Julie Schumacher - Dear Committee Members

Enjoy the summer, Eleanor. Fall will arrive soon enough, with requests from students trickling in via e-mail, and the trees that shade Willard Hall flushing red at the hem. There is nothing more promising or hopeful than the start of the academic cycle: another chance for self-improvement, for putting into practice what one learned — or failed to learn — during the previous year.

Forgive the length of this letter. Next time I will try to send you a shorter one.

In the meantime I hope once again to consider myself

Your friend,

Jay

* How did Janet, an admissions officer in the law school, acquire a copy of Boti’s letter, you ask? It pains me to say so, but it appears that my ex-wife is now dating the dean.

I’m very grateful to my editor, the marvelous Gerald Howard, and to Jeremy Medina, Amy Ryan, Emily Mahon, and Nicole Pedersen at Doubleday. Chocolate and flowers to Lisa Bankoff (who was very patient with my limited understanding of the cell phone) and to Daniel Kirschen at ICM.

To the Rockefeller Bellagio Center: I’ll be indebted forever for the gift of a residency in spring 2011.

Thanks to Lawrence Jacobs, world’s most enthusiastic and supportive spouse, who read the first draft of this book and said, “I’m glad we have different last names.”

As for Emma and Bella who, defying logic, seem not to have tired of my quirky sense of humor: here’s to you two crazy weasels, with thanks and love.

Julie Schumacher’s first novel, The Body Is Water , was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist. Her other books include a short story collection, An Explanation for Chaos , and five books for younger readers. She lives in St. Paul and is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of Minnesota. She has written more letters of recommendation than she cares to recall.