Aignend, Daginne–  ISSUE 3: (Inge Wesdijk) started writing English poetry around 2012 and posted them on her Facebook page and on her fun project website http://www.daginne.com.  She is the co-editor of Degenerate Literature, an edgy and dark Poetry and Flash Fiction Ezine. Daginne has been published in several Poetry Review Magazines with a pending publication at the Contemporary Poet’s Group anthology Dandelion in a Vase of Roses.

Altman, Dick–  ISSUE 3: lives on the high desert plain of New Mexico. He first appeared in the Santa Fe Literary Review, in 2009, and won first prize for poetry in the Santa Fe New Mexican’s 2015 writing competition. The American Journal of Poetry and others have featured his work. Vine Leaves Literary Journal in Australia joins the list in 2017. Studying for an MA in English at the University of Chicago, he says, “put me in poetry’s grip, and it never let go”

Anleu, Billie Stanton–  ISSUE 2: now City Hall reporter for The Colorado Springs Gazette, worked in upper management as Sunday editor of The Denver Post, opinion editor of the Tucson Citizen and managing editor at the Montrose Daily Press in western Colorado and at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Ari, Dr. Nasit–  ISSUE 1: has retired from the defense industry to become  a full-time artivore in Colorado Springs. He intermittently dabbles in poetry in order to communicate with his progeny and/or to articulate our cognitive gaps.

Balwit, Devon–  ISSUE 3: Writes in Portland, OR. She has two chapbooks: How the Blessed Travel (Maverick Duck Press) & Forms Most Marvelous (forthcoming with dancing girl press). Her work has found many homes, some of which are: The Cincinnati Review, The Stillwater Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Red Earth Review, Timberline Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, and The Inflectionist Review.

Belote, Patricia–  ISSUE 4: is the author of the poetry chapbook, Traveling Light (Finishing Line Press). Her poems appear in Cumberland River Review, Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art, The Healing Muse, Stories of Music Anthology, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, One Person’s Trash, and others. Patricia Belote plays fiddle and clawhammer banjo with friends in an old-time music circle.

Bhagat, Brook— ISSUE 5: Brook’s poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and humor have appeared in Empty Mirror Magazine, Little India, Dămfīno, Nowhere Poetry, Rat’s Ass Review, Peacock Journal, A Story in 100 Words, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, and other journals and anthologies. She has completed a full-length poetry manuscript, is writing a novel, and is the co-owner and chief editor of BluePlanetJournal.com. She holds an MFA from Lindenwood University and teaches creative writing at Pikes Peak Community College.

Bungard, Aimee–  ISSUE 3: is an artist living and working in rural Southwestern, PA, sharing space with her guitar player husband, 3 free range kids and 2 Seussian mutts. She decided in second grade that she wanted to be an artist and that was that. She lists Vincent Van Gogh, Auguste Rodin, Frida Khalo, Giacometti and Shel Silverstein as her earliest and ongoing inspirations.

Bell, Lucy–  ISSUEs 1, 3, 5, and 6: is a retired teacher and writing consultant whose favorite topics are writing and nature.  She is a volunteer naturalist at Cheyenne Mountain State Park and started the program, “A Literary Walk in the Woods,” now in its fourth season. Her teaching career included creating FIRSTWRITE, a program that helped hundreds of teachers teach first graders creative writing, even before they could spell.  Her children’s novel, Molly and the Cat Who Stole Her Tongue, will be published by Ambient Light Publishers in 2016.  Lucy currently writes for local publications and is working on her memoir, Mosaic in Black and White.

Bellamy, Lisa–  ISSUE 3: studies poetry with Philip Schultz at The Writers Studio, where she also teaches. Her chapbook, Nectar, won The Aurorean Chapbook Prize in 2011. Her work has appeared in TriQuarterly, Massachusetts Review, New Ohio Review, The Sun, Hotel Amerika, Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Southampton Review, Cimarron Review, Chiron Review and Calyx, among other publications, and she won the Fugue Poetry Prize in 2008. She is working on a full-length collection.

Boggs, Kenneth L.–  ISSUE 2: Male, 61 years old, Air Force veteran 1973-1985, MA in Clinical Psychology, originally from Akron, Ohio, have lived in Colorado Springs since 2004 with my wife of 32 years.

Brown, Alan— ISSUE 6: Originally from Portland, Ore,  has moved twelve times in the last twenty-two years while serving in the U.S. Army. Still on active duty, he teaches composition and literature at West Point.  His work can be found in The Gold Man Review, Foliate Oak Literary Journal, FishFood Magazine and The Disconnect.

Burcher, Will–  ISSUE 2: is a former police officer and current author of “The GAIAD,” a story of ancient secrets not quite forgotten and the positive power of global perspective. He lives and works in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Callicrate, Mike–  ISSUE 2: a native of Evergreen, Colorado, has spent his career as a farmer-rancher, business entrepreneur and family farm advocate. After graduating with a degree in animal science from Colorado State University, he began farming and ranching near the small Northwestern Kansas town of St. Francis. Frustrated by the monopoly control corporations were exerting over the markets and the “bigger is better” mentality common to agriculture, he began to forge a new path, forming a pasture-to-plate marketing company in 2000 named Ranch Foods Direct. He chose to locate his processing and retail facility in Colorado Springs, where it has become an integral part of the community’s shift toward healthier, fresher, more locally grown food. In recent years, he instigated an ongoing campaign to establish a public market and a food hub to benefit local food growers and processors and to help relocalize the food system. He also pioneered the capacity to do on-farm USDA-inspected slaughter at his ranch, where he is also developing a multi-species regenerative agricultural production model. Considered the “go-to expert” on the negative consequences of highly concentrated, industrial meat production, he has served as an advisor for the films Food Inc. and FRESH and for several best-selling books including Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Read his blog at MikeCallicrate.com

Cannon, Billye K. Scott— ISSUE 5: Billye worked twenty years as a paralegal. She lives in Rome, a small town in the foothills of northeast Georgia. Billye started writing in 2005 after hurricane Katrina came ashore and destroyed the Mississippi gulf coast including her hometown of Biloxi. Stunned by the devastation, she took many photographs and recorded her thoughts. Since then, Billye has written several memoirs and short stories. She is currently writing a novel which she plans to publish fall of 2018.

Castillo, Ramon Del— ISSUE 6: has taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1984. Del Castillo’s publications include, Institutionalizing Curanderismo in Colorado’s Community Mental Health System, Institutionalizing Curanderismo into a Mainstream Healing System: Boundary Spanners and Innovation in Action”, “The Life History of Diana Velazquez: La Curandera Total.

Ciletti, Jim–  ISSUE 1: is an award winning poet and 2010-2012 Pikes Peak Poet Laureate.  Jim and his wife Mary operate Hooked on Books bookstore downtown at 12 E. Bijou where they promote writers, literary events, author signings, and writing workshops.

Ciletti, Michael D.– ISSUE 4:  My passion is to create authentic images that focus our attention on the sometimes-hidden beauty and mystery of all that surrounds us. Beauty abounds, but the pace and drive of our journey might hinder our noticing what we are given to appreciate and enjoy, and for which to say “thanks.”

Cole, Samuel E.–  ISSUE 4: lives in Woodbury, MN, where he finds work in special event/development management. He’s a poet, flash fiction geek, and political essayist enthusiast. His work has appeared in many literary journals, and his first poetry collection, Bereft and the Same-Sex Heart, was published in October 2016 by Pski’s Porch Publishing. His second book, Bloodwork, a collection of short stories, will be published in 2017. He is also an award-winning card maker and scrapbooker.

Dancer, Benjamin–  ISSUE 3: is the author of the literary thriller Patriarch Run, the first book in a series that will include Fidelity and The Story of the Boy. He also writes about parenting, education, sustainability and national security.

Delker, Jessie– ISSUE 6: is an unrelenting go-getter by day—paranoid insomniac by night. This former Army journalist is burgeoning with suppressed creativity. She resides in a world of chaos as a full-time government employee, single mother, grandmother, and disaster response volunteer. Her hobbies/coping mechanisms include overindulging in martinis, enduring masochistic workouts, and preparing for an inevitable mid-life crisis. Join her as she allows her imagination to spill out across the pages…

Donahue, Jack– ISSUE 4:  Numerous plays, short stories and poems written by Jack Donahue have been published in literary arts journals such as: Confrontation; Crucible; Palo Alto Review; Newtown Literary Journal; Oyez; Main Street Rag; Eugene O’Neill Review; Folio and others throughout North America and Europe. His work has appeared in print alongside such literary luminaries as: Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda; Robert Graves; Tennessee Williams; Paul Bowles; and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Eisenstein, Abraham–  ISSUE 2: retired after 19 years at Cheyenne Mtn. H.S. 2005…went under the identity of Mr. X/taught seniors psychology and sociology, gradually becoming psychosocial movement of hearty heady
…existential human geography of an in depth education. grew up in nyc, came thru ellis island at the age of one, 1949/Brooklyn Tech, Queens College, MA in applied economics at QC/hitched from London to Jerusalem, nine weeks/SUNY at Stony Brook, completed course work for doctorate, theoretical economics/receiving teaching assistance honors in both/ten years of intense Karate training, invited to be a student teacher, three national champion awards in kata/trained for a summer in japan at the invitation of JKA
taught economics at NY Institute of Technology/teens, adults, police officers, international students from Africa/Queensboro CC, 5 years/Columbia University, a years’ work in the doctorate program, sports psychology/emphasis NeuroLinguistic Programming/taught at GWHS, upper manhattan, two years of math
…Colorado

Fulton, Christina–  ISSUE 4: graduated from Florida Atlantic University with her MFA in fiction. She is currently teaching at Miami Dade College North. Her book Dead Ends is available on Amazon. Her short story “Key Weird” was in a recent issue of Toad Suck and her piece “River Monsters” was in The Chaffin Journal. Two of her poems were in the fall 2015 edition of Open Minds Quarterly. Her creative nonfiction pieces “Spiderman and The Old Man,” “Manahawkin Vice,” and “Do You Remember?” have been in The Scarlet Leaf Review, The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, and The Route Seven Review.

Garcia, Reyes R.–  ISSUE 2: Retired professor; ongoing rancher, San Luis Valley philosopher, and social activist.

Gessner, Bill– ISSUE 6: was born and raised in Coventry, RI. He enlisted in the Navy after graduating from Coventry High School and served as an FMF corpsman with the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines in Vietnam. He used the GI Bill and graduated from the University of Rhode Island as an Army ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate. He was commissioned an Infantry officer and served in a variety of command and staff positions before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1997. He worked until 2012 as the assistant chief of staff at NORAD and USNORTHCOM when he retired. He and Dottie have been married for forty-five years. They have three children and eight grandchildren.

Gillespie, Erin–  ISSUE 1: is a working multi-media artist, as well as an artinstructor at the Bemis School of Art in the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.  Her paintings and other work have been exhibited throughout Colorado Springs, Denver and Portland, Oregon.

Goluboff, Benjamin–  ISSUE 3: teaches English at Lake Forest College. Aside from a modest list of scholarly publications, he has placed imaginative work—poetry, fiction, and essays—in numerous small-press journals, most recently The Fourth River, Bird’s Thumb, and War Literature and the Arts. His collection Ho Chi Minh: A Speculative Life in Verse, and Other Poems is forthcoming from Urban Farmhouse Press in 2017. Some of his work can be read at http://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/goluboff/

Gonzales, Karen D.– ISSUE 5: is a native of Denver, Colorado.  She currently serves as the Denver Coordinator and national Submissions Coordinator for Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club. She is a member of the National League of American Pen Women-Denver Branch and the Colorado Society of Hispanic Genealogy. She retired from federal and state government as a Program Manager/Civil Rights Specialist. She enjoys volunteering with local non-profits, reading and attending cultural, political and religious events.

Gould, Janice–  ISSUE 1: tribal affiliation is Koyomk’auwi Maidu. Her latest book of poetry, titled Doubters and Dreamers (University of Arizona Press, 2011) was a Colorado Book Award and Milton Kessler Book Award finalist. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and is the current Pike’s Peak Poet Laureate, 2014-16.

Green, Richard– ISSUE 4:  lives in the greasewood hills of southern New Mexico. He studied art and music at New Mexico State University, then art history at Kansas University and the University of Georgia, where he received grants to study in Venice. He played cello semi-professionally and has exhibited paintings throughout the Southwest. His poems, mostly reflections on the high desert, appeared in Avocet, Avocet Weekly, Sin Fronteras, Malpais Review, Penwood Review, and upcoming in Anglican Theological Review. In August 2017 he was guest poet on Twitterization Nation. Articles on art history were published in Pantheon, Master Drawings, The Grove Dictionary of Art, and Music in Art.

Griffith, Marshall–  ISSUE 3 & 6: was a philosophy major at Colorado College, class of 1971. At CC he became a two sport all-American; springboard diving and the javelin throw (top six NAIA). He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Montana, 1974. Afterwards he was a graduate teaching assistant in the M.S. Program in Sport Science at Montana. He taught and coached at Emory University, University of Virginia, and Colorado College. He taught philosophy/psychology of sport at Montana and Emory. He completed the NOLS Semester in the Rockies course 1980 and was recommended to make application for the Mt. McKinley (Denali) Expedition. Additionally, Marshall became an Eagle Scout in October, 1963.

Handal, Teever–  ISSUE 2: is a divided son between South Carolina and the Southwest. He has lived with the whisper of the writer in his ear most of his life, but has only recently answered its call. Now in addition to being an Engineer, he is poet and writer as well. Accomplishments to date have been a top five finish in an Oxford American essay contest, and actually PUBLISHING a poem in 2016 Poetry While You Wait. Sheesh, O’boy as his grandmother would say.

Hecht, Jamey–  ISSUE 4: PhD (English & American Literature, Brandeis U., 1994) is the author of four books: Plato’s Symposium: Eros and the Human Predicament (Twayne, 1999); a translation, Sophocles’ Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus (Wordsworth Editions, 2004); Bloom’s How To Write About Homer (Chelsea, 2010); and Limousine, Midnight Blue (Red Hen Press, 2009), a collection of fifty 14-line elegies for President Kennedy. Jamey performs Shakespeare with the L.A. troupe The Porters of Hellsgate, and is doctoral candidate at the New Center for Psychoanalysis. He is in private practice as a psychotherapist (LMFT) in Los Angeles. See http://www.jameyhecht.com.

Hill, Corey– ISSUE 6: is a human rights activist, journalist, parent, and occasional tree climber. His fiction has been or will be featured in Clarion, Prole UK, Elm Leaves Journal, Spectrum, and others.

Horton, Lewis–  ISSUE 3: Lewis’ stories have appeared in “Little Star” New York, NY; “Terra Incognita,” Madrid, Spain; and, “Bad Press,” Dieppe, France.

Istvan Jr., M.A.–  ISSUE 3: Can be seen in the pool scene in the 1980 Charles Kaufman film Mother’s Day, wrote each of these poems while watching Sanford and Son. Visit his page at https://txstate.academia.edu/MichaelIstvanJr.

Jackson, Daisy–  ISSUE 2: is a native Coloradan who retired from the Foreign Service after being assigned to eight overseas posts. Retirement proved to be too tame, so she joined the Peace Corps and subsequently worked as a contractor with the Department of State in hardship posts in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Jackson, Michelle– ISSUE 6: is a wife, mother, grandmother, and writer. She has loved writing fiction, poetry, and personal essays since she was a child and now, at age fifty, is finally brave enough to begin sharing it with others. Her passions include her motorcycle (1000 CC Kawasaki machine of dreams), traveling, reading, and, of course, writing.

Jenkinson, Clay–  ISSUE 2: is a distinguished humanities scholar at Bismarck State College, a co-creator of the modern Chautauqua movement, and has devoted his life to the elevation of enlightenment ideas through civil discourse. Mr. Jenkinson is deeply passionate about his home state of North Dakota, the Great Plains, buttes, harsh winters, and short-season gardening. He is the creator of the nationally broadcast, “Thomas Jefferson Hour,” heard every week on NPR, and portrays various historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Oppenheimer, John Wesley Powell, and more. Mr. Jenkinson has also appeared in many documentaries, prominent among them, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” by Ken Burns.

Kellison, Josh– ISSUE 6: Raised in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, Josh spent his formative years reading and adventuring. Eventually finding himself lost in art school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and took his adventuring overseas. Now slightly settled, he currently teaches elementary school in Brighton Colorado; always keeping a finger to the wind and an eye out for the next voyage.

Kolbet, Matt–  ISSUE 3: teaches and writes in Oregon.

Lambert, Brian–  ISSUE 2 & 3: lives in Parker, Colorado, with his beautiful wife and son.

Lambert, Teresa–  ISSUE 2: majored in Apparel Design and Production at Colorado State University. The process prompted frequent visits to the campus arboretum where she discovered the pleasure of photography amidst brilliant foliage. She currently retreats in her home with her two year-old, sallying forth on pilgrimages to Church, the library, and Chesterton meetings.

Lewis, Scott– ISSUE 6: is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (1972). He spent twenty-seven years in the field of Naval Intelligence. This gave him some unique opportunities to understand key challenges to U.S. National Security during the Cold War. Initially deployed on the west coast, Lieutenant Junior Grade Lewis worked on board the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He participated in operations in Southeast Asia. Later, Lieutenant Commander Lewis was assigned in the NATO sphere of operations. This included major operations against terrorism in the Mediterranean. Commander Lewis served as an Assistant Naval Attaché at the American Embassy, Rome. After this, he served on the staff of Carrier Group Six on board the Aircraft Carrier USS Forrestal. After two assignments in the Washington DC area, Captain Lewis was assigned to the staffs of NORAD and the U.S. Space Command.

Lockhart, James E–  ISSUE 3 & 4: has been a resident of Colorado Springs for more than thirty years. He is a retired legal editor who has written for Shepard’s and West Publishing. An avid backpacker, he feels lucky to have hiked the John Muir Trail before the crowds forced the Park Service to impose an exit quota just to get out of Yosemite.

Logue, Jennifer Lea– ISSUE 6: is a Colorado native who spent much of her life hiking, biking, and running up and down the Front Range. However, she has lived on the east coast, far away from home, for the past eleven years. There she explores Delaware and the surrounding areas with her husband and five children, advocates for adoption and children with special needs, and writes as much as possible.  Jennifer has published articles on The Mighty and the Down Syndrome of Association of Delaware websites relating to her son, who happens to have Down syndrome. Her short story, “Edora M. Duke’s Flower Beds,” was recently published in a regional anthology called Beach Fun.  Though she misses her mountains, she is learning to love the estuaries and bays around her Delaware home.

Martinez, Don–  ISSUE 2: Senior Correspondent, Lima Charlie News. Don is a retired Field Artillery officer living in Colorado Springs, CO. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom with two combat deployments to Iraq where he earned his Combat Action Badge. Don reports on national security, public policy, political management, homeland security, and veterans issues.

McKinnon, Haley–  ISSUE 3: is a Writer based in Portland Oregon. Her poetry has appeared in several student anthologies, including Hay Un Fuego (WITS) and Penumbra.

Meredith, Bruce– ISSUE 2 & 6: served in the United States Army from June 1969 to March 1971. He was trained in Fire Direction Control, but spent most of his tour in Vietnam as a law clerk in Bam Me Thuot and as clerk in military intelligence in Nha Trang. His first job after law school was to serve as the law clerk to federal judge who conducted the Gainesville Eight trial, which gave him a close-up view of the Nixon administration’s attempts to undermine and entrap the leadership of Vietnam Veterans against the War. (All of the defendants were acquitted.) For most of his legal career, Bruce represented public schools, public school teachers as well as their unions. Bruce is the Managing Editor of the Deadly Writers Patrol, a veteran-based literary journal. He has had nine of his short stories published.

Morgan, Sandy–  ISSUE 1: I have words that fill my pockets like a collection of wild flower seeds. I strew them on paper—then transplant them if any come up good and healthy. And thus a poem. I’ve been writing for several years and have been published in several Kansas literary magazines and, most recently, in Colorado Springs PPLD book, “Poetry While You Wait”. I now live and move and have my being in Colorado.

Mowle, Thomas— ISSUE 6: retired in 2008 after a twenty-year Air Force career.  Since then, he has been serving as the Public Trustee in El Paso County, Colorado. He is seeking an agent or publisher for a book-length memoir of his deployment to Baghdad as a strategist in fall 2004.

Mysore, Thriveni C–  ISSUE 3: is a science teacher from Karnataka, India. She loves Philosophy, Humanities and finds solace in Nature poetry. Her essays on Ethics, Religion and Environment have been published in National journals.

Nichols, John–  ISSUE 3: American novelist, John Nichols, has been publishing books since 1965 when his first novel, The Sterile Cuckoo, came out. Best known for The Milagro Beanfield War, the first in the New Mexico Trilogy, John Nichols has built his career writing about social justice, corporate abuses, the environment, land and water rights—while always providing a sympathetic eye for the powerless in their battle against the powerful.

Noonan, Tom– ISSUE 5 & 6: was born in Minot, North Dakota and currently lives in Colorado Springs, CO. He grew up in an Air Force family and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. Currently, he is a student at Pikes Peak Community College and hopes to become a music therapist serving his fellow veterans.

O’Brien, Toti— ISSUE 5: is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. She was born in Rome then moved to Los Angeles, where she makes a living as a self-employed artist, performing musician and professional dancer. Her work has appeared in DIN Magazine, Panoplyzine, Courtship of Wind, and Colorado Boulevard.

Pacheco, Michael M.– ISSUE 5: was born in Mexico but raised in the USA where he became a citizen and served honorably in the USMC. He writes novels and short stories now that he is retired from the active practice of law. His latest novel is The African Murders: A Father Lorenzo Mystery.

Pamp, F.R.–  ISSUE 2: is a grumpy Vietnam vet and a retired lawyer who misses neither the Army nor practicing law.  He has learned from experience that when you’re planning to tell the truth, you should make sure you’ve got one foot in the stirrup.

Peipins, Terez–  ISSUE 3: The poetry, fiction, and essays of Terez have appeared in publications both in the United States and abroad including Anak Sastra, Barcelona Ink, The Barcelona Review, The Buffalo News, Conte, The Kentucky Review, Melusine, and Pedestal, among many others. She is the author of three chapbooks of poetry. Her novel, The Shadow of Silver Birch is published by Black Rose Writing. She won the 2016 Natasha Trethewey Prize in poetry from the Atlanta Writers Club.

Pickering, Palmer— ISSUE 5: received her BA in American Studies from Wesleyan University, with concentrations in Mass Communication, Religion, and Race Relations. She also earned a Teaching Degree for N-8, and taught in the inner city in South Yonkers, NY. In addition to her career in High Tech, Barbara holds a Certificate in Chinese Acupressure, is a Certified Solar Panel Installer, and studied Tibetan Buddhism with the 14th Dalai Lama. She lives and writes in the magical redwood forest of the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, and has a second home in Nashville, Tennessee, where she dabbles in songwriting.

Powell, Joseph– ISSUE 5: has published five collections of poetry, including, Hard Earth (March Street), and Preamble to the Afterlife (2013). A sixth book of poems, Holding Nothing Back, was published in Main Street Rag, November 2018. He co-wrote a textbook on meter called Accent on Meter, (NCTE, 2004). His book of short stories, Fish Grooming & Other Stories, (2007) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.

Rosebrook, Jeb–  ISSUE 1: is a critically acclaimed writer and producer living in Arizona.  He is best known for his television work with the long-running CBS series The Walton’s and Falcon Crest.

Shavin, Julie–  ISSUE 1: Raised in Georgia, is a composer, writer, and visual artist who adopted the Rocky Mountains as home in 1993. She works as a Specialist Content Editor and is a licensed professional proofreader, acutely suspicious that the former title should have no caps. “Language is my first language,” she will respond, if questioned on language preference, which has never happened, except on a doctor’s form. Recipient of three Pikes Peak Arts Council grants, she was named 2011 Performance Poet of the Year; in 2012, Page Poet. She is published often in literary magazines and has had her artwork selected for several covers. She places often in The National Federation of State Poetry Societies contests and has eight Pushcart-nominated poems. She is the 2016 winner of The Mark Fischer Poetry Prize. Her fourth book, “This Grave Oasis,” came out in October, 2015. President of Poetry West (www.poetrywest.net), in Colorado Springs, she served as editor of the thirtieth anniversary issue of its literary magazine, “The Eleventh Muse.” Her favorite words are solace, haven, pilgrim, oasis and Mommy, and her age-defying workout includes chocolate and avoidance of mirrors and glass. She is a closet optimist whose fifth book will be released in fall of 2016. Her bad hair life has been offset by a good elbow life, but there’s little room left.

Spooner, T.M.–  ISSUE 4: is the author of two novels, The Salvation of La Purisima and Notes from Exile. His short work has appeared in Tales from a Small Planet, River Walk Journal, and Brilliant Flash Fiction. Spooner is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and served in the U. S. Army.

Squires, Constance–  ISSUE 4: Squires holds a Ph.D. in English from Oklahoma State University and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. In addition to Live from Medicine Park, she is the author of the novel Along the Watchtower (Riverhead), which won the 2012 Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction, and Wounding Radius (Ferry Street), a short story collection forthcoming in 2018. Her short stories have appeared in Guernica, The Atlantic Monthly, Shenandoah, Identity Theory, Bayou, the Dublin Quarterly, This Land, and a number of other magazines.
Her nonfiction has appeared in Salon, the New York Times, the Village Voice, World Literature Today, the Philological Review, Largehearted Boy, and has been featured on the NPR program Snap Judgment. A regular contributor to the RollingStone500: Telling Stories in Stereo (thers500.com). She wrote the screenplay for Sundance fellow Jeffrey Palmer’s 2015 short film, Grave Misgivings, was a judge in the Tulsa, Oklahoma episode of Literary Death Match, and was the featured guest editor for This Land’s summer fiction issue.

Stanley, Bill– ISSUE 6: is a Marine and a Money Coach. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His passions include helping as many people as possible and travel/travel/travel. His website, MoneyCoachBill.org, has short, easy-to-read articles on family finances. It is a free resource and will help anyone with their money.

Stansfield, John–  ISSUE 2 & 4: For more than thirty years, storyteller and author John Stansfield has recounted stories from the American West and the world. He reenacts the lives of national park pioneers Enos Mills and John Otto, as well as Charles Fox Gardiner, frontier physician. He authored biographies, Enos Mills: Rocky Mountain Naturalist and John Denver: Man for the World (Filter Press 2005, 2008, respectively). His book Writers of the American West: Multicultural Learning Encounters (Teacher Ideas Press, 2002) earned a Colorado Authors’ League Award and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. For his conservation efforts, the Wilderness Society presented him an Environmental Heroes Award in 2004 and the Palmer Land Trust awarded him the Stuart P. Dodge Award in 2005. He served as an Artist-In-Residence in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2014.

Strobridge, Price–  ISSUE 4: Price Strobridge’s collection of poetry UNMASKING THE HEART was published in 2000.  He lives in Colorado with his wife Miki.

Stuart, James–  ISSUE 1: is a Colorado native and a graduate of Colorado State University, where he earned a degree in Creative Writing and fell in love with the short story. He has been an active journalist, freelancer, technical writer, and occasional novelist, but it is with the short story he feels most effective. In 2015, he launched The Forge – an online collection of his short stories and a platform with which to engage an international readership. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he enjoys a strong connection with the outdoors, the companionship of dogs, and a wide selection of local breweries.

Thomas, Cassandra Quinn–  ISSUE 1: a Colorado Native, has won various awards for her writing, among them, Honorable Mention in the nationwide Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, San Jose State University.  Her poetry has been accepted for publication in the Denver Women’s Press Club unknown writer’s contest, By-Line Magazine, Pen Woman Magazine, and Poetry Salzburg Review, Salzburg, Austria, 2014.

Thompson, Dennis E–  ISSUE 3: is a former U. S. Postal Service letter carrier and horse handicapper. He now teaches writing and film at Des Moines Area Community College. His work has appeared in Mississippi Review, Colere Literary Review, Out of Line: Writings on Peace and Social Justice, and Literary Orphans. His fiction “Jesus in the Eighth Race” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His story “I Will Never Cut My Hair, Harley Major” is forthcoming in The MacGuffin.

Wadsworth, Susan–  ISSUE 4: When she was about ten years old, Susan used to take a lamp, a pillow, a pile of books and a pad of paper into her bedroom closet after the lights were supposed to be out. She read and wrote stories in the quiet of the night while everyone else was asleep. Now, after a long career as a performing musician, teacher and bookstore owner, she gets to write stories in the daytime. She lives in Montana in a small cottage in what was once an apple orchard.

Wayman, Tom–  ISSUE 3 & 4: Recent poetry collections include Built to Take it: Selected Poems 1996-2013 from Spokane’s Lynx House Press and The Order in Which We Do Things: The Poetry of Tom Wayman from Wilfrid Laurier University Press, both published in 2014. A collection of new work, Helpless Angels, is forthcoming in May from Thistledown, a Canadian literary press.

Wheatwind, Marie-Elise–  ISSUE 1: poetry and flash fiction has been published in numerous small press magazines and anthologies, including Blue Mesa Review, Onthebus, Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About, New Chicana/o Writing I, and In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States. She has contributed reviews to The Women’s Review of Books, and has been the recipient of two California Arts Council grants, an Oregon Literary Arts fellowship, and a PEN Syndicated Fiction prize.

Wickersham, John–  ISSUE 2: Morning Is Always Nigh is the result of a father/son collaboration between the author, John Wickersham, and his son, Jamie. Wickersham the Elder teaches philosophy at Maryville University-St. Louis Missouri. In addition to his teaching, he is a documentary photographer and poet.  A father of four and grandfather of five, some of his happiest memories are of his boyhood in the Colorado Rockies, memories he shares with the reader in Morning Is Always Nigh.

Yarra, Debbie–  ISSUE 3: is a self-taught photographer, who finds nature a subject of joy, peace and continual fascination. She likes to use different artistic approaches in her work to create a vision, such as combining several images, blending photography with other art mediums or utilizing black and white imagery to bring more focus to the beauty of texture, shape and form. “My hope is that my images bring people closer to nature and ultimately, encourages the viewer to help protect and preserve our natural world.”  To view more of her work, go to www.yarraimages.com or you can contact her directly at deb@yarraimages.com.

Ziegler, Gary– ISSUE 6: a Colorado Springs native and graduate of Colorado College, is a field archaeologist with a geology background, a mountaineer and explorer who has spent a lifetime finding and documenting remote Inca sites in the Vilcabamba range of Peru’s Southern Andes.