A Good High Place

Acknowledgments

A c K N o W l e d G M e N T S i have always been fascinated with time, the nonlinear and synchronistic way in which we experience it. The people and events in our lives float up to us much like those Halloween apples we bobbed for in our childhoods, seemingly randomly, yet never quite that, informing and forever changing the direction of our lives, so that at times we don’t understand the significance until we’re “meantto,”andthepast,present,andevenimpliedfuturebecomepart of our realities in ways we could never anticipate. it’s fascinating— even mystical—and nothing could be more synchronistic than the people who “bobbed” up through the murky waters of my life and changed me forever. First, those pointing the way: Jack driscoll (could there ever be words?), Keith Taylor, John Smolens, Jaimee Wriston colbert, and Fred leebron. My Anishinaabek advisors: Kenny Neganigwane Pheasant, language coordinator and instructor for the little River Band of ottawa indians of the Anishinaabek nation. Kenny teaches the community and in the elementary, middle, and high schools in Manistee, Michigan, and his efforts to preserve the native tongue among the Anishinaabek people make my endeavors pale in comparison. Miigwech, Kenny, for sharing with me a little of the old viii L.E. Kimball ways and giving so generously of your time. And Standing Thunder, who not only provided important details for this novel but also healed me of some of my “self-inflicted afflictions.” i’m indebted to Heidi Johnson, photographer-in-residence at interlochen center for the Arts for sharing her photography and knowledge of Traverse city Hospital (formerly Northern Michigan Asylum) and for putting up with a plethora of “one more detail” questions about the institution. one of the saddest moments for me was learning she had passed away a month before i received word that this book was to be published. Thankstotechnicalexpertdaveleonhardatourlocalorvisstore in the Grand Traverse Resort for imparting to me his knowledge of all things piscatorial. And to those who provided historical background: Glenn Neumann of the elk Rapids Historical Society, chief Percy Anderson of the Grand Traverse Band, and larry Wakefield, local historian. i couldn’t have accomplished this without my early readers: Kevin Breen, Jeanne Sirotkin Haynes, Amy Sumerton, Keith Hood, and cc workshop. And certainly not without the faith and hard work of those at Switchgrass Books and Northern illinois University Press: Alex Schwartz, Tracy Schoenle, linda Manning, Julia Fauci, and Shaun Allshouse. You have my undying gratitude. Special thanks to Geoff Bowman, my “northern authority,” who introduced me to Kenny Neganigwane Pheasant and dave leonhard but who also, it seemed, knew nearly everyone pertinent to my project. Many, many thanks. Thank you carol carr, charmaine Howell, Karen Ksionzek, and cindy lepard. You all know why. Thanks, Mom. You may be gone, but you’re in every line of this book; i still have notes of early research in your hand. Special thanks and love to my dad; my husband, dick; and my children, Joshua, Hilary, and John, without whom there would be nothing. A Good HiGH PlAce ...