Quality Snacks

Acknowledgments

Thanks to everyone who gave me helpful feedback on these stories, especiallyMark Wisniewski,LisaLenzo,BonnieJoCampbell,Glenn Deutsch, Mike Stefaniak, Lorri Alberts, Carla Vissers, Jenica Moore, Nick Benca, George Dila, Josie Kearns, John Mauk, Phillip Sterling, Julia Hanna, Mary Winifred Hood, Jeff Schwaner, Annie Gilson, BruceMills,ScottHaycock,andJayneAnnePhillips.ThankstoAnnie Martin and all of the great folks at Wayne State who have provided me with every comfort of a literary home. I would also like to thank Kalamazoo College and Writers in the Heartland for their support during the writing of these stories. Finally, thanks to my parents and my brothers and sisters for giving me a secure place to stand and to Lorri and Madeleine for, well, everything. I am also grateful to the editors at the magazines in which thesestoriesfirstappeared,sometimesinsomewhatdifferentform: “Dogs I Have Known” in The Missouri Review; “Pelvis” (originally as “Hips”) in Mississippi Review; “Overpass” in The Southern Review; “Proofreader” in Phoebe; “Séance” (originally as “She Was Moist”) in Stet and Del Sol Review; “A Talented Individual” in Natural Bridge; “Helmet of Ice” in Quarterly West; “Quality Snacks” in River Styx; “Self-Reliance” in Nerve; “Woman of Peace” (originally appeared as “The BBs”) in Joyland; “My Nonsexual Affair” in Ecotone; “Windows Reflect Some Light” and “Always the Same Dream” in DIAGRAM; “The Bad Reader” in The Brooklyner; “No Joy in Santa’s Village” in The Small Chair (McSweeney’s iPhone app). Acknowledgments ...