Youth writers and artists are recognized in the acknowledgement section.
John Copley Alter. An admirer of Walt Whitman and Thoreau, John was born in India where he spent his childhood. He returned to the U.S. during the Vietnam War, became a conscientious objector and served in India. He has been a social worker and teacher. He has managed to raise his family on several continents.
Jan Barry. Jan has been working and writing for peace since resigning from the US Military Academy after a stint as a soldier in Vietnam. His books include three anthologies of poetry by veterans of Vietnam and other wars, which he edited or co-edited, a collection of his own poems and a book on organizing citizen action. After a career as a newspaper reporter, he recently retired to devote more time to teaching and being a peace correspondent. For more about Jan, see www.janbarry.net.
Brian Berman. Born in New York, Brian began sculpturing in earnest in his midlife and has worked and learned from many masters including: Everett DuPen (USA), George Pratt (Canada), Kazutaka Uchida (Japan), Alfonso Rodriguez (Peru), Kai Draeger (Germany) and Walter Marchetti (Italy). His sculptures are peaceful and timeless and engage the viewer to look within, connect with themselves and empower peace within. Each year Brian returns to Berlin to sculpt and lead reconciliation programs with his wife Lisa, working to heal the wounds and memories of war. Brian's work was recently acknowledged by being included in an exhibition in the Louvre in Paris, France. For more information: www.BermanSculpture.com.
Joe Bruchac. For more than thirty years Joseph Bruchac has been creating poetry, short stories, novels, anthologies and music that reflect his Abenaki Indian heritage and Native American traditions. He is the author of more than 70 books for children and adults. The best selling Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children and others of his “Keepers” series, with its remarkable integration of science and folklore, continue to receive critical acclaim and to be used in classrooms throughout the country.
Anne Carmen-Hendel. Anne is a graduate of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and has done graduate work at Rockford College. She has taught in the public school system for 31 years and currently teaches middle school art in Galesburg, Illinois.
Tim Connelly. Tim Connelly has been a soldier, a reporter, and was at times without a home. He now has a home and has discovered poetry as a way of expressing his feelings about war, poverty and the human condition. His work can be found on line at www.Lulu.com. Tim also maintains a blog called “A Poet of a Lost War” at http://tmconnelly.blogspot.com.
John Davis. John is a retired Army Officer. He is a native St. Louisan, and has lived around the world with his family. His guiding principles are found in the Catholic Social Doctrine.
Renny Golden. Activist, poet, and academic Renny Golden divides her time between Chicago, Ilinois and Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1985, she traveled to El Salvador where she learned about the struggles of women involved in the resistance movement and recorded their stories, which resulted in her book The Hour of the Poor, the Hour of Women. She also became active in the underground railroad that helped El Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees flee to sanctuary churches and synagogues in the United States, and co-authored Sanctuary: The New Underground Railroad. Golden also was a college professor, and for twenty-seven years at Northeastern Illinois University, as well as several years at Harvard Divinity School, Walpole Prison, Columbia College, and most recently as Professor Emeritus at University of New Mexico.
Linda Ohlson Graham. Called a fine photographer and ecstatic poet Linda has sailed
thousands of miles to destinations, including the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Central and South America. From 1984-1993 she lived in Denver, CO and co-directed the J.M.W. Turner Museum. Her photography and spiritual writing portray the richness of her life's experience.
David Hathaway. Born and raised in the Seattle area, David reveals that his life after high school went downhill. For three years he was plagued with the disease of addiction, consuming countless capsules and downing drinks till he was incapable of feeling the pain that rampaged within him. He tells the story of a serious blackout that brought him to the revelation of needing treatment. Currently David is attending North Seattle Community College where he is beginning his studies that will lead to a degree in clinical psychology, so that he may help those who are suffering as he once did.
Merna Ann Hecht. A social justice educator, nationally known storyteller, and poet, Merna works with the Seattle Arts and Lectures Writers in the Schools Program and with Voices [Education Project] and Jack Straw Productions. She also offers arts and social justice courses to educators. Merna is a recipient of a National Storytelling Network 2008 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling and a 2008 Jack Straw Writers Award. Merna’s essays and poems have appeared in Kaleidoscope, Out of Line, Talking Points, The National Storytelling Journal, Standing: an Anthology of Women Poets, The Storytelling Classroom: Applications across the Curriculum, Chosen Tales: One Generation Tells Another; the Teachers & Writers Collaborative Magazine and other books and journals.
Judyth Hill. Judyth is a stand-up poet, teacher of poetry, and author, living in beauty on her two-acre farm, nestled in the verdant Jalpa valley, ringed by Los Picacho mountains, just outside magical San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Barbara Kaufmann. An award winning writer, poet and artist, Barbara’s work was recognized as “art in the service of humanity” by Lawrence University International Studies Program. Her credits include award winning short stories, multiple worldwide network venues, national magazines, chapbooks, news organizations and anthologies. She freelances for a variety of outlets with short stories, poetry, articles, features and commissioned marketing materials such as web content, brochures, fliers and newsletters. Her work in studio arts and as an Impresario and performer has led her to places that without the muse, she could have never imagined. Known as “One Wordsmith,” www.onewordsmith.com, Rev. Barbara Kaufmann is an ordained Minister and practicing Shaman.
Muhammad Yunus Khan. Mr. Khan writes under the pen name “Havaida” and was a former social worker and advocate to the Sindh High Court in Karachi, Pakistan. At eighty years of age he enjoys writing and swimming.
Robin Leigh. Robin labels herself a student, parent, poet and writer. Currently a graduate student in social work at the University of South Florida she previously trained as a community facilitator with Alternatives to Violence, USA. Robin has worked as a teacher and a reference librarian. She grew up outside of Washington, D.C. and was influenced by the capitol's multiculturalism and peace demonstrations on the mall. A resident of Tampa, she volunteers in the Arts in Medicine Program at Moffitt Cancer Center, assisting patients, caregivers, families, and staff reduce the stress of internal and external trauma and experience the calming, grounding qualities of the expressive arts.
Michael Lisagor. Michael has been taking digital nature photographs in British Columbia and the Northwest since 1999 (www.romancingthebuddha.com). His photos have appeared in magazines, newspapers and in several galleries. Lisagor is the author of Romancing the Buddha, which he also performs as a one-man play, and The Enlightened Manager. He coaches industry and government executives and lives on Bainbridge Island, WA.
Harry Longstreet. Harry retired after twenty-five years as a writer, producer and director of filmed entertainment, primarily for television. He’s always looking for images that speak to the human condition and the world around us. He favors ambient light and unaware subjects. Since August 2005, he has had his first one man show, been in several group shows and had images selected for more than eighty national juried exhibitions.
Karen Malpede. A playwright in the theater of witness tradition, Karen has also written short fiction and essays about violence and human rights. Her recent plays are: “I Will Bear Witness” a stage adaptation of the Victor Klemperer diaries which won two Obies and toured internationally; “The Beekeeper’s Daughter” about a survivor of a rape camp during the war in Bosnia which had productions in Italy, Australia, and off-Broadway and won the playwright the McKnight National Playwright’s Fellowship and is currently under development in Europe as a motion picture, “End of the Century.” “Iraq: Speaking of War” a ritual docu-drama with music, premiered at the CUNY Graduate Center, March 19, 2005. “Prophecy,” about the legacies of the Vietnam and Iraq wars, was produced to critical acclaim at the New End Theatre in London in 2008. For information on the upcoming production of Prophecy contact: kmalpede@gmail.com.
Stephen Mead. In the early 1990's Stephen Mead's poems began appearing in such journals as Onionhead, Bellowing Ark, and Invert, but upon moving to Provincetown, Massachusetts, Stephen decided to concentrate more on visual work. It was in the year 2000, after moving back to NY, that Stephen started seeking publication again for both his writing and his art combined. Since then, his work has appeared internationally both in cyberspace, hard copy, and physical Gallery Space.
Christina Pacosz. Christine has been writing and publishing prose and poetry for nearly half a century and has several books of poetry, the most recent, Greatest Hits, 1975-2001 (Pudding House, 2002). Her work has appeared recently in I-70 Review, Jane’s Stories III, Women Writing Across Boundaries and on-line in Pemmican. Born and raised in Detroit, she has lived on both U.S. coasts, New York City, Alaska and southern Appalachia. For the past ten years she has been teaching urban Kansas City youth both sides of the state line; she and her husband of twenty years call Kansas City home.
Lew Poorman. A Vietnam Veteran and a Pennsylvania resident, Lew Poorman runs the website: Parachute Prayers, www.paratrooperprayers.tripod.com, a site dedicated to former members of glider, air assault and parachute units.
Susan Salidor. An award-winning children’s music composer and performer with the heart of a teacher, Susan has a number of CDs to her credit. Come and Make a Circle: 20 Terrific Tunes for Kids and Teachers, the first in her series of recordings dedicated to the early childhood classroom, was honored with four prestigious awards: Parents’ Choice Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, a NAPPA Award, and an iParenting Media Award.
Susan’s first recording, Little Voices In My Head (1995), received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award and was named “One of the year’s five best children’s recordings” by Sesame Street Parent Magazine.
Elizabeth Smith. Before her arrival in the U.S. from her native England, Elizabeth exhibited extensively for The English National Trust, Woodland Trust, and many National Galleries. The English Woodland Trust, as a Limited Edition, issued a series of Woodland Trees. A Limited Edition of six tree portraits was also issued through the London Sunday Times. Her work was also the subject of a BBC film. Recently she has spent much time in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Wanda VanHoy Smith. Wanda is the author of two books for children. She made a left hand turn near the millennium that led to poetry and has not turned back. She is a member of the Redondo Poets and has been a feature reader at book stores and other Southern California venues. Her work has been published in about a dozen anthologies.
Richard Stine. Richard has been called “a staple of modern art.” It’s difficult to put a label on Richard or his works. He is a philosopher artist, an illustrator and a writer. He moves between various media but always with bold steps, an honest social consciousness, an energetic imagination and insight. His paintings, drawings, prints, cards, sculpture and books all form a unique tapestry of over five decades of work.
Craig Teichen. Craig is a long-standing Chicago resident, poet and short-story writer. He is also a gay rights, and anti-war activist.
Michael Valeri. Mike is a poet and musician who grew up immersed in the Southern California music scene where he embraced rap and punk rock as a teen for its angst, message of individual free thinking, and promotion of standing up for what is right, and overall theme of challenging the status quo, which he attempts to channel through his own song writing. Relocating to Seattle in 1996, with his wife and high school sweetheart, Michael played in several punk bands and gigged regularly in the Seattle and Portland areas over an 11 year period. Currently, he and his wife are enjoying life in the Pacific Northwest where he writes the occasional song for friend's bands while pursuing a degree in Electronics Engineering.
Ernie Wormwood. A Transformative mediator in Leonardtown, Maryland, Ernie is a poet whose works have appeared in a number of anthologies including: Poem Revised from Marion Street Press, Poetic Voices without Borders, Volumes 1 and 2 from Gival Press, Only the Sea Keeps from Baueux Arts, Inc., and in Primal Sanities! A Tribute to Walt Whitman from Allbooks Books. She recently appeared on Grace Cavalieri’s program for the Library of Congress, The Poet and the Poem, which can be heard at www.loc.gov/poetry/poetpoem.html.
Sarah Zale. Sarah Zale holds master degrees in education, English literature, and Rhetoric & the Teaching of Writing, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing / Poetry from Goddard College. She served as the Editor-in-Chief of Pitkin Review, Goddard’s literary journal. Presently, she teaches writing at Edmonds Community College and Shoreline Community College in the Pacific Northwest. Recent poetry appears in the anthology, Come Together, Imagine Peace (Bottom Dog Press), which was a finalist for the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award. A collection of her poems, The Art of Folding, will appear in print in late 2009 (Plain View Press).
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