Publication Day!
It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet, but the day has finally arrived - my very first monograph, ‘Analysing the Boundaries of the Roman Garden: (Re)Framing the Hortus’, has officially been released out in to the world!
In order to mark this very special day, I would like to share my acknowledgements section with you all here, as this is the best articulation of how I was able to reach this day.
Acknowledgements
This book is inextricably tied to my pandemic experience in Winnipeg. It began life in April 2020 as a product of my just-completed PhD, was accepted for publication at the beginning of 2021, and finally submitted in 2022 – the majority of the writing took place sitting at the desk in the corner of my living room, on an IKEA kitchen chair that was definitely not designed for extended periods of sitting, in spare moments found between Zoom classes. For better or worse, I will always associate the words written in these pages with the various stages of lock-downs and the added personal challenges that I experienced during this time. The past three years have been a time of immense transformation for me, on both a professional and personal level, and I am incredibly grateful for the support I have received that has allowed me to reach this point. There were many times I thought I would not make it, but here we are – and, although it is impossible to name everyone who helped me reach this point, I would like to acknowledge those individuals who have been integral to helping me throughout this journey.
Firstly, I would like to thank my colleagues and my students, past and present, in the Classics department at the University of Winnipeg – I simply could not have asked for a better department to begin my academic career. You welcomed me with open arms and have given me every opportunity to thrive and grow as a scholar and a teacher. At the time of writing this, I am just finishing my final semester at UofW, before moving to Carleton College, and I will be forever thankful for the friendships I have formed here and the lessons learned. Special thanks to Matt Gibbs, for taking a leap of faith on an unknown fellow Brit and giving me my first job; to Melissa Funke, for the confidence-boosting pep talks about my pedagogy projects, and for the outstanding Zoom trivia nights; to Conor Whately, for always indulging my interests in obscure agricultural texts and sharing so many of your teaching resources with me over the years; and to Alyson Brickey (an honorary member of the department thanks to Thursday or Friday drinks), for being the one person I can always rely on to get as excited about literary theory, Foucault, and Derrida as me.
The chair of the Classics department, Peter Miller, in conjunction with his wife, Carla Manfredi deserve a paragraph of their own. As a single person, living alone during a global pandemic, in a new city that I only moved to 5 months prior to Covid-times, my lockdown experience could have been extremely isolating. Peter and Carla (along with baby A!) never allowed that to happen, constantly checking in on me and offering me every type of support, both professional and personal, as part of the Miller-Manfredi family bubble. In fact, there were large blocks of time when Carla was the only other person I saw in the flesh. There were several months, during the strictest lockdowns, when I was only permitted to meet one person from a designated ‘bubble’, and only outside – Carla would meet me, religiously, twice a week to run together, even during the depths of the Winnipeg winter (a true sign of friendship!). These runs were like therapy for me, and a truly energizing experience.
Speaking of running, I would also like to take a moment to give a shout out to the Winnipeg running community. I have run with many different groups within the city, each with their own vibe and their own special place in my heart. Again, there were many months when all our ‘group’ activities were virtual, but you were a constant source of support and that all-important mental break from my academic life. So, to the members of BridgeForks Run Club, FunRunCrew204, Winnipeg Run Club, and Squad, thank you for inspiring me every day with your infectious positivity and inspiration; and to the OG Sufferun Crew, you are my heroes.
Outside of my Winnipeg pandemic bubble, there are several other individuals and groups who deserve a special mention. Thank you to William Fitzgerald, Michael Squire, Catharine Edwards, Diana Spencer, Lisa Hughes, Amy Russell, Phillip Thibodeau, and the members of the Columethods reading group, who have all acted as readers or interlocutors for part or all of the material in this final manuscript – the feedback and guidance I have received from these individuals contributed significantly to the ideas expressed in the book. Thank you to the Classics department at King’s College London, for providing me with financial support to visit Italy during my PhD; this trip enabled me to visit and photograph the majority of the sites discussed in this book. Over the past couple of years, I have also been fortunate to receive pandemic-relief financial support from both the Women’s Classical Caucus and the Classical Association of Canada. To #ClassicsTwitter, the team at Peopling the Past, and my fellow executive committee members at the Women’s Network of the Classical Association of Canada, thank you for the memes, the gifs, the laughs, the support, and the solidarity. To my family and the High School OGs (Becky, Hannah, and Sophie), thank you for your unwavering support from across the pond and also for the UK care-packages (it is almost impossible to source Galaxy chocolate in Canada – a travesty).
Finally, this past year has been infinitely more enjoyable as a result of one person entering my life. Wilton, thank you for believing in me even when I did not believe in myself – and for all the Sunday pancakes. Te quiero mucho.
