On this Thanksgiving I'd like to give thanks for the teachers of language who have paved my way to near-fluency in Russian, especially my first second language teacher, Kitty Cook (then Frau Williams).  I'd like to thank the patient friends and colleagues who have tried to support and improve my Russian.  Thank you to my parents for letting me take Spring Break 1989 in the Soviet Union, at age 15.  Thank you to the academics who have come before me to produce good translation aids like Kenneth Katzner's dictionary, the only American English /Russian dictionary (of which I have so many copies I've lost count-- I'm not sure quite how they have accumulated the way they have-- everywhere I turn there's one within reach).  Having Russian in my life has made this small town girl's world incredibly worldly.

Thank you.