Final Piece Writing Process

This piece posed a challenge in that, as usual, I wasn't really sure how to make it into a "narrative story" other than by giving an attempt at a vivid retelling of the events that took place to make this a story worth telling. As such, there's a lot of recall of events that don't actually take place within the story itself, and I'm pretty sure the piece caught some flak at workshop for that. As it stands now, I think the flashbacks work reasonably well to bring the reader into the moments that caused such controversy on Kalamazoo's campus, despite the fact that they combine to give it a rather long word count. So perhaps this is not as well suited for an Index article, because they don't print pieces longer than 1000 words, and this is about five hundred over that. It would require a great deal of overhaul for an audience other than our campus paper, though - even moving the publication to the Gazette would obviously require some significant changes.

My difficulty in making this into a "narrative story" points to one of the greater difficulties I have with narrative journalism - I just want to get the story out there, I have less of an interest or even tendency to "show" like narrative journalism is supposed to. I just want to give the story in plain terms, tell people what's up, explain things to them, not have to think about developing characters, flashbacks, foreshadowing, and all those other devices storytellers/novelists use. In short, I think I prefer hard newswriting or even arts journalism to the narrative style. Good newswriters and arts journalists, I'm sure, use these techniques, but their work seems to depend less on it, which is fine by me. I'm interested in telling a story, I'm just not always as interested in doing it this way. It's difficult for me, and maybe if I do more journalism in the future I'll grow into it. As this piece perhaps shows, I'm not fully comfortable with the form as yet. I don't write creatively or with these kinds of devices often. I need more time to adjust.

The piece also could use more voices, and part of this is my own failure because I for a long time was unsure of where I wanted this to go. Only having two interviews happened because I didn't have time to follow up on the people I was recommended to talk to, since by the time the interviews happened it was almost crunch time. An interview with the Arcus Center people didn't happen either because of lack of time. So I would like to have more people talking here to tie the two events/people together, but it did not happen. Picking a subject that I have a little more familiarity with and maybe more passion about might have helped in this scenario; I kind of felt like I was scrambling with a half baked idea most of the time. The piece didn't prove itself too difficult to write, because I had good quotes (despite losing most of an audio recording of one interview to technical difficulties), and strong stories for each person, but it could have used more threads linking it together.

Final Piece Revised

Gender Roles: How They Play Out On K College’s Campus

This quarter’s Index has been a hotbed of dialogue about gender, from hard news reporting on events around campus creating discussion about the topic, such as Elaine Ezekiel’s May article about a panel on sexual violence, Brittany Worthington’s April article describing the Arcus Center’s participation in a transgender study. Op-ed articles and letters to the editor responding to events happening all over campus also abounded. Among these were Hussain Turk’s March response to a drag show, Elinor Epperson’s May response to a humorous Index post, Ellen Smith’s May op-ed and the numerous letters written in reaction to it. Ellen’s op-ed and the circumstances that produced it deserve closer analysis in light of what these things say about the campus community of Kalamazoo College.

Frelon. Spring Quarter 2011. April the 28^th, 29^th, and 30^th. Thursday-Friday-Saturday nights. Each night Dalton Theatre filled to capacity; tickets for all nights sold out. A multitude of voices bounce around the large open space, making it hard to register even one’s own internal thought, let alone talk to a neighbor. The lights dim, spotlights draw the eye to center stage, and dancers appear. Men and women float, glide, slither, shimmy, stomp, and flaunt their way across the stage—in pairs, individually, in groups—to music drawn from a spectrum wide as the tastes of the participants. Pop music, world music, all kinds of music now fill the theatre, and the dancers move to it, now languidly, now laconically, now dramatically.

The dances fly by. Begin the “Man Dance,” a dance that has occurred throughout Frelon’s history, showcasing talented male dancers, begins. The dance affected Ellen Smith, a senior who has participated in the past three Frelon dances and describes herself as a “fairly active feminst leader,” intensely. “The way I read it […] it was reinforcing this idea of men as really dominant and sexually aggressive, and women as sexual objects,” she said. She went on to elaborate that the male stripping could have played with gender roles, but in the situation, where the women were in a lowered, vulnerable position, this didn’t come across to her.

Ellen went on to write her response, dated on the Index’s page to May 3^rd, which caused a stir on campus. In the Index, the web article received an unusually high number of comments, most of which basically said the issue being raised wasn’t a big deal, according to Ellen. A facebook note containing the op-ed was published by a current director of Frelon as an open forum in which current and former directors could respond to it; at least one comment on the note was along the lines of “somebody needs to screw this girl so she’ll loosen up” and stop being so concerned, which “made me very uncomfortable,” said Ellen. She wrote against what she perceived as “an astonishingly offensive display and reinforcement of problematic gendered power dynamics,” with emphasis on heteronormativity; in effect, a woman spoke out against the hierarchy and there were immediate attempts to shut her down.

More official responses to the original op-ed followed. Several groups wrote letters to the editor that came out in the Index’s May 11^th issue. A letter from the directors of Frelon provided a different approach to the topic, explaining why the dance was choreographed the way it was, its original intent. A group of male faculty and students also wrote a letter to the editor for that issue of the Index, supporting Ellen’s article and denouncing the hostility that had arisen against her. Smith said that it was “powerful to have men stand up and say, ‘This is not okay.’” A third group, a diverse group of students of different years and faculty, further supported Ellen, and spoke out against the hostile backlash that she had experienced. The reactions were mixed, though on the whole Smith received support from people she talked to in person; the anonymity and space allowed by the Internet she thought made it easier for others to attack her without fear of consequence.

Friday, May 14^th. Spring Quarter 2011. The day before Crystal Ball. This is a bright day, full of light and uncomfortable warmth. A man enters the Humphrey House in time for the 2011 edition of Bruce Mills’ English Junior Seminar. He wears a vivid blue sundress, with a plunging neckline and no back. Max Wedding is in drag for the day.

Max, a junior and co-leader of Kaleidoscope, surprised nearly everyone that day in the Humphrey House. He is openly gay, but typically dresses to match the gender role assigned him in society, wearing more masculine clothing – sweatpants, ripped jeans, hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts. He has dressed in drag the day before Crystal Ball this year and the last, experiencing similar reactions to his clothing each time. His sophomore year it was somewhat accidental – he wore a skirt and feminine top to speak at the Community Reflection on Crystal Ball that day and was not able to change before his next class, so he wore drag all day. He described last year’s most memorable experience: “What comes to mind the most – the most shocking – one worker at the caf started laughing at me. It would have been very uncomfortable if I was expressing myself.” While the incident was addressed with campus authorities, that doesn’t mean that things were completely different this year. This year, Max’s dressing in drag for the day was intentional, done to see if it would elicit similar reactions.

And they were. Max spoke at the Community event and attended classes as normal. But that bright sunny day he recalled that “people would be passing on stairs and let out chuckles [...] [they] treated me differently than they would every day.” He was catcalled and received positive compliments on the dress, and in Bruce’s Junior Seminar taken as an example for the text being discussed that day in class – Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, a fiction work about, broadly, marginalized groups of people. Being called out, he said, made him uncomfortable, and had he actually been expressing himself it would have made him even more so.

Max says that, gender fucking, dressing in drag this way, is his way of messing with society, of refusing to conform to norms of, in this instance, clothing. So though Max was made to feel uncomfortable while in this situation, at the end of the day he was able to take those clothes off. A male whose preference is gender expression through wearing women’s clothing, however, would have faced a much more difficult choice – stop dressing in drag and wear “normal” clothing or continue to dress in the desired fashion and face at least alienation, if not ostracism of some sort.

This goes to show that though Kalamazoo College is home to a vocal LGBT student organization, has a relatively high number of LGBT students, and is known as probably the most liberal/progressive college in Michigan, the subject of gender is a hell of a lot touchier on this campus than its members might like to admit.

What do these reactions say about the campus as a whole? Smith felt that her article, and the surrounding responses, brought to the fore the “tension between a lot of people who want to move forward, want social justice dialogue […] butting up against more mainstream viewpoints. As much as it sucked to have so much public attention, [this] brought a lot of stuff to the surface.” There were mixed reactions; the college community from different sectors attacked and supported Ellen for her article. The fact that such attacks can happen in a supposedly progressive space points to the touchiness of gender issues; as Max said, “the responses to Ellen’s letter showcase the hostility we have on campus.” He also added, “K’s not quite as progressive as we say we are.”

It’s an issue that’s difficult to take on. Max says that we have a lot of dialogue on this, but “until it turns into something it’ll just stay dialogue. Unless we start having talk on a regular basis, shock will remain” when we see a person acting outside of their gender role. The goal, of course, would be for campus members to feel safe and comfortable while expressing their gender, a point that this college community does not yet appear to have reached. Max expressed a desire to have both male and female friends gender bend, something that might help other members of the community normalize these expressions of self. Smith also believes that the dialogue brought up can help the community move forward in the long run, and credits the Arcus Center for Social Justice for attempting to facilitate a positive sex culture on campus. The Center has held many events in the area designed to provide safe spaces for dialogue between different members of the community to occur, including the recent Mapping Desires Workshop. Through these dialogues and events – both Center and student initiated – there is hope that K College as a whole will meet these issues, grapple with them, and eventually overwhelm them.

Strutt Profile Slideshow

Here's a link to the slideshow I made about the Strutt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25go5jPoNDg

Acting Out: Gender Roles on Kalamazoo College's Campus

Frelon. Spring Quarter 2011. April the 28^th, 29^th, and 30^th. Thursday-Friday-Saturday nights. Each night Dalton Theatre filled to capacity; tickets for all nights sold out. A multitude of voices bounce around the large open space, making it hard to register even one’s own internal thought, let alone talk to a neighbor. The lights dim, spotlights draw the eye to center stage, and dancers appear. Men and women float, glide, slither, shimmy, stomp, and flaunt their way across the stage—in pairs, individually, in groups—to music drawn from a spectrum wide as the tastes of the participants. Pop music, world music, all kinds of music now fill the theatre, and the dancers move to it, now languidly, now laconically, now dramatically.

The dances fly by. The “Man Dance,” an off and on dance that has occurred throughout Frelon’s history, showcasing talented male dancers, begins. I did not attend this year’s Frelon, and thus I leave the specific telling of this dance to Ellen Smith, whose op-ed about the dance featured earlier this quarter in the Index.

The piece opened with a woman showing off her butt for an audience of other women judging her, as per the opening dialogue of “Baby Got Back.” Then the men came onstage, proclaiming their appreciation of big butts. The women left, only to walk seductively back onstage to catcalls and leers from the men as “What a Man” began.

As the music shifted to “I’m Too Sexy,” the women entered once again, this time crawling on the floor. To end the number the men stripped for and danced over the women, who were sitting on the stage with their legs spread open to the — standing and dominant — men.

The dance affected Ellen, a senior who has participated in the past three Frelon dances and describes herself as a “fairly active feminst leader,” intensely. “The way I read it […] it was reinforcing this idea of men as really dominant and sexually aggressive, and women as sexual objects,” she said. She went on to elaborate that the male stripping could have played with gender roles, but in the situation, where the women were in a lowered, vulnerable position, this didn’t come across to her.

Ellen went on to write her response, dated on the Index’s page to May 3^rd, which caused a stir on campus. In the Index, the web article received an unusually high number of comments, most of which basically said the issue being raised wasn’t a big deal, according to Ellen. A facebook note containing the op-ed was published by a current director of Frelon as an open forum for current and former directors to respond to it; at least one comment on the note was along the lines of “somebody needs to screw this girl so she’ll loosen up” and stop being so concerned, which “made me very uncomfortable,” said Smith. Ellen spoke out against what she perceived as “an astonishingly offensive display and reinforcement of problematic gendered power dynamics,” with emphasis on heteronormativity; in effect, a woman spoke out against the hierarchy and there were immediate attempts to shut her down.

More official responses to the original op-ed followed. Several groups wrote letters to the editor that came out in the Index’s May 11^th issue. A letter from the directors of Frelon provided a different approach to the topic, explaining why the dance was choreographed the way it was, its original intent. A group of male faculty and students also wrote a letter to the editor for that issue of the Index, supporting Ellen’s article and denouncing the hostility that had arisen against her. Smith said that it was “powerful to have men stand up and say, ‘This is not okay.’” A third group, a diverse group of students of different years and faculty, further supported Smith, and spoke out against the hostile backlash that she had experienced. The reactions were mixed, though on the whole Smith received support from people she talked to in person; the anonymity and space allowed by the Internet makes it easier to attack someone without fear of consequence.

Friday, May 14^th. Spring Quarter 2011. The day before Crystal Ball. This is a bright day, full of light and uncomfortable warmth. A man enters the Humphrey House in time for the 2011 edition of Bruce Mills’ English Junior Seminar. He wears a vivid blue sundress, with a plunging neckline and no back. Max Wedding is in drag for the day.

Max, a junior and co-leader of Kaleidoscope, has worn drag the day before Crystal Ball this year and the last, experiencing similar reactions to his clothing each time. His sophomore year it was somewhat accidental – he wore a skirt and feminine top to speak at the Community Reflection on Crystal Ball that day and was not able to change before his next class, so he wore drag all day. He described last year’s most memorable experience: “What comes to mind the most – the most shocking – one worker at the caf started laughing at me. It would have been very uncomfortable if I was expressing myself.” While the incident was addressed with campus authorities, that doesn’t mean that things were completely different this year. This year, Max’s dressing in drag for the day was intentional, done to see if similar reactions would be elicited.

And they were. Max spoke at the Community event and attended classes as normal. But that bright sunny day he recalled that “people would be passing on stairs and let out chuckles [...] [they] treated me differently than they would every day.” He was catcalled and received positive compliments on the dress, and in Bruce’s Junior Seminar called out as an example for the text we were discussing that day. Being called out, he said, made him uncomfortable, and had he actually been expressing himself it would have made him even more so.

For Max, gender fucking, dressing in drag this way, is his way of messing with society, of refusing to conform to norms of, in this instance, clothing. So though Max was made to feel uncomfortable while in this situation, at the end of the day he was able to take those clothes off. A male whose preference is gender expression through wearing women’s clothing, however, would have faced a much more difficult choice – stop dressing in drag and wear “normal” clothing or continue to dress in the desired fashion and face at least alienation, if not ostracism of some sort.

All of this goes to show that though Kalamazoo College bears the nickname “Gay K,” is home to a vocal LGBT student organization, has a relatively high number of LGBT students, and is known as probably the most liberal/progressive college in Michigan, the subject of gender is a hell of a lot touchier on this campus than we’d like to admit.

What do these reactions say about the campus as a whole? Smith felt that her article, and the surrounding responses, brought to the fore the “tension between a lot of people who want to move forward, want social justice dialogue […] butting up against more mainstream viewpoints. As much as it sucked to have so much public attention, [this] brought a lot of stuff to the surface.” There were mixed reactions; the college community from different sectors attacked and supported Ellen for her article. The fact that such attacks can happen in a supposedly progressive space points to the touchiness of gender issues; as Max said, “the responses to Ellen’s letter showcase the hostility we have on campus.” He also added, “K’s not quite as progressive as we say we are.”

It’s an issue that’s difficult to take on. Wedding says that we have a lot of dialogue on this, but “until it turns into something it’ll just stay dialogue. Unless we start having talk on a regular basis, shock will remain” when we see a person acting outside of their gender role. The goal, of course, would be for campus members to feel safe and comfortable while expressing their sexuality, a point that this community does not yet appear to have reached. Wedding expressed a desire to have both male and female friends gender bend, something that might help other members of the community normalize these expressions of self. Smith also believes that the dialogue brought up can help the community move forward in the long run, and credits the Arcus Center for Social Justice for attempting to facilitate a positive sex culture on campus. The Center has held many events in the area designed to provide safe spaces for dialogue between different members of the community to occur, including the recent Mapping Desires Workshop. Through these dialogues and events – both Center and student initiated – there is hope that K College as a whole will meet these issues, grapple with them, and eventually overwhelm them.

Week Nine Reading Response

This week brought longer-form narrative stories to the forefront, and I for one really enjoyed it. Ted Conover's "The Road is Very Unfair" was an intricately interesting read, although the subject matter it tackled...was immense. At times, it felt less focused on what it purported to be about, AIDS in Africa, and more about poor infrastructure and dangerous conditions (threatening militias, other spreadable diseases) present in the various countries Conover traveled in. Still, the writer gave us an incredible insider's view of what's going on in Sub-Saharan Africa today, through the eyes of those who are supposedly spreaders of AIDS, truckers. The way they live is fascinating, and it was interesting to compare the stereotypical US trucker, who is looked down upon, with these men, who are privileged above many other Africans. One scene that stuck out in particular to me was when Conover wanted sympathy from Obadiah about having smashed his finger in a volleyball game, showed him the beat-up finger, and only then noticed that the other man was missing that same finger on his hand. Powerful stuff indeed.

Aaron Aupperlee's work didn't disappoint either. I particularly enjoyed his three part series about heroin. For these pieces, at times I found myself forgetting who minor characters introduced early on were, as they were only later involved in the action, but this was a minor blip in the reading process. The series does an excellent job of illustrating how terrifyingly powerful heroin is, and how seriously the drug destroys lives, all while providing something of a positive message in the end. It accomplishes this by using a recovering addict as an example, showing that despite the pull of the drug one can attempt to fight the urge, and showing what the government, educators, and groups of people are doing to fight the cycle of drug abuse. This positive message was particularly striking as I remembered Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's story "Trina and Trina," about a crack addict who simply could not give up her habit, and whom the writer eventually gave up on after too numerous attempts to help. This series, while it had echoes of LeBlanc's story in that heroin addicts do often return to the drug because of the incredibly strong hold it has on them, was able to end more positively because of its focus on community efforts to end the drug cycle and its focus on a recovering addict who truly wants to reclaim his old life.

Strutt Profile Piece Revised

Who at Kalamazoo College hasn’t heard of the Strutt? It’s that corner building jutting out like the prow of a ship into the intersection of Stadium and Academy. It masks itself as an average college-town coffee shop, and that’s certainly what one finds entering the Strutt by day. Light fills the establishment. An array of unmatched tables and chairs dot the main room – pine and oak, light and dark, they, along with a comfortable couch, fill the hardwood floor, home to weary business people stopping for lunch, to students looking for a place off campus to study, or people looking for a place to socialize with friends.

Night brings a different side of the Strutt into view. The tables and chairs are cleared off; the only light comes from the bar and outside streetlights. Pay the cover fee to support whatever musical act is performing for the night, receive Sharpie’d Xs on your hands and a wristband if you’re underage, walk through the gateway and immediately your attention is focused on the stage. Stars glint from the ceiling in the low light, amps line the sides of the stage. The room is littered now with drum kits, tables for band merch, band members, and concertgoers, drinking and talking and laughing and waiting for the opening band to stop tuning and start playing, goddamn it. The musicians get going. The speakers punish a listener’s ears pleasantly when the music’s supposed to be loud, or soothe with sweet melodies if it should be soft; variety is the order of every day in a music venue that brings acts seven days a week. It’s this side of the Strutt that’s rejuvenating the Kalamazoo music scene and bringing live acts like this town has never seen mere footsteps from K’s campus.

The Strutt is the corner’s latest incarnation; it opened in 2007 as Dino’s, and changed its name to the current one in 2009. Musically the building’s roots can be traced back into the early 90s, when Boogie Records resided there, though since that time the businesses at the corner have come and gone nearly every year. Seniors and maybe juniors at K will remember thinking the Strutt would be just as transient as its predecessors, but the establishment has had staying power.

Part of this is luck, part proximity to Western, Kalamazoo College, and Kalamazoo’s downtown, part good management; a more unique part is bringing the kind of musical acts this town hasn’t seen since the Kraftbrau Brewery closed in 2007. Its closing left a hole in the city’s music scene; Kalamazoo was deprived of the good folk, acoustic, alternative, and rock acts that it brought to town before the Strutt opened its doors and began a campaign to convince musical groups that Kalamazoo was interested in bringing these kinds of music and more to town.

Andy Catlin has been employed as the Strutt’s booking agent since the establishment was founded, proof that making a music venue out of the place has been part of the business plan since it opened. Catlin says that the place has made itself into a functioning music venue, able to draw reasonably well known Michigan or even national acts, “about as fast as you could,” for a company without a huge overhead or helping hands in the music industry. He says that there’s a “lot of excitement in this town about music, rooted in the fact that Gibson Guitar started here. It’s always been this music town.” And, as a convenient midway point between Detroit and Chicago, it’s a great place for bands to stop during their tour and play a smaller show.

Duncan Zigterman K’13 has experienced the upswing in diversity of musical acts since coming to K. He first went to a Strutt show in fall of 2009, to see Michigan ska band Mustard Plug, but didn’t go to many others that year. This year though, he says that he’s been to 15-20 shows, a dramatic increase. “I think they’ve been making a more active effort to bring bands from out of the area here,” said Zigterman.

Alexis Wright K’13 has also been a more regular attendee at the Strutt’s shows this year, going to around 10 or so thus far. She’s also noticed an upswing in the variety of shows offered. “I was really surprised when I got the flyer for September/October, with Lightning Bolt, Xiu Xiu, and others.”

The Strutt has accomplished this increase in artist diversity and number of shows by building relationships with booking agencies over time, and sinking enough money so they’ll know the venue is interested and can give the amount of cash needed to bring a band to town. Andy Catlin has been working hard to accomplish this. “Why we’re getting all these national acts now is because for the last three years I’ve been e-mailing these people,” he says. It’s all rather depressingly fiscal – “Booking is this really weird system based on money,” says Catlin. A band can love the venue and want to come, but it’s all up to the booking agents and the exchange of cold, hard cash between the venue and booking agencies. Sink a certain amount of money and interest in a company and they’re more willing to send bigger acts your way, says Catlin.

On top of that, the variety to now be found at the Strutt is important in keeping it fiscally sound. Catlin says that showcasing many different genres is the “only way you can survive doing a music venue,” that you “can’t just depend on any genre.” Different kinds of acts bring in more fans, hopefully bringing in more revenue so the business can stay afloat. Sean Hartman, the Strutt’s other booking agent, was hired about eight months ago, and has since then brought an even more diverse group of bands to the venue. He says that the “focus here is on variety for sure” and that he tries to bring in more experimental music.

Catlin and Hartman are also open-minded musically, translating into more diverse music for fans in the Kalamazoo area. Catlin says that “who I am as a music fan […] I’m super into all types of music. I truly do appreciate all these different genres.” Hartman also tries to bring bands that most have not heard of to town, attempting to “turn people on to new bands” – something you don’t find at every music venue.

The Strutt fills the niche left by the departure of the Kraftbrau in ’07 while not stepping on the toes of other venues in town. Catlin says the place brings bands most similar to Bell’s Brewery, though that establishment is more jam-rock centered. Louie’s Trophy Bar and Grill plays host to a host of punk, noise and in general louder rock bands, while The Union downtown has constant jazz offerings.

In just three years, the Strutt has been able to bring a long list of relatively well known artists: Chicago based reggae band Deals Gone Bad, noise rockers Lightning Bolt (described by Wright as “the best show of my life thus far”), Japanese experimental psychedelics Acid Mothers Temple, Grand Rapids ska locals Mustard Plug, experimental/indie/electronica band Dan Deacon, and will have doom-metal band Earth, based out of Seattle, in June. That is spanning the genres. The Strutt also has rap shows on occasion, often has local folk and rock bands, and hosts an open mic night every Tuesday night.

All this, for a ticket price that ranges from $5-$15, and it’s not even a dive. As Catlin said, “90% of places you play are a black rectangle with some asshole selling High Life for $7.” But not the Strutt. “It’s a refreshing place for musicians and I think music fans too.”

Writing Response, Week Seven

Reading Gail Griffin's The Events of October was quite the experience. It evoked a whole host of emotions in me; I was by turns sad, proud, and toward the end, paranoid. Above all, I was intellectually stimulated by the writing, which catapults one directly into the horrific murder-suicide and makes one consider the reasons why this happen, and what one should take out of observing such an event.

I was impressed by the sheer amount of sources Griffin had for the book. Any possible source of information on the event, and events surrounding the event, she had to have somehow learned of, tracked down, and interviewed. The only major source missing is that of the Odah family, the lack of which is later explained. I found myself wondering how the author managed to make all of her various sources comfortable in order to hear their stories, to get the information needed to make her project possible. The interviewees were probably spread across the country - did she conduct mostly telephone interviews, or did she drive cross-country to hear them in person? Driving to sources might seem preferable for talk of such a personal subject, but would mean much effort on the part of the interviewer. That said, how did Gail manage to tactfully tease out the stories of all these people? It's such a sensitive subject, I believe we in this class would have a lot to learn from how this was accomplished. I also liked the IM conversations as they were utilized in the book - I imagine that Maggie's family would want the whole story of their daughter told, and thus made her computer available for research purposes. And, given the massive amount of sources Gail used in order to put this book together, I'm also interested in how she as an author decided to weave these stories together - how she decided to put what pieces where. I look forward to learning how this hugely impactful piece was put together from the author herself.