Apples & Oranges
Page 30
Julie Enszer, Claire Potter, and Ann Snitow offered critical support for this new edition, thoughtfully articulating their sense of an ongoing place for Apples & Oranges in classes on gender, queer, and feminist studies.
My partner Winston, whose loyalty and patience helped me survive the original writing process, continues to be my mainstay. Soc, you rock.
For the first edition, I owe much to my literary agent, Sydelle Kramer, who suggested years ago that I write a memoir on sexuality and identity, then gently renewed the suggestion when my initial horror had abated. Her candor, her careful readings of drafts, and her wry appreciation of the dialectic between truth and the marketplace sustained me at every stage.
The Hedgebrook retreat for women writers eased the anxiety of beginning, offering the gift of Puget Sound beaches and uninterrupted work time. Among the many remarkable women I met there, Anne Cheng and Mary Hope Whitehead Lee deserve special thanks.
Jane Lazarre, Andrea Freud Loewenstein, Sara Ruddick, and Rima Shore offered generous readings that combined literary insight with feminist perspectives richly informed by their experience of some of the worlds I describe. I of course bear sole responsibility for my opinions. Catherine McKinley buoyed my spirits with tales of her own adventures in the land of memoir.
The loving enthusiasm for this project shown by both my parents and my partner meant everything to me. It’s never easy having a writer in the family.
Listening well for just an hour a week, Constance Brown accompanied me into the past that isn’t past, diminishing my loneliness and panic.
Howard Waskow and Grey Wolfe, who hold the long-distance record for supporting my work, were there with good counsel. Many thanks.
My editor, Janet Silver, offered much valuable guidance, particularly in the tricky matter of blending personal history and social criticism. She prodded me to rethink my approach at crucial junctures, reminding me anew of what I preach to my students: writing is revision. Wendy Holt lent her fine editorial eye; she and Jayne Yaffe, who shared my love of detail, were indispensable throughout the production process.
Finally, my thanks to the former editors of OUT/LOOK, who took the heat for publishing a 1990 essay, “My Interesting Condition,” that touched on themes developed in this book. The extinction of OUT/LOOK and so many other brave alternative publishing efforts leaves our culture incalculably the poorer.