I am immensely grateful for the honor of this National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, which is a gift of time, encouragement, and financial stability to recalibrate my artistic practice. This fellowship came at a time of great personal and national difficulty, when I felt utterly wrung out, as if I had given all my hope to others and kept none for myself. I am still astonished to join this community of new fellows in becoming part of a legacy that has named so many brilliant writers I admire. This fellowship will allow me to dedicate focused energy toward the research necessary to complete my manuscript of creative nonfiction, but the immeasurable reward is to find my hope restored by this invitation to keep at it.