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Acknowledgments I am grateful beyond measure to the many people who have helped me to write this book and to arrive at the joyful place I am today. To those named below and to the many more unnamed, thank you. To my teachers: Ms. Borges; Mr. Walton; Mr. Goldstein; Ms. Kemp; Mr. Mikolavich; Tim Caron; Todd Pickett; Lindon Barrett (que en paz descanse); Leo Chavez; Julia Lupton; Steven Mailloux; Jennifer Terry; and Brook Thomas. I owe a lifelong debt to Dr. Virginia Doland, who opened the doors to graduate school. Thank you especially to Inderpal Grewal, Laura Kang, Rafael Pérez-Torres, and John Carlos Rowe. Your brilliant writing, practical advice, and engaged teaching are an example I try to emulate in my own career. To my friends: Jeff Culver and Shari Culver, Jason McMartin and Kelly McMartin, Nancy Felch and Andrew Felch, Brian Thill, Linh Hua, Tad Davies and Rebecca Summerhays, Janet Neary, Jane Griffin, Alex Espinoza, Priya Shah, Naomi Greyser, Amy Parsons, Jane Hseu, Arnold Pan, Larisa Castillo, I-Lien Tsay, Mariam Lam, Johanna Wyers, Cindy I-Fen Cheng, Rachel Howard and Chris Kirages, Tim Hackman, and Mietek Boduszyński. To those who gave help along the way: Alfredo Arreguín; Santa Barraza ; Greg Rubio; Modesta and José Treviño; Maria Varela; Dionne Espinoza; George Mariscal; Kandice Chuh; Mimi Thi Nguyen; Ricardo Ortiz; Tony López; Joseph Palacios; Laura Halperin; Rodrigo Lazo; Elena Machado Sáez; Ricky Rodríguez; Eduardo Díaz; Los Blogueros; Marisela Norte; the staff of the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archive; the viii / acknowledgments staff of the Cushing Memorial Library at Texas A&M; the staff and editors of American Quarterly; and the amazing people at NYU Press, including my anonymous reviewers, Tim Roberts, Susan Murray, Ciara McLaughlin, Alicia Nadkarni, and Eric Zinner. To my students, past and present: Kara Morillo, Elise Auvil, Ana Perez, Maria Vargas, Fernando Benavidez, Allison Abessinio, Seth Horton, Anne-Marie Robinson, Erica Gruenewald, Ana Farach, Kelly Singleton, Rebecca Wise, Toni Sabo, Nina Candia, Kate Richard, Michael Casiano, Anna Steed, and all the students I have had the pleasure to teach. To my colleagues: At Maryland I have been surrounded by a fantastic staff in the English Department, and by wonderful colleagues across the campus. I owe particular thanks to John Auchard, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela, Ralph Bauer, Jackson Bryer, Charles Caramello, Kent Cartwright, Sandra Cypess, Bill Cohen, Theresa Coletti, Perla Guerrero, Christina Hanhardt, Sheila Jelen, Linda Kauffman, Bob Levine, Marilee Lindemann, Peter Mallios, Zita Nunes, Carla Peterson, Sangeeta Ray, Ana Patricia Rodríguez, Laura Rosenthal, Jason Rudy, Martha Nell Smith, Nancy Struna, Bonnie Thornton Dill, Mary Helen Washington, Edlie Wong, and David Wyatt. To my family: Thank you to my familia near and far, and above all to Steve and Julie Ontiveros, to Max and Angel and Aubrey, to John and Suzanne Sellars, to Francie Koehler (M2!), to Randy Ontiveros, for always being there, and to Patricia Garrett, for guiding my steps. To Danny and Annelise: Since you came into my life, not a single day has passed without me feeling overwhelmed by joy and gratitude for the privilege of being your Dad. I hope you will tuck this book away on a shelf somewhere, and when you see its spine, remember that my heart makes its home where you are, now and always. I love you. To Jennifer Cay: Your fierce love, goofy humor, sharp mind, and deep reservoirs of wisdom are my life’s great treasure. Every word of every sentence of every paragraph of every page of this book owes a debt to you. ...

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