Some of these essays previously appeared in very different form in the Marshall (Minnesota) Independent and the Peoria (Illinois) Journal-Star; and I am grateful to the editors of those two newspapers for allowing me to work out ideas in print. “Upon Awakening from a Dream of Poland” appeared first in Eureka Literary Magazine. Southwest State University saw fit to underwrite this project with a research grant, as the International Research and Exchanges Board did not. I am grateful to individuals who have read this manuscript in whole or in parts at various stages in its development: Ms. Ewa Bednarowicz, Ms. Anna Kępa, Ms. Iwona Kozłowiec, Dr. Agnieszka Salska, Bill Holm, and Leo Dangel. I appreciate their contributions and corrections, and add that all errors are mine alone. Thanks also to my wife Michelle, who shared the adventure with me, took some of the photographs for this book, and did the darkroom work on others, improving as best she could the natural fog of East Bloc Orwo film. Thanks also to Tom and June Carmichael, Elizabeth Corwin, Ned Conway, Steve Nagle, and Sara Sanders, Ken Luebbering and Robyn Burnett, Muriel Joffe, Brother Milton and Brother Leo Ryan, Gabriele Jones, Łukasz Salski, Krystyna and Olaf Krzemiński and their parents, Dr. Krzysztof Andrzejczak, Dr. Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Neil, William, Christine, Anna, Agnieszkas Leńko, Tynecka and Jabłońska. Thanks to Norbert Blei, whose Chi Town, Door Way, and Neighborhood provided a model of sorts for this book. Finally and most importantly, I want to thank the Fulbright Commission and Southwest State University for the fellowships and the sabbatical leave which made my years in Poland—and this book—possible.