WordSpell Sisters: Alyssa Ginsburg, Vanessa McGowan and Barbara Erochina, Tanya Neumeyer, Joanna Zofia Poblocka, Ingle Madrus, Dahila Riback, Jem Rolls, Charlyn Ellis, Brigitte and Sue Lessard-Deyell, Debi Torbar, as well as my lovely friends and former students, Lana Kouchnir-Kachurovska, Laura Kelsey Ridout, Kanwal Rahim, Jessica Gatoni, Rimsha Ahm, and Ayse Kapakili. Much gratitude also to all the colourful characters of my Canadian Spoken Word family, and to the late Frank Plummer, who always encouraged me to follow my dreams.

Special thanks Kimberly Gail (Roppolo) Wieser for her support and friendship, and to the late Eugene Blackbear Senior. Eugene was one of the forty-four traditional Cheyenne chiefs, and was for a number of years until his death, the oldest living Southern Cheyenne Sun Dance Priest, as well as an Arrow Priest, and a Sweat Lodge Priest. He was a Native American Church Roadman for over fifty years, and played Chief Spotted Elk in Last of the Dogmen. May his legacy live on…

I am also deeply grateful for the encouragement and support of my family: the McDougall clan (east and west) and the Thompson tribe, especially Gail Durham, Chris Thompson, Pat and Dave McDougall, Lisa Graham and Kyle McDougall. And special thanks to Kristi McDougall, for donating her time and talent by providing me with such lovely author head-shots.

Finally, I would like to thank my grandparents, Mary and William McDougall for their unending support, encouragement and love, and for sharing their passion for the written and spoken word.

Notes on quotes:

Henry David Thoreau: Walden (1854)

Virginia Woolf: Night and Day (1919)

Jon Brion: “Over Our Heads,” I Heart Huckabees soundtrack (2004)

Other Woolf quotes appear throughout the book in the form of italicized dialogue by Wanda. All these quotes are from Mrs. Dalloway (1925).