Fraud (23 page)

Sometimes in the absence of emotion, your only recourse is to surround yourself with objects; assemble the relics about you. Wagner was wrong when he said, “Joy is not in things, it is in us.” One can find joy in things, but it is a particular kind of joy—the joy of corroboration. This is why I am once again flying north to try to commune with my little Eskimo Pie children. For the moment, this physical evidence will have to serve as proof that all that has happened was real, because even now I only half believe what I am telling you.

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to many people, most notably those responsible for many of the pieces in this book: at
This American Life,
Ira Glass, for his extraordinary editorial sensibility, guidance, and friendship; Julie Snyder has been my travel companion, unflagging pal, and Icelandic dance partner; and many thanks as well go to Alix Spiegel, Nancy Updike, Alex Blumberg, Blue Chevigny, Susan Burton, Todd Bachman, and honorable mention to Sarah Vowell, for numberless pep talks and perplexingly unstinting support. At
GQ,
it has been my privilege to work for Jim Nelson, that rarest of creatures, a wonderful writer who is also a gifted and selfless editor. My boys at
Outside
—Mike Grudowski, Adam Horowitz, John Tayman, and Jay Stowe—gave me greater opportunities than I deserved. Alison Humes at
Condé Nast Traveler
showed me enormous patience. At Doubleday, many have made my publishing experience an inordinately happy one: Many thanks to Bill Thomas, who made the first call, and gratitude for the kindness and enthusiasm of Bette Alexander, Ben Bruton, Adrienne Carr, Christopher Litman, Alison Rich, and Linda Steinman. And most especially numberless thanks for the gimlet eye and calming assurance of my editor, Amy Scheibe.

Many friends helped and endured in many ways. Alphabetical thanks and apologies to: Jonathan Adler, Abigail Asher, Laura Barnett, Tracy Behar, Carin Berger, Peter Borland, Janet Byrne, James Carr, Cliff Chase, Chuck Coggins, Randy Cohen, Erin Cramer, Jane Darroch, Emma Davie, Marco DeMartino, Deirdre Dolan, Eamon Dolan, Simon Doonan, Kim Drain, Anne Edelstein, Dave Eggers, John Flansburgh, Susan Friedland, Sheila Gillooly, Robin Goldwasser, Scott Gutterman, Hugh Hamrick, Dan Heymann, Jackie Hoffman, Lutz Holzinger, Jeff Hoover, Rebecca Johnson, Alexa Junge, Ariel Kaminer, Gillian Katz, Jamie Kay, Trena Keating, Tom Keenan, Chip Kidd, Geoff Kloske, Laura Kurgan, Alisa Lebow, Susan Lehman, Jodi Lennon, Betsy Lerner, Maggie Levine, Hugo Lindgren, Joel Lovell, Cynthia Madansky, Kyoko Makino, Patty Marx, Danielle Mattoon, Jim Millward, Max Moerman, Roy Moskowitz, Mark O'Donnell, Doug Petrie, Stephen Pevner, Greg Pflugfelder, Kate Porterfield, Andy Richter, Scott Riley, Matt Roberts, Phillippe Sands, Chris Santos, Natalia Schiffrin, David Schofield, Deb Schwartz, Mark Scott, Amy Sedaris, Vivian Selbo, Stephen Sherrill, Madhulika Sikka, Corinna Snyder, Ivan Solotaroff, Stoley, David Sternbach, Risaku Suzuki, Jess Taylor, Sarah Thyre, Paul Tough, Bruce Upbin, Rob Weisbach, and Jaime Wolf.

And to my family: Vivian Rakoff, Gina Shochat-Rakoff, Ruth, Tom, Micah, Amit, & Asaf Rakoff-Bellman, Simon Rakoff, Suzy Zucker, and Zoe Zucker Rakoff.

Truthfully, none of this would have ever happened without my agent Irene Skolnick, who waited some twelve years while I got my act together. And to David Sedaris, the man who repeatedly let me know by word and deed that I was still allowed, at the very least, to try.

FRAUD.
Copyright © 2001 by David Rakoff. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

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The following pieces began their lives elsewhere in variously different forms: “In New England Everyone Calls You Dave,” “Arise, Ye Wretched of the Earth,” “Before & After Science,” “Hidden People,” “Christmas Freud,” “We Call It Australia,” and “I Used to Bank Here, but That Was Long, Long Ago” on Public Radio International’s
This American Life
; “Including One Called Hell” and “The Best Medicine” in
GQ
; “Extraordinary Alien” in
The New York Times Magazine
; “Back to the Garden” in
Outside
; and “Tokyo Story” in
Condé Nast Traveler.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Rakoff, David.

Fraud / David Rakoff.—1st ed.

p. cm.

I. Title.

AC8 .R22 2001

081—dc21 00-052291

eISBN: 978-0-7679-1309-6

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