MULŢUMESC FRUMOS!

This book is dedicated to the Berci Ţiplianu Family: Petru Sr. & Maria, Petru Jr. & Ileana, and my "assistant," Ileana the ‘girl,’ who opened their home and hearts to two strangers for "a year of days." And to their extended family - Vasile & Ileana (Mătușa) Pop and Ileana Doca. Thank you for the fresh soup and bread, laughter, patience with language, warm fuzzy hugs and kisses, pumpkin seeds, apples, and dancing on your wood floors.

Această carte este dedicată familiei Berci Țiplianu; lui Petru Sr. și Mariei, Petru Jr. și Ilenei, și „asistentei” mele, Ileana fata, care și-au deschis casa și inimile către doi străini pentru un an de zile. Și familiei lor extinse, Vasile și Ileana (Mătușa) Pop și Ileana Doca. Mulțumim pentru supa proaspătă și pâinea, râsul, răbdarea cu învățatul limbii, îmbrățișările calde și sărutările, semințele de dovleac, merele și dansul pe podelele voastre.

This book would be a poor shadow of itself without the generous time and work of my book designer Frances Baca. The images would be pale copies without the steadfast and expert image post-production of Tom Tolhurst. And this book would not exist without the gracious support of Henry Lord. Thank you all!

I wish to express my eternal appreciation and love to my husband Henry, for making this trip possible. Thank you for carrying firewood up to our room, walking down the village road for our water and writing the text for this project.

To the village Sîrbi; who opened their homes and greeted us with a warm smile and clean air. To those who took us in during our first nights in Romania: Maria Stoin, Isolde Huber, Vasile & Severica Mununar  (Baia Sprie) and Ioan & Doca Moisin (Slătioara). To American Peace Corps friends in Sighet for camaraderie and dinners; Carol Chapuis, and Bill & Angela Owen. To the Romanian Fulbright Commision: Mihai Moroiu; Ioana Ieronim (formerly) and Professor Ernest H. Latham (formerly). To Valentin Rozsnayai; allowing me to use your photographic dark room in Sighet on Saturdays. To the Ioan Andreescu Academy of Visual Arts in Cluj-Napoca, especially Professor Feleky Karoly, Professor Dorel Gaina and Secretariat Doina Ienei for support and friendship. To Alexandru ‘Sandi’ Leonties, for friendship, language lessons and your mother’s delicious baked food. To Jennifer Skulte-Ouaiss and Cynthia Crow (formerly with the Fulbright program). And to Michelle Duplissis (formerly with the IREX IARO Program).

Additional thanks to those while in Romania: Dom. Mihai Dancuș at the Ethnographic Museum in Sighet, Ioana Popescu (formerly) at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant; Raluca Preotul for text translations, Andreia Sampaleanu and her father Flaviu Cismasiu for creative support, Andrei Budescu and Alina Bondrea for photo assistance; Caroline Juler for wisdom; Dan Piersinaru; Aaron Balazs; Piet & Sonia Carels; Mauro & Sandra Carli; Dan Comanescu and Carmen Cristian.

To maintain life in the village, we were buoyed by those at home in America. Especially my mother-in-law Julia McLaughlin and husband Dan Dougherty - for emotional support and doing our dirty work – paying our bills, keeping track of our mail, and sending us peanut butter. Thank you to my mother Roberta Welsh - making and sending orders from B&H, and for making possible running water and a bathroom for our village family in Sîrbi. My thankfulness also extends to my sister Barbara – for her encouragement to me to pursue a career in photography, and for her positive and expert support of my academic labors.

And to those people and institutions who have supported  my work, through friendship, feedback, exhibition, publication or acquisition: Carol Golemboski; Rachel Slowinski; Erika Gentry; Tom Chambers; Laurence Salzmann; Stephen Perloff; Stephen Perkins; Steven Benson; Linda Troeller; Sara Terry; Mary Virginia Swanson; Darius Himes; Aline Smithson; Shay McAtee;  Ambler Hutchinson; Joan & Mike Dooley, Sant Khalsa; Thomas McGovern; Daniel Milnor; Orville Robertson; Scott B. Davis, Jennings Sheffield; Jeff Glotzl; Jeff Taylor; Julia Dean; Rixon Reed; Shauna Church; Don Davis; Alan & Margaret Ritch; Kate Jordahl; John Hesketh; Alyssa Starkey; Ann Mitchell; Diane Meyer; Stephen Spinder; Claire Bright; Allan Levenberg & Paula Phipps; Launie Gardner; Georgian Galateanu; Alan Close; Jane Bradley; Susannah Koerber; Jean Casey; Carl Corey;  Barbara Millstein; Russell Joslin;  Mary Ann Lynch; Courtney Reid-Eaton;  George Slade; Jerry Burchfield; Charles Gershwin; Pam Fox; Thomas Daniel; The Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University - Dale Quarterman and George Nan; Dr. Marcel Cornis-Pope; The School of Photography at Orange Coast College; Loyola Marymount University; The Embassy of Romania and the Romanian Cultural Center in New York.

Research for this book was supported in part by a fellowship from IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) with funds provided by the United States Department of States through the Title VIII program. Neither of these organizations is responsible for the views expressed herein.

Additional research for this book was supported by the Fulbright Scholar Program, which is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

AND AN ADDITIONAL THANKS TO MY 50+ BACKERS ON KICKSTARTER:

ALLAN LEVENBERG

SYLVIA CHAMBERS

SUSAN BANK

KATE PEEPLES BROWN

CLAIRE BRIGHT

DONALD LaCOURSE

JOHN UHLEMANN

CLAUDIA CROITORU

BILL ARON

JEFF CURTO

TIM AND ANN RICE

CRISITAN ARVINTE

BETH CRAVEN

JANE PARADISE

DON McGREGOR

ANDREW ADLER

LARRY GAWEL

DAVID HULBURT

BROOKE SCHREIER GANZ

MIHAELA SURDA

MARLA BANE

HANS KLEMMER

HEIDI BODDING AND RONAL LONG

KLARA HAGYMASSY

MARGARET GORDON & ALAN RITCH

DORINA GUTU

HOPE PERELLO

MARY CHARAS-HEALY

MONICA CURE

VERNER SOLER

LINDA MORROW

KAREN MAJEWSKI

SCOTT B. DAVIS

BILL WADLINGER

CHILTON GREGORY

BRIAN MOSS

ANN MATHERS

FREDERICK BUNSEN

ERIC MILLER

MARY ANN LYNCH

SIRI KAUR

DOUGLAS McCULLOH

RON GENTRY

ERLINE EASON

BARBARA LARAIA

REV. JOYCE FISHER PIERCE

ROBERTA WELSH

AND AN ADDITIONAL THANKS TO MY BACKERS ON INDIEGOGO:

MONIKA MERVA

MATTHEW SMITH

ROBERTA WELSH

MARY PELLETTIERI

LAURYSSA DREEUWS

SHARON GASPER

ALAN CLOSE

LYNN ROSS

JOEL IWATAKI

GIONNE BOZZI

SUSAN SALSER

BETTY PRESS