The artistry of three teachers and path-lighters—Deborah Merola, Ruth Zaporah, and Deb Margolin—has had a profound effect on how I understand personhood, theater, words, story, and creative invention. Though they didn’t read drafts of this manuscript, they helped write it.
Cassie Tunick’s poetic imagination and her reliance on the unconscious to conjure our best selves have been inspiring and sustaining me since we were ten. And are, I hope, alive in these pages.
Cathleen Medwick kindly made room at More magazine for early versions of this material. Kim Larsen, Penny Wolfson, Kate Reynolds, and Barbara Feinberg formed a writing group whose liberating ethos was: Write everything, you can take it out later. In particular, Barbara’s beautiful prose, devoted readership, and contagious habit of sitting down to write daily kept me in motion.
Kristy Davis touched this manuscript with a scythe of coherence that cut away the dead wood and gently demanded that I graft in truer feeling. It would not be this book without her.
Lauren Wein oh so generously read early pages and pointed me toward Sarah Burnes, the agent of any writer’s dreams, fulfiller of mine. Sarah’s irrational exuberance for the manuscript sent me back to work in an effort to make it more like the book in her mind. She’s a fierce advocate, fair fighter, and the fairy godmother we all want in our corner.
At Holt, Caroline Zancan’s genuine respect for the work that comes before her translates into a kind of physician’s oath of editing, First do no harm. At the same time, she pushes for clarity, complexity, and originality. The many other magic-makers at Holt include Kerry Cullen, Maggie Richards, Ariel Cooper, Jason Liebman, Jessica Wiener, Gillian Blake, Molly Bloom, Meryl Levavi, Karen Horton, Tracy Locke, Vicki Haire, and, of course, Steve Rubin. Holt’s hospitality at every turn has made it feel like home.
For their forbearance and generosity in allowing me to share the most difficult part of their lives, I am grateful beyond words to Jake Pedersen and his family and to Ramya and Deepak Bhaskaran.
And finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my family for their patience with my absence during the many stolen moments it takes to make anything, even a cake, definitely a book. Gracie and Gabriel, thank you for letting me try to capture you in words (doomed task if ever there was one). Brian Morton, my mate, infused this book with his faith that writing can bring humanity and humor and heart to a senseless world, in which we seek sense. Without him, there would be no story. With him, every story rings sweeter and more true.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heather Harpham’s fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in More magazine and Water~Stone Review. She’s written and performed multiple solo plays including a theatrical version of this material, also titled Happiness, and a piece about climate change titled BURNING. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and SUNY Purchase and has been a visiting artist at colleges and universities across the United States. Originally from Northern California, Heather lives along the Hudson River with her family. You can sign up for email updates here.