Acknowledgements

ROTEL Grant

The leaders of the ROTEL Project grant gave me this opportunity to make a sabbatical project a reality. I am particularly grateful to Millie Gonzalez, Dean of Framingham State’s Whittemore Library, as well as Marilyn Billings, Faculty Advisor and Advocate for the grant, and the publishing support team of Vicky Gavin, Minh Le, and Rick Lizotte. I am also grateful to Barbara Ambos for her help editing the second version. Thank you all for your support and guidance!

My Own Land Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge that the land on which I live, work, learn, and play is the original homelands of the Nipmuc tribal nations. I acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory, and I honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land.

Fellow Instructors

A number of instructors were willing to use this textbook in their Fall 2022 first-year writing classes and give me feedback, including Marianne McGowan, Lee Okan, Arlene Wilner, and Sarah Young. In particular, I would like to thank Lorianne Disabato and Leah Van Vaerenewyck for their reviews and Chris Payson for not only her review but also the feedback from her students.

Former Students

Students from my classes over the past two semesters have given me generous feedback and suggestions for making improvements. Thanks to James Bushard, Lando Concepcion, Jude Ejiofor, Tia Lidonde, Lorenzo Locks Azeredo, Christopher Ortega, Joseph Payne, and Geoffrey Pierre for suffering through the first version of this available only through a Google Doc. The process was more painful than I wished, and I appreciate your willingness to work with me.

Thanks also to Waldy Baez, Wilmani Castillo, Paul Goggin, Max Jeremic, Ameir Mahmoud, Eddileidy Tejeda, Latrell Williams, and a small group of students who wished to remain nameless for their help with Fall 2022 Pressbooks test drive. And to Alexandre Francois, Ramire Johnson, Elizabeth Mahoney, and Christal Page, students in my class during Fall 2023. Your contributions helped me reshape parts of this book significantly.

As you read, you may notice sections where these students are credited with revisions or other changes. In an open pedagogy assignment, I invited students to suggest changes and make contributions as part of their work for my course. I am particularly grateful for those contributions.

Behind the Scenes

I would also like to recognize two other people who have helped this book become a reality.

Rebecca Dowgiert, Framingham State’s Open Education Resources Liaison, helped me to locate resources and readings and to navigate Creative Commons licensing. Rebecca also helped me implement the open pedagogy assignment I developed in conjunction with this text. Most importantly, if Rebecca hadn’t pushed me to apply for a ROTEL grant, this book might have remained a partially completed project.

Vicky Gavin, my editor, helped me to move my overly long Google Doc into Pressbooks and gave me plenty of design advice, all while keeping accessibility and consistency in mind. Her help in the pre-publication stages of this textbook has been invaluable. I also appreciate the gif-trading and moral support!