Contributors

Poe Ballantine sacrifices the picturesque for the truth. He’s also dependent on the effects of dappled sunlight. He lives in Chadron, Nebraska, and his most recent novel is Decline of the Lawrence Welk Empire (Hawthorne Books).

David Barsamian founded and directs the award-winning radio program Alternative Radio (www.alternativeradio.org). His latest book is a collection of conversations with Howard Zinn called Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics (Harper Perennial). He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Mark Brazaitis’s latest book is An American Affair: Stories (Texas Review Press). He lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, where he rides his bike as often as he can.

Michelle Cacho-Negrete lives in the (presently) frigid depths of Wells, Maine, where she cofacilitates a writing group for prison inmates. She was recently awarded a residency at the Ragdale Foundation.

Susan Davis is producer of The State of Things, a news, arts, and culture program that airs on the public-radio station in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is also the author of the poetry collection Gathering Sound (Fairweather Books).

Steve Kowit says he sent the government a letter while he was in the U.S. Army Reserves in the 1970s declaring he’d never put their “fucking uniform” on again and if forced to fight would join the other side. He spent the next few years living in Mexico and points south. He currently lives ten minutes north of the Mexican border, in Potrero, California, and figures he can always slip out of the empire a second time if need be.

Glenn Pape writes poetry in Portland, Oregon. He says he knew he and his family were Portland natives when his then four-year-old daughter stood on the front porch and said, “Look, Dad, there’s a sun cloud!” “What’s a sun cloud?” he asked. “You know,” she said, “when the sun gets in the way of the clouds.”

Kevin Patterson taught U.S. history at an international high school in Damascus, Syria, for two years. He currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sy Safransky is editor of The Sun.

Sybil Smith does yoga eight hours a week but still chews tobacco. Her work has recently appeared in New England Watershed and Karamu and is forthcoming in Nimrod, River Oak Review, and the MacGuffin. She lives in Norwich, Vermont.

Sparrow lives in Phoenicia, New York, and spent much of his time this winter napping, bathing, and reading Thor comics. His most recent book is America: A Prophecy (Soft Skull Press).

Ryan Anderson is a photographer who lives in Oceanside, California. He buys too many books at once, then buys more before finishing any of them.

Nicole Blaisdell is a photographer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Glenn Callahan is a photographer who lives in Johnson, Vermont.

James Carroll is semiretired after working more than thirty years in photography-related fields. He lives in New York City.

Bleu Cease is a photographer living in Rochester, New York.

Martin Fishman is a photographer who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Arvind Garg moved to the U.S. from his native India in 1976 to study English literature but fell in love with photography instead. His work is in the permanent collections of the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum. He lives in New York City.

Carlos Gustavo is a full-time photographer whose work has been published in Harper’s, Elle, and Vogue. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Robert Hecht is a photographer who lives in San Rafael, California. His work has been published in LensWork, Photographer’s Forum, Zyzzyva, and Utne Reader, and he’s working on a book of original haiku and photographs.

Mike Matzkin began taking photographs after winning a Kodak camera in a barracks craps game while he was in the army during World War II. His work has been published in High Fidelity, Modern Photography, and Shutterbug. He lives in Peru, New York.

John McDermott has been a photographer for more than twenty-five years and hopes to become an attorney in order to address legal issues of Native Americans. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Craig J. Satterlee is a photographer and teacher living in Powell, Wyoming. He is always on the lookout for whatever tries to escape his vision.

Keith Sharp is a photographer, elementary school teacher, and avid mask collector. He lives in Media, Pennsylvania, and his work can be found at www.inliquid.com.

Mark Townsend is a photographer who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Steve Wilke is a photographer living in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Anna Wolf is a photographer who lives in Hollywood, California.