Order from Amazon:
ISBN 0-312-98565-7

It’s never what you know, it’s who you know.

About the Dedication

This one is for Janice Weiss, a longtime friend of mine. We went through the MFA degree program at UAA together, and she is now the head of education at the Hiland Mountain Women’s Correctional Facility.

I’ve seen her at work, and I’ve heard her stories. If only we could clone her. Someday some nosy little grad student at UAA is going to make a study of recidivism rates at Hiland, and they will find them to be way down during Janice’s tenure. Many of the inmates have never had a chance at any kind of reasonable life, and Janice is busy getting them their GEDs, getting them college credit, helping to set up the greenhouse where they can learn to be master gardeners and run a plant sale every summer. Last June I emceed the first performance of an eight-piece string orchestra. Every March the women care for sick dogs who scratch from the Iditarod.

If anyone who gets out of Hiland falls back on bad ways, it won’t be Janice’s fault. She’s showing them that they have a choice. I’m proud that she is my friend.