I would not be here without my teachers. Quite literally, because my parents are teachers. Thank you to the public school system that launched me out of a small town and into the big city. Thank you to the University of Southern California and the professors in the Writing for Screen & Television division of the School of Cinematic Arts, who saw something in a seventeen-year-old nobody from nowhere. One of my favorite professors once told me that good luck is an opportunity you are prepared for, and bad luck is an opportunity you aren’t. Thank you for giving me so much good luck.
Outside my small sphere of great people, I have others I’d like to thank as well. Thank you to my senators, Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein, as well as my congressional representative, Ted Lieu. You fight more than any warrior in my books, and you fight for all of us. Thank you to President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, for their grace and strength. Thank you to Hillary Rodham Clinton, a pinnacle. Thank you to the Sierra Club and the indigenous tribes standing up to protect the beautiful, sacred, and wild lands of the United States. Thank you to the members of our government working to serve your constituents over corporations. Thank you to those in uniform and your families for their unfathomable sacrifice and dedication to our country. Thank you to all speaking truth to power.
Thank you to the student survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Your voices and your convictions are doing more than anyone ever imagined.
Once more, thank you to Morgan, Jen, and Tori. To Suzie Townsend. To Mom and Dad. I love you all so much and would not be here without you.
To my readers, there is very little I can say to explain the depth of my awe and gratitude. To quote a much greater writer than me, no story lives unless someone wants to listen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for making sure this journey has not yet ended.