Territory Acknowledgements
The Way We Haunt Now is written and produced in central Virginia, on the territories of the Monacan and Manahoac people. It is set in Eugene, Oregon which is located on the traditional land of the Kalapuya peoples. We feel that this is important to note not because we’re trying to tick some “wokeness” box, but because history still haunts everything we do and create. Art is not magically separate from sociocultural contexts. In the US, that means we’re all making lives and telling stories in a system and society that was built on bad faith “agreements” with and the violent dispossession and systemic dehumanization of Indigenous people. Acknowledging this is only the first step.
General Acknowledgements
The Way We Haunt Now would not have been possible without help from a bunch of amazing people. When I was burnt out from moving across the country, starting a new job, and trying to finish my dissertation all at the same time, my partner, Jared Floyd, encouraged me to start writing creatively again because he knew it would help. He also continues to listen to me talk about the scripts and make endless to-do lists as I move from writing into gulp production. And he helps with Foley. And… well, if I list everything he does we’ll be here all day. When I was convinced my story idea was boring and bad, Annie Swafford swooped in and convinced me to work on it for Camp NaNoWriMo and then listened to me talk about my inkling story world and asked a bunch of insightful questions. When I started to realize Eulalie and Frankie’s story should be an audio drama, not a novella, Jen Sugden (Victoriocity) and Jamieson Ridenhour (Palimpsest) encouraged me to actually do the thing. When Jen handed James Oliva (What’s the Frequency?) the laptop we were Skyping on and asked him if he had any advice for me, he directed me to community resources and to PodTales which is how I learned about, applied for, and received?!! a Dashlane Cash Mini Grant for Fiction Podcasters in October 2019.
From this point on, lots of people are (or are getting) involved, and I’ll be highlighting them in list format!
- The amazing members of Wil Williams’s Podcasting Problems discord server, who answered all manner of questions and also commiserated with me (which is super important)
- The project’s Sensitivity Reader, Lara Ameen, who made not only the words but the SFX better with her comments
- My dad, who was gracious and willing to try something new when I ambushed him with my microphone and asked him to play a bit part