Acknowledgements

The idea of a single author, sitting alone in their attic cranking out prose with an ashtray filled with violently pinched cigarette butts, and stray bottles of cheap Bordeaux is an illusion.  At least the solitary part.  Authorship, the act of authoring, is a vibrantly filled community effort—a whirling and spiraling assemblage of vibrant material forces. Painted wood attic floors, plastic embossed computer keys, Virginia’s clay soil—the tacky yellowed-strip of a hand-rolled cigarette–tongues, teeth gnashing. Weights & pulleys, liquid glass brought to form in old oak frames, and the constant crepuscular hum of the katydids trumpeting the coming of night in a hollowed staccato thrum—another day spent swimming in the summer of words and form.  And the constant call and distraction of all our loved ones: human and non-human alike.  Come back to us loves.  Come back to us. 

Authorship is a vibrant assemblage.  Less worship of the Lingam; more herding of cats.  Cats in communion.  Vaudevillian; not stand-up comedy.  We can hear the circus band just over the hills. 

To that end, we would like to thank all the human agents that made this work possible.  This work that started with two friends talking about their fucked up childhoods over a bottle (or two) of wine.  It’s been a long process since then.  

We are eternally grateful to Jake Simmons and Michael LeVan for their generous feedback on the writing and patience in the creation of the project. It is a long time coming. Additionally, we would like to thank James Madison University’s provost, Heather Coltman, Ph.D., and the School of Communication Academic Unit Head, Eric Fife, Ph.D. for providing us with funds to get this project off the ground. We would also like to thank our NCA Ethnography reviewers for their thoughtful comments, which have only served to improve the project. Amy and Justin, this project would be only half of what it is without your thoughtful artistic contributions. We are also indebted to the Library’s Innovation Services folks at JMU, including Jenna F. Polk in audio recording and editing. However, our greatest thanks are reserved for JMU Digital Projects Specialist, Kirsten Mlodynia, who consistently put up with our many eccentricities and multiple emails, and pragmatically made our vision reality. We owe you so many beers. 

In addition, we would like to thank Selah Saterstrom and Eric LeMay for their generous and generative feedback on our creative writing and creative non-fiction portfolios respectively.  Although written nearly 2,000 miles apart, much of the writing for this project began in our creative writing and creative non-fiction classes with Selah and Eric. We would also like to thank our matriarchal and patriarchal/matriarchal clans: Sara, Dora, Beulah, Jane, and Dawn and Timothy, Francis, Timothy J, and Erma, Louie, Marta, and Kathleen to whom we dedicate this project.