Diana Bustos is a sister, friend, mover, dancer, singer, writer, poet and a lover– of life– of people and the living work of art that every day is. She graduated from Santa Clara University in June of 2011 with a major in Art Education and a minor in Urban Education. (The performing arts draw her out, while writing and visual art pull her in.) The following pieces are the product of a creative wind that has blown through her- created in silence, in movement, at home, abroad, in sorrow and intoxicated with joy she shares these with you. Thank you.
Stephi Dernek is a social Justice activist and organizer in Chicago with 8th Day Center for Justice. Her work has focused on issues of human rights and environmental justice. Stephi also teaches yoga for self-care for activists, organizers and those who care for others in Chicago. If you want more information you can contact her at stephidernek@gmail.com or 773.960.3325.
Leigh Edwards recently graduated from Duke Divinity School and is looking forward to another year in Durham, NC. She lives in an intentional community with five other young people and where they offer transitional housing to various pets. Her interests include theological ethics, creating community, and good food.
Rich Furman, MSW, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Rich’s main areas of research are social work practice with transnational Latino populations, men at risk and masculinities, and the use of the arts and humanities in social work practice, research and education. He has conducted research, practiced, volunteered or taught throughout Latin America. A qualitative methodologist, Rich is dedicated to innovations in expressive and creative approaches to research. His practice background includes ten years experience in direct practice and administration. Rich also teaches in the Doctor of Social Work program of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. His first full-length book of poems, Compañero was published by Main Street Rag Press (2007). He has published over 250 published poems in Hawai’i Review, Coe Review, The Evergreen Review, Black Bear Review, Red Rock Review, Sierra Nevada Review, New Hampshire Review, Penn Review, Free Lunch, Colere, Pearl, The Journal of Poetry Therapy, Impetus, and many others. He has performed his work throughout the United States, as well as in Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Guatemala. His poetry has been described as “neither street nor beat nor meat nor academic, but an emotionally evocative mix of styles that can be brutally imagistic or powerfully terse.” He recently completed a memoir, Falling South, about his ten months in Central America during the time of the Contra war. He is currently working on a novel and narrative nonfiction essays.
Maria is a University of Washington graduate from Seattle, who has lived in El Salvador since 2009. She became involved in juvenile justice issues and working in youth detention centers while volunteering with the Foundation of Legal Applied Studies (FESPAD) in 2010 as a Fulbright grantee, and continues that work to date. Maria is passionate about healing spaces, trauma therapy, justice reform, hiking in the mountains of Morazan, and sharing over coffee and pan dulce with loved ones.
Abby Martin is a Bay Area artist, activist and founder of Media Roots News, where she reports from ‘outside party lines’. The elaborate and intricate detail that flows from her onto the canvas in a perfect distribution of dots and swirls reflects this introspective artist’s ability to juggle and organize the chaos of the human mind into a comprehensive piece of fully charged beauty. Whether reflecting on the natural world or the manmade world, the awakening or deadening of consciousness, cultural controlling dichotomies, the power of the mystic and all that is unknown, the condition of the social, the construction of the economic, or the corruption of the political, Abby’s work displays an intense passion for life and her deep desire to engage others in her vision.
Sullivan Oakley: Sullivan is currently living, learning and working as a Community Coordinator for the Casa de La Solidaridad, a study abroad program in El Salvador, Central America. She feels blessed to share her writing and work with you and would feel just as blessed to read something of yours! Feel free to send her an e-mail, a poem, a telegram or reach out in any way, shape or form. ¡Que le vaya bien!
Kate Morgan-Olsen: Activist, day-dreamer, and Aries, Kate Morgan-Olsen is a mid-west gal living in Tucson, Arizona. In her past she has worked as Health Educator in Chicago, Illinois; a Program Evaluator in Seattle, Washington; and organized with an Anarchist collective in Kingston, Ontario. Currently, she volunteers with the border justice organization, No More Deaths (NMD).
Laura Santamaria: Is a poet whose ideal writing sanctuary consists of being perched on a cabin’s balcony in the middle of beautiful trees and fall leaves. She is a current Santa Clara University student majoring in Marketing and English. Her interestes include enjoying good coffee, and sharing stories.
Sister Santussika is an American Theravadan Buddhist nun. She first took robes in 2005 and has trained in England and California. She currently lives in Los Altos Hills and teaches and practices with a focus on compassionate action in the world.
Juan Velasco has been practicing Zen meditation since 1992 and is currently a Bodhisattva Teacher at Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley. A literature professor at Santa Clara University, Juan has published poetry, short stories and fiction in both English and Spanish. At Santa Clara University, he has been a facilitator in the Ignatian Faculty Forum, which provides an opportunity for faculty members to explore how faith intersects with justice, culture, creativity, and the academy.