I found this through Elizabeth McCracken; I'm glad I did. 1) Many of my writer friends loved your class at Stanford. You probably already know this, but you had a truly beloved reputation there as a wonderful teacher. Though I minored in creative writing, and went on to get my MFA, you were already gone by the time I had transferred there. 2) I would have appreciated this at any time, I especially appreciate it now — I had an ECT consult yesterday, as I am currently in the throes of a particularly bad episode of schizoaffective disorder, a condition that I write about on my website as a mental health advocate. 3) "To have this not be the start of the end of me" perfectly sums how I've been feeling lately. Twenty years of living with mental illness has not prepared me for this. But reading writing like yours assures me that there is art, and there is something that looks like hope. Thank you for that. Respectfully, Esmé