Dr. Mark T. Kissling

This book is a product of the visionary and tireless work of an exemplary middle school teacher. The project was place-based education before I knew such a movement existed. It confronted the taboo of death in the curriculum. It honored and storied forgotten, marginalized beings. It was an ongoing inquiry, real and relevant in the lives of the participants, into what education must be. It was — and is — an inspiration, and so is the project’s creator, my mom.