Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves.--Rainer Maria Rilke

My wife, Wil O'Loughlin, has been a wonderful partner during
the draining process of writing, and she and my children, Alena
and Mariel, have provided love, light, warmth, and laughter, as
well as a healthy dose of perspective. My parents, Noreen and
Ralph Steen, have been supportive and enthusiastic throughout
the process of clarifying confusion, identifying ignorance, and
delimiting real knowledge. Colleagues at the University of
California, Los Angeles, have played a large role in teaching me
to think like a scientist while writing like a person: Dr. Leonard
Muscatine still serves as a model of clarity in writing; Dr. George
Laties is an example of the eternal youth of the questioning
mind; and Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai remains one of the best
scientists I know. I also want to thank Matthew Galvez and Dr.
Linda Porter, who encouraged me to follow this path; Dr. Barry
Fletcher and Dr. June Taylor, who make it possible to continue;
and Linda Regan and Jeanne Fredericks, who have helped it all
to happen.

-v-